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Bhagavad-Gītā with Śaṅkara's bhāṣya · 2.48
yogasthaḥ kuru karmāṇi saṅgaṃ tyaktvā dhanaṃjaya | siddhy-asiddhyoḥ samo bhūtvā samatvaṃ yoga ucyate
Translation. Established in discipline (yoga), perform actions solely for the Lord,
abandoning attachment (saṅga), O Dhanaṃjaya;
having become equal in success (siddhi)—the attainment of knowledge born from purity of sattva—and failure (asiddhi), which arises contrariwise.
Equanimity (samatva) toward the two is called yoga.
Grammar check: 12 words pass / 0 flagged / 0 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 |
|---|
| yogasthaḥ | yogastha | pass |
| kuru | kṛ | pass |
| karmāṇi | karman | pass |
| saṅgam | saṅga | pass |
| tyaktvā | tyaj | pass |
| dhanaṃjaya | dhanaṃjaya | pass |
| siddhyasiddhyoḥ | siddhyasiddhi | pass |
| samaḥ | sama | pass |
| bhūtvā | bhū | pass |
| samatvam | samatva | pass |
| yogaḥ | yoga | pass |
| ucyate | vac | 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.
Yogasthaḥ is a saptamī-tatpuruṣa meaning ‘established in yoga’; in this verse yoga is specifically identified with equanimity regarding success and failure.→ Established in equanimity regarding success and failure, while retaining yoga in the translation because the verse defines that term only in its concluding pāda.
gita [1]yoga-sthaḥ san kuru karmāṇi kevalam īśvarārtham |
Being established in yoga, perform actions solely for the Lord.
gita [4]ko 'sau yogo yatra-sthaḥ kuru ity uktam ? idam eva tat --- siddhy-asiddhyoḥ samatvaṃ yoga ucyate ||bhgs_2.48||
What is that yoga, established in which one was told, ‘Perform’? It is precisely this: equanimity regarding success and failure is called yoga.
Karmāṇi is not left as morally or ritually unspecified action: Śaṅkara construes the actions as performed solely for the Lord.→ Perform actions solely for the Lord.
gita [1]yoga-sthaḥ san kuru karmāṇi kevalam īśvarārtham |
Being established in yoga, perform actions solely for the Lord.
Saṅga denotes attachment to an anticipated personal result, here including the thought that the Lord should be pleased with the agent.→ Attachment, including ‘May the Lord be pleased with me,’ is to be abandoned.
gita [2]tatrāpīśvaro me tuṣyatu iti saṅgaṃ tyaktvā dhanaṃjaya |
Even there, O Dhanaṃjaya, abandon the attachment expressed by ‘May the Lord be pleased with me.’
Siddhi and asiddhi are technical outcomes in Śaṅkara’s account, not merely ordinary worldly success and failure.→ Siddhi is attainment of knowledge born from purity of sattva when action is performed without thirst for its fruit; asiddhi is what arises contrariwise.
gita [3]phala-tṛṣṇā-śūnyena kriyamāṇe karmaṇi sattva-śuddhijā jñāna-prāpti-lakṣaṇā siddhiḥ, tad-viparyayajā asiddhiḥ, tayoḥ siddhy-asiddhyor api samaḥ tulyo bhūtvā kuru karmāṇi |
When action is performed by one devoid of thirst for its fruit, success is characterized by the attainment of knowledge born from purification of sattva; failure arises from the contrary. Becoming equal—the same—with respect to those two, success and failure, perform actions.
Siddhyasiddhyoḥ is analyzed as a dvandva in the locative dual and placed within the scope of samaḥ bhūtvā.→ The first occurrence is construed locatively with samaḥ bhūtvā: ‘having become equal in/with respect to success and failure.’ The subsequent samatva names precisely that stance toward the pair.
gita [3]tayoḥ siddhy-asiddhyor api samaḥ tulyo bhūtvā kuru karmāṇi |
Becoming equal—the same—with respect to those two, success and failure, perform actions.
gita [4]idam eva tat --- siddhy-asiddhyoḥ samatvaṃ yoga ucyate ||bhgs_2.48||
It is precisely this: equanimity regarding success and failure is called yoga.
Tyaktvā and bhūtvā are absolutives subordinate to the single finite imperative kuru, not independent finite commands.→ ‘Abandoning attachment’ and ‘having become equal’ both qualify the commanded performance of actions.
gita [2]tatrāpīśvaro me tuṣyatu iti saṅgaṃ tyaktvā dhanaṃjaya |
Even there, O Dhanaṃjaya, having abandoned the attachment ‘May the Lord be pleased with me’...
gita [3]tayoḥ siddhy-asiddhyor api samaḥ tulyo bhūtvā kuru karmāṇi |
Having become equal—the same—with respect to those two, success and failure, perform actions.
Samatvam is the neuter nominative subject and yogaḥ the predicate nominative of passive ucyate: ‘equanimity is called yoga.’→ Equanimity regarding success and failure is called yoga.
gita [4]ko 'sau yogo yatra-sthaḥ kuru ity uktam ? idam eva tat --- siddhy-asiddhyoḥ samatvaṃ yoga ucyate ||bhgs_2.48||
What is that yoga, established in which one was told, ‘Perform’? It is precisely this: equanimity regarding success and failure is called yoga.
Dhanaṃjaya is retained as a proper epithet while being analyzed internally as an object-relation/upapada tatpuruṣa.→ Tatpuruṣa: dhanaṃ jayati yaḥ. The commentary supplies no interpretation of the name, so it remains untranslated in the verse. The lexical stem is attested as dhana-ṃ-jaya [MW s.v. dhanaṃjaya, 508,2].
gita []
Samatvaṃ is one abstract noun, samatva, formed from sama with the abstract suffix -tva; it is not sama followed by the pronoun tvam.→ The abstract noun samatva, denoting the state of being sama toward success and failure.
gita [4]idam eva tat --- siddhy-asiddhyoḥ samatvaṃ yoga ucyate ||bhgs_2.48||
It is precisely this: equanimity regarding success and failure is called yoga.
Śaṅkara's commentary on this unit
1yoga-sthaḥ san kuru karmāṇi kevalam īśvarārtham |
2tatrāpīśvaro me tuṣyatu iti saṅgaṃ tyaktvā dhanaṃjaya |
3phala-tṛṣṇā-śūnyena kriyamāṇe karmaṇi sattva-śuddhijā jñāna-prāpti-lakṣaṇā siddhiḥ, tad-viparyayajā asiddhiḥ, tayoḥ siddhy-asiddhyor api samaḥ tulyo bhūtvā kuru karmāṇi |
4ko 'sau yogo yatra-sthaḥ kuru ity uktam ? idam eva tat --- siddhy-asiddhyoḥ samatvaṃ yoga ucyate ||bhgs_2.48||
5yat punaḥ samatva-buddhi-yuktam īśvarārādhanārthaṃ karmoktam, etasmāt karmaṇaḥ --