Chapter 5, Verse 28
यतेन्द्रियमनोबुद्धिर्मुनिर्मोक्षपरायणः | विगतेच्छाभयक्रोधो यः सदा मुक्त एव सः ||५-२८||
yatendriyamanobuddhirmunirmokṣaparāyaṇaḥ . vigatecchābhayakrodho yaḥ sadā mukta eva saḥ ||5-28||
Meaning
5.28 With the senses, the mind and the intellect (ever) controlled, having liberation as his supreme goal, free from desire, fear and anger the sage is verily liberated for ever.
Word-by-Word Meaning
Explanation & Commentary
Completing the meditative instruction begun in the previous verse, Krishna describes the sage (muni) whose senses, mind, and intellect are all governed (yata-indriya-mano-buddhih), whose one supreme aim is liberation (moksha-parayanah), and who has become free from desire, fear, and anger (vigata-iccha-bhaya-krodhah).
Notice that fear (bhaya) is added here to the familiar pair of desire and anger, completing the trio of inner disturbances that bind the soul. When all three have departed and every faculty is harmonized toward the one goal, the result is declared with quiet certainty: sada mukta eva sah — 'he is verily ever liberated.' Such a one does not merely hope for future freedom; he is already free, here and now. Liberation, the Gita insists once more, is not a posthumous reward but a present state of being, accessible to the disciplined and single-minded seeker.
💡 Key Takeaway
Master your faculties and release desire, fear, and anger, fixing on liberation alone — and you are already, ever, free.
Related Verses
श्रीभगवानुवाच | संन्यासः कर्मयोगश्च निःश्रेयसकरावुभौ | तयोस्तु कर्मसंन्यासात्कर्मयोगो विशिष्यते ||५-२||
śrībhagavānuvāca . saṃnyāsaḥ karmayogaśca niḥśreyasakarāvubhau . tayostu karmasaṃnyāsātkarmayogo viśiṣyate ||5-2||
5.2 The Blessed Lord said Renunciation and the Yoga of action both lead to the highest bliss; but of the two, the Yoga of action is superior to the renunciation of action.
सर्वकर्माणि मनसा संन्यस्यास्ते सुखं वशी | नवद्वारे पुरे देही नैव कुर्वन्न कारयन् ||५-१३||
sarvakarmāṇi manasā saṃnyasyāste sukhaṃ vaśī . navadvāre pure dehī naiva kurvanna kārayan ||5-13||
5.13 Mentally renouncing all actions and self-controlled, the embodied one rests happily in the nine-gated city, neither acting nor causing others (body and senses) to act.
तद्बुद्धयस्तदात्मानस्तन्निष्ठास्तत्परायणाः | गच्छन्त्यपुनरावृत्तिं ज्ञाननिर्धूतकल्मषाः ||५-१७||
tadbuddhayastadātmānastanniṣṭhāstatparāyaṇāḥ . gacchantyapunarāvṛttiṃ jñānanirdhūtakalmaṣāḥ ||5-17||
5.17 Their intellect absorbed in That, their self being That, established in That, with That for their supreme goal, they go whence there is no return, their sins dispelled by knowledge.