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Bhagavad-Gītā with Śaṅkara's bhāṣya · 2.53
śruti-vipratipannā te yadā sthāsyati niścalā | samādhāv acalā buddhis tadā yogam avāpsyasyi
Translation. When your inner faculty (buddhi), scattered by scriptural teachings (śruti) concerning engagement and withdrawal,
shall stand motionless in samādhi—the Self—and, even there, unshaken and free from alternatives,
then you shall attain yoga (yoga):
the discriminative insight that is samādhi.
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 |
|---|
| śruti-vipratipannā | śruti-vipratipanna | pass |
| te | tvad | pass |
| yadā | yadā | pass |
| sthāsyati | sthā | pass |
| niścalā | niścala | pass |
| samādhau | samādhi | pass |
| acalā | acala | pass |
| buddhiḥ | buddhi | pass |
| tadā | tadā | pass |
| yogam | yoga | pass |
| avāpsyasi | āp | 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.
śruti-vipratipannā is an instrumental tatpuruṣa: the understanding is distracted by scriptural teachings, especially teachings setting forth manifold relations of ends and means and characterized by engagement and withdrawal.→ Instrumental tatpuruṣa with vigraha śrutibhiḥ vipratipannā buddhiḥ.
gita [1]śruti-vipratinnā aneka-sādhya-sādhana-saṃbandha-prakāśana-śrutibhiḥ śravaṇaiḥ pravṛtti-nivṛtti-lakṣaṇaiḥ vipratipannā nānā-pratinnā vikṣiptā satī
‘Śruti-vipratinnā’: distracted by revelations or things heard which disclose manifold relations between ends and means and are characterized by engagement and withdrawal; variously directed and scattered.
te is a possessive genitive dependent on buddhiḥ: ‘your inner faculty.’→ Possessive genitive singular of tvad.
gita [1]te tava buddhir
‘Te’ means ‘your’; the understanding is the construed noun.
yadā and tadā form a temporal correlation governing the two halves: ‘when … then.’→ Temporal correlative construction.
gita [1]yadā yasmin kāle
‘Yadā’: at whatever time.
gita [4]tadā tasmin kāle
‘Tadā’: at that time.
sthāsyati niścalā means that the inner faculty will stand having become stable and devoid of distraction or movement.→ ‘Shall stand motionless,’ with stability rather than spatial location as the principal sense.
gita [1]sthāsyati sthirībhūtā bhaviṣyati niścalā vikṣepa-calana-varjitā satī
‘Will stand’ means ‘will have become stable’; ‘motionless’ means being devoid of distraction and movement.
samādhau is a locative whose referent Śaṅkara identifies as the Self, not merely a generic meditative state.→ ‘In samādhi—the Self.’
gita [1]samādhau, samādhīyate cittam asminn iti samādhir ātmā, tasmin ātmani ity etat
Regarding ‘in samādhi’: that in which the mind is placed is samādhi, namely the Self; thus, ‘in that Self.’
acalā adds that, even in the Self, the inner faculty is free from alternatives or conceptual wavering; it is not merely a redundant synonym of niścalā.→ ‘Unshaken there and free from alternatives.’
gita [2]acalā tatrāpi vikalpa-varjitā ity etat
‘Unshaken’ means free from alternatives even there.
buddhiḥ denotes the internal faculty or inner instrument (antaḥkaraṇa), rather than abstract knowledge alone.→ ‘Inner faculty (buddhi).’
gita [3]buddhir antaḥkaraṇam
The buddhi is the inner faculty.
yoga here is specifically identified as discriminative insight and samādhi, rather than yoga in a generic sense of discipline or practice.→ ‘Yoga, namely the discriminative insight that is samādhi.’
gita [4]yogam avāpsyasi viveka-prajñāṃ samādhiṃ prāpsyasi
‘You will attain yoga’: you will attain discriminative insight, samādhi.
The malformed final reading avāpsyasyi is corrected to avāpsyasi and parsed as second-person singular future, not first-person singular.→ avāpsyasi: āp with prefix ava, active simple future, second-person singular.
gita [4]yogam avāpsyasi viveka-prajñāṃ samādhiṃ prāpsyasi
You will attain yoga; you will attain discriminative insight, samādhi.
Śaṅkara's commentary on this unit
1śruti-vipratinnā aneka-sādhya-sādhana-saṃbandha-prakāśana-śrutibhiḥ śravaṇaiḥ pravṛtti-nivṛtti-lakṣaṇaiḥ vipratipannā nānā-pratinnā vikṣiptā satī te tava buddhir yadā yasmin kāle sthāsyati sthirībhūtā bhaviṣyati niścalā vikṣepa-calana-varjitā satī samādhau, samādhīyate cittam asminn iti samādhir ātmā, tasmin ātmani ity etat |
2acalā tatrāpi vikalpa-varjitā ity etat |
3buddhir antaḥkaraṇam |
4tadā tasmin kāle yogam avāpsyasi viveka-prajñāṃ samādhiṃ prāpsyasi ||bhgs_2.53||
5praśnabījaṃ pratilabhya arjuna uvācalabdhasamādhiprajñasya lakṣaṇabubhutsayā --- arjuna uvāca-
6arjuna uvāca
7sthita-prajñasya kā bhāṣā samādhi-sthasya keśava |
8sthita-dhīḥ kiṃ prabhāṣeta kim āsīta vrajeta kim