Sanskrit
शुभाशुभफलैरेवं मोक्ष्यसे कर्मबन्धनैः । संन्यासयोगयुक्तात्मा विमुक्तो मामुपैष्यसि ॥
śubhāśubhaphalair evaṃ mokṣyase karmabandhanaiḥ sannyāsayogayuktātmā vimukto mām upaiṣyasi
Translation
Thus shalt thou be liberated from the bonds of action, yielding good and evil fruits; thyself harmonised by the yoga of renunciation, thou shalt come unto Me when set free.
Annie Besant · The Bhagavad-Gita, translated by Annie Besant (4th ed., 1922) — Wikisource · Public Domain
Explanation
The promised result of the wholesale offering verse 27 just described: release from action’s bonds regardless of whether the fruit would have been good or bad (śubhāśubha-phalaiḥ), through what is named specifically here as sannyāsa-yoga, the yoga of renunciation. It’s worth being precise about what’s renounced — not action, which verse 27 just made total, but the ownership claim over its outcome, the same distinction chapter 3 draws between sannyasa as mere abstention and the harder discipline of acting without attachment. Saṃnyāsa-yoga — renunciation as a yoga, i.e. inward — is exactly BG 5.2–BG 5.6’s redefinition: not dropping the act (verse 27 forbids that) but dropping the claim on its fruit.
Study deeper
Word by word
- śubhāśubhaphalair evaṃशुभाशुभफलैः एवं
- from the bonds of action's good and bad fruits, thus (śubha-aśubha-phalaiḥ + evam)
- mokṣyase karmabandhanaiḥमोक्ष्यसे कर्मबन्धनैः
- you shall be freed (mokṣyase + karma-bandhanaiḥ)
- sannyāsayogayuktātmāसंन्यासयोगयुक्तात्मा
- with a self yoked by the yoga of renunciation (saṃnyāsa-yoga-yukta-ātmā)
- vimukto mām upaiṣyasiविमुक्तो मां उपैष्यसि
- liberated, you shall come to Me (vimuktaḥ + mām + upaiṣyasi)
Commentary
Site Commentary
The release named here is symmetrical — śubhāśubha-phalaiḥ, “from both good and evil fruits” — not a filter that keeps the pleasant outcomes and discards only the unwanted ones. That’s a harder ask than it first appears: most people would happily keep the reward of good results and only ask to be freed from the bad ones; this verse offers no such selective exit.
Original commentary written for this site · © Amit Singh — original commentary
Concepts
Apply this verse
Lessons
Personal
- When you seek freedom from attachment to outcomes, notice you usually only want release from the ones that hurt you — real release means loosening your grip on the good outcomes too, not just insulating yourself from the bad ones.
Professional
- Don't measure your own competence only by the outcomes that make you look good while dismissing the ones that don't — a stable sense of your own worth has to be equally unattached to both, or it isn't stable at all.
Family & Social
- When you tie your peace of mind to how a relationship or event turns out, notice you likely only want release from the bad turns — real equanimity has to apply just as much to the good ones.
Ask yourself
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