Bhagavad Gītā Chapter 13, Verse 24: Krishna to Arjuna — Kṣetra-Kṣetrajña-Vibhāga-Yoga

Bhāṣyakāra purports

• Śaṅkaraadvaita

  By dhyāna (meditation), which is withdrawing the senses from sound and the other objects into the mind, and the mind into the inner consciousness, and thinking one-pointedly in an unbroken flow like a stream of oil, some yogin (practitioners) see the ātman (self), the inner consciousness, in the buddhi (intellect), by the self, that is, by the inner organ refined by meditation. Others see it by sāṅkhya-yoga (the discipline of discrimination), the contemplation 'these guṇa, sattva, rajas and tamas, are seen by me; I am other than them, the eternal witness of their workings, unlike the guṇa'. Still others see it by karma-yoga, action performed with the attitude of offering to Īśvara (the Lord), called yoga because it leads to yoga, by way of purification of mind and the rise of knowledge.

  divergence: Śaṅkara (source 13.25) reads sāṅkhyena yogena as one discipline (discriminative contemplation, not the eightfold yoga) and karma-yoga as only an indirect means through purification and knowledge; all three end in seeing the inner self in the intellect.

• Rāmānujaviśiṣṭādvaita

  Some, whose yoga is already accomplished, see the self abiding in the body by the mind, through dhyāna, which is bhakti-yoga (the discipline of devotion). Others, whose yoga is not yet accomplished, make the mind fit for yoga by sāṅkhya-yoga, that is, jñāna-yoga (the discipline of knowledge), and so see the self. Still others, who are not qualified for jñāna-yoga, or who are qualified but attached to an easier means, or who are prominent people whose example others follow, make the mind fit for yoga by karma-yoga, which contains knowledge within it, and so see the self.

  divergence: Rāmānuja (source 13.24) grades the three by adhikāra (qualification) and, as the supplied text reads, equates dhyāna with bhakti-yoga; ātmani means the body and ātmanā the mind. Karma-yoga is not only for the unqualified but also for the qualified who prefer an easy means and for exemplary figures (vyapadeśya), echoing 3.20-26.

• Madhvadvaita

  Sāṅkhya here is knowledge of the Lord's own nature as told in the Veda. Those devoted to karma (action) reach the seeing by hearing, knowing and meditating; the śrāvaka (hearers) by knowing and meditating; those of sāṅkhya by meditating alone, as the Gaupavana śruti says, 'having done karma and heard, one knows, meditates and then sees; the hearer too knows and meditates; the man of knowledge too sees; otherwise his seeing does not arise at all'. The word 'others' in the next verse is to show a means even for those who are incapable.

  divergence: Madhva (source 13.25-26, a joint comment) redefines sāṅkhya as Vedic knowledge of the Lord's nature, not discrimination of self from guṇa, and turns the three paths into stages of one ladder (hearing, knowing, meditating, seeing) entered at different rungs. The object seen is implicitly the Lord, not the individual self. The comment is short and covers the next verse too.

• Vallabhaśuddhādvaita

  With two verses the Lord gives the alternative means to such seeing: some see the self in themselves by themselves through dhyāna (meditation); others by sāṅkhya and by yoga, the eightfold one; and others by karma-yoga, the niṣkāma (desireless) kind.

  divergence: TERSE: Vallabha's supplied comment (source 13.25) is a single sentence of glosses; its only distinctive moves are reading yoga as aṣṭāṅga (eightfold) and karma-yoga as niṣkāma. It is unclear from the text whether he takes sāṅkhya and yoga as one means or two; the rendering keeps both words without forcing the issue. No Puṣṭi-mārga doctrine is stated for this verse.

• Śrīdharabhakti

  For this knowledge of the self as distinct, the Lord gives alternative means in two verses: some see the self in the body by the mind through dhyāna, the repetition of a cognition shaped as the self. Others see it by sāṅkhya, reviewing how prakṛti and puruṣa differ, others by yoga, the eightfold one, and still others by karma-yoga. Though in practice meditation and the rest are combined in sequence as fits each person, they are stated as alternatives because people differ in the niṣṭhā (discipline) they are established in.

  divergence: Śrīdhara (source 13.25) separates sāṅkhya and yoga into two means (discrimination and the eightfold yoga), giving four paths where Śaṅkara has three, and adds that they are really combined in sequence (krama-samuccaya) though taught as options by niṣṭhā.

• Madhusūdanaadvaita-bhakti

  People are of four kinds, the best, the middling, the dull and the duller, and here are their means to self-knowledge: the best yogin see the inner self in the intellect, by the inner organ refined by meditation, through dhyāna, the unbroken flow of like cognitions with no unlike cognition between, the self-contemplation called nididhyāsana that is the fruit of śravaṇa (hearing) and manana (reflection). The middling see it by sāṅkhya-yoga, the hearing and reflection that precede nididhyāsana, preceded by discrimination of eternal and non-eternal: 'all these transformations of the three guṇa are non-self and mithyā (false); I am the self, their witness, eternal, all-pervading, changeless, real, free of all relation to the inert', thinking born of inquiry into the Vedānta texts, and so they reach meditation. The dull see it by karma-yoga, the Veda-enjoined duties of one's varṇa and āśrama done as an offering to Īśvara without seeking fruit, which by purifying the mind gives rise to hearing, reflection and meditation.

  divergence: Madhusūdana (source 13.25) maps the three means onto a four-tier ranking of aspirants (the fourth, mandatara, is reserved for the next verse) and onto the Vedānta sequence śravaṇa-manana-nididhyāsana, so the paths become stages funnelling into meditation; Śaṅkara's sāṅkhya contemplation is expanded with the mithyā status of the guṇa.