Verse 4.15

एवं ज्ञात्वा कृतं कर्म पूर्वैरपि मुमुक्षुभिः ।

कुरु कर्मैव तस्मात्त्वं पूर्वैः पूर्वतरं कृतम् ॥

4.15

Transliteration

evaṃ jñātvā kṛtaṃ karma pūrvairapi mumukṣubhiḥ |

kuru karmaiva tasmāttvaṃ pūrvaiḥ pūrvataraṃ kṛtam ||

By Sanskrit System · Machine draft · @indic-transliteration/sanscript 1.3.3

Translation

Having known this, the ancient seekers after freedom also performed action; therefore do thou also perform action, as did the ancients in days of yore.

From the owner's sheet · +1 more

Word by word

thus
knowing
was done
action
by the ancients
also
seekers of liberation

do
action
only
therefore
you
by the ancients
in olden times
done

By Sanskrit System · Machine draft · claude-opus-5-5 · 2026-11-08

Explanation

Krishna draws the practical lesson for Arjuna. Those of old who sought liberation, mumukṣus, understood that action done without attachment does not bind, and so they kept acting. Arjuna should do the same. The appeal to precedent echoes the earlier mention of Janaka and the royal sages. It reassures Arjuna that acting in the world is not a lesser path for the spiritually serious; it is the way followed by earlier seekers who reached the goal. The instruction is clear: act, as they acted.