🪷 Bhagavad-Gītā · 4.15

Chapter 4 · ज्ञानकर्मसंन्यासयोग · Jñāna-Karma-Sannyāsa-Yoga · "The Yoga of Knowledge & Action-Renunciation" · Verse 15 of 42

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एवं ज्ञात्वा कृतं कर्म पूर्वैरपि मुमुक्षुभिः।

कुरु कर्मैव तस्मात्त्वं पूर्वैः पूर्वतरं कृतम्।।4.15।।
— Bhagavad-Gītā 4.15 · 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
4.15 In the light of wisdom, our ancestors, who sought deliverance, performed their acts. Act thou also, as did our fathers of old.
Swami Sivananda · Direct prose · Divine Life Society
4.15 Having known this, the ancient seekers after freedom also performed action; therefore do thou also perform action, as did the ancients in days of yore.
Swami Gambīrānanda · Word-key glosses · Advaita Ashrama · Śaṅkara-school
4.15 Jnatva, having known; evam, thus, that 'I am not an agent; I have no desire for the results of actions'; karma, duties; krtam, were undertaken; api, even; purvaih, by the ancient; mumuksubhih, seekers of Liberation. Tasmat, therefore; tvam, you; kuru, undertake; karma, action; eva, itself. You ought not to sit ietly, or even renounce. Therefore, you (undertake actions) because they were performed by the ancients as well-if you have no Self-knowledge, then (undertake actions) for self-purification; or, if you have Self-knowledge, then (undertake actions) in order to prevent people from going astray-, as were krtam, performed; purvataram, earlier; purvaih, by the ancient ones, Janaka and others; not actions as are undertaken in the present day. [This last portion of the sentence is translated by some as follows: You should not undertake actions which are done in the present manner (i.e. do not perform actions in the manner undertakne by people nowadays, which neither purifies the mind nor helps people). (See G1. Pr. p. 114.) 'If action has to be undertaken here, then I shall do so following Your instruction itself. What is the use of specifying that it was done earlier by the ancient ones?' 'The answer is: Because there is a great difficult as regards actions.' How?
Swami Ādidevānanda · Śrī-Vaiṣṇava perspective · Rāmānuja school
4.15 Actions of the kind described above were performed even by the aspirants of old for liberation, who have become free from evil after knowing Me in this way. Therefore, after having got rid of the sins by knowledge of Me in the aforesaid way, perform actions in the same way as they were performed by those ancients like Vivasvan, Manu etc., in olden times, in the way in which their performance was taught by Me even then. I shall declare it again in what follows. Sri Krsna stresses the difficulty of undertaking the type of Karma that is going to be taught now.
Dr. S. Sankaranarayan · Academic precision · modern scholarly
4.15. Realizing in this fashion, action had been under-taken also by ancient seekers of salvation. Hence, you too should perform, by all means, the more ancient action that had been performed by the ancients.

🪷 Hindi Translation · हिन्दी अनुवाद

For the Hindi-aware seer · Pūjya Swami Rāmsukhdās ji's translation · a high-readability modern Hindi rendering · Gītā-Press Gorakhpur tradition. (→ Full Mahāpurusha-detail page for the 102-year-living Sādhaka-Sañjīvanī Mahātmā.)

🪷 Swami Rāmsukhdās · Sādhaka-Sañjīvanī tradition · Gītā-Press Gorakhpur · highest modern Hindi reading
।।4.15।। पूर्वकालके मुमुक्षुओंने भी इस प्रकार जानकर कर्म किये हैं, इसलिये तू भी पूर्वजोंके द्वारा सदासे किये जानेवाले कर्मोंको ही (उन्हींकी तरह) कर।

