Bhagavad Gita 18.33: meaning and translation
Chapter 18: Moksha Sannyasa Yoga. Krishna says
Krishna says that the steadiness which holds the working of the mind, the breath and the senses firm through yoga, without wavering, is steadiness of the nature of sattva.
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Bhagavad Gita 18.33
धृत्या यया धारयते मनःप्राणेन्द्रियक्रियाः ।योगेनाव्यभिचारिण्या धृतिः सा पार्थ सात्त्विकी ॥
Dhritya yaya dharayate manahpranendriyakriyahYogenavyabhicharinya dhritih sa partha sattviki
dhṛtyā yayā dhārayate manaḥprāṇendriyakriyāḥ |yogenāvyabhicāriṇyā dhṛtiḥ sā pārtha sāttvikī ||
Our explanation Krishna says that the steadiness which holds the working of the mind, the breath and the senses firm through yoga, without wavering, is steadiness of the nature of sattva.
हिंदी अर्थ कृष्ण कहते हैं कि जो अविचल धृति योग के द्वारा मन, प्राण और इंद्रियों की क्रियाओं को थामे रखती है, वह सात्त्विक है।
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- धृत्या dhṛtyā · by steadiness (noun (feminine), instrumental singular) Dictionary: dhṛti, Monier-Williams 1899, p. 519, col. 3 “firmness, constancy, resolution, will, command”
- यया yayā · by which (pronoun (feminine), instrumental singular) Dictionary: yad, Monier-Williams 1899, p. 844, col. 2 “who, which, what, whichever, whatever, that”
- धारयते dhārayate · one holds, controls (causative present, 3rd person singular) Dictionary: dhṛ, Monier-Williams 1899, p. 519, col. 1 “to hold, bear (also = bring forth), carry, maintain, preserve, keep, possess”
- मनःप्राणेन्द्रियक्रियाः manaḥprāṇendriyakriyāḥ · the workings of mind, breath and senses (compound (feminine), accusative plural) Dictionary: manas, Monier-Williams 1899, p. 783, col. 3 “mind (in its widest sense as applied to all the mental powers)”; 2. prāṇa, Monier-Williams 1899, p. 705, col. 1 “the breath of life, breath, respiration, spirit, vitality”; indriya, Monier-Williams 1899, p. 167, col. 2 “faculty of sense, sense, organ of sense”; kriyā, Monier-Williams 1899, p. 320, col. 3 “doing, performing, performance”
- योगेन yogena · through yoga (noun (masculine), instrumental singular) Dictionary: yoga, Monier-Williams 1899, p. 856, col. 3 “application or concentration of the thoughts, abstract contemplation, meditation”
- अव्यभिचारिण्या avyabhicāriṇyā · unwavering (adjective (feminine), instrumental singular) Dictionary: a-vyabhicārin, Monier-Williams 1899, p. 111, col. 3 “steady, permanent”
- धृतिः dhṛtiḥ · steadiness (noun (feminine), nominative singular) Dictionary: dhṛti, Monier-Williams 1899, p. 519, col. 3 “firmness, constancy, resolution, will, command”
- सा sā · that (pronoun (feminine), nominative singular) Dictionary: tad, Monier-Williams 1899, p. 434, col. 1 “m. he, f. she, n. it, that, this”
- पार्थ pārtha · O son of Pritha (noun (masculine), vocative singular) Dictionary: 2. pārtha, Monier-Williams 1899, p. 621, col. 3 “metron. of Yudhi-shṭhira or Bhīma-sena or Arjuna”
- सात्त्विकी sāttvikī · of sattva (adjective (feminine), nominative singular) Dictionary: sāttvika, Monier-Williams 1899, p. 1200, col. 1 “relating to or endowed with the quality Sattva (i.e. ‘purity’ or ‘goodness’)”
Old translations
Kashinath Trimbak Telang, 1882. Public domain. Page 125.
That courage, O son of Prithâ! is good courage, which is unswerving1, and by which one controls the operations of the mind, breath, and senses, through abstraction.
Footnotes (the translator’s own) - Always co-existing with mental abstraction and supporting it. ↩
Compare 3 translations
Kashinath Trimbak Telang, 1882. Public domain. Page 125.
That courage, O son of Prithâ! is good courage, which is unswerving1, and by which one controls the operations of the mind, breath, and senses, through abstraction.
Footnotes (the translator’s own) - Always co-existing with mental abstraction and supporting it. ↩
You are reading this one
Annie Besant, 1895. Public domain. Page 158.
The firmness, unflinching through Yoga, by which one restraineth the actions of Manas, of the life-breaths and of the sense-organs, that firmness, O Pârtha, is sâttvic.
You are reading this one
Swami Swarupananda, 1909 (first printed 1907). Public domain. Page 333.
