🪷 Bhagavad-Gītā · 10.3

Chapter 10 · विभूतियोग · Vibhūti-Yoga · "The Yoga of Krishna's Manifestations" · Verse 3 of 42

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यो मामजमनादिं च वेत्ति लोकमहेश्वरम्।

असम्मूढः स मर्त्येषु सर्वपापैः प्रमुच्यते।।10.3।।
Bhagavad-Gītā 10.3 · 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
10.3 He who knows Me as the unborn, without beginning, the Lord of the universe, he, stripped of his delusion, becomes free from all conceivable sin.
Swami Sivananda · Direct prose · Divine Life Society
10.3 He who knows Me as unborn and beginningless, as the great Lord of the worlds, he, among mortals, is undeluded and he is liberated from all sins.
Swami Gambīrānanda · Word-key glosses · Advaita Ashrama · Śaṅkara-school
10.3 Yah, he who; vetti, knows; mam, Me; ajam, the birthless; and anadim, the beginningless: Since I am the source of the gods and the great sages, and nothing else exists as My origin, therefore I am birthless and beginningless. Being without an origin is the cause of being birthless. He who knows Me who am thus birthless and beginningless, and loka-maheswaram, the great Lord of the worlds, the transcendental One devoid of ignorance and its effects; sah, he; the asammudhah, undeluded one; martyesu, among mortals, among human beings; pramucyate, becomes freed; sarva-papaih, from all sins-committed knowingly or unknowingly. 'For the following reason also I am the great Lord of the worlds:'
Swami Ādidevānanda · Śrī-Vaiṣṇava perspective · Rāmānuja school
10.3 He who exists 'without being born' at any particular time unlike other beings is 'unborn' in the sense of being eternal. For, this attribute denotes a unie state distinct in kind both from insentient things which are subject to modifications, and from the self in Its state of involvement in Samsara when It is united with insentient matter. In that state the birth of the self involved in matter is generated by Karma. The temr 'Anadi', or without beginning, is used to distinguish the state of the Lord, which is distinct in kind, from that of the liberated state which is birthless but can be said to have a beginning. For, to the liberated self, the state of liberation has a beginning, because, in regard to this, conjunction with matter which deserves to be abandoned, existed previously. Hence the term 'Anadi' implies that the Lord is without such conjunction and does not deserve the same description. The Sruti also says: 'Him who is stainless' (Sve. U., 4.19). Thus, he who is undeluded among the mortals understands Me as 'the great Lord of the worlds,' as the Lord of the lords of the worlds. My nature is incompatible with association with evil which has to be given up. What is called 'delusion' is the wrong knowledge of taking Me as one among other entities of the same kind. To be bereft of this delusion is to be 'undeluded'. Such a person is released from all sins which stand against the rise of Bhakti to Me. The meaning is this: In this world, the king who rules over men is only like all those men. He has become a ruler by some good Karma. Such is not the case with the Lord of the gods (the Supreme Being). Even the lord of the cosmic egg (Brahma) is of the same class as other beings in Samsara, because he too is a created being coming within the threefold classification of beings according to the three innate tendencies for growth - namely Karma-bhavana, Brahma-bhavana and Ubhaya-bhavana. These three are described respectively as fitness to practise work alone, fitness to practise meditation alone and fitness to practise both together. Brahma comes under the third group. The Sruti also says, 'He who creates Brahma' (Sve. U., 6.18). The same is the case with all those who have acired the eight superhuman powers like becoming atomic etc. But I, the Supreme Being, is the great Lord of the worlds. He who is not subject to the delusion of regarding Me as of the same order as others, - such a person knows Me as distinct in kind from non-conscient matter in its states as cause and effect, from the self whether bound or free, and from everything else, on account of all of them being subject to My control. I am antagonistic to all that is evil and I am the sole centre of innumerable auspicious attributes, unsurpassed and incomparable. It is also My inherent nature to be the controller of everything. One who understands Me to be all this is released from every sin. Thus, after showing the annihilation, by meditation on His nature, of all evil impeding the rise of Bhakti, and also of the rise of devotion, through implication, by the destruction of such opposing factors, Sri Krsna now explains the way in which Bhakti develops by meditation on His sovereign power and on the multitude of His auspicious attributes:
Dr. S. Sankaranarayan · Academic precision · modern scholarly
10.3. Whosoever knows Me as the unborn and beginningless Absolute Lord of the universe, that person, not deluded among the mortals, is delivered from all sins.

