Library·Bhagavad Gītā·4·4.17

Bhagavad Gītā 4.17

BG 4.17

कर्मणो ह्यपि बोद्धव्यं बोद्धव्यं च विकर्मणः। अकर्मणश्च बोद्धव्यं गहना कर्मणो गतिः

karmaṇo hyapi boddhavyaṁ boddhavyaṁ cha vikarmaṇaḥ akarmaṇaśh cha boddhavyaṁ gahanā karmaṇo gatiḥ

It is necessary to consider what is right action, what is wrong action, and what is inaction, for the law of action is mysterious.

Translated by Shri Purohit Swami

For verily, the true nature of action enjoined by the scriptures should be known, as well as that of forbidden or unlawful action, and of inaction; the nature of action is hard to understand.

Translated by Swami Sivananda

Word meanings (from the gita/gita dataset)

karmaṇaḥ—recommended action; hi—certainly; api—also; boddhavyam—should be known; boddhavyam—must understand; cha—and; vikarmaṇaḥ—forbidden action; akarmaṇaḥ—inaction; cha—and; boddhavyam—must understand; gahanā—profound; karmaṇaḥ—of action; gatiḥ—the true path

Permanent address: hreem.cc/library/BG/4.17

Cite as: Bhagavad Gītā 4.17, in HREEM (hreem.cc/library/BG/4.17), after https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/gh/gita/gita@main (gita/gita on GitHub, Unlicense).

Edition, numbering and licence

https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/gh/gita/gita@main (gita/gita on GitHub, Unlicense)

Dataset: Unlicense (public domain dedication). Translations: see per-translation licence.

More about this text