🪷 Bhagavad-Gītā · 6.46

Chapter 6 · ध्यानयोग · Dhyāna-Yoga · "The Yoga of Meditation" · Verse 46 of 47

← BG 6.45↑ Chapter 6 hub · Bhagavad-Gītā indexBG 6.47 →

🪷 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

6.46 The wise man is superior to the ascetic and to the scholar and to the man of action; therefore be thou a wise man, O Arjuna!

Swami Sivananda · Direct prose · Divine Life Society

6.46 The Yogi is thought to be superior to the ascetics and even superior to men of knowledge (obtained through the study of scriptures); he is also superior to men of action; therefore be thou a Yogi, O Arjuna.

Swami Gambīrānanda · Word-key glosses · Advaita Ashrama · Śaṅkara-school

6.46 A yogi is adhikah, higher; tapasvibhyah, than men of austerity; he is matah, considered; adhikah, higher than, superior to; api, even; jnanibhyah, men of knowledge. Jnana here means scriptural learning. (A yogi is superior) to even those who possess that (learning). The yogi is adhikah, higher, greater; karmibhyah, than men of action-karma means Agnihotra etc.; (greater) than those who adhere to them. Since this is so, tasmat, therefore; O Arjuna, bhava, do you become a yogi.

Swami Ādidevānanda · Śrī-Vaiṣṇava perspective · Rāmānuja school

6.46 Whatever end of human endeavour is attained by mere austerity, by knowledge of different subjects (i.e., different from experience of the self) and by mere rituals like the horse-sacrifice etc., greater than all these is the end achieved through Yoga. Conseently the Yogin is superior to those who practise austerity, to those who possess learning and to those who perform rituals. Therefore, O Arjuna, become a Yogin. Thus, so far the vision of the self, which has been expounded in the teaching of Prajapati as forming a part of supreme Vidya, has been taught; then Sri Krsna extols that supreme Vidya:

Dr. S. Sankaranarayan · Academic precision · modern scholarly

6.46. The man of Yoga is superior to the men of austerities and is considered superior even to the men of knowledge; and the man of Yoga is superior to the men of action. Therefore, O Arjuna ! you shall become a man of Yoga.

🪷 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

।।6.46।। (सकामभाववाले) तपस्वियोंसे भी योगी श्रेष्ठ है, ज्ञानियोंसे भी योगी श्रेष्ठ है और कर्मियोंसे भी योगी श्रेष्ठ है -- ऐसा मेरा मत है। अतः हे अर्जुन ! तू योगी हो जा।

🪷 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

6.46 तपस्विभ्यः than ascetics? अधिकः superior? योगी the Yogi? ज्ञानिभ्यः than the wise? अपि even? मतः thought? अधिकः superior? कर्मिभ्यः than the men of action? च and? अधिकः superior? योगी the Yogi? तस्मात् therefore? योगी a Yogi? भव be? अर्जुन O Arjuna.Commentary Tapasvi One who observes the austerities of speech? mind and body prescribed in chapter XVII. 14? 15 and 16.Jnani One who has a knowledge of the scriptures (an indirect knowledge or theoretical knowledge of the Self).Karmi He who performs the Vedic rituals.To all these the Yogi is superior? for he has the direct knowledge of the Self through intuition or direct cognition through Nirvikalpa Samadhi. (Cf.V.2XII.12XIII.24)

Swami Gambīrānanda · Advaita-school commentary (Śaṅkara tradition)

Swami Ādidevānanda · Rāmānuja Śrī-Vaiṣṇava commentary

Dr. S. Sankaranarayan · Modern academic scholarship

6.46 Tapasvibhyah etc. The superiority [of Yogin] over the men of austerities has already been indicated. The knowledge is the fruit of Yoga. Hence Yogin's superiority over the men of knowledge. He is superior to men of action, because he alone knows how to perform action. The God-discarding difficult Yoga, does not itself yield success. This is stated [as]-

Swami Chinmayānanda · Chinmaya Mission · modern Vedantic teaching

।।6.46।।आत्मिक उन्नति के अनेक साधनों में ध्यान की महत्ता को दर्शाने के लिए भगवान् यहां विभिन्न प्रकार के साधकों का निर्देश करके उनमें योगी को सर्वश्रेष्ठ बताते हैं। मन्दबुद्धि के वे लोग जो विचाररहित केवल शारीरिक तप करते हैं उन तपस्वियों से निश्चित ही योगी श्रेष्ठ हैं।ज्ञानियों से भी योगी श्रेष्ठ माना गया है। यहां ज्ञानी से तात्पर्य शास्त्रपांडित्य रखने वाले पुरुष से है।सकाम अथवा निष्काम कर्म करने वालों से भी योगी श्रेष्ठ है। निष्काम भाव से कर्म तथा उपासना करने वाले अनेक साधकों की यह धारणा होती है कि इनके द्वारा ही परम लक्ष्य की प्राप्ति हो जायेगी।भगवान् कहते हैं कि जो योगी अपने शरीर मन और बुद्धि के साथ के मिथ्या तादात्म्य को दूर करके आत्मानुसंधान करता है वह तपस्वी ज्ञानी और कर्मी से श्रेष्ठ है क्योंकि वह सत्य के अत्यंत समीप होता है। इसलिये हे अर्जुन तुम योगी बनो।योगी भी अनेक प्रकार के होते हैं जिनमें प्रत्येक का ध्येय भिन्न हो सकता है। अत उन सब में श्रेष्ठ योगी कौन है भगवान् 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

।।6.46।। व्याख्या--'तपस्विभ्योऽधिको योगी'--ऋद्धि-सिद्धि आदिको पानेके लिये जो भूख-प्यास, सरदी-गरमी, आदिका कष्ट सहते हैं, वे तपस्वी हैं। इन सकाम तपस्वियोंसे पारमार्थिक रुचिवाला, ध्येयवाला योगी श्रेष्ठ है।

🪷 Place in the Bhagavad-Gītā

This is verse 46 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
⭐ Mahābhārata anchor: this verse is also MBh 6.28.46 (Bhīṣma-Parva · the BG in its full narrative home)

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📚 Cite this verse · Academic citation formats

APA: Vyāsa Maharṣi. (n.d.). Bhagavad-Gītā 6.46. Vidhyāmitra. Retrieved 2026-07-28, from https://vidhyamitra.com/bhagavad-gita/6/46

Chicago: Vyāsa Maharṣi. "Bhagavad-Gītā 6.46." Vidhyāmitra. Accessed 2026-07-28. https://vidhyamitra.com/bhagavad-gita/6/46.

MLA: Vyāsa Maharṣi. "Bhagavad-Gītā 6.46." Vidhyāmitra, 2026, https://vidhyamitra.com/bhagavad-gita/6/46.

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🪷 ॐ नमो भगवते वासुदेवाय 🪷

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