Sanskrit
गतसङ्गस्य मुक्तस्य ज्ञानावस्थितचेतसः । यज्ञायाचरतः कर्म समग्रं प्रविलीयते ॥
gata-saṅgasya muktasya jñānāvasthita-cetasaḥ yajñāyācarataḥ karma samagraṃ pravilīyate
Translation
Of one with attachment dead, harmonious, with his thoughts established in wisdom, his works sacrifices, all action melts away.
Annie Besant · The Bhagavad-Gita, translated by Annie Besant (4th ed., 1922) — Wikisource · Public Domain
Explanation
The section’s summary claim: for someone free of attachment, liberated, established in wisdom, doing action “as sacrifice,” the entirety of their action simply dissolves, leaving no residue. The word yajña is doing new work here — not the ritual sacrifice of verse 12, but a reframing of ordinary action itself as sacrificial offering, which is exactly the idea the next eight verses develop in systematic detail. Pravilīyate — “melts away, dissolves without trace” — is the strongest of the chapter’s several verbs for what happens to karmic residue. It hands directly to BG 4.24, where every part of the offering is revealed to be Brahman.
Study deeper
Word by word
- gata-saṅgasya muktasyaगत-सङ्गस्य मुक्तस्य
- of one free of attachment, liberated (gata-saṅgasya + muktasya)
- jñānāvasthita-cetasaḥज्ञानावस्थित-चेतसः
- whose mind is fixed in knowledge (jñāna-avasthita-cetasaḥ)
- yajñāyācarataḥ karmaयज्ञायाचरतः कर्म
- acting for sacrifice (yajñāya + ācarataḥ)
- samagraṃ pravilīyateसमग्रं प्रविलीयते
- [his action] wholly dissolves (samagram + karma + pravilīyate)
Commentary
Site Commentary
Chapter 4 doesn’t settle for stating once that liberated action leaves no residue — verse 22 said “not bound,” this verse says “melts away entirely,” and later verses will say “burned to ash.” The repetition isn’t padding: each image tests the claim from a different angle — bondage, dissolution, combustion — as if one metaphor alone couldn’t carry the whole weight of what’s being claimed about action performed without attachment.
Original commentary written for this site · © Amit Singh — original commentary
Concepts
Apply this verse
Lessons
Personal
- If a single way of stating your intention to let something go hasn't made it stick, try restating it through a different image entirely — not bound, dissolved, burned away — rather than assuming the first phrasing failed and the goal itself is unreachable.
Professional
- When one explanation of a hard-to-grasp priority isn't landing with a stakeholder, don't just repeat it louder — reframe it through a different metaphor entirely; the idea underneath can survive several different images even when one alone doesn't stick.
Family & Social
- If you've told someone close to you once that you've let go of a grudge and they still doubt it, say it again in a different way rather than assuming one statement should have been enough — repetition through fresh framing is often what actually convinces someone.
Ask yourself
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