Chapter 17 · Verse 5·Spoken by Krishna
अशास्त्रविहितं घोरं तप्यन्ते ये तपो जनाः।दम्भाहङ्कारसंयुक्ताः कामरागबलान्विताः
aśhāstra-vihitaṁ ghoraṁ tapyante ye tapo janāḥ dambhāhankāra-sanyuktāḥ kāma-rāga-balānvitāḥ
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Sanskrit recitation by Swami Brahmānanda
Audio from the Gītā Supersite, IIT Kanpur
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Reading set · 5 translations · 3 commentaries
Translation · 5 voices
Those persons who, given to ostentation and pride, and possessed of passion, attachment, and strength, undertake severe austerities not sanctioned by the scriptures;
Swami Gambiranandaafter Śaṅkara's bhāṣya· paired with Śaṅkara
Those men who practice terrible austerities not enjoined by the scriptures, given to ostentation and conceit, and prompted by the force of sensual desires and passions;
Swami Adidevanandaafter Rāmānuja's bhāṣya· paired with Rāmānuja
Those men who practise terrible austerities not as enjoined in the scriptures, who are bound by hypocrisy and conceit, and are impelled by the force of passion for desired objects;
Dr. S. Sankaranarayanafter Madhva's bhāṣya· paired with Madhva
Those men who practice terrific austerities not prescribed by the scriptures, given to hypocrisy and egoism, driven by the force of lust and attachment.
Swami SivanandaThe Bhagavad Gita
Those who practice austerities not commanded by scripture, who are enslaved to hypocrisy and egotism, who are carried away by the fury of desire and passion,
Shri Purohit SwamiThe Geeta
Some people undertake austerities that no scripture sanctions, austerities that are cruel and bring pain both to other creatures and to themselves. They are 'yoked to ostentation and egotism', driven by the wish to be seen and by self-assertion, and they are carried along by the force that desire and attachment generate in them.
Contemporary English rendering of the Sanskrit bhāṣya, pending scholar review.
Those people who practise austerity not sanctioned by scripture, even exceedingly terrible austerity, this being by way of indication, those who do unscriptural sacrifice and the rest of much toil; they, joined with pretence and egotism, driven by the force of desire and passion, withering the assembly of elements, earth and the rest, present in the body, and withering also the soul, a portion of Mine, present within the body; those who practise such austerity and do such sacrifice and the rest, know to be of demonic resolve. The resolve of demons is demonic resolve; for demons are doers of what is contrary to My command, and, by their doing what is contrary to My command, no connection with even a particle of happiness is theirs; rather, they fall into the brood of calamity, as was said before, 'they fall into an impure hell'. Now the Lord unfolds the topic itself, the difference by quality among scriptural sacrifices and the rest; and there, since the growth of sattva and the rest has food for its root, the threefoldness of food is told first. For it is heard, 'the mind, dear one, is made of food', 'on purity of food, purity of being'.
Contemporary English rendering of the Sanskrit bhāṣya, pending scholar review.
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.