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Bhagavad-Gītā with Śaṅkara's bhāṣya · 2.69
yā niśā sarva-bhūtānāṃ tasyāṃ jāgarti saṃyamī | yasyāṃ jāgrati bhūtāni sā niśā paśyato muneḥ
Translation. What is night to all beings—in that the self-controlled yogin (saṃyamin) is awake;
wherein beings are said to be awake—that is night to the sage (muni) who sees ultimate reality (paramārtha-tattva).
Grammar check: 13 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 |
|---|
| yā | yad | pass |
| niśā | niśā | pass |
| sarva-bhūtānām | sarva-bhūta | pass |
| tasyām | tad | pass |
| jāgarti | gard | pass |
| saṃyamī | saṃyamin | pass |
| yasyām | yad | pass |
| jāgrati | jāgṛ | pass |
| bhūtāni | bhūta | pass |
| sā | tad | pass |
| niśā | niśā | pass |
| paśyataḥ | paśyat | pass |
| muneḥ | muni | 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.
Analyze sarva-bhūtānām as a karmadhāraya compound, sarvāṇi bhūtāni, in the genitive plural: ‘of/to all beings.’→ The adjective sarva qualifies bhūta in the same case and number; the commentary explicitly expands the compound as sarveṣāṃ bhūtānām.
gita [1]sarva-bhūtānāṃ sarveṣāṃ bhūtānām
‘Of all beings’ means ‘of all the beings.’
Take the first niśā not merely as literal nighttime but as the metaphorical ‘night’ that ultimate reality is for ignorant beings because it lies outside their cognitive range.→ The first relative clause refers to ultimate reality (paramārtha-tattva), called ‘night’ from the standpoint of beings whose understanding does not reach it.
gita [1]yā niśā rātriḥ sarva-padārthānām aviveka-karī tamaḥ-svabhāvatvāt sarva-bhūtānāṃ sarveṣāṃ bhūtānām |
Night, because its nature is darkness, produces failure to discriminate all objects for all beings—that is, for every being.
gita [2]kiṃ tat paramārtha-tattvaṃ sthita-prajñasya viṣayaḥ |
What is that? Ultimate reality, the object of the person of steady wisdom.
gita [3]tadvat naktaṃ-cara-sthānīyānām ajñānāṃ sarva-bhūtānāṃ niśeva niśā paramārtha-tattvam, agocaratvād atad-buddhīnām |
Likewise, for all ignorant beings, who occupy the position of night-roamers, ultimate reality is like night—indeed, is night—because it is beyond the range of those whose understanding is not directed to it.
Construe tasyām as ‘in that ultimate-reality-characterized night’ and understand jāgarti as the yogin’s awakening from the sleep of ignorance; saṃyamī denotes a self-controlled, sense-conquering yogin.→ Śaṅkara explicitly identifies the locative’s referent as ultimate reality and defines the subject as one awakened from ignorance, possessed of restraint, and master of the senses.
gita [4]tasyāṃ paramārtha-tattva-lakṣaṇāyām ajñāna-nidrāyāḥ prabuddho jāgarti saṃyamī saṃyamavān, jitendriyo yogīty arthaḥ |
In that which is characterized by ultimate reality, the disciplined one, awakened from the sleep of ignorance, is awake: ‘disciplined’ means possessing restraint, a yogin who has conquered the senses.
Interpret the second yasyām as the ‘night’ of ignorance characterized by the distinction between apprehended object and apprehender; the beings’ waking there is only apparent, like dreaming while asleep.→ The commentary says that beings remain asleep and are merely said to be awake in this avidyā-niśā, like dreamers.
gita [5]yasyāṃ grāhya-grāhaka-bheda-lakṣaṇāyām avidyā-niśāyāṃ prasuptāny eva bhūtāni jāgrati iti ucyante, yasyāṃ niśāyāṃ prasuptā iva svapna-dṛśaḥ
In the night of ignorance characterized by the distinction between apprehended object and apprehender, beings, though actually asleep, are said to be awake; in that night they are like sleeping dream-seers.
Render sā niśā paśyato muneḥ as ‘that is night to the sage who sees ultimate reality,’ taking both paśyataḥ and muneḥ as genitive singular and supplying paramārtha-tattvam as the participle’s object.→ The genitive is rendered idiomatically as the standpoint relation ‘to/for the sage’; Śaṅkara expressly supplies ultimate reality as what the sage sees and identifies the night as ignorance.
gita [5]sā niśā avidyā-rūpatvāt paramārtha-tattvaṃ paśyato muneḥ |
That is night to the sage who sees ultimate reality, because it has the form of ignorance.
