Bhagavad Gita Chapter 13, Verse 24

Chapter 13 – Kshetra Kshetrajna Vibhaga Yoga · Speaker: Krishna

Sanskrit verse

य एवं वेत्ति पुरुषं प्रकृतिं च गुणैः सह ।
सर्वथा वर्तमानोऽपि न स भूयोऽभिजायते ॥

Transliteration

ya evaṃ vetti puruṣaṃ prakṛtiṃ ca guṇaiḥ saha .
sarvathā vartamāno.api na sa bhūyo.abhijāyate ॥

Meaning

One who thus knows the Purusha, and Prakriti together with its gunas, is not born again, however he may be living.

Word meanings

यः – who
एवम् – thus
वेत्ति – knows
पुरुषम् – the Purusha
प्रकृतिम् – Prakriti
च – and
गुणैः सह – together with the gunas
सर्वथा – in every way, in whatever condition
वर्तमानः – living, conducting himself
अपि – even
न – not
सः – he
भूयः – again
अभिजायते – is born

Anvaya (word order)

यः एवम् पुरुषम् गुणैः सह प्रकृतिम् च वेत्ति, सः सर्वथा वर्तमानः अपि भूयः न अभिजायते ।

Explanation

This verse states the fruit of discriminating spirit from matter. Evam, thus, points back to the four preceding verses: Prakriti and Purusha are both beginningless; action belongs to nature; experience arises through attachment to the gunas; and the Supreme Person dwells in this body as witness. One who does not merely hear this but truly knows it is not born again.

The phrase sarvatha vartamano 'pi, however he may be living, deserves attention. The knower need not flee from the world. Whether householder, king or warrior, as Arjuna must be, if he knows within that actions are done by nature and that he is the witness, his deeds do not bind him. In 4.37 Krishna said that the fire of knowledge reduces all actions to ashes.

Shankara explains that whether the knower acts according to scripture or finds himself, through past karma, in any circumstance, his stored karma is destroyed by Self-knowledge and new actions do not bind him; when the karma that has begun to fructify is exhausted, the body falls and he is free. Ramanuja reads it as saying that one who knows the true nature of the self as distinct from matter, and the nature of the gunas, will not again be bound to Prakriti after death, whatever his present state. Yet he does not take sarvatha as licence for wrong conduct; pure conduct is the natural fruit of such knowledge.

On this all the teachers agree: real knowledge transforms life from within. For one who truly knows, the pull toward adharma simply falls away.

Context

Krishna is speaking to Arjuna. Verse 13.23 described the Supreme Self present in the body. This verse declares the fruit of that discriminating knowledge, and 13.25–26 describe the different paths that lead to this vision of the Self.

Life lesson

Freedom does not require leaving the world; it requires changing who we take ourselves to be. One who acts as the inner witness is free even in the midst of the crowd. True understanding purifies our conduct on its own.

Key terms

Vetti: knows, by direct realisation, not mere reading
Sarvatha vartamana: living in any circumstance whatever
Punarjanma: rebirth; here freedom from it is promised