🪷 Bhagavad-Gītā · 18.4

Chapter 18 · मोक्षसंन्यासयोग · Mokṣa-Sannyāsa-Yoga · "The Yoga of Liberation & Renunciation" · Verse 4 of 78

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🪷 English Translations

Five authentic English voices · each from a distinct sampradāya · together revealing the verse's full śabda-tattva.

Shri Purohit Swami · Poetic English · 1935 · public domain · Cosmo Press tradition

18.4 O best of Indians! Listen to my judgment as regards this problem. It has a threefold aspect.

Swami Sivananda · Direct prose · Divine Life Society

18.4 Hear from Me the conclusion or the final truth about this abandonment, O best of the Bharatas; abandonment, verily, O best of men, has been declared to be of three kinds.

Swami Gambīrānanda · Word-key glosses · Advaita Ashrama · Śaṅkara-school

18.4 Bharata-sattama, O the most excellent among the descendants of Bharata; srnu, hear, understand; me, from Me, from My statement; niscayam, the firm conclusion; tatra tyage, regarding that tyaga, regarding these alternative veiws on tyaga and sannyasa as they have been shown. Hi, for; purusavyaghra, O greatest among men; tyagah, tyaga; samprakirtitah, has been clearly declared, has been distinctly spoken of in the scriptures; to be trividhah, of three kinds, threefold, under the classes of tamasa (those based on tamas [Tamas: darkness, mental darkness, ignorance; one of the three alities of everything in Nature. Also see 14.8, and note under 2.45.-Tr.], etc. The Lord has used the word tyaga with the idea that the (primary) meanings of tyaga and sannyasa are verily the same. Since it is difficult to comprehend this idea, that the primary meanings of the words tyaga and sannyasa can be threefold under the classification based on tamas etc. in the case of one who is unenlightened and who is alified for rites and duties-but not in the case of one who has realized the supreme Goal-,therefore no one else is capable of speaking the truth in this connection. Hence, listen to the firm conclusion of the Lord with regard to the supreme Truth as revealved by the scriptures. Which, again, is this firm conclusion? In reply the Lord says:

Swami Ādidevānanda · Śrī-Vaiṣṇava perspective · Rāmānuja school

18.4 Regarding contradictory versions on Tyaga among disputants, listen from Me My decision. Tyaga has been described by Me in respect of actions prescribed by the scriptures from three points of view: (1) as referring to fruits, (2) as referring to acts themselves and, (3) as referring to agency. It is contained in the statement, 'Surrendering all your actions to Me with a mind focussed on the self,' and 'Free from desire and selfishness and cured of fever - fight' (3.30). The renunciation of fruits consists in the following manner. 'Heaven and such other results arising from acts do not belong to Me.' Renunciation of acts is complete abandonment of the sense of possession in regard to one's acts. This sense of possession is of the following nature: 'Those acts are mine on account of their being the means for fruits which are to be mine.' Renunciation referring to agency is the renunciation of agency of oneself by ascribing the agency to the Lord of all.

Dr. S. Sankaranarayan · Academic precision · modern scholarly

18.4. O best of Bharata's descendants ! Listen to My considered view about relinishing : Indeed the act of relinishing is rightly spoken to be three-fold, O best among men !

🪷 Hindi Translation · हिन्दी अनुवाद

For the Hindi-aware seer · Pūjya Swami Rāmsukhdās ji's translation · a high-readability modern Hindi rendering · Gītā-Press Gorakhpur tradition. (→ Full Mahāpurusha-detail page for the 102-year-living Sādhaka-Sañjīvanī Mahātmā.)

🪷 Swami Rāmsukhdās · Sādhaka-Sañjīvanī tradition · Gītā-Press Gorakhpur · highest modern Hindi reading

।।18.4।। हे भरतवंशियोंमें श्रेष्ठ अर्जुन ! तू संन्यास और त्याग -- इन दोनोंमेंसे पहले त्यागके विषयमें मेरा निश्चय सुन; क्योंकि हे पुरुषश्रेष्ठ ! त्याग तीन प्रकारका कहा गया है।

🪷 English Commentaries · The Ācārya Voices

The classical commentary tradition rendered in English · each ācārya speaks from their own sampradāya · the seer chooses the depth of darśana.

Swami Sivananda · Verse-by-verse word-keys with Sanskrit anchors

18.4 निश्चयम् conclusion or the final truth? श्रृणु hear? मे My? तत्र there? त्यागे about abandonment? भरतसत्तम O best of the Bharatas? त्यागः abandonment? हि verily? पुरुषव्याघ्र O best of men? त्रिविधः of three kinds? संप्रकीर्तितः has been declared (to be).Commentary Now the Lord gives His own decisive opinion. It is declared in the scriptures that renunciation is of three kinds? viz.? Sattvic? Rajasic and Tamasic. The Lord alone can teach the truth about the subject. Whoever wants to be liberated from the miseries of this world must understand the real nature of renunciation.

