Sanskrit
जन्म कर्म च मे दिव्यमेवं यो वेत्ति तत्त्वतः । त्यक्त्वा देहं पुनर्जन्म नैति मामेति सोऽर्जुन ॥
janma karma ca me divyam evaṃ yo vetti tattvataḥ tyaktvā dehaṃ punar janma naiti mām eti so 'rjuna
Translation
He who thus knoweth My divine birth and action, in its essence, having abandoned the body, cometh not to birth again, but cometh unto Me, O Arjuna.
Annie Besant · The Bhagavad-Gita, translated by Annie Besant (4th ed., 1922) — Wikisource · Public Domain
Explanation
Krishna states the payoff of understanding verses 5-8 correctly: whoever truly knows the essence of his birth and action is freed from rebirth and comes to him instead. It’s the same liberation-through-right-knowledge structure that recurs through the chapter — correct understanding of a metaphysical fact, not ritual or effort alone, is what breaks the cycle. Tattvataḥ — “as it truly is,” not merely as a doctrine assented to — is the load-bearing qualifier: it is realised knowing, not information, that liberates. The same “know this and you are free” form recurs at BG 4.16, BG 4.32, and BG 4.35.
Study deeper
Word by word
- janma karma ca me divyamजन्म कर्म च मे दिव्यं
- my birth and action are divine (janma + karma + ca + me + divyam)
- evaṃ yo vetti tattvataḥएवं यो वेत्ति तत्त्वतः
- who thus knows in truth (evam + yaḥ + vetti + tattvataḥ)
- tyaktvā dehaṃत्यक्त्वा देहं
- having left the body (tyaktvā + deham)
- punar janma naitiपुनः जन्म नैति
- does not come to rebirth (punaḥ + janma + na + eti)
- mām eti so 'rjunaमां एति सो ऽर्जुन
- he comes to me, O Arjuna (mām + eti + saḥ + arjuna)
Commentary
Site Commentary
Most of the Gita’s liberation talk — atman, sthitaprajna — points inward, toward correctly understanding oneself. This verse points the other way: what frees a person here is truly knowing something about Krishna, not about themselves. It’s a quiet but real departure from the chapter’s usual direction of insight, worth noticing rather than folding into the more familiar self-knowledge frame.
Original commentary written for this site · © Amit Singh — original commentary
Concepts
Apply this verse
Lessons
Personal
- Not every breakthrough comes from more self-analysis — sometimes what actually frees you is finally understanding someone or something outside yourself clearly, so don't assume all useful insight has to be introspective.
Professional
- When you're stuck, consider that the unblock might not come from understanding your own process better, but from genuinely understanding a partner team's or leader's real constraints and motives — outward insight, not just inward.
Family & Social
- A relationship sometimes frees up not because you understood yourself better, but because you finally understood what actually drives the other person — look outward for the insight, not only inward.
Ask yourself
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