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Bhagavad-Gītā with Śaṅkara's bhāṣya · 2.11
śrī-bhagavān uvāca aśocyān anvaśocas tvaṃ prajñā-vādāṃś ca bhāṣase | gatāsūn agatāsūṃś ca nānuśocanti paṇḍitāḥ
Translation. The Blessed Lord said:
You have grieved for those who ought not to be mourned,
yet you speak the words of the wise.
The wise (paṇḍitāḥ), knowers of the Self, mourn neither
for the dead, whose vital breaths have gone, nor for the living, whose vital breaths have not gone.
Grammar check: 13 words pass / 0 flagged / 1 beyond the checkerPāṇini-verified
Every word's claimed grammar is re-derived with vidyut-prakriya, software implementing Pāṇini's rules. Flags are shown, never hidden; some are the text taking epic or Vedic liberties the classical rules do not generate.
Word by word
| surface | lemma | grammar |
|---|
| śrī-bhagavān | śrī-bhagavat | unsupported |
| uvāca | vac | pass |
| aśocyān | aśocya | pass |
| anvaśocaḥ | śuc | pass |
| tvam | tvad | pass |
| prajñā-vādān | prajñā-vāda | pass |
| ca | ca | pass |
| bhāṣase | bhāṣ | pass |
| gatāsūn | gatāsu | pass |
| agatāsūn | agatāsu | pass |
| ca | ca | pass |
| na | na | pass |
| anuśocanti | śuc | pass |
| paṇḍitāḥ | paṇḍita | pass |
How the commentary settled it
Where the verse alone is ambiguous, the reading follows Śaṅkara's commentary; the deciding lines are quoted below each decision.
Aśocyān means persons who ought not to be mourned, specifically Bhīṣma, Droṇa, and the others. Śaṅkara gives both their righteous conduct and their ultimate eternality as reasons.→ those who ought not to be mourned
gita [1]na śocyā aśocyāḥ bhīṣma-droṇādayaḥ |
The aśocyāḥ are those who are not to be mourned—Bhīṣma, Droṇa, and the others.
gita [2]sad-vṛttatvāt paramārtha-svarūpeṇa ca nityatvāt
Because of their righteous conduct and because, in their ultimate nature, they are eternal.
gita [7]paramārthatas tu tān nityān aśocyān anuśocasi
But ultimately you mourn those who are eternal and not to be mourned.
Anvaśocaḥ is a second-person singular active imperfect, but its completed past force is represented idiomatically as ‘you have grieved.’→ you have grieved
gita [2]tān aśocyān anvaśoco 'nuśocitavān asi
You grieved for those not to be mourned—that is, you have mourned for them.
Prajñā-vādān denotes the statements or words of intelligent people, not merely abstract arguments concerning wisdom. The compound is therefore treated as a tatpuruṣa with the commentary’s possessive vigraha.→ the words of the wise
gita [3]tvaṃ prajñā-vādān prajñāvatāṃ buddhimatāṃ vādāṃś ca vacanāni ca bhāṣase |
You speak prajñā-vādāḥ—that is, the statements and words of the discerning, of intelligent people.
The first ca is rendered ‘yet,’ since Śaṅkara takes Arjuna’s mourning and his learned-sounding speech as mutually contradictory.→ yet
gita [4]tad etat mauḍhyaṃ pāṇḍityaṃ ca viruddham ātmani darśayasi unmatta iva ity abhiprāyaḥ |
Thus you display in yourself the opposed qualities of folly and learning, like a madman—this is the intention.
Gatāsu and agatāsu are possessive bahuvrīhis: those whose vital breaths have gone are the dead, and those whose vital breaths have not gone are the living.→ the dead, whose vital breaths have gone, and the living, whose vital breaths have not gone
gita [5]gatāsūn gata-prāṇān mṛtān, agatāsūn agata-prāṇān jīvataś ca
Gatāsūn means those whose breaths have gone, the dead; agatāsūn means those whose breaths have not gone, the living.
Paṇḍitāḥ is translated as ‘the wise, knowers of the Self,’ since Śaṅkara gives it a specifically ātman-centered definition.→ the wise (paṇḍitāḥ), knowers of the Self
gita [5]nānuśocanti paṇḍitāḥ ātmajñāḥ |
The wise—that is, knowers of the Self—do not mourn.
gita [6]paṇḍā ātma-viṣayā buddhir yeṣāṃ te hi paṇḍitāḥ
Those whose understanding concerns the Self are indeed paṇḍitāḥ.
Na scopes over the coordinated pair gatāsūn … agatāsūṃś ca, producing ‘neither for the dead nor for the living.’→ the wise mourn neither for the dead nor for the living
gita [5]yasmāt gatāsūn gata-prāṇān mṛtān, agatāsūn agata-prāṇān jīvataś ca nānuśocanti paṇḍitāḥ ātmajñāḥ |
For the wise, the knowers of the Self, mourn neither those whose breaths have gone—the dead—nor those whose breaths have not gone—the living.
Tvam is nominative, not accusative: it is the explicit subject of anvaśocaḥ and bhāṣase.→ nominative singular subject
gita [3]tvaṃ prajñā-vādān prajñāvatāṃ buddhimatāṃ vādāṃś ca vacanāni ca bhāṣase |
You speak the statements and words of discerning, intelligent people.
gita [7]anuśocasi, ato mūḍho 'si
You mourn; therefore you are deluded.
Bhāṣase is morphologically ātmanepada but syntactically Kartari, with prajñā-vādān as its accusative object.→ you speak the words
gita [3]tvaṃ prajñā-vādān prajñāvatāṃ buddhimatāṃ vādāṃś ca vacanāni ca bhāṣase |
You speak the statements and words of discerning, intelligent people.
The printed title śrī-bhagavān is treated as an honorific karmadhāraya compound, ‘the blessed/illustrious Lord.’ The commentary begins with aśocyāḥ and does not gloss this formula.
→ honorific karmadhāraya: śrīmān bhagavān
Śaṅkara's commentary on this unit
1na śocyā aśocyāḥ bhīṣma-droṇādayaḥ |
2sad-vṛttatvāt paramārtha-svarūpeṇa ca nityatvāt, tān aśocyān anvaśoco 'nuśocitavān asi te mriyante man-nimittam, ahaṃ tair vinābhūtaḥ kiṃ kariṣyāmi rājya-sukhādinā iti |
3tvaṃ prajñā-vādān prajñāvatāṃ buddhimatāṃ vādāṃś ca vacanāni ca bhāṣase |
4tad etat mauḍhyaṃ pāṇḍityaṃ ca viruddham ātmani darśayasi unmatta iva ity abhiprāyaḥ |
5yasmāt gatāsūn gata-prāṇān mṛtān, agatāsūn agata-prāṇān jīvataś ca nānuśocanti paṇḍitāḥ ātmajñāḥ |
6paṇḍā ātma-viṣayā buddhir yeṣāṃ te hi paṇḍitāḥ, pāṇḍityaṃ nirvidya [bau 3.5.1] iti śruteḥ |
7paramārthatas tu tān nityān aśocyān anuśocasi, ato mūḍho 'si ity abhiprāyaḥ ||bhgs_2.11||
8kutas te aśocyāḥ ? yato nityāḥ |
9katham ?