Chapter 4, Verse 23
गतसङ्गस्य मुक्तस्य ज्ञानावस्थितचेतसः | यज्ञायाचरतः कर्म समग्रं प्रविलीयते ||४-२३||
gatasaṅgasya muktasya jñānāvasthitacetasaḥ . yajñāyācarataḥ karma samagraṃ pravilīyate ||4-23||
Meaning
4.23 To one who is devoid of attchment, who is liberated, whose mind is established in knowledge, who works for the sake of sacrifice (for the sake of God), the whole action is dissolved.
Word-by-Word Meaning
Explanation & Commentary
Krishna names four marks of the freed soul and the result they produce. He is gata-saṅga — free of attachment; mukta — already liberated within; jñāna-avasthita-cetasaḥ — his consciousness firmly grounded in wisdom; and yajñāya ācarataḥ — acting purely as an offering, a sacrifice. When all four conditions are present, karma samagram pravilīyate: the entire weight of his action simply dissolves.
The image of melting away is beautiful. Action performed as yajña — as sacred offering rather than self-seeking effort — generates no binding residue. It is as if the karma evaporates the moment it is done. This is the alchemy at the heart of the chapter: ordinary work, when consecrated and offered up with a mind rooted in knowledge, ceases to bind and becomes a path to freedom itself.
💡 Key Takeaway
When work is offered as sacrifice by a mind rooted in wisdom, it dissolves without leaving any binding trace.
Related Verses
जन्म कर्म च मे दिव्यमेवं यो वेत्ति तत्त्वतः | त्यक्त्वा देहं पुनर्जन्म नैति मामेति सोऽर्जुन ||४-९||
janma karma ca me divyamevaṃ yo vetti tattvataḥ . tyaktvā dehaṃ punarjanma naiti māmeti so.arjuna ||4-9||
4.9 He who thus know, in their true light, My divine birth and action, having abandoned the body, is not born again, he comes to Me, O Arjuna.
वीतरागभयक्रोधा मन्मया मामुपाश्रिताः | बहवो ज्ञानतपसा पूता मद्भावमागताः ||४-१०||
vītarāgabhayakrodhā manmayā māmupāśritāḥ . bahavo jñānatapasā pūtā madbhāvamāgatāḥ ||4-10||
4.10 Freed from attachment, fear and anger, absorbed in Me, taking refuge in Me, purified by the fire of knowledge, many have attained to My Being.
न मां कर्माणि लिम्पन्ति न मे कर्मफले स्पृहा | इति मां योऽभिजानाति कर्मभिर्न स बध्यते ||४-१४||
na māṃ karmāṇi limpanti na me karmaphale spṛhā . iti māṃ yo.abhijānāti karmabhirna sa badhyate ||4-14||
4.14 Actions do not taint Me, nor have I a desire for the fruit of actions. He who knows Me thus is not bound by actions.