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Bhagavad-Gītā with Śaṅkara's bhāṣya · 2.51
yasmāt - karmajaṃ buddhi-yuktā hi phalaṃ tyaktvā manīṣiṇaḥ | janma-bandha-vinirmuktāḥ padaṃ gacchanty anāmayam
Translation. For indeed, those endowed with the understanding of equanimity (samatva-buddhi), having relinquished the action-born fruit (phala)—the acquisition of desirable or undesirable bodies—and having become discerning knowers,
freed even while alive from birth itself as bondage, attain the unafflicted state—the supreme state of Viṣṇu called liberation (mokṣa), devoid of every affliction.
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 |
|---|
| yasmāt | yasmāt | pass |
| karmajam | karmaja | pass |
| buddhiyuktāḥ | buddhiyukta | pass |
| hi | hi | pass |
| phalam | phala | pass |
| tyaktvā | tyaj | pass |
| manīṣiṇaḥ | manīṣin | pass |
| janmabandhavinirmuktāḥ | janmabandhavinirmukta | pass |
| padam | pada | pass |
| gacchanti | gam | pass |
| anāmayam | anāmaya | 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.
Render yasmāt with hi as an explanatory causal sequence, ‘for indeed,’ rather than as purpose or as an unconnected relative form.→ Causal and explanatory: ‘for indeed.’
gita [2]buddhi-yuktāḥ samatva-buddhi-yuktāḥ santaḥ hi yasmāt phalaṃ tyaktvā
Being endowed with understanding—endowed with the understanding of equanimity—for, because they relinquish the fruit....
Construe karmajam with the separated phalam and understand the compound as ‘produced from actions’; the fruit is specifically acquisition of desirable or undesirable bodies.→ karmajaṃ phalam, ‘the fruit born from actions,’ namely desirable or undesirable embodiment.
gita [1]karmajaṃ phalaṃ tyaktvā iti vyavahitena sambandhaḥ |
‘Having relinquished the action-born fruit’: this is a connection across intervening words.
gita [2]iṣṭāniṣṭa-deha-prāptiḥ karmajaṃ phalaṃ karmabhyo jātaṃ
The action-born fruit is acquisition of desirable or undesirable bodies, born from actions.
Take buddhiyuktāḥ in the immediate gloss as ‘endowed with the understanding of equanimity.’ Śaṅkara also records a broader alternative in which this understanding is insight characterized by vision of the highest reality and generated by purity of mind arising from karma-yoga.→ Use the immediate syntactic gloss ‘endowed with the understanding of equanimity,’ while recognizing the alternative contextual interpretation.
gita [2]buddhi-yuktāḥ samatva-buddhi-yuktāḥ santaḥ
Being endowed with understanding—that is, endowed with the understanding of equanimity.
gita [3]athavā buddhi-yogād dhanaṃjaya ity ārabhya paramārtha-darśana-lakṣaṇaiva sarvataḥ saṃplutodaka-sthānīyā karma-yogaja-sattva-śuddha-janitā buddhir darśitā
Alternatively, beginning with ‘the yoga of understanding, O Dhanaṃjaya,’ the understanding taught is precisely that characterized by vision of the highest reality, comparable to a place flooded with water everywhere, and generated by purity of mind arising from karma-yoga.
Analyze tyaktvā as an absolutive, with phalam as its object, and represent manīṣiṇaḥ according to Śaṅkara’s gloss as those who have become knowers.→ ‘Having relinquished the fruit and having become discerning knowers.’
gita [1]karmajaṃ phalaṃ tyaktvā iti vyavahitena sambandhaḥ |
The construction is ‘having relinquished the action-born fruit,’ with intervening words.
gita [2]phalaṃ tyaktvā parityajya manīṣiṇaḥ jñānino bhūtvā
Having relinquished, abandoned, the fruit, and having become manīṣins—that is, knowers.
Interpret janmabandha as identity—birth itself is bondage—not merely a bond caused by birth; vinirmukta denotes freedom from it even while one remains alive.→ ‘Freed even while alive from birth itself as bondage.’
gita [2]janma-bandha-vinirmuktāḥ janmaiva bandhaḥ janma-bandhaḥ tena vinirmuktāḥ jīvanta eva janma-bandhāt vinirmuktāḥ santaḥ
‘Freed from the bondage of birth’: birth itself is bondage, hence ‘birth-bondage’; freed from it, they are freed from the bondage of birth while still living.
Take padam as neuter accusative singular, the attained goal, and interpret it technically as Viṣṇu’s supreme state called liberation (mokṣa), rather than as an ordinary footstep or position.→ Neuter ‘state’: the supreme state of Viṣṇu called liberation.
gita [2]padaṃ paramaṃ viṣṇoḥ mokṣākhyaṃ gacchanti
They attain the supreme state of Viṣṇu, called liberation.
Construe anāmayam as agreeing with padam and, following the commentary, translate it broadly as ‘devoid of every affliction,’ not merely ‘free from physical disease.’→ ‘The unafflicted state, devoid of every affliction.’
gita [2]anāmayaṃ sarvopadrava-rahitam ity arthaḥ
Anāmayam means devoid of every affliction or disturbance.
Classify anāmaya formally as a nañ-tatpuruṣa, with na/an negating āmaya; its adjectival agreement with padam does not require treating the lexical compound itself as a bahuvrīhi.→ Nañ-tatpuruṣa.
gita []
The commentary supplies the contextual meaning but does not explicitly classify the compound; the classification follows grammar.
Śaṅkara's commentary on this unit
1karmajaṃ phalaṃ tyaktvā iti vyavahitena sambandhaḥ |
2iṣṭāniṣṭa-deha-prāptiḥ karmajaṃ phalaṃ karmabhyo jātaṃ buddhi-yuktāḥ samatva-buddhi-yuktāḥ santaḥ hi yasmāt phalaṃ tyaktvā parityajya manīṣiṇaḥ jñānino bhūtvā, janma-bandha-vinirmuktāḥ janmaiva bandhaḥ janma-bandhaḥ tena vinirmuktāḥ jīvanta eva janma-bandhāt vinirmuktāḥ santaḥ, padaṃ paramaṃ viṣṇoḥ mokṣākhyaṃ gacchanti anāmayaṃ sarvopadrava-rahitam ity arthaḥ |
3athavā buddhi-yogād dhanaṃjaya ity ārabhya paramārtha-darśana-lakṣaṇaiva sarvataḥ saṃplutodaka-sthānīyā karma-yogaja-sattva-śuddha-janitā buddhir darśitā, sākṣāt-sukṛta-duṣkṛta-prahāṇādi-hetutva-śravaṇāt ||bhgs_2.51||
4yogānuṣṭhāna-janita-sattva-śuddhajā buddhiḥ kadā prāpsyate ity ucyate ---