🪷 Hindi Translation · हिन्दी अनुवाद

For the Hindi-aware seer · Pūjya Swami Rāmsukhdās ji's translation · the highest-readability modern Hindi rendering · Gītā-Press Gorakhpur tradition.

🪷 Swami Rāmsukhdās · Sādhaka-Sañjīvanī tradition · Gītā-Press Gorakhpur · highest modern Hindi reading
।।10.3।। जो मनुष्य मुझे अजन्मा, अनादि और सम्पूर्ण लोकोंका महान् ईश्वर जानता है अर्थात् दृढ़तासे मानता है, वह मनुष्योंमें असम्मूढ़ (जानकार) है और वह सम्पूर्ण पापोंसे मुक्त हो जाता है।

🪷 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
10.3 यः who? माम् Me? अजम् unborn? अनादिम् beginningless? च and? वेत्ति knows? लोकमहेश्वरम् the great Lord of the worlds? असम्मूढः undeluded? सः he? मर्त्येषु amongst mortals? सर्वपापैः from all sins? प्रमुच्यते is liberated. Commentary As the Supreme Being is the cause of all the worlds? He is beginningless. As He is the source of the gods and the great sages? there is no source for His existence. As He is beginningless He is unborn. He is the great Lord of all the worlds.Asammudhah Undeluded. He who has realised that his own innermost Self is not different from the Supreme Self is an undeluded person. Through the removal of ignorance the delusion which is of the form of mutual superimposition between the Self and the notSelf is also removed. He is freed from all sins done consciously or unconsciously in the three periods of time.The ignorant man removes his sins through the performance of expiatory acts (Prayaschitta) and enjoyment of the results. But he is not completely freed from all sins because he continues to do sinful actions through the force of evil Samskaras or impressions because he has not eradicated ignorance? the root cause of all sins? and its effect? egoism and superimposition or the feeling of I in the physical body. As he dies? swayed by the forces of evil Samskaras? he engages himself in doing sinful actions in the next birth. But the sage of Selfrealisation is completely liberated from,all sins because ignorance? the root cause of all sins? and its effect? viz.? the mistaken notion that the body is the Self on account of mutual superimposition between the Self and the notSelf? is eradicated in toto along with the Samskaras and all the sins. The Samskaras are burnt completely like roasted seeds. Just as burnt seeds cannot germinate? so also the burnt Samskaras cannot generate further actions or future births.For the following reason also? I am the great Lord of the worlds.
Swami Gambīrānanda · Advaita-school commentary (Śaṅkara tradition)
10.3 Yah, he who; vetti, knows; mam, Me; ajam, the birthless; and anadim, the beginningless: Since I am the source of the gods and the great sages, and nothing else exists as My origin, therefore I am birthless and beginningless. Being without an origin is the cause of being birthless. He who knows Me who am thus birthless and beginningless, and loka-maheswaram, the great Lord of the worlds, the transcendental One devoid of ignorance and its effects; sah, he; the asammudhah, undeluded one; martyesu, among mortals, among human beings; pramucyate, becomes freed; sarva-papaih, from all sins-committed knowingly or unknowingly. 'For the following reason also I am the great Lord of the worlds:'
Swami Ādidevānanda · Rāmānuja Śrī-Vaiṣṇava commentary
