स्वभावजेन कौन्तेय निबद्धः स्वेन कर्मणा । कर्तुं नेच्छसि यन् मोहात् करिष्यस्य् अवशो ऽपि तत् ॥
svabhāva-jena kaunteya nibaddhaḥ svena karmaṇā | kartuṃ necchasi yan mohāt kariṣyasy avaśo 'pi tat ||
Bound by your svabhāva-born karma, what from delusion you don't wish to do — you will do even helplessly.
Word by word (3)
- svabhāva-jena kaunteya nibaddhaḥ svena karmaṇā
- — bound/fettered (nibaddhaḥ = tied down, from ni + bandh = to bind) O son of Kuntī (kaunteya), by your own action (svena karmaṇā = by-one's-own-karma/action) born of your own nature (svabhāva-jena = svabhāva + ja = born-of-svabhāva) — the binding is not external: you are bound by your own svabhāva-born karma
- kartuṃ necchasi yan mohāt kariṣyasy avaśo 'pi tat
- — what (yat) you do not wish (na icchasi = not-desire) to do (kartum = to do), from delusion (mohāt = from moha/confusion), that (tat) you will do (kariṣyasi = will-do, future) even against your will (avaśo 'pi = avaśas + api = without-control + even = even as one-without-mastery/helplessly)
- avaśo kariṣyasi
- — will do helplessly/involuntarily/without mastery (avaśas = a + vaśa = without-control, without-mastery); the deepest point: not only will Prakṛti compel (V59), but it will do so with Arjuna avaśas (without his control, helplessly). The ahaṃkāra that thinks it is freely refusing to fight is the least-free position — it is moha (delusion). The truly free position is V57's mac-citas (mind-in-Me) which transforms the compelled action into conscious offering.
Bound by your own karma born of your own nature, O son of Kuntī — what you do not wish to do from delusion, you will do even helplessly.
A modern analogy
V60 completes V59's teaching. Arjuna's 'I won't fight' is moha-driven (delusion), and even so, his svabhāva-born karma (kṣatriya dharma) will compel him to act — helplessly (avaśas). The paradox: the person who thinks they are exercising freedom by refusing to fight is the LEAST free person — they are under the compulsion of their own unexamined svabhāva. The person who acts consciously through mac-citta + mat-prasāda (V57-58) exercises the highest freedom: acting from the Divine rather than from moha.
V60 is the culmination of the V58-60 ahaṃkāra-moha-svabhāva teaching. The sequence: V58 (ahaṃkāra blocks grace → destruction) → V59 (Prakṛti will compel despite ego-refusal) → V60 (bound by svabhāva-born karma, will act helplessly from moha). The practical teaching: do not act from moha (delusion/ahaṃkāra). Instead (V57): act from mac-citta (mind-in-Me) + mat-prasāda. The same action happens either way (Arjuna will fight), but the quality is entirely different: avaśa (helpless compulsion) vs. mac-citta (conscious offering).
The phrase avaśo 'pi (even helplessly) illuminates the Gita's entire karma-yoga teaching: all action happens through svabhāva-born Prakṛti anyway (Ch.3 V27: prakṛteḥ kriyamāṇāni guṇaiḥ karmāṇi sarvaśaḥ). The question is never WHETHER to act — action is inevitable. The question is whether the action is done avaśas (helplessly, as a puppet of ego-moha) or with mac-citta (consciously, as an offering). This is why the Gita does not teach non-action but the RIGHT relationship to action.
Public-domain translations (4) compare all →
Bound as thou art, O son of Kunti, by thy own nature-born act; that which from delusion thou likest not to do, thou shalt do, though against thy will. [1]
Fettered, O son of Kunti, by thy own Karma, born of thy own nature, what thou, from delusion, desirest not to do, thou shalt have to do in spite of thyself. [4]
MISSING from index. [9]
That which, from delusion, thou dost not wish to do, thou wilt do involuntarily, bound by thy own duty springing from thine own nature. [13]
This verse speaks to
Where this thread continues
This teaching is never to be given to the non-ascetic, non-devotee, non-service-minded, or one who criticizes Me.
Mentally offering all actions to Me, with Me as highest — resorting to buddhi-yoga, always be mind-in-Me.
O Madhusūdana — I see no stable foundation for this yoga: the mind's restlessness defeats all steadiness.
Those whose sin has ended — virtuous in deed, freed from dvandva-delusion — worship Me with firm resolve.
Those who know Me as Adhibhūta, Adhidaiva, and Adhiyajña — they know Me even at death, with unified minds.
One with no ego-doer-sense, whose buddhi is untainted — even while killing all these beings, kills not, is not bound.