Chapter 3 · Verse 23·Spoken by Krishna
यदि ह्यहं न वर्तेयं जातु कर्मण्यतन्द्रितः। मम वर्त्मानुवर्तन्ते मनुष्याः पार्थ सर्वशः
yadi hyahaṁ na varteyaṁ jātu karmaṇyatandritaḥ mama vartmānuvartante manuṣhyāḥ pārtha sarvaśhaḥ
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Sanskrit recitation by Swami Brahmānanda
Audio from the Gītā Supersite, IIT Kanpur
Word by Word
Reading set · 5 translations · 3 commentaries
Translation · 5 voices
For, O Partha, if at any time I do not continue vigilantly in action, people will follow My path in every way.
Swami Gambiranandaafter Śaṅkara's bhāṣya· paired with Śaṅkara
If I did not continue to work unweariedly, O Arjuna, people would follow my path.
Swami Adidevanandaafter Rāmānuja's bhāṣya· paired with Rāmānuja
For, if I were ever not to work unwearied, all men would follow My path, O son of Prtha!
Dr. S. Sankaranarayanafter Madhva's bhāṣya· paired with Madhva
For, should I not ever engage myself in action, unwearied, people would in every way follow my path, O Arjuna.
Swami SivanandaThe Bhagavad Gita
Were I not to act without ceasing, O prince, people would be inclined to do the same.
Shri Purohit SwamiThe Geeta
This is a brief sub-gloss. For a fuller reading of this verse, see Madhusūdana, Śaṅkara, or Rāmānuja above.
For if I were not, at any time, to engage in action, untiring, unflagging, men would, in every way, follow My path, the path of Me who am the foremost, O Pārtha.
Contemporary English rendering of the Sanskrit bhāṣya, pending scholar review.
I, the Lord of all, of true resolve, whose play it is to bring about by My own will the rise, the flourishing, and the dissolution of the world, though at My own will I was born a mortal among men, having come down in the house of Vasudeva, foremost among the exemplary; if I were not, untiringly and at all times, to engage in the action suited to that family, then the exemplary men of incomplete knowledge would in every way follow the path of Me, the son of Vasudeva who is foremost among the exemplary, holding 'this alone is the law'; and they, by not carrying out their own duties and by the sin of that non-performance, not attaining the self, would become goers to hell.
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.