Follow the supplied canonical lemma convention by citing jāgarti under gard with yaN-luk, while retaining jāgṛ for jāgrati, for which no alternative canonical lemma was supplied.→ Use gard only for jāgarti, exactly where canonical_lemmas specifies it; this is a verifier citation convention rather than an interpretive difference.
gita []
The commentary is silent on the formal derivation and lexical citation of these finite forms.
Śaṅkara's commentary on this unit
1yā niśā rātriḥ sarva-padārthānām aviveka-karī tamaḥ-svabhāvatvāt sarva-bhūtānāṃ sarveṣāṃ bhūtānām |
2kiṃ tat paramārtha-tattvaṃ sthita-prajñasya viṣayaḥ |
3yathā naktaṃ-carāṇām ahar eva sad anyeṣāṃ niśā bhavati, tadvat naktaṃ-cara-sthānīyānām ajñānāṃ sarva-bhūtānāṃ niśeva niśā paramārtha-tattvam, agocaratvād atad-buddhīnām |
4tasyāṃ paramārtha-tattva-lakṣaṇāyām ajñāna-nidrāyāḥ prabuddho jāgarti saṃyamī saṃyamavān, jitendriyo yogīty arthaḥ |
5yasyāṃ grāhya-grāhaka-bheda-lakṣaṇāyām avidyā-niśāyāṃ prasuptāny eva bhūtāni jāgrati iti ucyante, yasyāṃ niśāyāṃ prasuptā iva svapna-dṛśaḥ, sā niśā avidyā-rūpatvāt paramārtha-tattvaṃ paśyato muneḥ |
6ataḥ karmāṇi avidyāvasthāyām eva codyante, na vidyāvasthāyām |
7vidyāyāṃ hi satyām udite savitari śārvaram iva tamaḥ praṇāśam upagacchati avidyā |
8prāk vidyotpatteḥ avidyā pramāṇa-buddhyā gṛhyamāṇā kriyā-kāraka-phala-bheda-rūpā satī sarva-karma-hetutvaṃ pratipadyate |
9na apramāṇa-buddhyā gṛhyamāṇāyāḥ karma-hetutvopapattiḥ, pramāṇa-bhūtena vedena mama coditaṃ kartavyaṃ karma iti hi karmaṇi kartā pravartate, na avidyā-mātram idaṃ sarvaṃ bheda-jātam iti jñānaṃ tasya ātmajñasya sarva-karma-saṃnyāse eva adhikāro na pravṛttau |
10tathā ca darśayiṣyati --- tad-buddhayas tad-ātmānaḥ ity ādinā jñāna-niṣṭhāyām eva tasya adhikāram |
11tatrāpi pravartaka-pramāṇābhāve pravṛtty-anupapattiḥ iti cet, na |
12svātma-viṣayatvād ātma-vijñānasya |
13na hy ātmanaḥ svātmani pravartaka-pramāṇāpekṣatā, ātmatvād eva |
14tad-antatvāc ca sarva-pramāṇānāṃ pramāṇatvasya |
15na hy ātma-svarūpādhigame sati punaḥ pramāṇa-prameya-vyavahāraḥ saṃbhavati |
16pramātṛtvaṃ hy ātmanaḥ nivartayati antyaṃ pramāṇam |
17nivartayad eva cāpramāṇībhavati, svapna-kāla-pramāṇam iva prabodhe |
18loke ca vastv-adhigame pravṛtti-hetutvādarśanāt pramāṇasya |
19tasmān nātma-vidaḥ karmaṇy adhikāra iti siddham ||bhgs_2.69||
20viduṣas tyaktaiṣaṇasya sthita-prajñasya yater eva mokṣa-prāptiḥ, na tu asaṃnyāsinaḥ kāma-kāminaḥ ity etam arthaṃ dṛṣṭāntena pratipādayiṣyan āha -
21āpūryamāṇam acala-pratiṣṭhaṃ
22samudram āpaḥ praviśanti yadvat |
23tadvat kāmā yaṃ praviśanti sarve
24sa śāntim āpnoti na kāma-kāmī