Chapter 4Verse 16 of 42

Bhagavad Gita 4.16

किं कर्म किमकर्मेति कवयोऽप्यत्र मोहिताः । तत्ते कर्म प्रवक्ष्यामि यज्ज्ञात्वा मोक्ष्यसेऽशुभात् ॥

kiṃ karma kim akarmeti kavayo 'py atra mohitāḥ | tat te karma pravakṣyāmi yaj jñātvā mokṣyase 'śubhāt ||

Translation

What is action, what is inaction? Even the wise are perplexed about this. Therefore I will tell you of action, knowing which you will be released from evil.

Kavayo 'pi mohitāḥ. Even the wise are confused. The verse acknowledges the difficulty before teaching it. The student is being told: this is not your stupidity, this is the actual texture of the question. Tat te karma pravakṣyāmi, I will tell you the karma. Yaj jñātvā mokṣyase 'śubhāt, knowing which, you will be freed from inauspiciousness. Aurobindo reads this verse as the chapter's most generous moment: the teacher names the problem as legitimately hard and then promises to take it apart anyway.

Reflection

What confusion of yours have you been treating as a failing, when the wise share it?

Read this verse in its chapter: Chapter Four

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