Self-knowledge grows as desire and anger lose control.
Krishna speaks to Arjuna
कामक्रोधवियुक्तानां यतीनां यतचेतसाम् |अभितो ब्रह्मनिर्वाणं वर्तते विदितात्मनाम् ||५-२६||
kāmakrodhaviyuktānāṃ yatīnāṃ yatacetasām . abhito brahmanirvāṇaṃ vartate viditātmanām ||5-26||
Use this verse when desire or anger keeps returning.
Meaning
For disciplined seekers who are free from desire and anger, whose minds are controlled and who know the self, Brahmanirvana is present all around.
Translation: Gita Guidance (original English rendering).
In plain words
Freedom from desire and anger opens the presence of liberation.
Word-by-word meaning
Tap a word to see its meaning.
Explanation
Krishna emphasizes again that desire and anger are central obstacles. When they are reduced, the mind becomes controlled and the self is known. Liberation is not a distant fantasy; it becomes present around the seeker.
Read the traditional commentary
Krishna offers a deeply encouraging assurance. For the striving seekers (yati) who have freed themselves from desire and anger (kama-krodha-viyukta), mastered their thoughts (yata-chetasam), and realized the Self (vidita-atmanam), brahma-nirvana exists abhitah — on all sides, everywhere around them.
The word abhitah is the heart of the verse. Liberation is not a far-off destination to be reached after death, nor a place to journey toward. For the one who has cleansed the heart and known the Self, the supreme freedom is already present in every direction, ever at hand.
They are, as it were, immersed in it on all sides. This dissolves the seeker's anxiety about whether liberation will come. The conditions are clear and attainable: master desire and anger, still the mind, know your true Self — and you find the freedom you sought has been surrounding you all along.
In daily life
Work directly with desire and anger as spiritual practice.
A person who pauses before anger and examines desire beneath it becomes freer every week.
Try this today
Track one desire or anger episode and note its trigger.
I grow free as desire and anger lose power.Reflect
Which is stronger in me now: desire or anger?
Private — only you can see this
Quick check
What does ‘कामक्रोधवियुक्तानाम्’ mean in this verse?
Krishna on self control, in other chapters
- Verse 3.41Master desire at its earliest stage in the senses, before it captures your mind and reasoning — it is far easier to check an impulse than an obsession.
- Verse 13.24Right understanding of self and nature liberates you wherever you stand — no special circumstance required.
- Verse 14.1The highest knowledge is not what you accumulate but what you realise — and it has already carried countless seekers to freedom before you.
- Verse 18.50Attaining perfection is not the end but the threshold to realizing the Absolute itself.
Swipe left for 5.27 · Meditation begins by reducing outer pull and balancing breath.
Questions about Bhagavad Gita 5.26
Who says Bhagavad Gita 5.26, and to whom?
Krishna speaks to Arjuna in verse 5.26, in Chapter 5, Karma Sannyas Yoga (Karma Sannyas Yoga).
What does Bhagavad Gita 5.26 mean?
For disciplined seekers who are free from desire and anger, whose minds are controlled and who know the self, Brahmanirvana is present all around. (Translation: Gita Guidance (original English rendering).)
What is the lesson of Bhagavad Gita 5.26 for daily life?
Work directly with desire and anger as spiritual practice. A person who pauses before anger and examines desire beneath it becomes freer every week.
What do the Sanskrit words in Bhagavad Gita 5.26 mean?
कामक्रोधवियुक्तानाम् — for those freed from desire and anger; यतीनाम् — of the striving ascetics; यतचेतसाम् — whose thoughts are controlled; अभितः — on all sides / everywhere near; ब्रह्मनिर्वाणम् — freedom in Brahman.
Where does verse 5.26 come in the Bhagavad Gita?
It is verse 26 of 29 in Chapter 5, Karma Sannyas Yoga. The next verse is 5.27.