🪷 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
4.15 एवं thus? ज्ञात्वा having known? कृतम् (was) done? कर्म action? पूर्वैः by ancients? अपि also? मुमुक्षुभिः seekers after freedom? कुरु perform? कर्म action? एव even? तस्मात् therefore? त्वम् thou? पूर्वैः by ancients?,पूर्वतरम् in the olden time? कृतम् done.Commentary Knowing thus that the Self can have no desire for the fruits of actions and cannot be tainted by them? and knowing that no one can be tainted if he works without egoism? attachment and expectation of fruits? do thou perform your duty.If your heart is impure? perform actions for its purification. If you have attained AtmaJnana or the knowledge of the Self? work for the wellbeing of the world. The ancients such as Janaka and others performed actions in the days of yore. So do thou also perform action.
Swami Gambīrānanda · Advaita-school commentary (Śaṅkara tradition)
4.15 Jnatva, having known; evam, thus, that 'I am not an agent; I have no desire for the results of actions'; karma, duties; krtam, were undertaken; api, even; purvaih, by the ancient; mumuksubhih, seekers of Liberation. Tasmat, therefore; tvam, you; kuru, undertake; karma, action; eva, itself. You ought not to sit ietly, or even renounce. Therefore, you (undertake actions) because they were performed by the ancients as well-if you have no Self-knowledge, then (undertake actions) for self-purification; or, if you have Self-knowledge, then (undertake actions) in order to prevent people from going astray-, as were krtam, performed; purvataram, earlier; purvaih, by the ancient ones, Janaka and others; not actions as are undertaken in the present day. [This last portion of the sentence is translated by some as follows: You should not undertake actions which are done in the present manner (i.e. do not perform actions in the manner undertakne by people nowadays, which neither purifies the mind nor helps people). (See G1. Pr. p. 114.) 'If action has to be undertaken here, then I shall do so following Your instruction itself. What is the use of specifying that it was done earlier by the ancient ones?' 'The answer is: Because there is a great difficult as regards actions.' How?
Swami Ādidevānanda · Rāmānuja Śrī-Vaiṣṇava commentary
4.15 Actions of the kind described above were performed even by the aspirants of old for liberation, who have become free from evil after knowing Me in this way. Therefore, after having got rid of the sins by knowledge of Me in the aforesaid way, perform actions in the same way as they were performed by those ancients like Vivasvan, Manu etc., in olden times, in the way in which their performance was taught by Me even then. I shall declare it again in what follows. Sri Krsna stresses the difficulty of undertaking the type of Karma that is going to be taught now.
Dr. S. Sankaranarayan · Modern academic scholarship
4.15 Evam etc. Therefore being purified by this [sort of] conviction you too should perform actions that are to be necessarily performed. But, if it is said that success would result just from the non-performance of action, that is not correct. For -
Swami Chinmayānanda · Chinmaya Mission · modern Vedantic teaching
।।4.15।। परमात्मा में कर्तृत्व तथा फलासक्ति का अभाव है और उस आत्मस्वरूप का साक्षात् अनुभव कर लेने पर साधक में न इच्छा रहती है और न अहंकार जनित अन्य वृत्तियाँ। पूर्व अध्याय में वर्णित कर्मयोग का आचरण प्राचीन समय में अनेक बुद्धिमान मुमुक्ष पुरुषों ने किया था। अर्थ यह हुआ कि यह मार्ग कोई नवीन नहीं है।आपके उपदेशमात्र से मैं कर्मयोग का पालन करूँगा किन्तु इसमें पूर्व के मुमुक्षुओं का सन्दर्भ देने की क्या आवश्यकता है इसके उत्तर में भगवान् कहते हैं क्योंकि कर्म क्या है इस विषय को समझने में कठिनाई है कैसे कहते हैं

🪷 Hindi Vyākhyā · हिन्दी व्याख्या

Pūjya Swami Rāmsukhdās ji's Sādhaka-Sañjīvanī · one of the great modern Hindi vyākhyās of the Gītā · direct, pure, deeply Vedāntic · the modern Sanātana-jāgaraṇa. (→ Full Mahāpurusha-detail page · 1904-2005 · Corner 1 Mādhurya operational anchor · whose 6-lakṣaṇa-śaraṇāgati IS Constitutional Principle 24.)

