Shloka 23

ध्यानयोगः — Dhyāna-Yoga

Discipline of Meditation and Mental Restraint

Devanagari script

गतसड्स्य मुक्तस्य ज्ञानावस्थितचेतस: । यज्ञायाचरत: कर्म समग्र प्रविलीयते

Transliteration

gatasāṅgasya muktasya jñānāvasthitacetasaḥ | yajñāyācarataḥ karma samagraṁ pravilīyate ||

Translation

ఆసక్తి తొలగినవాడు, అంతర్ముక్తుడైనవాడు, జ్ఞానంలో స్థిరమైన చిత్తమున్నవాడు, యజ్ఞార్థంగా కర్మ ఆచరించేవాడు—అతని సమస్త కర్మబంధం పూర్తిగా లయమవుతుంది।

Word by Word

गतसङ्गस्यof one who has gone beyond attachment (free from association/attachment)

मुक्तस्यof the liberated/free one

ज्ञानावस्थितचेतसःwhose mind is established in knowledge

यज्ञायfor sacrifice (as an offering/for the sake of yajña)

आचरतःof (him) practicing/performing

कर्मaction, deed

समग्रंentirely, wholly (as a whole)

प्रविलीयतेis dissolved/merges away

Speaker

अजुन उवाच

Character Dynamics

Dharma Sankata (Moral Dilemma)

War Context

Verse Rasa (Emotional Essence)

Philosophical Teaching

Political Layer

Geographic Context

Meter (Chandas)

Sandhi Notes

Educational Q&A

What is the core teaching?

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.

What is happening in the narrative?

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.