10.3 He who exists 'without being born' at any particular time unlike other beings is 'unborn' in the sense of being eternal. For, this attribute denotes a unie state distinct in kind both from insentient things which are subject to modifications, and from the self in Its state of involvement in Samsara when It is united with insentient matter. In that state the birth of the self involved in matter is generated by Karma. The temr 'Anadi', or without beginning, is used to distinguish the state of the Lord, which is distinct in kind, from that of the liberated state which is birthless but can be said to have a beginning. For, to the liberated self, the state of liberation has a beginning, because, in regard to this, conjunction with matter which deserves to be abandoned, existed previously. Hence the term 'Anadi' implies that the Lord is without such conjunction and does not deserve the same description. The Sruti also says: 'Him who is stainless' (Sve. U., 4.19). Thus, he who is undeluded among the mortals understands Me as 'the great Lord of the worlds,' as the Lord of the lords of the worlds. My nature is incompatible with association with evil which has to be given up. What is called 'delusion' is the wrong knowledge of taking Me as one among other entities of the same kind. To be bereft of this delusion is to be 'undeluded'. Such a person is released from all sins which stand against the rise of Bhakti to Me. The meaning is this: In this world, the king who rules over men is only like all those men. He has become a ruler by some good Karma. Such is not the case with the Lord of the gods (the Supreme Being). Even the lord of the cosmic egg (Brahma) is of the same class as other beings in Samsara, because he too is a created being coming within the threefold classification of beings according to the three innate tendencies for growth - namely Karma-bhavana, Brahma-bhavana and Ubhaya-bhavana. These three are described respectively as fitness to practise work alone, fitness to practise meditation alone and fitness to practise both together. Brahma comes under the third group. The Sruti also says, 'He who creates Brahma' (Sve. U., 6.18). The same is the case with all those who have acired the eight superhuman powers like becoming atomic etc. But I, the Supreme Being, is the great Lord of the worlds. He who is not subject to the delusion of regarding Me as of the same order as others, - such a person knows Me as distinct in kind from non-conscient matter in its states as cause and effect, from the self whether bound or free, and from everything else, on account of all of them being subject to My control. I am antagonistic to all that is evil and I am the sole centre of innumerable auspicious attributes, unsurpassed and incomparable. It is also My inherent nature to be the controller of everything. One who understands Me to be all this is released from every sin. Thus, after showing the annihilation, by meditation on His nature, of all evil impeding the rise of Bhakti, and also of the rise of devotion, through implication, by the destruction of such opposing factors, Sri Krsna now explains the way in which Bhakti develops by meditation on His sovereign power and on the multitude of His auspicious attributes:
Dr. S. Sankaranarayan · Modern academic scholarship
10.3 See Comment under 10.5
Swami Chinmayānanda · Chinmaya Mission · modern Vedantic teaching
