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18.66Krishna
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सर्वधर्मान्परित्यज्य मामेकं शरणं व्रज ।अहं त्वा सर्वपापेभ्यो मोक्षयिष्यामि मा शुचः ॥

sarvadharmān parityajya mām ekaṃ śaraṇaṃ vraja |ahaṃ tvā sarvapāpebhyo mokṣayiṣyāmi mā śucaḥ ||

सर्वधर्मान् · sarvadharmān
all dharmas, every support of duty and merit
परित्यज्य · parityajya
having abandoned
माम् · mām
to me
एकम् · ekam
alone
शरणम् · śaraṇam
for refuge
व्रज · vraja
come, go
अहम् · aham
I
त्वा · tvā
you
सर्वपापेभ्यः · sarvapāpebhyaḥ
from all evils, sins
मा ·
do not
शुचः · śucaḥ
grieve

Abandoning every support, take refuge in me alone; I shall free you from all evils — do not grieve.

Original plain-language translation

IN SHORT Let go of every prop, take refuge wholeheartedly, and you will be freed.

The Gita's most famous verse and its climax: every dharma — rite, merit, even anxious virtue — laid down for refuge in God alone. 'Abandon' here means ceasing to clutch at supports, not scorning duty; Arjuna will still fight, but as an offering. The double assurance ('I shall free,' 'do not grieve') answers the grief with which the whole poem began in 1.47–2.1. Tradition calls this the charama-shloka, the final word. It is like dropping heavy shopping bags full of worries to hold one trusted friend's hand on a busy road.

Reader's notes (original)