back to questions
Bhagavad-Gītā with Śaṅkara's bhāṣya · 2.49
dūreṇa hy avaraṃ karma buddhi-yogād dhanaṃjaya | buddhau śaraṇam anviccha kṛpaṇāḥ phala-hetavaḥ
Translation. For action done by one seeking its fruit is by far inferior
to action joined to equanimous understanding (buddhi-yoga), O Dhanaṃjaya.
In understanding (buddhi)—whether understanding whose object is yoga, or Sāṃkhya understanding born from the former’s maturation—seek refuge;
wretched are those for whom fruit is the motive.
Grammar check: 11 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 |
|---|
| dūreṇa | dūra | pass |
| hi | hi | pass |
| avaram | avara | pass |
| karma | karman | pass |
| buddhi-yogāt | buddhi-yoga | pass |
| dhanaṃjaya | dhanaṃjaya | pass |
| buddhau | buddhi | pass |
| śaraṇam | śaraṇa | pass |
| anviccha | iṣ | pass |
| kṛpaṇāḥ | kṛpaṇa | pass |
| phala-hetavaḥ | phala-hetu | 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.
Take dūreṇa adverbially as an extreme degree modifier, “by far,” and avaram as “inferior.”→ Adverbial degree: “by far inferior.”
gita [1]dūreṇa ativiprakarṣeṇa atyantam eva hy avaram adhamaṃ nikṛṣṭaṃ
“Dūreṇa” means at a very great remove, altogether; “avaram” means lowest, inferior.
Understand the first karma as action performed by a fruit-seeker and the comparison standard as action endowed with equanimous understanding.→ Fruit-seeking action is inferior to action endowed with equanimous understanding; Śaṅkara further says the former causes birth, death, and so forth.
gita [1]karma phalārthinā kriyamāṇaṃ buddhi-yogāt samatva-buddhi-yuktāt karmaṇaḥ, janma-maraṇādi-hetutvāt
The action is that performed by one seeking fruit; it is inferior to action endowed with equanimous understanding, because it causes birth, death, and so forth.
Analyze buddhi-yoga formally as a tatpuruṣa, buddheḥ yogaḥ, while allowing Śaṅkara’s gloss to determine its contextual referent.→ Ṣaṣṭhī-tatpuruṣa: buddheḥ yogaḥ, “the discipline pertaining to understanding.”
gita []
Construe buddhi-yogāt as the ablative standard of comparison governed by avaram, with an understood karmaṇaḥ.→ Comparative ablative, with karmaṇaḥ supplied from Śaṅkara’s explicit paraphrase.
gita [1]avaraṃ adhamaṃ nikṛṣṭaṃ karma phalārthinā kriyamāṇaṃ buddhi-yogāt samatva-buddhi-yuktāt karmaṇaḥ
Fruit-seeking action is lower and inferior in comparison with action endowed with equanimous understanding.
Preserve Śaṅkara’s two alternative specifications of buddhau.→ Understanding whose object is yoga, or alternatively Sāṃkhya understanding produced by the maturation of the former.
gita [2]yoga-viṣayāyāṃ buddhau tat-paripāka-jāyāṃ vā sāṃkhya-buddhau
In understanding whose object is yoga, or in Sāṃkhya understanding born from the maturation of that.
Render śaraṇam anviccha as “seek refuge,” with refuge understood as a support producing fearlessness and ultimately as reliance on knowledge of reality.→ Seek refuge in understanding as a fear-dispelling support directed toward knowledge of ultimate reality.
gita [2]śaraṇam āśrayam abhaya-prāpti-kāraṇam anviccha prārthayasva, paramārtha-jñāna-śaraṇo bhavety arthaḥ
Seek—that is, desire—a refuge, a support and cause of attaining fearlessness; the meaning is: become one whose refuge is knowledge of ultimate reality.
Render kṛpaṇāḥ as “wretched” or “pitiable,” not “miserly.”→ Spiritually wretched or pitiable.
gita [3]kṛpaṇāḥ dīnāḥ
The kṛpaṇas are miserable or wretched.
gita [3]yo vā etad akṣaraṃ gārgy aviditvāsmāl lokāt praiti sa kṛpaṇaḥ [bau 3.8.10] iti śruteḥ
Śruti says: “Whoever departs from this world without knowing this imperishable, O Gārgī, is a kṛpaṇa.”
Analyze phala-hetavaḥ as a bahuvrīhi describing people whose motive is fruit, rather than as “causes that produce fruit.”→ Bahuvrīhi, phalaṃ hetur yeṣām: people impelled by desire for the result.
gita [3]phala-hetavaḥ phala-tṛṣṇā-prayuktāḥ santaḥ
They are phala-hetavas in that they are impelled by thirst for the fruit.
Analyze dhanaṃjaya as an object-related upapada-tatpuruṣa used as Arjuna’s proper epithet.→ Upapada-tatpuruṣa, “one who conquers wealth.”
gita []
Take hi causally, linking this assertion to the preceding instruction: “for.”→ Causal “for,” while retaining the emphatic force through “by far.”
gita []
Śaṅkara's commentary on this unit
1dūreṇa ativiprakarṣeṇa atyantam eva hy avaram adhamaṃ nikṛṣṭaṃ karma phalārthinā kriyamāṇaṃ buddhi-yogāt samatva-buddhi-yuktāt karmaṇaḥ, janma-maraṇādi-hetutvāt |
2he dhanaṃjaya, yata evaṃ tataḥ yoga-viṣayāyāṃ buddhau tat-paripāka-jāyāṃ vā sāṃkhya-buddhau śaraṇam āśrayam abhaya-prāpti-kāraṇam anviccha prārthayasva, paramārtha-jñāna-śaraṇo bhavety arthaḥ |
3yato 'varaṃ karma kurvāṇāḥ kṛpaṇāḥ dīnāḥ phala-hetavaḥ phala-tṛṣṇā-prayuktāḥ santaḥ, yo vā etad akṣaraṃ gārgy aviditvāsmāl lokāt praiti sa kṛpaṇaḥ [bau 3.8.10] iti śruteḥ ||bhgs_2.49||
4samatva-buddhi-yuktaḥ san svadharmam anutiṣṭhan yat phalaṃ prāpnoti tac chṛṇu --