Bhagavad Gītā Chapter 13, Verse 9: Krishna to Arjuna — Kṣetra-Kṣetrajña-Vibhāga-Yoga

Bhāṣyakāra purports

• Śaṅkaraadvaita

  Sakti is mere fondness for objects that occasion attachment, and asakti is its absence; abhiṣvaṅga is a special intensity of attachment marked by feeling no difference of self - as when another is happy or suffering, alive or dead, one feels 'it is I who am happy, I who suffer, I who live and will die' - and anabhiṣvaṅga is its absence, toward sons, wife, house and other very dear ones such as servants. Both are called knowledge because they serve knowledge. Constant even-mindedness in the arrival of the desired and the undesired - not elated by the one, not angered by the other - is also knowledge.

  divergence: Śaṅkara separates mild fondness (sakti) from abhiṣvaṅga as identification of oneself with another's joy and sorrow (ananyātma-bhāvanā); the problem is the superimposition of self on family, not the family itself.

• Rāmānujaviśiṣṭādvaita

  Asakti is freedom from attachment to objects other than the self. Anabhiṣvaṅga toward son, wife, house and the rest is freedom from clinging to them beyond their being instruments for scripturally enjoined works. Constant even-mindedness in the arrival of the desired and undesired is freedom from elation and agitation toward events born of one's own saṃkalpa (willing).

  divergence: Rāmānuja does not ask for detachment from family as such: they are rightly held as upakaraṇa (aids) to śāstra-enjoined works, and only the clinging that exceeds that role is excluded - a householder reading quite unlike Śaṅkara's identification-based one.

• Madhvadvaita

  Sakti is affection; that same affection, when over-ripened, is abhiṣvaṅga - as the lexicon says, 'affection is sakti; that same, over-ripened, is called abhiṣvaṅga'.

  divergence: Madhva gives only a lexical distinction, citing an abhidhāna: abhiṣvaṅga is sneha (affection) atipakva (over-ripened). He frames it as degree of affection, not as Śaṅkara's self-identification; the rest of the verse is not glossed.

• Vallabhaśuddhādvaita

  'Asakti' means dispassion toward enjoyments in the world beyond.

  divergence: THIN: Vallabha's supplied comment is one line, and notably reads asakti as amutra bhoga-virāga - non-attachment to otherworldly (heavenly) enjoyments - rather than to this-worldly objects. Nothing else is glossed.

• Śrīdharabhakti

  Asakti is giving up fondness toward things such as sons. Anabhiṣvaṅga is the absence of the excess superimposition by which, in the happiness or sorrow of sons and others, one thinks 'I alone am happy, I am sorrowful'. Sama-cittatva is being always even-minded in the obtaining of the desired and undesired.

  divergence: Śrīdhara names abhiṣvaṅga explicitly as adhyāsa-atireka (excess superimposition), using an Advaita technical term where Śaṅkara spoke of ananyātma-bhāvanā.

• Madhusūdanaadvaita-bhakti

  Sakti is fondness merely through the thought 'this is mine'; abhiṣvaṅga is an excess of fondness through feeling non-different, 'I am this', so that in another's happiness or sorrow one thinks 'I am happy, I am sorrowful' - and their absence is meant here. Where are these to be avoided? Toward sons, wife, house, servants and all objects of affection. Sama-cittatva is a mind always empty of elation and dejection: no elation when the desired comes, no dejection when the undesired comes.

  divergence: Madhusūdana sharpens Śaṅkara's distinction into two grades of possession: 'mine' (mama idam) for sakti and 'I am this' (aham eva ayam) for abhiṣvaṅga.