नष्टो मोहः स्मृतिर् लब्धा त्वत्प्रसादान् मयाऽच्युत । स्थितोऽस्मि गतसन्देहः करिष्ये वचनं तव ॥
naṣṭo mohaḥ smṛtir labdhā tvat-prasādān mayā'cyuta | sthito'smi gata-sandehaḥ kariṣye vacanaṃ tava ||
Destroyed is my delusion, memory restored by Your grace — I stand firm, free of doubt, and will do Your word.
Word by word (3)
- naṣṭo mohaḥ smṛtir labdhā tvat-prasādān mayā acyuta
- — naṣṭaḥ = destroyed/gone (past participle of naś = to be destroyed/lost); mohaḥ = the delusion (the moha of Ch.1, diagnosed and treated through the entire Gita); smṛtiḥ = memory/self-knowledge (smṛ = to remember; smṛti here is not ordinary memory but the recognition of ātman — the memory of one's true nature lost under moha); labdhā = obtained/regained (labh = to gain); tvat-prasādāt = through Your grace/favour (tvat = Your; prasāda = grace, clarity, favour — lit. 'making clear/pure'); mayā = by me; Acyuta = O Achyuta (the Infallible One, Krishna's name meaning 'the one who does not fall/slip')
- sthitaḥ asmi gata-sandehaḥ
- — sthitaḥ asmi = I am established/firm/standing (sthita = established, from sthā = to stand; asmi = I am; the first-person affirmation of stability — from Ch.1's collapse to Ch.18's standing firm); gata-sandehaḥ = doubts are gone (gata = gone; sandeha = doubt, from sam + dih = clinging together; the doubts that clung are gone) — the sthita-prajña ideal of Ch.2 V54-72 is now Arjuna's own lived reality
- kariṣye vacanaṃ tava
- — kariṣye = I will do/act (future of kṛ = to do; first-person active — Arjuna's declaration of will); vacanaṃ = word/instruction (from vac = to speak); tava = Your (genitive of tvam = you) — Arjuna's final declaration: 'Your word, I will act upon.' Three words, 18 chapters of journey: the entire Gita arrives at kariṣye vacanaṃ tava. The student has moved from 'I will not fight' (Ch.1 V46) to 'I will do Your word' (Ch.18 V73).
My delusion is destroyed, and through Your grace, O Achyuta, I have regained my memory (my true self-knowledge). I am firm. My doubts are gone. I will act according to Your word.
A modern analogy
In Ch.1 V46, Arjuna dropped his bow and said: 'I will not fight.' In V73, he says: 'I will do Your word.' The bow is the same. The battlefield is the same. The enemy is the same. But Arjuna is different. Eighteen chapters of teaching — on death, the soul, action, knowledge, devotion, the cosmos, liberation — have turned 'I will not' into 'I will.' Not through force, but through the clearing of moha (delusion) and the recovery of smṛti (true self-knowledge). This is what a truly transformative teaching looks like.
V73 is the Gita's transformation verse — the proof that the teaching worked. It directly answers Krishna's double kaccid question (V72): Yes, heard with focused mind; yes, the delusion of ignorance is completely destroyed. V73 perfectly mirrors Ch.1 V28-46 (Arjuna's collapse) and Ch.2 V7 (Arjuna's admission of kārpaṇya-doṣa). The arc from V28 of Ch.1 to V73 of Ch.18 is the Gita's narrative spine: a human being transformed by the encounter with the Divine through teaching, practice, and grace.
Smṛtir labdhā (memory regained) is the Gita's epistemology of liberation: the truth was always there — it was not newly created by the teaching, only revealed. Moha (delusion) had covered smṛti. When moha is destroyed, smṛti re-emerges of itself — not as a new acquisition but as a recovery. Tvat-prasādāt (through Your grace) attributes this to the Divine, not to Arjuna's own effort alone. This is the Gita's balance between sādhanā (practice) and prasāda (grace): the student does the work of listening, and grace does the work of liberation. Kariṣye vacanaṃ tava does not mean blind obedience — it means: acting from the clarity of smṛti, in alignment with the teaching, is itself the expression of freedom.
Advaita lens
For Advaita Vedānta, V73 is the moment of pratipatti (recognition) — the student's acknowledgment that the teaching has landed at the level of immediate experience, not just intellectual understanding. Naṣṭo mohaḥ = the avidyā (ignorance) that produced the apparent bheda (duality/multiplicity) is gone. Smṛtir labdhā = the ātman that was always Brahman has been remembered — not acquired, because it was never absent, only covered. Tvat-prasādāt = from the Advaita perspective, the grace (prasāda) of the guru-teacher (Krishna as guru = Brahman revealing itself to itself) is how Brahman dissolves the apparent veil in the jīva. Kariṣye vacanaṃ tava = the liberated one acts, but without the moha-driven kartā-bhāva (doer-ego); action continues, but from the clarity of smṛti, not from the confusion of moha.
Bhakti lens
V73 is the most intimate moment of the Gita from the bhakti perspective: Arjuna's I-Thou relationship with Krishna is fully restored — deeper than at Ch.1's opening. At Ch.1, Arjuna addressed Krishna as his charioteer. Now he calls Him Acyuta (the Infallible One) and acknowledges: 'Your grace did this.' The bhakta's recognition is complete: moha was not Arjuna's enemy but the occasion for Krishna to reveal the entirety of Himself. Smṛtir labdhā = the bhakta remembers the Beloved — this is the literal meaning of bhakti's healing: recovering the relationship with the Divine that moha had obscured. Kariṣye vacanaṃ tava = the surrendered bhakta: 'Your word is my dharma; I act as Your instrument.'
Karma-Yoga lens
V73 is the karma-yogi's graduation moment. At Ch.1 V46, Arjuna refused to act. At Ch.18 V73, he declares kariṣye (I will act). The entire Gita has been the instruction between refusal and action. The key change is not 'now he is willing to fight' but 'now he knows HOW to act': without moha (which distorts the vision of what action is required), with smṛti (the clarity of one's true nature), without sandeha (doubt that paralyses), and in alignment with the teaching (vacanaṃ tava = act from the wisdom of the teaching, not from fear or ego). This is karma yoga at its summit: action from clarity, freedom, and alignment — the resolution of the entire Ch.3-5 teaching on naiṣkarmya-karma.
Public-domain translations (4) compare all →
Destroyed is delusion, and I have gained recognition through Thy Grace, O Achyuta. I am firm, with doubts gone. I will do Thy word. [1]
Destroyed is my delusion, and I have gained my memory through Thy grace, O Achyuta. I am firm; my doubts are gone. I will do Thy bidding. [4]
My delusion is destroyed, and through Thy favour, O Achyuta, I have recovered my memory. I am firm. My doubts are gone. I will act according to Thy word. [9]
My delusion has been destroyed and I have now, through Thy grace, O Achyuta, recovered my memory. I stand now, my doubts resolved. I will do Thy bidding. [13]
This verse speaks to
Where this thread continues
Therefore remember Me at all times and fight — mind and intellect fixed on Me, you will come to Me without doubt.
Surrender all action to Me, mind on the Self, free from hope and possessiveness — then fight, free from fever.
Even the wise are confused about action vs. inaction. I will explain — knowing this frees you from all wrong.
Mentally offering all actions to Me, with Me as highest — resorting to buddhi-yoga, always be mind-in-Me.
Those whose sin has ended — virtuous in deed, freed from dvandva-delusion — worship Me with firm resolve.
Do My work, hold Me supreme, be My devotee, attachment-free, without enmity toward all — such a one comes to Me!