Bhagavad Gita Chapter 18, Verse 66

Chapter 18 – Moksha Sanyasa Yoga · Speaker: Krishna

Sanskrit verse

सर्वधर्मान्परित्यज्य मामेकं शरणं व्रज ।
अहं त्वा सर्वपापेभ्यो मोक्षयिष्यामि मा शुचः ॥

Transliteration

sarvadharmānparityajya māmekaṃ śaraṇaṃ vraja .
ahaṃ tvāṃ sarvapāpebhyo mokṣyayiṣyāmi mā śucaḥ ॥

Meaning

Abandoning all dharmas, take refuge in me alone. I will free you from all sins; do not grieve.

Word meanings

सर्वधर्मान् – all dharmas — all duties and means (as one's support)
परित्यज्य – having completely abandoned
माम् – in me
एकम् – alone, the One
शरणम् – refuge
व्रज – go, take
अहम् – I
त्वा – you
सर्वपापेभ्यः – from all sins
मोक्षयिष्यामि – will liberate
मा शुचः – do not grieve

Anvaya (word order)

सर्वधर्मान् परित्यज्य माम् एकं शरणं व्रज; अहं त्वा सर्वपापेभ्यः मोक्षयिष्यामि; मा शुचः ।

Explanation

This verse is known as the charama shloka of the Gita — the final and supreme teaching. Krishna himself called it sarva-guhyatama, the deepest of all secrets (18.64). All the teaching of seventeen chapters and the sixty-five verses of this chapter is gathered into this single sentence. For centuries the saints, acharyas and devotees of India have made it the foundation of their lives. It has four parts, each of which deserves careful reflection.

The first part is sarva-dharman parityajya — abandoning all dharmas. This is the most discussed and most interpreted phrase in the Gita. Is Krishna, who stressed svadharma throughout (18.47), now asking Arjuna to abandon dharma? Clearly it cannot mean outward abandonment of duty, because immediately after this teaching Arjuna says karishye vachanam tava, 'I will do your bidding' (18.73), and goes on to fight — his own svadharma. So the 'abandonment' meant here is something subtler. The prefix pari in parityajya conveys completeness — giving up entirely — but what is to be given up is where the acharyas differ.

For Shankara, 'all dharmas' includes both dharma and adharma — all action, since action as such belongs to the realm of bondage. In his view the verse teaches the renunciation of all action: the knower renounces all works and takes refuge in the one Supreme Lord who is the Self of all. Mam ekam means that one, non-dual Self present in all beings, apart from which nothing exists. To know 'I am that one Lord; there is nothing other than me' is, for him, true refuge, and liberation comes by this knowledge. He insists that knowledge alone is the means to liberation, not action, and that action and knowledge cannot be combined as joint means.

Ramanuja gives two interpretations, and the Sri Vaishnava tradition took this verse as the charama shloka, the foundation of its doctrine of prapatti, surrender. In the first, 'abandoning all dharmas' means performing karma yoga, jnana yoga and bhakti yoga while relinquishing their fruit, attachment and sense of doership, and giving up the notion that these disciplines by themselves will grant liberation — that is, regarding the Lord alone as the upaya, the means. The second is for those who despair at the demanding limbs of bhakti yoga, or at the burden of expiations for past sins: in place of all those difficult disciplines, take refuge in me alone — surrender itself is a sufficient means, and I will free you from all the sins that obstruct the path of devotion.

For Madhva, sarva-dharman parityajya does not mean abandoning the dharmas themselves but abandoning attachment to their fruits and dependence upon them. No duty should be given up; the devotee performs all his dharmas, yet relinquishes reliance on them and takes Lord Vishnu alone as the supreme and independent refuge. Some other Vaishnava teachers also read the verse as declaring pure devotion to stand above all lesser dharmas. Through all these interpretations runs one common thread: the final trust must rest not on any means, but on the Supreme himself.

The second part is mam ekam sharanam vraja — take refuge in me alone. The word ekam, 'alone', is decisive — only me, no other; undivided refuge. In 18.62 Krishna had said, 'take refuge in him'; now he reveals himself and says mam, 'in me'. The charioteer seated before Arjuna is the very Lord seated in the heart. Vraja, 'go', is a verb of active decision: surrender is not passivity, but a conscious, total step of self-offering. Tradition describes six limbs of surrender: resolving to do what pleases the Lord, giving up what displeases him, firm faith that he will protect, choosing him as protector, placing oneself entirely in his care, and humility.

The third part is the Lord's promise: aham tva sarva-papebhyo mokshayishyami — I will free you from all sins. The emphasis is on aham, 'I' — I myself, all-powerful, all-knowing, supremely compassionate. Arjuna's greatest fear was sin; in the first chapter (1.36, 1.45) he said repeatedly that by killing his kinsmen they would incur sin. Krishna now answers that very fear directly: you need not carry the burden of sin; I will carry it. Sarva-papebhyah, 'from all sins', includes the sins accumulated in the past, those of the present, and every bond that obstructs liberation. For Shankara these are all the bonds of dharma and adharma; for Ramanuja, all the sins that stand in the way of attaining the Lord.

The fourth part is ma shuchah — do not grieve. This is the Gita's final reassurance, and it connects beautifully with the Gita's beginning. In Chapter 2 (2.11) Krishna's first teaching was ashochyan anvashochas tvam — 'you grieve for those who should not be grieved for.' And now the last is ma shuchah — 'do not grieve.' The Gita begins in grief and is completed in freedom from grief. All the teaching in between exists to remove the sorrow of Arjuna — and of us all.

The practical meaning of the verse is profound. In life we trust our resources, plans, achievements and merits, and when they fail we sink into anxiety and fear. This verse teaches us to do our duty with complete sincerity, but to place our final trust in the Supreme alone. For those weighed down by the burden of past mistakes, it is the greatest assurance: no sin is so great that refuge in God cannot wash it away. It is not a licence for laziness or wrongdoing — one who has truly surrendered never chooses adharma — but a door to freedom from fear, guilt and worry. Whoever takes refuge in him with the whole heart finds that he himself takes the reins of that life.

Context

In the previous verse Krishna gave the four limbs of undivided devotion and made a solemn promise. This verse is the climax of that 'most secret' word — the final teaching of the Gita, total surrender. It is the direct form of 18.62's 'take refuge in him alone', and it completes the journey from the first teaching of 2.11, 'you grieve for those not to be grieved for', to 'do not grieve'. From the next verse (18.67) Krishna explains to whom this teaching should and should not be given.

Life lesson

Do your duty with full sincerity, but place your final trust not in your own means but in the Supreme. Hand over the weight of past mistakes and guilt into his refuge — no error is greater than his grace. Let go of anxiety and grief; whoever surrenders wholeheartedly finds that he himself takes responsibility for their protection.

Key terms

Charama shloka: The final, supreme verse of the Gita — total surrender
Sarva-dharma-parityaga: Giving up reliance on all means (Shankara: renunciation of all action; Ramanuja: giving up fruit and doership, or prapatti; Madhva: giving up attachment to fruits)
Sharanagati / Prapatti: Complete self-surrender, taking the Lord as the sole protector and means
Mam ekam: Me alone — undivided refuge
Sarva-papa: All sins and bonds that obstruct liberation
Ma shuchah: Do not grieve — the Gita's final reassurance