Love deeply without possessive attachment.
Krishna speaks to Arjuna
असक्तिरनभिष्वङ्गः पुत्रदारगृहादिषु |नित्यं च समचित्तत्वमिष्टानिष्टोपपत्तिषु ||१३-१०||
asaktiranabhiṣvaṅgaḥ putradāragṛhādiṣu . nityaṃ ca samacittatvamiṣṭāniṣṭopapattiṣu ||13-10||
Use this verse for healthy attachment reflection.
Meaning
Non-attachment and freedom from clinging to children, spouse, home, and the like; constant even-mindedness in desirable and undesirable situations.
Translation: Gita Guidance (original English rendering).
In plain words
Love family without possessive clinging and remain balanced in outcomes.
Word-by-word meaning
Tap a word to see its meaning.
Explanation
Krishna does not ask people to reject family. He teaches non-clinging: love without ownership, care without control, and balance when life brings what is liked or disliked.
Read the traditional commentary
Krishna refines detachment into a subtle distinction. Asakti is non-attachment to outcomes, while anabhishvanga is the deeper freedom from clinging identification — not defining ourselves through our spouse, children, or home. He is not advising coldness toward loved ones; he is warning against the bondage of treating them as extensions of the ego, which breeds anxiety, possessiveness, and grief.
The crown of this teaching is sama-chittatva, constant even-mindedness amid the desirable and the undesirable as life delivers them. Fortune and misfortune both visit the field; the wise meet each with the same composed heart. This equanimity is not indifference but a stable inner ground from which one can love and act more freely, precisely because one is no longer captive to gain and loss.
To hold our dearest relationships with open hands is to love them without being enslaved by fear.
In daily life
Care for relationships without making them ego-possessions.
A parent can love a child deeply while allowing them to grow independently.
Try this today
Practice one act of care without control.
I love without possessiveness.Reflect
Where has love become control or clinging?
Private — only you can see this
Quick check
What does ‘पुत्रदारगृहादिषु’ mean in this verse?
Krishna on non attachment, in other chapters
- Verse 14.22The free soul neither resists unpleasant states nor chases pleasant ones — it meets all the mind's weather with equal calm.
- Verse 2.48Equanimity — being balanced in success and failure alike — is not just a nice quality; it is the very definition of yoga.
- Verse 4.22Stay content with what comes, free of comparison, and even-minded in success or failure — then no action can bind you.
- Verse 6.7Inner peace is steady when praise and blame, comfort and discomfort, no longer disturb the calm at your center.
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Questions about Bhagavad Gita 13.10
Who says Bhagavad Gita 13.10, and to whom?
Krishna speaks to Arjuna in verse 13.10, in Chapter 13, Kshetra Kshetrajna Vibhaga Yoga (Kshetra Kshetrajna Vibhaga Yoga).
What does Bhagavad Gita 13.10 mean?
Non-attachment and freedom from clinging to children, spouse, home, and the like; constant even-mindedness in desirable and undesirable situations. (Translation: Gita Guidance (original English rendering).)
What is the lesson of Bhagavad Gita 13.10 for daily life?
Care for relationships without making them ego-possessions. A parent can love a child deeply while allowing them to grow independently.
What do the Sanskrit words in Bhagavad Gita 13.10 mean?
असक्तिः — non-attachment; अनभिष्वङ्गः — absence of clinging identification; पुत्रदारगृहादिषु — with son, wife, home and the rest; नित्यम् च समचित्तत्वम् — and constant evenness of mind; इष्टानिष्ट उपपत्तिषु — amid the desirable and the undesirable as they occur.
Where does verse 13.10 come in the Bhagavad Gita?
It is verse 10 of 35 in Chapter 13, Kshetra Kshetrajna Vibhaga Yoga. The next verse is 13.11.