🪷 Swami Rāmsukhdās · Sādhaka-Sañjīvanī · Hindi vyākhyā · the modern bilingual anchor
4.15।। व्याख्या-- [नवें श्लोकमें भगवान्ने अपने कर्मोंकी दिव्यताका जो प्रसङ्ग आरम्भ किया था उसका यहाँ उपसंहार करते हैं।] 'एवं ज्ञात्वा कृतं कर्म पूर्वैरपि मुमुक्षुभिः'--अर्जुन मुमुक्षु थे अर्थात् अपना कल्याण चाहते थे। परन्तु युद्धरूपसे प्राप्त अपने कर्तव्य-कर्मको करनेमें उन्हें अपना कल्याण नहीं दीखता, प्रत्युत वे उसको घोर-कर्म समझकर उसका त्याग करना चाहते हैं (गीता 3। 1)। इसलिये भगवान् अर्जुनको पूर्वकालके मुमुक्षु पुरुषोंका उदाहरण देते हैं कि उन्होंने भी अपने-अपने कर्तव्य-कर्मोंका पालन करके कल्याणकी प्राप्ति की है, इसलिये तुम्हें भी उनकी तरह अपने कर्तव्यका पालन करना चाहिये।तीसरे अध्यायके बीसवें श्लोकमें जनकादिका उदाहरण देकर तथा इसी (चौथे) अध्यायके पहले-दूसरे श्लोकोंमें विवस्वान्, मनु, इक्ष्वाकु आदिका उदाहरण देकर भगवान्ने जो बातें कही थी, वही बात इस श्लोकमें भी कह रहे हैं। शास्त्रोंमें ऐसी प्रसिद्धि है कि मुमुक्षा जाग्रत् होनेपर कर्मोंका स्वरूपसे त्याग कर देना चाहिये; क्योंकि मुमुक्षाके बाद मनुष्य कर्मका अधिकारी नहीं होता; प्रत्युत ज्ञानका अधिकारी हो जाता है (टिप्पणी प0 238)। परन्तु यहाँ भगवान् कहते हैं कि मुमुक्षुओंने भी कर्मयोगका तत्त्व जानकर कर्म किये हैं। इसलिये मुमुक्षा जाग्रत् होनेपर भी अपने कर्तव्य-कर्मोंका त्याग नहीं करना चाहिये, प्रत्युत निष्कामभावपूर्वक कर्तव्य-कर्म करते रहना चाहिये।कर्मयोगका तत्त्व है--कर्म करते हुए योगमें स्थित रहना और योगमें स्थित रहते हुए कर्म करना। कर्म संसारके लिये और योग अपने लिये होता है। कर्मोंको करना और न करना--दोनों अवस्थाएँ हैं। अतः प्रवृत्ति (कर्म करना) और निवृत्ति (कर्म न करना) दोनों ही प्रवृत्ति (कर्म करना) है। प्रवृत्ति और निवृत्ति--दोनोंसे ऊँचा उठ जाना योग है, जो पूर्ण निवृत्ति है। पूर्ण निवृत्ति कोई अवस्था नहीं है। चौदहवें श्लोकमें भगवान्ने कहा कि कर्मफलमें मेरी स्पृहा नहीं है, इसलिये मुझे कर्म नहीं बाँधते। जो मनुष्य कर्म करनेकी इस विद्या-(कर्मयोग-) को जानकर फलेच्छाका त्याग करके कर्म करता है, वह भी कर्मोंसे नहीं बँधता; कारण कि फलेच्छासे ही मनुष्य बँधता है--फले सक्तो निबध्यते (गीता 5। 12)। अगर मनुष्य अपने सुखभोगके लिये अथवा धन, मान, बड़ाई, स्वर्ग आदिकी प्राप्तिके लिये कर्म करता है तो वे कर्म उसे बाँध देते हैं (गीता 3। 9)। परन्तु यदि उसका लक्ष्य उत्पत्ति-विनाशशील संसार नहीं है, प्रत्युत वह संसारसे सम्बन्ध-विच्छेद करनेके लिये निःस्वार्थ सेवा-भावसे केवल दूसरोंके हितके लिये कर्म करता है, तो वे कर्म उसे बाँधते नहीं (गीता 4। 23)। कारण कि दूसरोंके लिये कर्म करनेसे कर्मोंका प्रवाह संसारकी तरफ हो जाता है, जिससे कर्मोंका सम्बन्ध (राग) मिट जाता है और फलेच्छा न रहनेसे नया सम्बन्ध पैदा नहीं होता।

