{"entry":{"slug":"bg-chapter-18","title":"Bhagavad Gīta Chapter 18 — Mokṣa-Saṃnyāsa Yoga","devanagari":"मोक्षसन्न्यासयोग","iast":"mokṣa-saṃnyāsa-yoga","type":"bg-chapter","url":"https://thecodex.expert/sanatana-dharma/texts/bhagavad-gita/chapter-18/","codex":"sanatana-dharma","last_verified":"2026-05","confidence":"high"},"chapter":{"number":18,"name":"Mokṣa-saṃnyāsa-yoga","name_translation":"The Yoga of Liberation through Renunciation","verses":78,"speaker_primary":"Kṛṣṇa; Arjuna; Sañjaya","key_verses":["18.2–18.12","18.20–18.28","18.30","18.61–18.63","18.64–18.66","18.73","18.78"]},"summary":"The Gīta's final and longest chapter. Opens with Saṃnyāsa vs Tyāga distinction — the correct Tyāga is performing prescribed action while abandoning attachment and fruit (BG 18.6). Extended Guṇa analysis of knowledge/action/doer/intellect/resolve/happiness (BG 18.20–18.44). BG 18.45: each person finds perfection by following their own nature-based duty and worshipping through that duty. BG 18.61: God dwells in all hearts as the inner controller causing beings to revolve (yantra simile). BG 18.62: take refuge in Him with all your being. BG 18.64–18.66: the Supreme Secret (parama guhya) — BG 18.65 (fix mind on Me; I promise you truly — you are dear to me); BG 18.66 (sarva-dharmān parityajya mām ekaṃ śaraṇaṃ vraja — abandon all Dharmas, take refuge in Me alone — I will liberate from all sins — do not grieve). BG 18.73: naṣṭo mohaḥ smṛtir labdhā — Arjuna's transformation confirmed. BG 18.78: Sañjaya's closing.","key_verses_detail":{"BG_18_4_6":{"note":"Tyāga (abandonment) is better than Saṃnyāsa. Three types of Tyāga: (1) Tamasic — abandoning prescribed duty out of delusion (18.7, wrong); (2) Rajasic — abandoning out of fear of bodily trouble (18.8, wrong); (3) Sattvic — performing prescribed duty because it ought to be done, abandoning attachment and fruit (18.9, correct). BG 18.6: prescribed actions should be performed, abandoning attachment and fruits — 'this is My considered, supreme opinion.'"},"BG_18_20_28":{"knowledge_types":"Sattvic (18.20): seeing the one imperishable Brahman in all beings. Rajasic (18.21): seeing diverse separate entities. Tamasic (18.22): clinging to one limited thing as if it were all.","action_types":"Sattvic (18.23): performed as ordained, without attachment, without love/hate, without desire for fruit. Rajasic (18.24): performed with effort, by one who desires enjoyment, or from pride. Tamasic (18.25): undertaken out of delusion, without considering capacity, loss, harm, or ability.","doer_types":"Sattvic (18.26): free from attachment, not speaking of himself, full of perseverance and zeal, unaffected by success or failure. Rajasic (18.27): passionate, desiring fruits, greedy, injurious, impure, subject to joy and sorrow. Tamasic (18.28): undisciplined, vulgar, obstinate, deceitful, slothful, despondent, procrastinating."},"BG_18_30":{"iast":"pravṛttiṃ ca nivṛttiṃ ca kāryākārye bhayābhaye / bandhaṃ mokṣaṃ ca yā vetti buddhiḥ sā pārtha sāttvikī","translation":"The intellect that knows the path of action and renunciation, what ought to be done and what not, what is to be feared and what not, what is bondage and what is liberation — that intellect is Sattvic.","note":"Sattvic intellect defined by its discernment of the complete spiritual spectrum including the distinction between bondage and liberation."