Sanskrit
यस्त्वात्मरतिरेव स्यादात्मतृप्तश्च मानवः । आत्मन्येव च सन्तुष्टस्तस्य कार्यं न विद्यते ॥
yas tv ātmaratir eva syād ātmatṛptaś ca mānavaḥ ātmany eva ca santuṣṭas tasya kāryaṃ na vidyate
Translation
But the man who rejoiceth in the Self, with the Self is satisfied, and is content in the Self, for him verily there is nothing to do;
Annie Besant · The Bhagavad-Gita, translated by Annie Besant (4th ed., 1922) — Wikisource · Public Domain
Explanation
The exception to verse 16’s wheel: someone whose satisfaction is entirely self-contained — delighting, content, and satisfied in atman alone — has nothing that remains to be done. This is essentially chapter 2’s sthitaprajna (2.55-59) described again from a different angle, action rather than emotion, and it sets up the real puzzle of the chapter: if such a person has “nothing to do,” why does Krishna spend verses 19-26 insisting they should still act? The triple — ātma-rati, ātma-tṛpta, ātma-santuṣṭa — closes every external input the way BG 2.55’s “content in the self by the self” did. The puzzle it creates is resolved not by denying the state but by BG 3.20’s new motive: such a person acts for the world, not for themselves.
Study deeper
Word by word
- yas tv ātmaratir eva syādयस् त्व् आत्मरतिः एव स्याद्
- but the one who delights only in the Self (yaḥ + tu + ātma-ratiḥ + eva + syāt)
- ātmatṛptaś ca mānavaḥआत्मतृप्तश् च मानवः
- and is content in the Self, that person (ātma-tṛptaḥ + ca + mānavaḥ)
- ātmany eva ca santuṣṭasआत्मन्य् एव च सन्तुष्टस्
- and satisfied in the Self alone (ātmani + eva + ca + santuṣṭaḥ)
- tasya kāryaṃ na vidyateतस्य कार्यं न विद्यते
- for him there is nothing to be done (tasya + kāryam + na + vidyate)
Commentary
Site Commentary
The same root word Besant renders as “nothing to do” here — kāryam — reappears in verse 19 as “kāryaṃ karma,” the duty that must be performed. The translation obscures a hinge the Sanskrit is quietly turning on: the very term used to release the self-satisfied person from obligation is the one used two verses later to reimpose it.
Original commentary written for this site · © Amit Singh — original commentary
Apply this verse
Lessons
Personal
- Notice when the same idea gets used to justify opposite conclusions in your own reasoning — 'I have nothing left to prove' can excuse either genuine peace or quiet avoidance. Check which one is actually operating before you trust the conclusion it's licensing.
Professional
- Watch for a single justification — 'we've already covered this' — getting invoked to support both continuing a project and dropping it, depending on who's arguing. The same phrase doing double duty on both sides of a decision means the real reasoning hasn't been made explicit yet.
Family & Social
- Notice if the same reasoning — 'you don't need me for this anymore' — gets used both to justify stepping back appropriately and to justify checking out entirely. The same words can license opposite behaviors; be honest with yourself about which one you're actually doing.
Ask yourself
A few ways to take this verse past reading. Ticks and the note stay in this browser.