🪷 Bhagavad-Gītā · 1.41

Chapter 1 · अर्जुनविषादयोग · Arjuna-Viṣāda-Yoga · "The Yoga of Arjuna's Despondency" · Verse 41 of 47

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अधर्माभिभवात्कृष्ण प्रदुष्यन्ति कुलस्त्रियः।

स्त्रीषु दुष्टासु वार्ष्णेय जायते वर्णसङ्करः।।1.41।।
Bhagavad-Gītā 1.41 · the yathārtha śloka (Devanāgarī Sanskrit · canonical)

🪷 English Translations

Five authentic English voices · each from a distinct sampradāya · together revealing the verse's full śabda-tattva.

Shri Purohit Swami · Poetic English · 1935 · public domain · Cosmo Press tradition
1.41 When irreligion spreads, the women of the house begin to stray; when they lose their purity, adulteration of the stock follows.
Swami Sivananda · Direct prose · Divine Life Society
1.41. By the prevalence of impiety, O Krishna, the women of the family become corrupt; and , women being corrupted, O Varshenya (descendant of Vrishni), there arises intermingling of castes.
Swami Gambīrānanda · Word-key glosses · Advaita Ashrama · Śaṅkara-school
1.41 Sri Sankaracharya did not comment on this sloka. The commentary starts from 2.10.
Swami Ādidevānanda · Śrī-Vaiṣṇava perspective · Rāmānuja school
1.26 - 1.47 Arjuna said - Sanjaya said Sanjaya continued: The high-minded Arjuna, extremely kind, deeply friendly, and supremely righteous, having brothers like himself, though repeatedly deceived by the treacherous attempts of your people like burning in the lac-house etc., and therefore fit to be killed by him with the help of the Supreme Person, nevertheless said, 'I will not fight.' He felt weak, overcome as he was by his love and extreme compassion for his relatives. He was also filled with fear, not knowing what was righteous and what unrighteous. His mind was tortured by grief, because of the thought of future separation from his relations. So he threw away his bow and arrow and sat on the chariot as if to fast to death.
Dr. S. Sankaranarayan · Academic precision · modern scholarly
1.41. Because of the domination of impiety, O Krsna, the women of the family become corrupt; when the women become corrupt, O member of the Vrsni-clan, there arises the intermixture of castes;

🪷 English Commentaries · The Ācārya Voices

The classical commentary tradition rendered in English · each ācārya speaks from their own sampradāya · the seer chooses the depth of darśana.

Swami Sivananda · Verse-by-verse word-keys with Sanskrit anchors
1.41 अधर्माभिभवात् from the prevalence of impiety? कृष्ण O Krishna? प्रदुष्यन्ति become corrupt? कुलस्त्रियः the women of the family? स्त्रीषु in women? दुष्टासु (being) corrupt? वार्ष्णेय O Varshneya? जायते arises? वर्णसङ्करः casteadmixture.No Commentary.
Swami Gambīrānanda · Advaita-school commentary (Śaṅkara tradition)
1.41 Sri Sankaracharya did not comment on this sloka. The commentary starts from 2.10.
Swami Ādidevānanda · Rāmānuja Śrī-Vaiṣṇava commentary
1.26 - 1.47 Arjuna said - Sanjaya said Sanjaya continued: The high-minded Arjuna, extremely kind, deeply friendly, and supremely righteous, having brothers like himself, though repeatedly deceived by the treacherous attempts of your people like burning in the lac-house etc., and therefore fit to be killed by him with the help of the Supreme Person, nevertheless said, 'I will not fight.' He felt weak, overcome as he was by his love and extreme compassion for his relatives. He was also filled with fear, not knowing what was righteous and what unrighteous. His mind was tortured by grief, because of the thought of future separation from his relations. So he threw away his bow and arrow and sat on the chariot as if to fast to death.
Dr. S. Sankaranarayan · Modern academic scholarship
1.35 1.44 Nihatya etc. upto anususruma. Sin alone is the agent in the act of slaying these desperadoes. Therefore here the idea is this : These ememies of ours have been slain, i.e., have been take possession of, by sin. Sin would come to us also after slaying them. Sin in this context is the disregard, on account of greed etc., to the injurious conseences like the ruination of the family and the like. That is why Arjuna makes a specific mention of the [ruin of the] family etc., and of its duties in the passage 'How by slaying my own kinsmen etc'. The act of slaying, undertaken with an individualizing idea about its result, and with a particularizing idea about the person to be slain, is a great sin. To say this very thing precisely and to indicate the intensity of his own agony, Arjuna says only to himself [see next sloka]:
Swami Chinmayānanda · Chinmaya Mission · modern Vedantic teaching
।।1.41।। अर्जुन अपने पूर्वकथित तर्क को आगे बढ़ाते हुए कहता है कि अधर्म के बढ़ने पर समाज में धीरधीरे नैतिकता का पतन हो जायेगा और वर्णसंकर जातियाँ उत्पन्न होंगी।वर्ण एक ऐसा शब्द है जिसका अर्थ विकृत हो जाने से वह आज के शिक्षित लोगों की तीखी आलोचना का विषय बन गया है। उनकी आलोचना उचित है यदि उसका विकृत अर्थ स्वीकृत हो। परन्तु आज वर्ण के नाम पर देश में जो कुछ होते हुये हम देख रहे हैं वह हिन्दू जीवन पद्धति का पतित रूप है। प्राचीन काल में वर्ण विभाग का आधार समाज के व्यक्तियों की मानसिक व बौद्धिक क्षमता और पक्वता होती थी।बुद्धिमान तथा अध्ययन अध्यापन एवं अनुसंधान में रुचि रखने वाले लोग ब्राह्मण कहलाते थे क्षत्रिय वे थे जिनमें राजनीति द्वारा राष्ट्र का नेतृत्व करने की सार्मथ्य थी और जो अपने ऊपर इस कार्य का उत्तरदायित्व लेते थे कि राष्ट्र को आन्तरिक और बाह्य आक्रमणों से बचाकर राष्ट्र में शांति और समृद्धि लायें। कृषि और वाणिज्य के द्वारा समाज सेवा करने वालों को वैश्य कहते थे। वे लोग जो उपयुक्त कर्मों में से कोई भी कर्म नहीं कर सकते थे शूद्र कहे जाते थे। उनका कर्तव्य सेवा और श्रम करना था। हमारे आज के समाजसेवक और अधिकारी वर्ग कृषक और औद्योगिक कार्यकर्त्ता आदि सभी उपर्युक्त वर्ण व्यवस्था में आ जाते हैं।वर्णव्यवस्था को जब हम उसके व्यापक अर्थ में समझते हैं तब हमें आज भी वह अनेक संगठनों के रूप में दिखाई देती है। अत वर्णसंकर के विरोध का अर्थ इतना ही है कि एक विद्युत अभियन्ता शल्यकक्ष में चिकित्सक का काम करता हुआ समाज को खतरा सिद्ध होगा तो किसी चिकित्सक को जल विद्युत योजना का प्रशासनिक एवं योजना अधिकारी नियुक्त करने पर समाज की हानि होगीसमाज में नैतिक पतन होने पर अनियन्त्रित वासनाओं में डूबे युवक और युवतियाँ स्वच्छन्दता से परस्पर मिलते हैं। कामना के वश में वे सामाजिक और सांस्कृतिक विकास का किंचित भी विचार नहीं करते। इसलिये अर्जुन को भय है कि वर्णसंकर के कारण समाज और संस्कृति का पतन होगा।

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सर्वम् कृष्णार्पणम् — this verse is one maṇi (jewel) on Krishna's thread (BG 7.7)