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Bhagavad-Gītā with Śaṅkara's bhāṣya · 2.68
tasmād yasya mahābāho nigṛhītāni sarvaśaḥ | indriyāṇīndriyārthebhyas tasya prajñā pratiṣṭhitā
Translation. Therefore, O mighty-armed one, the discriminative wisdom (prajñā)
of that ascetic whose senses are restrained in every way
from the objects of the senses is firmly established.
Grammar check: 10 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 |
|---|
| tasmāt | tasmāt | pass |
| yasya | yad | pass |
| mahābāho | mahābāhu | pass |
| nigṛhītāni | nigṛhīta | pass |
| sarvaśaḥ | sarvaśas | pass |
| indriyāṇi | indriya | pass |
| indriyārthebhyaḥ | indriyārtha | pass |
| tasya | tad | pass |
| prajñā | prajñā | pass |
| pratiṣṭhitā | pratiṣṭhita | 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 tasmāt inferentially as “therefore,” referring back to the previously demonstrated fault in the activity of the senses, rather than spatially as “from that.”→ therefore
gita [1]indriyāṇāṃ pravṛttau doṣa upapādito yasmāt tasmāt
Because a fault in the activity of the senses has been demonstrated, therefore …
Construe yasya … tasya as a relative-correlative construction referring to a male ascetic: “the wisdom of that ascetic whose senses ….”→ the ascetic whose … that ascetic’s …
gita [1]yasya yateḥ he mahābāho, nigṛhītāni sarvaśaḥ sarva-prakāraiḥ mānasādi-bhedaiḥ indriyāṇi indriyārthebhyaḥ śabdādibhyas tasya prajñā pratiṣṭhitā
Of whichever ascetic, O mighty-armed one, the senses are restrained in every way—from the sense-objects such as sound—that ascetic’s wisdom is established.
Read mahābāho as a vocative address to the addressee.→ O mighty-armed one
gita [1]he mahābāho
O mighty-armed one.
Analyze mahābāhu as an exocentric bahuvrīhi, “one whose arms are great,” rather than as a karmadhāraya denoting an arm itself.
→ bahuvrīhi: mahāntau bāhū yasya saḥ
Take nigṛhītāni as a passive/resultative participle agreeing with indriyāṇi, while the ablative indriyārthebhyaḥ marks that from which the senses are restrained.→ the senses are restrained from their objects
gita [1]nigṛhītāni sarvaśaḥ sarva-prakāraiḥ mānasādi-bhedaiḥ indriyāṇi indriyārthebhyaḥ śabdādibhyas tasya prajñā pratiṣṭhitā
The senses are restrained in every way, by all modes beginning with mental distinctions, from the sense-objects such as sound; his wisdom is established.
Render sarvaśaḥ as “in every way,” not merely as a vague intensifier, because Śaṅkara explicitly expands it as sarva-prakāraiḥ and mentions modes beginning with the mental.→ in every way
gita [1]sarvaśaḥ sarva-prakāraiḥ mānasādi-bhedaiḥ
In every way—that is, by all modes, with distinctions beginning with the mental.
Analyze indriyārtha as a genitive tatpuruṣa, “objects of the senses,” and understand those objects concretely as sound and the other sensory fields, not as the purposes or goals of the senses.→ sense-objects, such as sound
gita [1]indriyārthebhyaḥ śabdādibhyaḥ
From the objects of the senses, such as sound.
Render prajñā as “discriminative wisdom” and pratiṣṭhitā as “firmly established.” Śaṅkara connects the person of established wisdom with arisen discriminative knowledge.→ discriminative wisdom is firmly established
gita [1]tasya prajñā pratiṣṭhitā
His wisdom is established.
gita [2]utpanna-viveka-jñānasya sthita-prajñasya
Of one whose discriminative knowledge has arisen, whose wisdom is established.
Śaṅkara's commentary on this unit
1indriyāṇāṃ pravṛttau doṣa upapādito yasmāt tasmāt yasya yateḥ he mahābāho, nigṛhītāni sarvaśaḥ sarva-prakāraiḥ mānasādi-bhedaiḥ indriyāṇi indriyārthebhyaḥ śabdādibhyas tasya prajñā pratiṣṭhitā ||bhgs_2.68||
2yo 'yaṃ laukiko vaidika ca vyavahāraḥ sa utpanna-viveka-jñānasya sthita-prajñasya avidyākāryatvāt avidyā-nivṛttau nivartate, avidyāyā ca vidyā-virodhāt nivṛttiḥ, ity etam arthaṃ sphuṭīkurvann āha ---