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Chapter 18 · The Perfection of Renunciation · 78 verses

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How to study this verse, in six steps
  1. 1Remember who is speaking. Kṛṣṇa is speaking. Take the verse as He directs.
  2. 2Say the verse and its words. Read the Sanskrit, then each word with its meaning.
  3. 3Read the translation as it is. Let the translation say what it says, without adding your own meaning.
  4. 4Read the purport. Hear the verse through the disciplic succession.
  5. 5Bring your own question. Ask: where does this verse meet my life, my trouble, my doubt?
  6. 6Act on it, remembering Kṛṣṇa. Carry one instruction into your work today.
Read the full guide: how to read the Bhagavad-gītā ›
Nature & guṇasChapter 18 · The Perfection of Renunciation
18.2818.30

Bhagavad-gītā As It Is · Text 18.29

Knowledge, action, determination and happiness in the modes

Prakṛti · Material nature

बुद्धेर्भेदं धृतेश्चैव गुणतस्त्रिविधं श‍ृणु ।

प्रोच्यमानमशेषेण पृथक्त्वेन धनञ्जय ॥ २९ ॥

buddher bhedaṁ dhṛteś caiva

guṇatas tri-vidhaṁ śṛṇu

procyamānam aśeṣeṇa

pṛthaktvena dhanañ-jaya

Translation

O winner of wealth, now please listen as I tell you in detail of the different kinds of understanding and determination, according to the three modes of material nature.

Read Śrīla Prabhupāda's purport on Vedabase.io
1

Understand it

What this verse is saying, and where it sits in the story.

3 study points

Understanding and Determination

  1. 1

    The Lord asks Arjuna to listen as He explains understanding and determination according to the three modes of material nature.

  2. 2

    Prabhupāda explains that the Lord now describes the worker’s intelligence and determination, just as He previously described knowledge, its object, and the knower.

  3. 3

    Listen carefully to the Lord’s explanation of these different kinds of understanding and determination.

Key points from the purport

Three kinds of understanding and determination are explained henceforth

One who is not Krishna conscious is forced to act by the modes of material nature. And as in our knowledge and work, so also in our understanding and determination

Further reading

The Modes Control All Activities

One’s work according to the five factors mentioned above is dictated by the three modes of material nature

This includes:

One’s knowledge (19-22) o One’s action (23-26)

One’s performance of action (27-28) o One’s understandings (29-32)

One’s determination(33-35) o One’s happiness (36-39)

All activities within the universe are thus controlled by the three modes SAKAMA TO NISKAMA KARMA YOGA

Chapter 18, section III: The Modes Control All Activities
2

Word for word

Learn the Sanskrit words of the verse.

  1. buddheḥof intelligence
  2. bhedamthe differences
  3. dhṛteḥof steadiness
  4. caalso
  5. evacertainly
  6. guṇataḥby the modes of material nature
  7. tri-vidhamof three kinds
  8. śṛṇujust hear
3

Key ideas in this verse

The spiritual concepts this verse connects to.

Key ideas: prakṛti, guṇa.

4

Live it

Take one thing from this verse into your day.

Ask yourself

What does BG 18.29 establish in Śrīla Prabhupāda's translation and purport, and how does it connect to nature & guṇas?

Practice

Observe which mode shaped your last decision.

5

Related verses

Keep going: verses that carry this teaching further.

BG 18.19Knowledge, action, determination and happiness in the modesBG 18.20Knowledge, action, determination and happiness in the modesBG 7.14Crossing beyond māyā
Live this todayWorship Kṛṣṇa Through Your WorkA practice from BG 18.46, close to this verse

Study notes are editorial summaries, not the translation. Confirm them in the original text and purport.

  1. Learn
  2. Live
  3. Lead
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