🪷 Bhagavad-Gītā · 4.9
Chapter 4 · ज्ञानकर्मसंन्यासयोग · Jñāna-Karma-Sannyāsa-Yoga · "The Yoga of Knowledge & Action-Renunciation" · Verse 9 of 42
🪷 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
4.9 He who realises the divine truth concerning My birth and life is not born again; and when he leaves his body, he becomes one with Me.
Swami Sivananda · Direct prose · Divine Life Society
4.9 He who thus know, in their true light, My divine birth and action, having abandoned the body, is not born again, he comes to Me, O Arjuna.
Swami Gambīrānanda · Word-key glosses · Advaita Ashrama · Śaṅkara-school
4.9 Yah, he who; evam, thus, as described; vetti, knows tattvatah, truly, as they are in reality; that divyam, divine, supernatural; janma, birth, which is a form of Maya; ca karma, and actions, such as protection of the pious, etc.; mama, of Mine; na eti, does not get; punarjanma, rirth; tyaktva, after casting off; this deham, body. Sah, he; eti, attains, comes to; mam, Me-he gets Liberated, O Arjuna.
This path of Liberation has not been opened recently. What then? Even in earlier days-
Swami Ādidevānanda · Śrī-Vaiṣṇava perspective · Rāmānuja school
4.9 He who knows truly My life and actions, super-natural and special to Me, which are intended solely for the protection of the good and to enable them to take refuge in Me, - Me who am devoid of birth, unlike ordinary beings whose birth is caused by Karma associated with Prakrti and its three Gunas producing the evil of bondage, and who is endowed with auspicious attributes such as Lordship over all, omniscience, infallible will etc., - such a person after abandoning the present body will never be born, but will reach Me only. By true knowledge of My divine birth and acts, all his sins that stand in his way of taking refuge in Me are destroyed. In this birth itself, resorting to Me in the manner already described, and loving Me and concentrating on Me alone, he reaches Me.
Sri Krsna speaks of the same thing:
Dr. S. Sankaranarayan · Academic precision · modern scholarly
4.9. Whosoever knows thus correctly the divine birth and action of Mine, he, on abandoning the body does not go to rirth, [but] goes to Me, O Arjuna !
🪷 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
4.9 जन्म birth? कर्म action? च and? मे My? दिव्यम् divine? एवम् thus? यः who? वेत्ति knows? तत्त्वतः in true light? त्यक्त्वा having abandoned? देहम् the body? पुनः again? जन्म birth? नः not? एति gets? माम् to Me? एति comes? सः he? अर्जुन O Arjuna.Commentary The Lord? though apparently born? is always beyond birth and death though apparently active for firmly establishing righteousness? He is ever beyond all actions. He who knows this is never born again. He attains knowledge of the Self and becomes liberated while living.The birth of the Lord is an illusion. It is Aprakrita (beyond the pale of Nature). It is divine. It is peculiar to the Lord. Though He appears in human form? His body is Chinmaya (full of consciousness? not inert matter as are human bodies composed of the five elements).
Swami Gambīrānanda · Advaita-school commentary (Śaṅkara tradition)
4.9 Yah, he who; evam, thus, as described; vetti, knows tattvatah, truly, as they are in reality; that divyam, divine, supernatural; janma, birth, which is a form of Maya; ca karma, and actions, such as protection of the pious, etc.; mama, of Mine; na eti, does not get; punarjanma, rirth; tyaktva, after casting off; this deham, body. Sah, he; eti, attains, comes to; mam, Me-he gets Liberated, O Arjuna.
This path of Liberation has not been opened recently. What then? Even in earlier days-
Swami Ādidevānanda · Rāmānuja Śrī-Vaiṣṇava commentary
4.9 He who knows truly My life and actions, super-natural and special to Me, which are intended solely for the protection of the good and to enable them to take refuge in Me, - Me who am devoid of birth, unlike ordinary beings whose birth is caused by Karma associated with Prakrti and its three Gunas producing the evil of bondage, and who is endowed with auspicious attributes such as Lordship over all, omniscience, infallible will etc., - such a person after abandoning the present body will never be born, but will reach Me only. By true knowledge of My divine birth and acts, all his sins that stand in his way of taking refuge in Me are destroyed. In this birth itself, resorting to Me in the manner already described, and loving Me and concentrating on Me alone, he reaches Me.