The fortitude by which the functions of the mind, the Prâna and the senses, O Pártha, are regulated, that fortitude, unswerving through Yoga, is Sâtvic.
You are reading this one
Cite this verse
The translation: K. T. Telang, The Bhagavadgîtâ (The Sacred Books of the East, vol. VIII, Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1882), p. 125. Bhagavad Gita 18.33.
The translation: Annie Besant, The Bhagavad Gîtâ, or The Lord's Song (London: Theosophical Publishing Society, 1895), p. 158. Bhagavad Gita 18.33.
The translation: Swami Swarupananda, Srimad-Bhagavad-Gita (Mayavati: Prabuddha Bharata Press, 1909; first printed in Prabuddha Bharata, 1907–1909), p. 333. Bhagavad Gita 18.33.
Our explanation: “Bhagavad Gita 18.33: meaning and translation.” Pujadeep. Updated October 25, 2026. https://pujadeep.com/bhagavad-gita/18/33/
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Bhagavad Gita 18.33
धृत्या यया धारयते मनःप्राणेन्द्रियक्रियाः ।
योगेनाव्यभिचारिण्या धृतिः सा पार्थ सात्त्विकी ॥
“That courage, O son of Prithâ! is good courage, which is unswerving, and by which one controls the operations of the mind, breath, and senses, through abstraction.”
(K. T. Telang, The Bhagavadgîtâ (The Sacred Books of the East, vol. VIII, Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1882), p. 125, public domain)
“The firmness, unflinching through Yoga, by which one restraineth the actions of Manas, of the life-breaths and of the sense-organs, that firmness, O Pârtha, is sâttvic.”
(Annie Besant, The Bhagavad Gîtâ, or The Lord's Song (London: Theosophical Publishing Society, 1895), p. 158, public domain)
“The fortitude by which the functions of the mind, the Prâna and the senses, O Pártha, are regulated, that fortitude, unswerving through Yoga, is Sâtvic.”
(Swami Swarupananda, Srimad-Bhagavad-Gita (Mayavati: Prabuddha Bharata Press, 1909; first printed in Prabuddha Bharata, 1907–1909), p. 333, public domain)
Sanskrit: G. A. Natesan & Co., Madras, 1922.
https://pujadeep.com/bhagavad-gita/18/33/ Nothing is sent from this site. Your own app sends it, to the chat you choose. The picture quotes the translation you chose on this page, with its name and year.
Sanskrit text: The Bhagavad-Gita, or The Lord's Song, with the text in Devanagari and an English translation, 1922. Meanings: written for Pujadeep and checked against the cited edition. Source and changes
Questions families ask
Who speaks Bhagavad Gita 18.33?
Krishna speaks this verse, in chapter 18 (Moksha Sannyasa Yoga).
Where does the Sanskrit text come from?
Sanskrit text: The Bhagavad-Gita, or The Lord's Song, with the text in Devanagari and an English translation, 1922. Meanings: written for Pujadeep and checked against the cited edition. See the source
Is the meaning on this page a translation?
Explanation written for this site from the sources listed here, and checked against the cited edition. It is not a translation and not the only way to read the text. Free to quote with credit.
Source and licence
- Sanskrit text
- The Bhagavad-Gita, or The Lord's Song, with the text in Devanagari and an English translation (Annie Besant, G. A. Natesan & Co., Madras, 1922). Public domain. The Sanskrit on these pages was read from this printing’s page images.
- Translation
- The Bhagavadgîtâ with the Sanatsugâtîya and the Anugîtâ, translated by Kâshinâth Trimbak Telang (The Sacred Books of the East, vol. VIII, ed. F. Max Müller) (Kashinath Trimbak Telang, F. Max Müller, Clarendon Press, Oxford, 1882). Public domain. Shown verbatim, as printed.
- Translation
- The Bhagavad Gîtâ, or The Lord's Song, translated by Annie Besant (Annie Besant, Theosophical Publishing Society, London, 1895). Public domain. Shown verbatim, as printed.
- Translation
- Srimad-Bhagavad-Gita, with Sanskrit Text; Paraphrase with Word-by-word Literal Translation; English Rendering and Comments, Index, &c., by the Swami Swarupananda (Himalayan Series, No. XX) (Swami Swarupananda, The Editors and Publishers, Advaita Ashrama, Mayavati, Prabuddha Bharata Press, Mayavati, Almora, Himalayas, 1909). Public domain. Shown verbatim, as printed.
- Common wording
- In this text, 32 words follow today's common wording, checked against sanskritdocuments.org; Sanskrit Wikisource; Gita Press, Gorakhpur; GRETIL, Göttingen and Bhaktivedanta Book Trust.
- Our explanation
- Explanation written for this site from the sources listed here, and checked against the cited edition. It is not a translation and not the only way to read the text. Free to quote with credit.
- Checked
- Checked against the cited edition, October 15, 2026.
- Updated
- October 25, 2026