Bhagavad Gītā · Chapter 4, Verse 23
गतसङ्गस्य मुक्तस्य ज्ञानावस्थितचेतसः।
यज्ञायाचरतः कर्म समग्रं प्रविलीयते।।
यज्ञायाचरतः कर्म समग्रं प्रविलीयते।।
gata-saṅgasya muktasya jñānāvasthita-cetasaḥ
yajñāyācarataḥ karma samagraṁ pravilīyate
also searched as "Gatasangasya muktasya jnanavasthitachetasah"
Translation
One whose attachments have been relinquished, who is liberated, whose mind is established in knowledge, and who works only for sacrifices—their Karma is entirely dissolved.
Vāṇi's rendering
For the free one, established in knowing, who acts as offering — every trace of karma dissolves.
Word by word
| Sanskrit & transliteration | Meaning |
|---|---|
| गतसङ्गस्यgata-saṅgasya | of one whose clinging has gone; attachment departed |
| मुक्तस्यmuktasya | of the freed one, released |
| ज्ञानावस्थितचेतसःjñāna-avasthita-cetasaḥ | whose mind stands settled in knowing (jñāna + avasthita joined by sandhi in the verse) |
| यज्ञायyajñāya | for the sake of offering, as sacrifice |
| आचरतःācarataḥ | of one who acts, who carries out the work (sandhi: yajñāya + ācarataḥ) |
| कर्मkarma | action, and the residue action leaves |
| समग्रम्samagram | entire, every last part of it |
| प्रविलीयतेpravilīyate | dissolves away, melts completely |
Frequently asked
What does Bhagavad Gita Chapter 4 Verse 23 mean?
It means action itself never binds anyone. What binds is the clinging inside the action. When attachment has gone, when the mind rests in knowing, when the work is done as offering rather than as purchase, the deed happens and leaves no residue behind it. Karma dissolves — samagram, entirely.
What does gatasangasya muktasya jnanavasthitachetasah teach?
Three conditions named in one breath, and they are one condition seen from three sides. Clinging gone. Freedom present. Mind settled in what it knows. Krishna is not describing three achievements you collect. He is describing one steadiness, and steadiness is what lets an act pass through without staining.
Does this verse mean a free person stops working?
No. The verse says he acts — ācarataḥ, actively carrying out the work. Nothing here withdraws you from the field. What changes is the manner: the work becomes yajña, offered rather than owned. The hands move exactly as before. The accounting stops.
How can karma dissolve completely if the action still happened?
Because karma is not the deed; it is the grip left on the deed. A thing done for its return keeps a thread attached to you and pulls later. A thing offered has no thread. Krishna says pravilīyate — it melts, the way salt goes into water and is nowhere to be found.
Read every verse this way, held — inside Vāṇi.
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Commentary
Notice what is not said. Krishna does not promise that the free one's actions stop — they continue, all of them. What stops is the residue. Karma sticks by the grip in it: the wanting, the claiming, the small private ledger of who did what. Remove the grip and the act passes through you like water through a pipe, leaving nothing on the walls. Attachment gone, mind resting in what it knows, the work turned into offering — and nothing accrues. You have felt this on the rare day when the task absorbed you completely and you forgot to be its owner. Nothing was left over to carry.