Offering breaks result-bondage.
Krishna speaks to Arjuna
शुभाशुभफलैरेवं मोक्ष्यसे कर्मबन्धनैः |संन्यासयोगयुक्तात्मा विमुक्तो मामुपैष्यसि ||९-२८||
śubhāśubhaphalairevaṃ mokṣyase karmabandhanaiḥ . saṃnyāsayogayuktātmā vimukto māmupaiṣyasi ||9-28||
Use this verse after receiving results.
Meaning
In this way you will be freed from the bondage of good and bad results. United with renunciation, liberated, you will come to Me.
Translation: Gita Guidance (original English rendering).
In plain words
Offering actions frees the seeker from karmic bondage.
Word-by-word meaning
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Explanation
When action is offered to Krishna, the ego stops claiming every result. This weakens bondage from both success and failure.
Read the traditional commentary
Krishna reveals the liberating fruit of the practice he has just described. When every action is offered to the Divine, it ceases to bind. The 'good and evil fruits' (shubha-ashubha-phala) of karma no longer chain the doer, because the doer has surrendered the very claim to those fruits. What binds is not action itself but our attachment to its results.
This is the sannyasa-yoga — the yoga of renunciation — but a renunciation not of work, rather of grasping. Acting while offering everything to God, the soul becomes vimukta, liberated, and 'comes unto Me.' Here the chapter's threads converge: devotion (bhakti) and the discipline of selfless action (karma-yoga) are revealed as one path.
To dedicate all one does to the Divine is, at once, to love God and to be freed from the bondage of one's own deeds.
In daily life
Offer both success and failure to Krishna.
An exam result can be received as prasad after sincere effort.
Try this today
Offer one success or failure to Krishna today.
I am free through offering.Reflect
Which result still binds me?
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Quick check
What does ‘कर्मबन्धनैः’ mean in this verse?
Krishna on karma yoga, in other chapters
- Verse 4.41Selfless action joined with clear knowledge frees the self-possessed soul — deeds no longer bind one anchored in the Self.
- Verse 5.2Acting selflessly in the world is a surer path to freedom than withdrawing from action with a mind still full of cravings.
- Verse 6.1Do your duty wholeheartedly while letting go of attachment to its results — that, not withdrawal from work, is real renunciation.
- Verse 3.4Walking away from your duties does not free you — freedom is found by acting without attachment, not by avoiding action.
Swipe left for 9.29 · Divine equality and devotional intimacy coexist.
Questions about Bhagavad Gita 9.28
Who says Bhagavad Gita 9.28, and to whom?
Krishna speaks to Arjuna in verse 9.28, in Chapter 9, Raja Vidya Yoga (Raja Vidya Raja Guhya Yoga).
What does Bhagavad Gita 9.28 mean?
In this way you will be freed from the bondage of good and bad results. United with renunciation, liberated, you will come to Me. (Translation: Gita Guidance (original English rendering).)
What is the lesson of Bhagavad Gita 9.28 for daily life?
Offer both success and failure to Krishna. An exam result can be received as prasad after sincere effort.
What do the Sanskrit words in Bhagavad Gita 9.28 mean?
शुभ-अशुभ-फलैः — by the fruits, good and evil; एवम् — thus; मोक्ष्यसे — you shall be freed; कर्मबन्धनैः — from the bonds of action; संन्यासयोगयुक्तात्मा — with the mind steadfast in the yoga of renunciation.
Where does verse 9.28 come in the Bhagavad Gita?
It is verse 28 of 34 in Chapter 9, Raja Vidya Yoga. The next verse is 9.29.