Bhagavad Gita 18.17 meaningLetting go — and standing up
In simple wordsSo simple a child gets it
“Someone free of ego isn’t trapped by their actions.”
What it means
“Someone free from ego, whose understanding is unclouded, isn't really the killer even if they take life — and they aren't bound by it.”
The original Sanskrit
यस्य नाहंकृतो भावो बुद्धिर्यस्य न लिप्यते । हत्वाऽपि स इमाँल्लोकान्न हन्ति न निबध्यते ॥
yasya nāhaṃkṛto bhāvo buddhiryasya na lipyate hatvā.api sa imā.Nllokānna hanti na nibadhyate
Translations
Literal translation
He who has not the feeling of egoism, whose intellect is not tainted, he does not kill, nor does he become bound-even by killing these creatures!
Swami Gambhirananda
हिंदी अनुवाद
जिस पुरुष में अहंकार का भाव नहीं है और बुद्धि किसी (गुण दोष) से लिप्त नहीं होती, वह पुरुष इन सब लोक ों को मारकर भी वास्तव में न मरता है और न (पाप से) बँधता है।
Swami Tejomayananda
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Commentaries
How great teachers across 1,200 years have explained this verse.
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Keep reading · 18.18“Knowledge, the thing known and the knower prompt action. The instrument, the act and the doer make it happen.”