श्रीमद्भगवद्गीताShrimad Bhagavad Gita 📖 Read as a flipbook

Bhagavad Gita · Jnana Karma Sannyasa YogaChapter 4, Shloka 19 (4.19)

Original Sanskrit · श्रीभगवान्

यस्य सर्वे समारम्भाः कामसङ्कल्पवर्जिताः
ज्ञानाग्निदग्धकर्माणं तमाहुः पण्डितं बुधाः
॥ 4.19 ॥

yasya sarve samārambhāḥ kāmasaṅkalpavarjitāḥ
jñānāgnidagdhakarmāṇaṃ tamāhuḥ paṇḍitaṃ budhāḥ

Translation

"One whose every undertaking is free from desire and selfish intention, and whose actions have been burned in the fire of knowledge — the wise call that person a 'pandit'."

Interpretation

Two marks. (1) Kāma-saṅkalpa-varjita — work without selfish desire and scheming; (2) jñānāgni-dagdha-karmā — the fire of knowledge has burned away the bondage of action.

Shankaracharya: such a person's actions are mudhaiva ceṣṭā-mātrāḥ — as if mere movements; pravṛttena cel loka-saṅgrahārtham, nivṛttena cej jīvana-mātrārtham — if active, for the welfare of the world; if withdrawn (a renunciate), only to sustain life. Jñānāgninā dagdhāni śubhāśubha-lakṣaṇāni karmāṇi — actions both good and bad are burned by the fire of knowledge. Shankara goes on to say that one who has the vision of the self before undertaking action gives up action and takes up renunciation; one who gains it later, and for some reason cannot give up action, acts for the welfare of the world, yet "does nothing at all" (4.20).

Acharya Ramanuja: yasya mumukṣoḥ … karma-samārambhāḥ kāma-varjitāḥ phala-saṅga-rahitāḥ saṅkalpa-varjitāḥ ca — the seeker of liberation all of whose actions are free from attachment to results and from the notion (of identity with prakriti) — such a person, karmāntargata-ātma-yāthātmya-jñānāgninā dagdha-prācīna-karmāṇam — whose old actions have been burned by the fire of knowledge of the true self, present within action — the wise call a pandit.

AI-assisted draft translation — under review.

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