📿 Shloka Collection

Yad Ahankaram Ashritya

Gita 18.59 Bhagavad Gita
📖 Bhagavad Gita, Chapter 18 — Moksha Sannyasa Yoga
यदहंकारमाश्रित्य न योत्स्य इति मन्यसे ।
मिथ्यैष व्यवसायस्ते प्रकृतिस्त्वां नियोक्ष्यति ॥
Yad ahankaram ashritya na yotsya iti manyase
Mithyaisha vyavasayaste prakritis tvam niyokshyati
अहंकारम् आश्रित्य
taking shelter of ego
न योत्स्ये
I will not fight
इति मन्यसे
thus you think
मिथ्या एषः
this is false, this is untrue
व्यवसायः
resolve, determination
प्रकृतिः
prakriti, your inherent nature
त्वां नियोक्ष्यति
will compel you, will force you

Krishna sees through Arjuna's hesitation to its root. What looks like compassion — 'I will not fight, I cannot harm my kinsmen' — is actually ego in disguise. It is the ego that says 'I decide,' 'I control,' 'I choose not to.' Krishna calls this resolve false. It will not hold.

Why? Because prakriti — one's inborn nature — is stronger than any surface-level decision. Arjuna is a kshatriya. His entire being is shaped for action, for protection, for standing his ground in moments of crisis. That nature will not stay quiet simply because the mind has announced a different plan.

This is a truth that extends far beyond the battlefield. People often declare they will never do something — and then find themselves doing exactly that, because their deeper tendencies eventually surface. Krishna's point is not that free will is an illusion. His point is that fighting one's own nature with ego is a losing battle.

Arjuna's refusal to fight — which appeared as compassion in Chapter 1 — is reframed here as a form of delusion rooted in ego. Krishna is not dismissing Arjuna's pain, but exposing its true source.

This shloka speaks to the power of prakriti — one's fundamental disposition. The Gita's teaching is not to fight your nature, but to understand it and offer it to the Divine. When nature is aligned with surrender, it becomes the vehicle of liberation.

Chapter 18 · 59 / 78
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