back to questions
Bhagavad-Gītā with Śaṅkara's bhāṣya · 2.56
duḥkheṣv anudvigna-manāḥ sukheṣu vigata-spṛhaḥ | vīta-rāga-bhaya-krodhaḥ sthita-dhīr munir ucyate
Translation. When sufferings—those arising from oneself and the like—have come, his mind is unagitated; when pleasures have come, his craving has departed.
Attachment, fear, and anger have gone from him: he is then called a sage (muni), a renunciant (saṃnyāsin), whose understanding is steady (sthita-dhī).
Grammar check: 8 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 |
|---|
| duḥkheṣu | duḥkha | pass |
| anudvigna-manāḥ | anudvigna-manas | pass |
| sukheṣu | sukha | pass |
| vigata-spṛhaḥ | vigata-spṛha | pass |
| vīta-rāga-bhaya-krodhaḥ | vīta-rāga-bhaya-krodha | pass |
| sthita-dhīḥ | sthita-dhī | pass |
| muniḥ | muni | 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.
Construe duḥkheṣu as a circumstantial locative referring to sufferings that have actually arisen, and anudvigna-manāḥ as a bahuvrīhi meaning ‘one whose mind is not agitated.’→ The locative means ‘when sufferings such as those arising from oneself have come’; the compound describes one whose mind is neither agitated nor shaken at their arrival.
gita [1]duḥkheṣv ādhyātmikādiṣu prāpteṣu na udvignaṃ na prakṣubhitaṃ duḥkha-prāptau mano yasya so 'yam anudvigna-manāḥ |
When sufferings beginning with those arising from oneself have been encountered, his mind is not agitated, not shaken at the arrival of suffering; he whose mind is so is anudvigna-manāḥ.
Construe sukheṣu in parallel with duḥkheṣu and take vigata-spṛhaḥ as a bahuvrīhi whose spṛhā is ‘craving’ (tṛṣṇā), not a masculine standalone form.→ ‘When pleasures have come, his craving has departed.’ The commentary's fire comparison further excludes increasing appetite for repeated pleasure.
gita [2]tathā sukheṣu prāpteṣu vigatā spṛhā tṛṣṇā yasya, na agnir iva indhanādy-ādhāne sukhāny anu vivardhate sa vigata-spṛhaḥ |
Likewise, when pleasures have been obtained, he whose spṛhā—craving—has departed, and who does not increase in pursuit of pleasures as fire does when fuel and the like are added, is vigata-spṛhaḥ.
Take vīta as applying jointly to rāga, bhaya, and krodha, and analyze the whole expression as a bahuvrīhi: all three have departed from the person described.→ ‘One from whom attachment, fear, and anger have gone.’
gita [3]vīta-rāga-bhaya-krodhaḥ rāga ca bhayaṃ ca krodha ca vītā vigatā yasmāt sa vīta-rāga-bhaya-krodhaḥ |
He from whom attachment, fear, and anger have gone or departed is vīta-rāga-bhaya-krodhaḥ. The plaintext apparently lacks expected endings in rāga, krodha, vītā, and vigatā, but yasmāt makes the intended bahuvrīhi relation explicit.
Analyze sthita-dhīḥ as a masculine bahuvrīhi, ‘one whose understanding is steady,’ and understand it as equivalent here to sthita-prajñaḥ.→ A masculine descriptor of the person: ‘whose understanding is steady,’ identified by Śaṅkara with sthita-prajñaḥ.
gita [4]sthita-dhīḥ sthita-prajño muniḥ saṃnyāsī tadā ucyate ||bhgs_2.56||
He is then called sthita-dhīḥ, one of steady wisdom, a muni—that is, a renunciant.
Render ucyate as the present passive ‘is called/is said to be,’ with sthita-dhīḥ and muniḥ forming the designation; include Śaṅkara's specification that muni means saṃnyāsin here.→ ‘He is then called a sage (muni), a renunciant, whose understanding is steady.’
gita [4]sthita-dhīḥ sthita-prajño muniḥ saṃnyāsī tadā ucyate ||bhgs_2.56||
He is then called one of steady understanding or steady wisdom, a muni, namely a renunciant.
Translate rāga in its psychological sense as ‘attachment,’ alongside bhaya ‘fear’ and krodha ‘anger.’
→ Attachment
Śaṅkara's commentary on this unit
1duḥkheṣv ādhyātmikādiṣu prāpteṣu na udvignaṃ na prakṣubhitaṃ duḥkha-prāptau mano yasya so 'yam anudvigna-manāḥ |
2tathā sukheṣu prāpteṣu vigatā spṛhā tṛṣṇā yasya, na agnir iva indhanādy-ādhāne sukhāny anu vivardhate sa vigata-spṛhaḥ |
3vīta-rāga-bhaya-krodhaḥ rāga ca bhayaṃ ca krodha ca vītā vigatā yasmāt sa vīta-rāga-bhaya-krodhaḥ |
4sthita-dhīḥ sthita-prajño muniḥ saṃnyāsī tadā ucyate ||bhgs_2.56||
5kiṃ ca--