🪷 Bhagavad-Gītā · 6.39
Chapter 6 · ध्यानयोग · Dhyāna-Yoga · "The Yoga of Meditation" · Verse 39 of 47
🪷 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
6.39 My Lord! Thou art worthy to solve this doubt once and for all; save Thyself there is no one competent to do so.
Swami Sivananda · Direct prose · Divine Life Society
6.39 This doubt of mine, O Krishna, do Thou dispel completely; because it is not possible for any but Thee to dispel this doubt.
Swami Gambīrānanda · Word-key glosses · Advaita Ashrama · Śaṅkara-school
6.39 O krsna, arhasi, You should; asesatah, totally; chettum, eradicate, remove; etat, this; samsayam, doubt; me, of mine. Hi, for; na tvad anyah, none other than You, be he a sage or a god; upapadyate, can be; chetta, the despeller, the destroyer; asya, of this; samsayasya, doubt. Therefore you Yourself should dispel (the doubt). This is the meaning.
Swami Ādidevānanda · Śrī-Vaiṣṇava perspective · Rāmānuja school
6.37 - 6.39 Arjuna said What way does he go, who has embarked on Yoga endowed with faith, but who by inadeacy of exertion in practice, does not gain success in Yoga and has his mind wandering from Yoga? Does he not perish like a small piece of cloud torn from a large mass of cloud - perish without reaching another large mass of cloud?
Now does he not fall away from both (sides)? He has no support and is confused on the path leading to the Brahman. He is without any support in the sense that Karma or rituals which constitutes the means of heaven etc., does not give support for a person who is devoid of attachment to fruits; for Karma is the means for generating its own fruits. He is also confused in the path leading to the Brahman on which he has just begun to traverse; He has lost his way. Does he then get lost by falling down from both sides, these being attainment of heaven on the one hand and liberation on the other. Does he not thus perish? You should remove this doubt altogether from my mind; for there is no other remover of this doubt than You, who always perceive directly all matters simultaneously.
Dr. S. Sankaranarayan · Academic precision · modern scholarly
6.39. Please dispel this doubt of mine completely. But for Yourself, O Krsna, no eradicator of this doubt is possible.
🪷 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
6.39 एतत् this? मे my? संशयम् doubt? कृष्ण O Krishna? छेत्तुम् to dispel? अर्हसि oughtest? अशेषतः completely? त्वत् than Thou? अन्यः another? संशयस्य of doubt? अस्य of this? छेत्ता dispeller? न not? हि verily? उपपद्यते is fit.Commentary There can be no better teacher than Thee for Thou art the omniscient Lord. Thou alone canst dispel this doubt. A Rishi (seer)? a Deva (god)? or a Muni (sage) will not be able to destroy this doubt.
Swami Gambīrānanda · Advaita-school commentary (Śaṅkara tradition)
6.39 O krsna, arhasi, You should; asesatah, totally; chettum, eradicate, remove; etat, this; samsayam, doubt; me, of mine. Hi, for; na tvad anyah, none other than You, be he a sage or a god; upapadyate, can be; chetta, the despeller, the destroyer; asya, of this; samsayasya, doubt. Therefore you Yourself should dispel (the doubt). This is the meaning.
Swami Ādidevānanda · Rāmānuja Śrī-Vaiṣṇava commentary
6.37 - 6.39 Arjuna said What way does he go, who has embarked on Yoga endowed with faith, but who by inadeacy of exertion in practice, does not gain success in Yoga and has his mind wandering from Yoga? Does he not perish like a small piece of cloud torn from a large mass of cloud - perish without reaching another large mass of cloud?
Now does he not fall away from both (sides)? He has no support and is confused on the path leading to the Brahman. He is without any support in the sense that Karma or rituals which constitutes the means of heaven etc., does not give support for a person who is devoid of attachment to fruits; for Karma is the means for generating its own fruits. He is also confused in the path leading to the Brahman on which he has just begun to traverse; He has lost his way. Does he then get lost by falling down from both sides, these being attainment of heaven on the one hand and liberation on the other. Does he not thus perish? You should remove this doubt altogether from my mind; for there is no other remover of this doubt than You, who always perceive directly all matters simultaneously.
Dr. S. Sankaranarayan · Modern academic scholarship
6.37-39 Ayatah etc. upto na hyupapadyate. Even if his mind has moved away from the Yoga, he had reached, the faith in [his] mind is not lost. for, a person - even if he has achieved the Yoga - makes all [achievements] useless, if his faith is completely lost. That has been said :-
'Even after attaining the perfect knowledge, if it gets vitiated due to the caprices of mind, that very moment it perishes soon, just as a heap of cotton does due to fire'.
If a complete success in the Yoga has not been achieved, then having come out of this [material] world, and having not yet got himself absorbed in the Brahman, would he get lost ? Or, because he has not yet got established in the Brahman, does he permanently get destroyed as the other world (heaven) is [also] ruined for him ? This is the estion.
On this [estion], the conclusion -
Swami Chinmayānanda · Chinmaya Mission · modern Vedantic teaching
।।6.39।। इस प्रकरण के अन्तिम श्लोक में अर्जुन स्पष्ट कहता है कि हे कृष्ण आप मेरे इस संशय को दूर कीजिए।केवल भगवान् कृष्ण ही अर्जुन के इस संशय का निराकरण करके उसके मन के विक्षेपों को शान्त कर सकते थे। इस प्रश्न से यह स्पष्ट हो जाता है कि उसकी पूर्व की शंका पूर्णत निवृत्त हो चुकी थी। उसकी पूर्व शंका समत्वयोग की अशक्यता के सम्बन्ध में थी जिसका मुख्य कारण था मन का चंचल स्वभाव।जो कोई भी जिज्ञासु साधक सम्पूर्ण हृदय से साधना करता है उसके मन में एक शंका के निवृत्त होने पर अन्य शंकाएं और प्रश्न उठते रहते हैं। संशयनिवृत्ति का उपाय है मनन। सत्संगत से भी विचार प्राप्त होकर संशय दूर हो जाते हैं।प्रत्येक साधक की साधना एवं भावना के आधार पर उसे देहत्याग के पश्चात् श्रेष्ठ जीवन का आश्वासन भगवान् देते हैं।अगले पाँच श्लोकों में भगवान् उन योगियों की गति को बताते हैं जिनकी साधना मृत्यु के कारण अपूर्ण रह जाती है अथवा मन की बहिर्मुखी प्रवृत्ति के कारण वे योग से पतित हो जाते हैं।
🪷 Place in the Bhagavad-Gītā
- This is verse 39 of 47 in Chapter 6 · Dhyāna-Yoga (The Yoga of Meditation)
- Chapter theme: The yogī's discipline · abhyāsa-vairāgya · the supreme dhyāna-state
- Ṣaṭka grouping: TVAM-Ṣaṭka (BG 1-6 · the jīva)
- Chapter hub: /dhyana-yoga
🪷 ॐ नमो भगवते वासुदेवाय 🪷
सर्वम् कृष्णार्पणम् — this verse is one maṇi (jewel) on Krishna's thread (BG 7.7)