},"BG_18_61_62":{"iast_61":"īśvaraḥ sarva-bhūtānāṃ hṛd-deśe 'rjuna tiṣṭhati / bhrāmayan sarva-bhūtāni yantrārūḍhāni māyayā","translation":"The Lord dwells in the heart of all beings — causing all beings to revolve, mounted on a machine (yantra), by His Māyā. (18.61)","iast_62":"tam eva śaraṇaṃ gaccha sarva-bhāvena bhārata / tat-prasādāt parāṃ śāntiṃ sthānaṃ prāpsyasi śāśvatam","translation":"Take refuge in Him alone with all your being. By His grace you will attain supreme peace and the eternal abode. (18.62)"},"BG_18_65_66":{"BG_18_65":{"devanagari":"मन्मना भव मद्भक्तो मद्याजी मां नमस्कुरु / मामेवैष्यसि सत्यं ते प्रतिजाने प्रियोऽसि मे","iast":"man-manā bhava mad-bhakto mad-yājī māṃ namaskuru / mām evaiṣyasi satyaṃ te pratijāne priyo 'si me","translation":"Fix your mind on Me; be devoted to Me; worship Me; bow to Me — you will come to Me. I promise you truly. You are dear to Me.","note":"Nearly identical to BG 9.34. Now given as a solemn promise: satyaṃ te pratijāne. And the most tender phrase in the entire Gīta: priyo 'si me — you are dear to Me."},"BG_18_66":{"devanagari":"सर्वधर्मान्परित्यज्य मामेकं शरणं व्रज / अहं त्वां सर्वपापेभ्यो मोक्षयिष्यामि मा शुचः","iast":"sarva-dharmān parityajya mām ekaṃ śaraṇaṃ vraja / ahaṃ tvāṃ sarva-pāpebhyo mokṣayiṣyāmi mā śucaḥ","translation":"Abandoning all Dharmas, take refuge in Me alone — I shall liberate you from all sins. Do not grieve.","shankaras_reading":"Abandon the sense of being the ego-doer of all Dharmic acts — not the acts themselves but the ego-claim 'I am doing this.' When the ego-doer is surrendered, the person acts as instrument of the divine without karmic binding. mā śucaḥ: grief belongs to the ego-doer; without the ego-doer, there is no grief.","ramanujas_reading":"Abandon all other means of liberation (other paths, karma, jñāna, upāsanā) and rely entirely on Viṣṇu's grace. This is the pinnacle of Prapatti (total surrender) — the highest Bhakti Yoga. God himself takes responsibility for the devotee's liberation."}},"BG_18_73":{"devanagari":"नष्टो मोहः स्मृतिर्लब्धा त्वत्प्रसादान्मयाच्युत / स्थितोऽस्मि गतसन्देहः करिष्ये वचनं तव","iast":"naṣṭo mohaḥ smṛtir labdhā tvat-prasādān mayācyuta / sthito 'smi gata-sandehaḥ kariṣye vacanaṃ tava","translation":"My delusion is destroyed. By Your grace I have regained memory. I stand firm, my doubts gone. I shall do your word.","note":"Arjuna's five-word confirmation of transformation: mohaḥ naṣṭaḥ (delusion destroyed) · smṛtiḥ labdhā (memory regained) · sthitaḥ asmi (I stand firm — the Sthitaprajña of BG 2 now Arjuna's own state) · gata-sandehaḥ (doubts gone) · kariṣye vacanaṃ tava (I shall do your word). The Gīta opened with Arjuna dropping his bow (BG 1.47); it closes with him resolved to act."},"BG_18_78":{"iast":"yatra yogeśvaraḥ kṛṣṇo yatra pārtho dhanur-dharaḥ / tatra śrīr vijayo bhūtir dhruvā nītir matir mama","translation":"Wherever is Kṛṣṇa, the Lord of Yoga, wherever is Arjuna the archer — there will be prosperity, victory, happiness, and firm righteousness. That is my conviction.","note":"Sañjaya's closing. The juxtaposition: Kṛṣṇa (divine ground and teacher) + Arjuna (human being willing to hear and be transformed). Wherever divine and receptive human meet — prosperity follows. The Gīta ends on the battlefield. Everything has changed."}},"sources":[{"tier":1,"citation":"BG 18.1–18.78 with Śaṅkara Gītābhāṣya · Gambhirananda (Advaita Ashrama, 2006), pp. 699–767"},{"tier":1,"citation":"Rāmānuja, Gītābhāṣya on BG 18.66 (Prapatti) · Thibaut (SBE Vol.48, 1904)"},{"tier":2,"citation":"Zaehner (OUP, 1969), pp. 407–432"}],"navigation":{"previous":{"chapter":17,"url":"/sanatana-dharma/texts/bhagavad-gita/chapter-17/","name":"Śraddhā-traya-vibhāga Yoga"},"text_hub":{"url":"/sanatana-dharma/texts/bhagavad-gita/","name":"Bhagavad Gīta Overview"}},"provenance":{"confidence":"high","last_verified":"2026-05","citation":"\"BG Chapter 18 — Sanātana Dharma Codex\", thecodex.expert/sanatana-dharma/texts/bhagavad-gita/chapter-18/, last updated May 2026."}}