इति ते ज्ञानम् आख्यातं गुह्याद् गुह्यतरं मया । विमृश्यैतद् अशेषेण यथेच्छसि तथा कुरु ॥
iti te jñānam ākhyātaṃ guhyād guhya-taraṃ mayā | vimṛśyaitad aśeṣeṇa yathecchasi tathā kuru ||
This knowledge, more secret than all secrets, has been declared to you — reflect on it fully and act as you wish.
Word by word (3)
- iti te jñānam ākhyātaṃ guhyād guhya-taraṃ mayā
- — thus (iti = end-marker/thus) this knowledge (jñānam = this knowledge, the entire Gita's teaching) has been declared/explained (ākhyātam = from ā + khyā = fully-proclaimed) by Me (mayā) to you (te), more secret than all that is secret (guhyād guhya-taram = more-secret than-secret; guhya = secret/hidden; comparative) — the Gita's self-description as the most profound teaching
- vimṛśyaitad aśeṣeṇa yathecchasi tathā kuru
- — having fully/deeply reflected on (vimṛśya = having-thoroughly-pondered, from vi + mṛś = to deeply examine) this completely/exhaustively (etad aśeṣeṇa = this-totally, aśeṣa = without-remainder), as you wish (yathā icchasi = however you wish), do (tathā kuru = in that way act) — the greatest gift: after proclaiming the most profound teaching, Krishna gives total freedom to act according to one's own free will
- yathecchasi tathā kuru
- — as you wish, so act; the Gita's final freedom-declaration at this juncture. Having proclaimed guhyād guhya-taram (the most secret of all secrets), Krishna does not command but invites free reflection and free choice (yathā icchasi). This is not indifference but the highest respect for human agency: the teaching has been given in its fullness; now the student must choose freely. The 'icchā' (wish) here is not ego-wish but the illuminated will of the student who has received the teaching.
Thus this knowledge, more secret than all that is secret, has been declared to you by Me. Reflecting on it fully and completely, act as you wish.
A modern analogy
V63 is the Gita's 'exam handover' moment. Krishna has taught everything (guhyād guhya-taram = the most profound teaching). Now: vimṛśya aśeṣeṇa (reflect on it completely) — don't act impulsively, but genuinely process it. Then: yathecchasi tathā kuru — act from your own free reflection, not from external compulsion. This is the Gita's pedagogy at its best: complete transmission + invitation to free reflection + freedom to choose.
V63 is a teaching-completion marker within Ch.18. At this point (before V64-65's 'even more secret' teaching), Krishna has completed the public/general teaching: the whole Gita through V62. V63's yathecchasi tathā kuru (act as you wish) is genuine freedom — not 'you may choose but you'd better choose right' but a real invitation to the illuminated free will of the student. This is immediately followed by V64: 'Once more, listen' — what follows (V64-66) is the MOST secret teaching reserved for the dearest.
Guhyād guhya-taram (more secret than the most secret) places the Gita in the hierarchy of upaniṣadic secrets: the ātman as the deepest secret of all secrets (anor aṇīyaṃ mahato mahīyāṃ — smaller than the smallest, greater than the greatest). The Gita claims to have declared this deepest reality. Yathecchasi tathā kuru then recognizes that the student who has received this teaching is no longer to be commanded but to be trusted with their own illuminated will. The student who has truly received guhya-tara-jñāna will naturally choose correctly — but Krishna does not enforce it.
Advaita lens
Guhyād guhya-taram (most secret) in advaita is the teaching of ātman = Brahman — the deepest non-dual identity that cannot be arrived at by inference, scripture-analysis alone, or practice, but only by direct recognition (aparokṣa-anubhava). The fact that Krishna grants yathecchasi tathā kuru (act as you wish) after this teaching indicates confidence that the student who has TRULY received the non-dual teaching will act from that truth — their 'wish' (icchā) will be the expression of brahma-cit (Brahman-consciousness), not ego-will.
Bhakti lens
The 'most secret' in the bhakti tradition is the intimacy of the divine-human relationship — the Lord who is simultaneously the cosmic Sovereign (V61's yantra-māyā image) and the personally intimate Beloved who gives the student total freedom (yathecchasi). V63's freedom-declaration is the most perfect expression of divine love: the Beloved does not coerce. Having given everything (guhyād guhya-taram), the Divine says: now you choose. This is the love that does not possess or compel.
Karma-Yoga lens
V63 from the karma-yoga perspective: the karma-yogī who has received the complete teaching (from Ch.2 V47 through Ch.18's entire arc) is now given the freedom to act. Vimṛśya aśeṣeṇa (reflect thoroughly) = the inner discrimination that the karma-yogī applies to determine their dharma. Yathecchasi tathā kuru = act from clarity, not compulsion. This is the karma-yogī at their fullest: informed by the complete teaching, free to act from their own illuminated understanding.
Public-domain translations (4) compare all →
Thus has wisdom, more secret than all that is secret, been declared to thee by Me; reflect thou over it all and act as thou pleasest. [1]
Thus has wisdom, more profound than all profundities, been declared to thee by Me; reflecting over it fully, act as thou likest. [4]
MISSING from index. [9]
Thus has been declared to thee by Me the knowledge that is more mysterious than any other matter. Reflecting on it fully, act as thou likest. [13]
This verse speaks to
Where this thread continues
Even the wise are confused about action vs. inaction. I will explain — knowing this frees you from all wrong.
Arjuna asks: what does the truly wise person look like? How do they speak, sit, and move?
Those whose sin has ended — virtuous in deed, freed from dvandva-delusion — worship Me with firm resolve.
Brahman-become, serene, neither grieving nor desiring, equal to all beings — he attains supreme bhakti to Me.
The person unmoved by pleasure and pain is fit for liberation — equanimity is not coldness but freedom.
No effort on this path is ever wasted — even a little progress protects you from great fear.