Verset 4.16

किं कर्म किमकर्मेति कवयोऽप्यत्र मोहिताः ।

तत्ते कर्म प्रवक्ष्यामि यज्ज्ञात्वा मोक्ष्यसेऽशुभात् ॥

4.16

Translittération

kiṃ karma kimakarmeti kavayo'pyatra mohitāḥ |

tatte karma pravakṣyāmi yajjñātvā mokṣyase'śubhāt ||

Par Sanskrit System · Brouillon automatique · @indic-transliteration/sanscript 1.3.3

Traduction

What is action? What is inaction? As to this even the wise are confused. Therefore I shall teach thee such action (the nature of action and inaction) by knowing which thou shalt be liberated from the evil (of Samsara, the wheel of birth and death).

D’après la feuille du propriétaire · +1 de plus

Mot à mot

what
is action
what
is inaction
thus
the wise
even
here
are confused

that
to you
action
I shall explain
which
knowing
you will be freed
from evil

Par Sanskrit System · Brouillon automatique · claude-opus-5-5 · 2026-11-08

Explication

Krishna admits that the question he is addressing is genuinely difficult. Even kavis, poets and sages, are confused about what counts as action and what as inaction. It is not obvious, for example, whether sitting in meditation is inaction or whether fighting a battle without desire is action in the binding sense. Krishna promises to explain, and says this knowledge will free Arjuna from aśubha, what is inauspicious or harmful. The verse opens a dense and important section on the nature of action.