This summary is about verses 18.57 to 18.66 of the eighteenth chapter of the Gita. It is the eighth and last stop on Begin the Gita. Before it is The Paths: Action, Knowledge, Devotion.

The answer in one line

At the end of the Gita the Lord gives no new doctrine. He makes a direct call to Arjuna: hand your actions over to Me in the mind, and take refuge in Me. But in between He says, "Reflect fully, and then do as you wish" (Gita 18.63).

So refuge is chosen with thought, not forced on anyone. And it does not mean giving up effort or thought.

What problem this answers

The load of every task seems to rest on our own head alone. Can the load be put down, and duty and thought still remain? What does the Lord finally ask of Arjuna? And how do these ten verses fit together?

The background is in verses 18.55 and 18.56. The perfected one knows the Lord in truth through devotion, and while always doing all actions takes refuge in Him (Gita 18.55–56). So action goes on, and refuge goes on too. Now this same picture comes into Arjuna's hand as a command: be like this.

The verses in order

In verse 18.57 the Lord gives the practice. He says: hand over all actions to Me with discernment, hold Me as the highest goal, take the support of buddhi yoga, and keep your mind always on Me.

Verse 18.58 holds both a warning and a promise. If you fix your mind on Me, by My grace you will cross every difficulty. If out of ego you do not listen, you will perish.

Verses 18.59 and 18.60 show why the resolve will break. "I will not fight" is a false resolve of ego. The action born of your nature will bind you anyway.

Verse 18.61 tells who is within. The Lord dwells in the hearts of all and, by His power, turns all beings as if mounted on a machine.

Verse 18.62 names refuge. Go to Him alone in every way. By His grace you will reach supreme peace and the eternal abode.

In verse 18.63 the Lord hands the choice to Arjuna. The most secret knowledge has been told. Now reflect on it fully, and do as you wish.

In verses 18.64 and 18.65 the Lord opens His heart. You are dear to Me. Fix your mind on Me, be My devotee, worship Me, bow to Me. The promise is that you will come to Me alone.

And verse 18.66 is the last word. Give up all supports of duty and come to Me alone for refuge. I shall free you from all sins. Do not grieve.

Arjuna's answer comes after this, in verse 18.73: my delusion is gone, I have my memory back, and I shall act as You have said (Gita 18.73).

The main points to remember

The four things in verse 18.57 are four sides of one thing

The first is handing over actions in the mind. This is the direction (Gita 3.30). The second is holding the Lord as the highest goal. This is the destination. The third is buddhi yoga, the strength of a steady resolve (Gita 2.39–41). And the fourth is the mind's constant remembering, which keeps it alive in daily work.

If one is cut, the rest are incomplete. Holding the Lord as goal without handing over is a show. Handing over without a steady intellect is a feeling of one day. This is no new teaching. Scattered teachings are gathered in one sentence.

The handing over happens in the mind, and the hands go on working

Refuge is not inaction.

Verse 18.58 is no threat

It holds two ways of living: walking with the Lord's support, or only with the support of ego, that is, "I'll manage it all myself." The key word is "listening". Ego listens to another only as long as it agrees with itself. And "you will cross difficulties" does not mean difficulties will not come. It means there will be support in getting through them.

A resolve made from ego breaks against nature

In verse 1.47 Arjuna had said he would not fight (Gita 1.47). The Lord does not frighten him. He shows him his own state (Gita 18.59–60). A warrior's "no" has come from wounded ego and delusion, so it will scatter when the wound cools. It is like one who quits a job in anger at an insult and a few months later looks for the same work. The lesson is that before big decisions, check whether they came from a wound, from fear, or from a true leaning.

The Lord is not a stranger, He is in the heart

This is verse 18.61 (Gita 18.61). To "what is then in my hands?" the answer is that the one who drives is within you. When the power that frightens turns out to be one's own, fear begins to turn into trust.

"Am I then a puppet?" No, because two verses later He says "think and choose". Nobody says that to a puppet. Maya is hard to cross, but those who take refuge cross it (Gita 7.14).

Refuge is "in every way"

That is, in thought, speech and action (Gita 18.62). Refuge is not wiping oneself out. The intellect and the work stay with us, and only the leaning on them falls away. A traveller walks by his own effort and asks the way of one who knows. The support is that the Lord carries the yogakshema of those joined to Him with undivided mind (Gita 9.22).

Verse 18.63 is the centre of the whole counsel

It has two conditions: full reflection, and the choice is the disciple's. A word accepted under pressure is not refuge. It becomes fear. This is the answer to the mistake that refuge means giving everything up without thinking.

