Chapter 18, Verse 66
सर्वधर्मान्परित्यज्य मामेकं शरणं व्रज | अहं त्वा सर्वपापेभ्यो मोक्षयिष्यामि मा शुचः ||१८-६६||
sarvadharmānparityajya māmekaṃ śaraṇaṃ vraja . ahaṃ tvāṃ sarvapāpebhyo mokṣyayiṣyāmi mā śucaḥ ||18-66||
Meaning
18.66 Abandoning all duties, take refuge in Me alone: I will liberate thee from all sins; grieve not.
Word-by-Word Meaning
Explanation & Commentary
This is the charama shloka, the Gita's culminating verse and supreme promise. Abandon all dharmas — all dependence on your own efforts and prescriptions — and take refuge in Me alone. I will liberate you from all sins; do not grieve.
After chapters detailing duty, knowledge, and discipline, Krishna reveals the final secret: complete surrender. This does not negate duty but transcends it, replacing anxious self-reliance with total trust in the Divine. The tender closing words, ma shuchah, 'do not grieve,' answer the very sorrow with which Arjuna began the Gita. The whole dialogue thus comes full circle: from Arjuna's despair to Krishna's promise that surrender brings liberation and the end of all grief.
💡 Key Takeaway
Surrender wholly to the Divine, release anxious self-reliance, and trust completely that grace will free you.
Related Verses
अनिष्टमिष्टं मिश्रं च त्रिविधं कर्मणः फलम् | भवत्यत्यागिनां प्रेत्य न तु संन्यासिनां क्वचित् ||१८-१२||
aniṣṭamiṣṭaṃ miśraṃ ca trividhaṃ karmaṇaḥ phalam . bhavatyatyāgināṃ pretya na tu saṃnyāsināṃ kvacit ||18-12||
18.12 The threefold fruit of action (evil, good and mixed) accrues after death to the non-abandoners, but never to the abandoners.
अधिष्ठानं तथा कर्ता करणं च पृथग्विधम् | विविधाश्च पृथक्चेष्टा दैवं चैवात्र पञ्चमम् ||१८-१४||
adhiṣṭhānaṃ tathā kartā karaṇaṃ ca pṛthagvidham . vividhāśca pṛthakceṣṭā daivaṃ caivātra pañcamam ||18-14||
18.14 The seat (body), the doer, the various senses, the different functions of various sorts, and the presiding deity, also, the fifth.
प्रवृत्तिं च निवृत्तिं च कार्याकार्ये भयाभये | बन्धं मोक्षं च या वेत्ति बुद्धिः सा पार्थ सात्त्विकी ||१८-३०||
pravṛttiṃ ca nivṛttiṃ ca kāryākārye bhayābhaye . bandhaṃ mokṣaṃ ca yā vetti buddhiḥ sā pārtha sāttvikī ||18-30||
18.30 The intellect which knows the path of work and renunciation, what ought to be done and what ought not to be done, fear and fearlessness, bondage and liberation that intellect is Sattvic (pure), O Arjuna.