राम
V.2413.2313.25

Chapter 13 · Verse 24·Spoken by Arjuna

य एवं वेत्ति पुरुषं प्रकृतिं च गुणैःसह।सर्वथा वर्तमानोऽपि न स भूयोऽभिजायते

ya evaṁ vetti puruṣhaṁ prakṛitiṁ cha guṇaiḥ saha sarvathā vartamāno ’pi na sa bhūyo ’bhijāyate

—:—— / —:——

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Sanskrit recitation by Swami Brahmānanda

Audio from the Gītā Supersite, IIT Kanpur

Word by Word

yaḥwhoevamthusvettiunderstandpuruṣhamPuruṣhprakṛitimthe material naturechaandguṇaiḥthe three modes of naturesahawithsarvathāin every wayvartamānaḥsituatedapialthoughnanotsaḥtheybhūyaḥagainabhijāyatetake birth

Reading set · 5 translations · 3 commentaries

Translation · 5 voices

He who knows thus the Person, Nature, and Qualities will not be born again, no matter how he may live.

Swami Gambiranandaafter Śaṅkara's bhāṣya· paired with Śaṅkara

He who understands the Self and Prakriti, along with the Gunas, will not be born again, no matter what state he may be in.

Swami Adidevanandaafter Rāmānuja's bhāṣya· paired with Rāmānuja

He who knows, in this manner, the Soul and the Material Cause together with their strands—he is not reborn, even though he may act in various ways.

Dr. S. Sankaranarayanafter Madhva's bhāṣya· paired with Madhva

He who thus knows the Spirit and Matter together with their qualities, in whatever condition he may be, he is not reborn.

Swami SivanandaThe Bhagavad Gita

He who understands God and Nature, along with her qualities, whatever his condition in life may be, will not come back to earth.

Shri Purohit SwamiThe Geeta

ŚaṅkarācāryaGītā-bhāṣya
Advaita Vedānta· Classical
Machine translation · draft

He who knows, in the manner described, the Puruṣa directly, as 'I', and Nature, of the character described, marked by ignorance, together with the qualities, its own modifications, brought by knowledge to non-being, made into an absence: such a one, however he may be conducting himself, in whatever state, is not born again, after the falling of this body of the knower, for another body; he does not take on another body. By the word 'however' it is understood, all the more, that one who keeps to his own conduct is not born. Now, although the absence of rebirth after the arising of knowledge has been stated, still, of the actions done before the arising of knowledge, and of those done in the time after, and of those done in countless past births that have gone by, the destruction without their giving fruit is not fitting; so there would be three births, since the loss of what has been done is not fitting, as with the actions, set toward their fruit, that have begun the present birth. And no distinction among actions is grasped. Therefore the three kinds of action would begin three births, or all together would begin one birth; otherwise, with what has been done destroyed, there would follow a lack of all assurance everywhere, and scripture would be purposeless. So what was said, that he is not born again, would be unfitting. This is wrong. The burning-up of all the actions of the knower has been told by hundreds of scriptures, 'who knows Brahman becomes Brahman itself' (Muṇḍaka 3.2.9), 'for him the delay is only so long' (Chāndogya 6.14.2), 'all his actions are burnt up like the tip of a reed' (Chāndogya 5.24.3) and the like. Here too the burning-up of all action has been told, by 'as a kindled fire' (Gītā 4.37) and the like, and will be told again. And it is so by reasoning: actions whose seed-occasion is the afflictions, ignorance and desire, begin the sprout of another birth, and here too the Blessed Lord has said, here and there, that actions joined with the sense of I and with aim begin a fruit, not the others. And it is said, 'as seeds burnt by fire do not sprout again, so the Self does not come to be again, the afflictions being burnt by knowledge'. Let it be granted that the actions done in the time after the arising of knowledge are burnt by knowledge, since they keep company with knowledge; but the burning of the actions done before the arising of knowledge in this birth, and of those done in past births, is not fitting. No: because of the qualification 'all actions'. If it be said that only all the actions done in the time after the arising of knowledge are meant, the answer is no: because there is no cause for the narrowing-down. As for what was said, that, just as the actions that have begun the present birth are not destroyed but are set toward giving their fruit even when knowledge is present, so the destruction of the actions whose fruit has not begun is not fitting: that is wrong. They are like a released arrow, since their fruit has begun. As an arrow released to pierce a target, even after the piercing of the target, comes to rest only by falling, when the speed it was given is spent: so the action that has begun the body, even when the purpose of the body's continuance has ceased, goes on, as before, until the speed of its impression is spent. But as that same arrow, not released but only fitted to the bow, with the speed that would occasion its flight not begun, is drawn back: so the actions whose fruit has not begun, standing in their own seat, are made seedless by knowledge. Therefore it is rightly said, and is established, that after the falling of this body of the knower he is not born again. Here, with regard to the seeing of the Self, these means, meditation and the rest, are told as alternatives.

Contemporary English rendering of the Sanskrit bhāṣya, pending scholar review.

RāmānujācāryaGītā-bhāṣya
Viśiṣṭādvaita· Classical
Machine translation · draft

Some, their discipline accomplished, see the self abiding in the body, the self, by the self, the mind, by meditation, which is the discipline of devotion. And others, their discipline not accomplished, having, by the discipline of Sankhya, the discipline of knowledge, made the mind fit for discipline, see the self. And others, who are unqualified for the discipline and the rest which are the means of beholding the self, both those unqualified for the discipline of knowledge and those qualified for it who, attached to an easy means and to be pointed to as exemplary, having, by the discipline of action which has knowledge enclosed within it, brought the mind to fitness for discipline, see the self.

Contemporary English rendering of the Sanskrit bhāṣya, pending scholar review.

MadhvācāryaGītā-bhāṣya
Dvaita· Classical
Machine translation · draft

This is a brief sub-gloss. For a fuller reading of this verse, see Madhusūdana, Śaṅkara, or Rāmānuja above.

Madhvacharya does not comment on this verse.

Contemporary English rendering of the Sanskrit bhāṣya, pending scholar review.