Shloka 23
ध्यानयोगः — Dhyāna-Yoga
Discipline of Meditation and Mental Restraint
गतसड्स्य मुक्तस्य ज्ञानावस्थितचेतस: । यज्ञायाचरत: कर्म समग्र प्रविलीयते
gatasāṅgasya muktasya jñānāvasthitacetasaḥ | yajñāyācarataḥ karma samagraṁ pravilīyate ||
For one who has gone beyond attachment, who is inwardly free, whose mind is firmly established in true knowledge, and who performs action as an offering to sacrifice (yajña), all karma is wholly dissolved—its binding residue does not cling, because the deed is done without possessiveness and for a sacred purpose rather than for personal gain.
अजुन उवाच
Educational Q&A
When action is performed without attachment and offered as yajña—without egoistic ownership or craving for results—it does not generate binding karma; instead, the karmic residue is said to dissolve because the agent is established in knowledge and freedom.
In the Gītā’s teaching context on the battlefield, the instruction clarifies how one may continue to act (including in a difficult duty-bound situation) while remaining ethically and spiritually unbound: by acting with steady knowledge and offering the act to yajña rather than to personal desire.