।।10.3।। जो मुझे जानता है यह जानना केवल भावना के प्रवाह में अथवा बुद्धि के विचारों से जानना नहीं है? वरन् यह पूर्ण और वास्तविक आत्मानुभूति है? जो आत्मा के साथ घनिष्ठ तादात्म्य के क्षणों में होती है। आत्मा को किसी दृश्य के समान नहीं किन्तु स्वस्वरूप से इस प्रकार जानना है कि वह अजन्मा? अनादि और सर्वलोकमहेश्वर है। जो लोग वेदान्त दर्शन की प्राचीन परम्परा से कुछ परिचित हैं? उनके लिए उपर्युक्त ये तीन विशेषण अत्यन्त सारगर्भित हैं? जबकि उससे अनभिज्ञ लोगों को ये विशेषण निरर्थक ही प्रतीत होंगे। अनात्म जड़ जगत् परिच्छिन्न है? जहाँ कि प्रत्येक वस्तु? प्राणी या अनुभव अनित्य हैं? अर्थात् समस्त वस्तुएं आदि (जन्म) और अन्त (मत्यु) से युक्त हैं।असीम अनन्त परमात्मा का कभी जन्म नहीं हो सकता? क्योंकि जो उत्पन्न हुआ है? वह परिच्छिन्न है और किसी भी परिच्छिन्न वस्तु में अनन्त तत्त्व कभी अपने अनन्त स्वरूप में व्यक्त नहीं हो सकता। स्थाणु (स्तम्भ) में जब भ्रान्ति से पुरुष (या प्रेत) की प्रतीति होती है? तब पुरुष का नाश (अप्रतीति) हो सकता है? क्योंकि वह उत्पन्न हुआ था। परन्तु? वास्तव में यह नहीं कहा जा सकता कि स्थाणु ने प्रेत को जन्म दिया? अथवा स्तम्भ से प्रेत की उत्पत्ति हुई। स्थाणु तो वहाँ पहले भी था? है और रहेगा। आत्मा नित्य सनातन है? इसलिए वह जन्मरहित है। अन्य वस्तुओं का जन्म? स्थिति और नाश इस आत्मा में ही होता है। तरंगे समुद्र से उत्पन्न होती हैं? परन्तु समुद्र स्वयं अजन्मा है। प्रत्येक तरंग का आदि है? मध्य है और अन्त भी। किन्तु उन सबका सारतत्त्व इन समस्त विकारों से सर्वथा मुक्त है और इसलिए? इस श्लोक में आत्मा को अनादि विशेषण दिया गया है।लोकमहेश्वर लोक शब्द का अर्थ जगत् करने से इस संस्कृत शब्द के व्यापक आशय की उपेक्षा हो जाती है। लोक शब्द जिस धातु से बनता है उसका अर्थ है देखना? अनुभव करना। अत इसका सम्पूर्ण अर्थ होगा अनुभव का क्षेत्र। हमारे दैनिक जीवन में भी इसी अर्थ में लोक शब्द का प्रयोग किया जाता है? जैसे धनवानों का लोक? अपराधियों का लोक? विद्यार्थी लोक? कवियों का लोक आदि। इसलिए? उसके व्यापक अर्थ में लोक शब्द से मात्र भौतिक जगत् ही नहीं? बल्कि भावनाओं एवं विचारों के जगत् का भी बोध होता है।इस प्रकार? मेरा लोक वह है? जो मैं अपने शरीर? मन और बुद्धि के द्वारा अनुभव करता हूँ। यह तो स्पष्ट है कि जब तक मुझे इनका निरन्तर भान नहीं होता तब तक ये अनुभव मेरे नहीं हो सकते। यह चैतन्य तत्त्व? जिसके कारण ही मैं जीता हूँ और जगत् का अनुभव करता हूँ? वास्तव में मेरे लोक का ईश्वर होना ही चाहिए।जो मेरे व्यष्टि के विषय में सत्य है? वही जगत् के समस्त प्राणियों के विषय में भी सत्य है? क्योंकि आत्मा सर्वत्र एक ही है। इस समष्टि लोक का शासक? महान् ईश्वर स्वयं परमात्मा ही हो सकता है। यह लोक महेश्वर शब्द का वास्तविक अर्थ है। ईश्वर कोई निरंकुश एवं क्रूर शासक अथवा आकाश में बैठा कोई सुल्तान नहीं। आत्मा हमारे लोक का ईश्वर ऐसे ही है? जैसे? दिन के समय सूर्य इस बाह्य जगत् का स्वामी है? क्योंकि वही जगत् को प्रकाशित करता है।जो मुझे अजन्मा? अनादि और लोक महेश्वर के रूप में जानता है? वह संमोहरहित हो जाता है। स्थाणु में प्रेत देखकर भयभीत व्यक्ति जैसे ही उस स्थाणु को पहचानता है? वैसे ही वह मोह और भ्रान्ति से मुक्त हो जाता है। हिन्दू धर्म में पाप की कल्पना किसी विकराल अवश्यंभाविता का भयंकर चित्र नहीं है। मनुष्य अपने पापों के लिए दण्डित नहीं? वरन् अपने पापों के द्वारा ही दण्डित होता है। पाप वह स्वअपमानजनक कर्म है? जिसका कारण है मनुष्य को अपने वास्तविक स्वरूप का अज्ञान।जब कोई व्यक्ति अपने शुद्ध आत्मस्वरूप से भटक कर दूर चला जाता है? तब वह जगत् की घटनाओं के साथ तादात्म्य कर सुखदुख का अनुभव करता है। वह जगत् में इस प्रकार व्यवहार करता है? मानो वह एक घृणित मांसपिण्ड ही है? अथवा स्पन्दनशील भावनाओं की गठरी अथवा विचारों का समूह मात्र है। उसका यह व्यवहार अपनी एकमेव अद्वितीय ईश्वरीय? दिव्य प्रतिष्ठा का अपमान ही है। ऐसे कर्म और विचार मनुष्य को निम्न स्तर के भोगों में आसक्त कर बाँध देते हैं? जिसके कारण वह उनसे ऊपर उठकर वास्तविक पूर्णत्व के शिखर तक कभी नहीं पहुँच पाता।आत्मस्वरूप को पहचान कर उसमें दृढ़ निष्ठा प्राप्त कर लेने पर वह व्यक्ति पुन कभी पापकर्म में प्रवृत्त नहीं होता। पापवृत्तियाँ वे विषैले फोड़े हैं? जिनके कारण हम अपनी परिच्छिन्नताओं की पीड़ा और बंधनों के दुख सहते रहते हैं। जिस क्षण हम अपने आत्मस्वरूप को पहचानते हैं कि वह अजन्मा और अनादि है तथा उसका विकारी और विनाशी उपाधियों के साथ कोई सम्बन्ध नहीं है? उस समय हम वह सब कुछ प्राप्त कर लेते हैं जो जीवन में प्राप्तव्य है? और वह सब कुछ जान लेते हैं जो ज्ञातव्य है। ऐसा सम्यक् तत्त्वदर्शी पुरुष स्वयं ही लोकमहेश्वर बन जाता है।निम्न कारण से भी आत्मा लोकमहेश्वर है --

