Bhagavad Gītā Chapter 13, Verse 25: Krishna to Arjuna — Kṣetra-Kṣetrajña-Vibhāga-Yoga

Bhāṣyakāra purports

• Śaṅkaraadvaita

  Others, not knowing the Self in this way by any one of these alternatives, hear from other teachers (ācārya) the instruction 'contemplate just this,' and with śraddhā (trust) they contemplate; they too cross mṛtyu (death), that is, the saṃsāra (cycle of birth and death) bound up with death. They are śruti-parāyaṇa (holding hearing as the supreme means): taking another's instruction alone as their pramāṇa (means of valid knowledge), lacking viveka (discrimination) of their own. How much more, then, do the discriminating, who judge the pramāṇa (means of valid knowledge) for themselves, cross death.

  divergence: Śaṅkara (his 13.26) reads śruti as bare hearing and śruti-parāyaṇa as those who depend wholly on another's word, then argues a fortiori (kim u vaktavyam, 'what need to say') that the self-discriminating cross death all the more. The verse is a rung on a ladder of adhikāra (fitness) whose top is the knowledge of kṣetrajña-īśvara-ekatva (the identity of the field-knower and the Lord), which his closing transition names as the means of mokṣa (liberation).

• Rāmānujaviśiṣṭādvaita

  Others, unfit (anadhikṛta) for the means of beholding the self such as karma-yoga (the discipline of action), hear from knowers who have seen the truth (tattva-darśin) and worship the self through karma-yoga and the rest. They too, though rooted only in hearing (śravaṇa-mātra-niṣṭhā), are cleansed of sin and, beginning step by step (krameṇa) from karma-yoga, cross death by ātma-darśana (the seeing of the self). The word api ('too') marks a difference of stage (parva-bheda) from those described before.

  divergence: Rāmānuja (13.25) does not let hearing itself cross death: hearing purifies and starts a graded sequence that runs through karma-yoga to ātma-darśana (seeing of the self). The object worshipped is the individual ātman (self), not an identity with Brahman, and there is no a fortiori praise of the self-reliant thinker as in Śaṅkara.

• Madhvadvaita

  Sāṅkhya here means the knowledge of the svarūpa (own nature) of Bhagavān (the Lord) as the Veda declares it. For those devoted to rites (karmin), vision of Him comes by hearing, knowing and meditating; for hearers (śrāvaka), by knowing and meditating; for the sāṅkhya, by meditating; as the Gaupavana-śruti (a Vedic passage) says, 'otherwise the vision of Him does not arise in any way at all.' The word anye ('others') is used to show that a means exists even for the incapable (aśakta).

  divergence: Madhva's comment is a single joint gloss on 13.25-13.26 (his numbering), carried in the source_verse 13.26 slot. Uniquely, he redefines sāṅkhya as Vedic knowledge of Bhagavān and lays out graded sequences (śravaṇa, jñāna, dhyāna) that all end in dṛṣṭi (direct vision) of Hari; on this reading the 'others' who only hear are one class among several, all aiming at that vision rather than at self-identity.

• Vallabhaśuddhādvaita

  Others, of very weak fitness (ati-manda-adhikārin), hear from knowers who have seen the truth (tattva-darśin) and worship the self by means such as 'by action alone' (Gītā 3.20). Thereby they too cross mṛtyu (death), which is saṃsāra (worldly becoming), through ātma-darśana (seeing of the self), but only those who are śruti-parāyaṇa (devoted to what is heard). The words api ca mark a difference from the earlier group.

  divergence: Thin: Vallabha's gloss (his 13.26) is short and follows Rāmānuja's wording closely (tattva-darśin, ātma-darśana, api marking a distinct class). His own additions are the 'very weak fitness' label and the citation of 3.20; nothing specifically Puṣṭi-mārga appears, so the rendering stays minimal.

• Śrīdharabhakti

  He now gives the means of rescue (nistāra-upāya) for those of very weak fitness. Others, not knowing how to realise directly (sākṣāt-kartum) the self marked by being the witness (upadraṣṭṛtva) through sāṅkhya-yoga (the path of discrimination) and the like, hear by instruction from teachers (ācārya) and meditate (dhyāyanti). Devoted with śraddhā (faith) to hearing that instruction, they cross death, which is saṃsāra (worldly becoming), slowly (śanaiḥ) but surely.

  divergence: Śrīdhara (13.26) glosses upāsate as dhyāyanti (they meditate) and adds śanaiḥ (slowly): the crossing is real but gradual. He frames the verse as a rescue for the weakest rather than as a step in an argument, and the self they fail to see is defined by the witness-marks (upadraṣṭṛtva) given earlier in the chapter.

• Madhusūdanaadvaita-bhakti

  He states the means to knowledge for the still duller (mandatara); the word tu ('but') marks their difference from the three kinds of adhikārin (qualified seeker) in the previous verse. Not knowing the Self by any of those ways, they hear from compassionate (kāruṇika) teachers, 'contemplate this thus,' and with śraddhā (faith) they contemplate; though unable to inquire for themselves (svayaṃ vicāra-asamartha), devoted only to hearing the instruction of the guru (teacher), they too cross death, saṃsāra (worldly becoming). The api ('too') implies that those able to inquire for themselves cross death, needless to say.

  divergence: Madhusūdana (13.26) follows Śaṅkara's structure and his a fortiori argument closely, but adds two marks of his own: the teachers are kāruṇika (compassionate), and the hearers form a fourth tier set against the three adhikārin (qualified seeker) types of the previous verse, so that grace flowing through the guru carries even those who cannot reason for themselves.