Sri Krsna speaks of the same thing:
Dr. S. Sankaranarayan · Modern academic scholarship
4.5-9 Bahuni etc. upto Arjuna. Indeed the Bhagavat is Himself devoid of all bodily connections on account of His having the group of the 'six attributes' in toto. Yet, out of His nature of stabilising [the universe], and out of compassion, He sends forth (or creates) that is which the Self is secondary. The meaning is this : He takes hold of a body, in which the Self, with the group of 'six alities' in full, remains secondary because of Its role as a helper of the body. On account of this, His birth is divine. For, it has been created not by the results of actions, but by His own Trick-of-Illusion, by the highest knowledge of Yoga, and by the energy of Freedom of His own. His action too is divine, as it is incabable of yielding fruits [for Him]. Whosoever knows this truth in this manner i.e., realises in his own Self also in this manner, he necessarily understands the Bhagavat Vasudeva beng.
Swami Chinmayānanda · Chinmaya Mission · modern Vedantic teaching
।।4.9।। अवतार कैसे होता है तथा उसका प्रयोजन भी बताने के पश्चात् श्रीकृष्ण यहाँ कहते हैं कि जो पुरुष उनके दिव्य जन्म और कर्म को तत्त्वत जानता है वह सब बन्धनों से मुक्त होकर परमात्मस्वरूप बन जाता है। तत्त्वत शब्द से यह स्पष्ट किया गया है कि इसे केवल बुद्धि के स्तर पर जानना नहीं है वरन् यह अनुभव करना है कि अपने ही हृदय में किस प्रकार परमात्मा का अवतरण होता है। आज निसन्देह ही हम एक पशु के समान जी रहे हैं परन्तु जब कभी हम निस्वार्थ इच्छा से प्रेरित हुए कर्म करते हैं उस समय परमात्मा की ही दिव्य क्षमता हमारे कर्मों में झलकती है।इस श्लोक में सूक्ष्म संकेत यह भी है कि आत्मविकास के लिये भगवान् के आनन्दरूप की उपासना करना निराकार आत्मा के ध्यान के समान ही प्रभावकारी है। कुछ वेदान्त विचारक ऐसे भी हैं जो भगवान् के सगुणसाकार होने की कल्पना को स्वीकार नहीं करते। अत वे अवतार को भी नहीं मानते। वास्तव में यह युक्तियुक्त नहीं है। पूरी लगन से जो पुरुष साधना करता है वह सगुण अथवा निर्गुण उपासना के द्वारा लक्ष्य को प्राप्त कर लेता है।यहाँ उस पूर्णत्व की स्थिति का संकेत किया गया है जिसे प्राप्त करके जीव का पुनर्जन्म नहीं होता। वैदिक साहित्य में अनेक स्थानों पर इसका संकेत अमृतत्त्व शब्द से किया गया है तो दूसरे स्थानों पर पुनर्जन्म के अभाव के रूप में। ऐसा प्रतीत होता है मानो पहले लोग मृत्यु से डरते थे इसलिये पूर्णत्व की स्थिति मे उसका अभाव बताया गया है। अन्य विचारकों ने यह अनुभव किया होगा कि मृत्यु से अधिक दुखदायी जन्म है क्योकि उसके पश्चात् दुखों की एक शृंखला प्रारम्भ हो जाती है। अत मोक्ष का लक्षण पुनर्जन्म का अभाव कहा गया है।जिनका जन्म होता हैउसी का नाश भी होता है इस कारण अमृतत्त्व और पुनर्जन्म के अभाव से पूर्णत्व की स्थिति का ही संकेत किया गया है। तथापि दूसरे शब्द से विचारकों की परिपक्वता स्पष्ट दृष्टिगोचर होती है।यह मोक्षमार्ग केवल वर्तमान में ही प्रवृत्त नहीं हुआ बल्कि प्राचीनकाल में भी अनेक साधकों ने इसका अनुसरण किया था राग भय और क्रोध से रहित मन्मय (मेरे में स्थिति वाले) मेरे शरण हुए बहुत से पुरुष ज्ञानरूप तप से पवित्र हुए मेरे स्वरूप को प्राप्त
🪷 Place in the Bhagavad-Gītā
- This is verse 9 of 42 in Chapter 4 · Jñāna-Karma-Sannyāsa-Yoga (The Yoga of Knowledge & Action-Renunciation)
- Chapter theme: Daśāvatāra · 12 yajñas · yadā yadā hi dharmasya (BG 4.7)
- Ṣaṭka grouping: TVAM-Ṣaṭka (BG 1-6 · the jīva)
- Chapter hub: /jnana-karma
🪷 ॐ नमो भगवते वासुदेवाय 🪷
सर्वम् कृष्णार्पणम् — this verse is one maṇi (jewel) on Krishna's thread (BG 7.7)