🪷 Hindi Vyākhyā · हिन्दी व्याख्या

Pūjya Swami Rāmsukhdās ji's Sādhaka-Sañjīvanī · one of the greatest modern Hindi vyākhyās of the Gītā · direct, pure, deeply Vedāntic · the modern Sanātana-jāgaraṇa.

🪷 Swami Rāmsukhdās · Sādhaka-Sañjīvanī · Hindi vyākhyā · the modern bilingual anchor
।।10.3।। व्याख्या --'यो मामजमनादिं च वेत्ति लोकमहेश्वरम्'-- पीछेके श्लोकमें भगवान्के प्रकट होनेको जाननेका विषय नहीं बताया है। इस विषयको तो मनुष्य भी नहीं जानता, पर जितना जाननेसे मनुष्य अपना कल्याण कर ले, उतना तो वह जान ही सकता है। वह जानना अर्थात् मानना यह है कि भगवान् अज अर्थात् जन्मरहित हैं। वे अनादि हैं अर्थात् यह जो काल कहा जाता है, जिसमें आदि-अनादि शब्दोंका प्रयोग होता है, भगवान् उस कालके भी काल हैं। उन कालातीत भगवान्में कालका भी आदि और अन्त हो जाता है। भगवान् सम्पूर्ण लोकोंके महान् ईश्वर हैं अर्थात् स्वर्ग, पृथ्वी और पातालरूप जो त्रिलोकी है तथा उस त्रिलोकीमें जितने प्राणी हैं और उन प्राणियोंपर शासन करनेवाले (अलग-अलग अधिकार-प्राप्त) जितने ईश्वर (मालिक) हैं, उन सब ईश्वरोंके भी महान् ईश्वर भगवान् हैं। इस प्रकार जाननेसे अर्थात् श्रद्धा-विश्वासपूर्वक दृढ़तासे माननेसे मनुष्यको भगवान्के अज, अविनाशी और लोकमहेश्वर होनेमें कभी किञ्चिन्मात्र भी सन्देह नहीं होता।

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