Chapter 2 · Verse 49 · Sankhya Yoga
Bhagavad Gita 2.49
Sanskrit
दूरेण ह्यवरं कर्म बुद्धियोगाद्धनञ्जय। बुद्धौ शरणमन्विच्छ कृपणाः फलहेतवः।।2.49।।
Transliteration
dūreṇa hy-avaraṁ karma buddhi-yogād dhanañjaya buddhau śharaṇam anvichchha kṛipaṇāḥ phala-hetavaḥ
In plain words
You are exhausted from grasping—for the promotion, the reconciliation, the debt repayment, the healing, the certainty—as if holding tighter will make it yours. Krishna says: the moment you release your stranglehold on the outcome and ask instead, *What is the right thing to do here?*, you step out of desperation into power. Act with full presence and integrity, then let go of what comes next. That surrender is not weakness—it is the only thing that actually works.
हिंदी अर्थ
बुद्धि योग से दूर रहकर कर्म करना बहुत ही नीच है, इसलिए हे अर्जुन, अपनी बुद्धि को ज्ञान में लगा और बुद्धि के सहारे चल। जो लोग केवल फल की चाह में कर्म करते हैं, वे बहुत ही कमजोर और दीन हैं।
Word by Word
Krishna draws a sacred line here between two paths: the cramped, grasping way of reward-chasing action, and the luminous freedom of acting from wisdom. When you surrender the fruits of your work to Divine knowing, you step out of the prison of desire into the vastness of dharma itself.
In our modern lives obsessed with metrics and outcomes, this verse invites you to ask: Am I acting to feed my ego's hunger, or am I acting as an instrument of something greater?
Listen
Bhagavad Gita 2.49 — BG 2.49
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