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BG 4.15local Bhagavad-Gītā verse route and source-anchor sectionChapter 4 hubJñāna-Karma-Sannyāsa-Yoga · The Yoga of Knowledge & Action-RenunciationMBh 6.26.15exact Bhīṣma-Parva source route for this Gītā verse/bhagavad-gitamaster index for all 18 chapters and 701 verse routesBhīṣma-ParvaMahābhārata narrative home where the Bhagavad-Gītā is received/mahabharatafull Itihāsa source spine for Vyāsa Maharṣi's MahābhārataBG 1 · Arjuna-Viṣāda YogaTVAM-Ṣaṭka chapter hub for Arjuna-Viṣāda YogaBG 2 · Sāṅkhya YogaTVAM-Ṣaṭka chapter hub for Sāṅkhya YogaBG 3 · Karma YogaTVAM-Ṣaṭka chapter hub for Karma YogaBG 5 · Karma-Sannyāsa YogaTVAM-Ṣaṭka chapter hub for Karma-Sannyāsa YogaBG 6 · Dhyāna YogaTVAM-Ṣaṭka chapter hub for Dhyāna YogaBG 7 · Krishna-Tattva (Jñāna-Vijñāna)TAT-Ṣaṭka chapter hub for Krishna-Tattva (Jñāna-Vijñāna)BG 8 · Akṣara-Brahma YogaTAT-Ṣaṭka chapter hub for Akṣara-Brahma YogaBG 9 · Rāja-Vidyā Rāja-GuhyaTAT-Ṣaṭka chapter hub for Rāja-Vidyā Rāja-GuhyaBG 10 · Vibhūti YogaTAT-Ṣaṭka chapter hub for Vibhūti YogaBG 11 · Viśvarūpa-Darśana YogaTAT-Ṣaṭka chapter hub for Viśvarūpa-Darśana YogaBG 12 · Bhakti YogaTAT-Ṣaṭka chapter hub for Bhakti YogaBG 13 · Kṣetra-Kṣetrajña YogaANTYA-Ṣaṭka chapter hub for Kṣetra-Kṣetrajña YogaBG 14 · Guṇa-Traya-VibhāgaANTYA-Ṣaṭka chapter hub for Guṇa-Traya-VibhāgaBG 15 · Puruṣottama YogaANTYA-Ṣaṭka chapter hub for Puruṣottama YogaBG 16 · Daivāsura-Sampad-VibhāgaANTYA-Ṣaṭka chapter hub for Daivāsura-Sampad-VibhāgaBG 17 · Śraddhā-Traya-VibhāgaANTYA-Ṣaṭka chapter hub for Śraddhā-Traya-VibhāgaBG 18 · Mokṣa-Sannyāsa Yoga (Carama-Śloka)ANTYA-Ṣaṭka chapter hub for Mokṣa-Sannyāsa Yoga (Carama-Śloka)BG 2.47niṣkāma-karma-yoga action disciplineBG 4.34praṇipāta · paripraśna · sevā before tattva-darśī teachersBG 7.7mattaḥ parataraṁ nānyat · no source higher than KrishnaBG 9.17Krishna as father, mother, supporter, and grandfatherBG 10.30Krishna as Time among reckonersBG 13.23Paramātmā as witness, permitter, supporter, enjoyer, and LordBG 15.15Krishna seated in every heart as memory, knowledge, and forgetfulnessBG 18.61Īśvara situated in the heart of all beingsBG 18.66Carama-Śloka surrender discipline and final refuge/vishwaroopa-darshanaall 18 Gītā chapters rendered as one chart-aware darśana/vishvarupa-chartBG 11 chart-as-Viśvarūpa-darśana aperture/bija-sutrasfounder-curated bīja-pada exposition layer inside selected Gītā verse pages/binduDiamond of Darśanas frame for Gītā source recognition/philosophyKrishna = Paramaatma = Parabrahman constitutional foundation/llms.txtbrief AI-agent source map/llms-full.txtcomprehensive AI-agent access map
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सर्वम् कृष्णार्पणम् — this verse is one maṇi (jewel) on Krishna's thread (BG 7.7)