Four small acts, in four places

The four acts of verse 18.65 are these. Fixing the mind, which is inward work and means bringing attention back. Being a devotee, which is a relationship. Worship, which is the hand's work: a flower, a lamp, a name. And bowing, which is the work against ego, for bowing is the hardest. The cure for the warning against ego lies here in the small daily bowing.

Almost the same is in verse 9.34, where the road is open to both the sinner and the virtuous (Gita 9.34). So saint or sinner, anyone can begin with these.

The promise rests on love, not on worth

The Lord says "because you are dear to Me" (Gita 18.65). A promise resting on worth runs an account in the mind: am I fit or not? A promise resting on love leaves no place for the account.

"Give up all dharmas" does not mean giving up duty

Commentators follow two streams. One says to give up the support of the other means and duties for freedom, and to rest on the Lord alone. The other says to give up the feeling "I am the doer" and the grip on the fruit. Both hold that the Gita teaches the keeping of one's own duty (Gita 18.48) and calls renunciation the renunciation of the fruit (Gita 18.9, Gita 18.11). What goes is the support and the grip, not the work.

"Freedom from sins" answers Arjuna's fear

Arjuna had said in verse 1.36 that killing would bring sin (Gita 1.36). The way to be free of sin is the same refuge. It is not a separate account.

And on "do not grieve" the Gita comes full circle. The grief with which it opened (Gita 1.47, Gita 2.7) is cut at its root here. The answer in verse 2.11 was the nature of the self (Gita 2.11). The answer in verse 18.66 is refuge (Gita 18.66).

The logic of the order

Arjuna's grief did not rise from action but from the doer: how can I do it, whom shall I kill, what will happen to me. So first the burden of action is lifted (Gita 18.57). Then the false "I" of ego is exposed (Gita 18.59). Then he is told that the one on whom the burden is to be laid is near (Gita 18.61). And then he is asked to put the whole load in one place (Gita 18.66).

The warning and the promise go together. A promise alone leads to carelessness, and a warning alone to fear. Refuge should come with understanding.

Common mistakes and answers

The first mistake is that refuge means doing nothing. That is not so. "Hand over all actions" has actions in it, to be handed over in the mind. And "reflect fully" is said by the Lord Himself.

The second is that giving up all dharmas means giving up duty. That is not so. The support and the grip are to be given up.

The third is that the Lord turns everyone, so I have no say. That is not so. The same Lord says "think and choose" (Gita 18.63).

The fourth is that verse 18.58 is a threat. That is not so. Grace and the promise of crossing are in the same verse. They are two ends of one truth.

The fifth is that if grace will come, effort is not needed. That is not so. Grace comes after refuge, and before it four acts were named (Gita 18.65). Grace does not take the place of effort. It gives effort a resting place.

The sixth is that refuge and devotion are no different. They differ. The direction is the same, and verses 9.34 and 18.65 are nearly one. What is new is "to Me alone", and the end of grief. Devotion is the road. Refuge is setting out on it with full trust.

And the seventh is about doubt. The four small acts can be done even while doubt remains (Gita 9.30). Trust often comes after the act, not before.

"Most secret" does not mean hidden. It means most precious, given to one who is ready to listen. By saying "again", the Lord repeats it with love.

How to take it up

There is a plain order: think, choose, act, hand over. In the morning turn the mind towards the Lord for a moment (Gita 18.65). Think a tangled matter through to the end (Gita 18.63). Then choose and act, keeping the grip on the fruit loose (Gita 2.47). Hand the result over in the mind (Gita 18.57). And at night say once what you handed over today, and sleep. The peace that comes is the fruit of refuge (Gita 18.62).

In the evening one can also look at whether today I listened or dug in, whether I thought the matter through, whether I chose or only drifted, what I handed over, and where I took the grip back.

If you have to explain it in thirty seconds

At the end of the Gita the Lord does not bind with rules or press. After explaining everything He says: hand your actions over to Me in the mind, and take refuge in Me. Then He adds, "Reflect fully, and then do as you wish." So refuge is chosen with thought, and effort and thought both stay. What goes is the grip. The promise rests not on Arjuna's worth but on the Lord's love: "You are dear to Me." And the Gita ends where it began: "Do not grieve."

Related hubs: Begin the Gita (path) · The Paths: Action, Knowledge, Devotion (before) · Relinquishment and Renunciation of Action · Freedom Through Action · Offering All Actions · One's Own Duty · Arjuna's Despondency · The Steadfast Devotee and Divine Care · Even the Worst Offender · The Illusory Energy and Surrender