Swami Gambīrānanda · Advaita-school commentary (Śaṅkara tradition)

Swami Ādidevānanda · Rāmānuja Śrī-Vaiṣṇava commentary

Dr. S. Sankaranarayan · Modern academic scholarship

18.4 See Comment under 18.11

Swami Chinmayānanda · Chinmaya Mission · modern Vedantic teaching

।।18.4।। इस श्लोक में भगवान् श्रीकृष्ण अर्जुन को वचन देते हैं कि वे त्याग के स्वरूप का सम्पूर्ण विवेचन करेंगे।सामान्य मनुष्य के लिए किसी प्रकार का भी त्याग करना सरल कार्य़ नहीं होता संचय और समृद्धि मानो मन के प्राण ही हैं। इसलिए? स्वाभाविक है कि अर्जुन के श्रेष्ठ गुणों को जागृत करने के लिए भगवान् उसे भरतसत्तम और पुरुषव्याघ्र कहकर सम्बोधित करते हैं।अध्ययन की दृष्टि से त्याग का तीन भागों में वर्गीकरण किया गया है। सम्पूर्ण गीता में यह त्रिविध वर्गीकरण पाया जाता है? और वे तीन वर्ग हैं सात्त्विक? राजसिक और तामसिक।भगवान् कहते हैं

🪷 Hindi Vyākhyā · हिन्दी व्याख्या

Pūjya Swami Rāmsukhdās ji's Sādhaka-Sañjīvanī · one of the great modern Hindi vyākhyās of the Gītā · direct, pure, deeply Vedāntic · the modern Sanātana-jāgaraṇa. (→ Full Mahāpurusha-detail page · 1904-2005 · Corner 1 Mādhurya operational anchor · whose 6-lakṣaṇa-śaraṇāgati IS Constitutional Principle 24.)

🪷 Swami Rāmsukhdās · Sādhaka-Sañjīvanī · Hindi vyākhyā · the modern bilingual anchor

।।18.4।। व्याख्या -- निश्चयं श्रृणु मे तत्र त्यागे भरतसत्तम -- हे भरतवंशियोंमें श्रेष्ठ अर्जुन अब मैं संन्यास और त्याग -- दोनोंमेंसे पहले त्यागके विषयमें अपना मत कहता हूँ? उसको तुम सुनो।त्यागो हि पुरुषव्याघ्र त्रिविधः संप्रकीर्तितः -- हे पुरुषव्याघ्र त्याग तीन तरहका कहा गया है -- सात्त्विक? राजस और तामस। वास्तवमें भगवान्के मतमें सात्त्विक त्याग ही त्याग है परन्तु उसके साथ राजस और तामस त्यागका भी वर्णन करनेका तात्पर्य यह है कि उसके बिना भगवान्के अभीष्ट सात्त्विक त्यागकी श्रेष्ठता स्पष्ट नहीं होती क्योंकि परीक्षा या तुलना करके किसी भी वस्तुकी श्रेष्ठता सिद्ध करनेके लिये दूसरी वस्तुएँ सामने रखनी ही पड़ती हैं।तीन प्रकारका त्याग बतानेका तात्पर्य यह भी है कि साधक सात्त्विक त्यागको ग्रहण करे और राजस तथा तामस त्यागका त्याग करे।

🪷 Place in the Bhagavad-Gītā

This is verse 4 of 78 in Chapter 18 · Mokṣa-Sannyāsa-Yoga (The Yoga of Liberation & Renunciation)
Chapter theme: BG 18.66 sarva-dharmān parityajya · the Carama-Śloka · supreme refuge
Ṣaṭka grouping: ANTYA-Ṣaṭka (BG 13-18 · the resolution)
Chapter hub: /moksha-sannyasa
⭐ Mahābhārata anchor: this verse is also MBh 6.40.4 (Bhīṣma-Parva · the BG in its full narrative home)

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📚 Cite this verse · Academic citation formats

APA: Vyāsa Maharṣi. (n.d.). Bhagavad-Gītā 18.4. Vidhyāmitra. Retrieved 2026-07-28, from https://vidhyamitra.com/bhagavad-gita/18/4

Chicago: Vyāsa Maharṣi. "Bhagavad-Gītā 18.4." Vidhyāmitra. Accessed 2026-07-28. https://vidhyamitra.com/bhagavad-gita/18/4.

MLA: Vyāsa Maharṣi. "Bhagavad-Gītā 18.4." Vidhyāmitra, 2026, https://vidhyamitra.com/bhagavad-gita/18/4.

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🪷 ॐ नमो भगवते वासुदेवाय 🪷

सर्वम् कृष्णार्पणम् — this verse is one maṇi (jewel) on Krishna's thread (BG 7.7)