BG 2.55 — Sāṅkhya-Yoga — Sūtrakṛt-Gītā

Bhagavad Gītā 2.55Chapter 2 · Sāṅkhya-Yoga · Krishna → Arjuna · Pārtha · anuṣṭubh

प्रजहाति यदा कामान् सर्वान् पार्थ मनोगतान् ।

आत्मन्येवात्मना तुष्टः स्थितप्रज्ञस् तदोच्यते ॥

prajahāti yadā kāmān sarvān pārtha mano-gatān

ātmany evātmanā tuṣṭaḥ sthita-prajñas tadocyate

spokensingle-voice recital; rendered via IndicF5 conditioned on a Sanskrit reference clip

meaning

When someone casts off every desire lodged in the mind and rests content in the self alone, Krishna says, that one is called a person of steady wisdom.

ekras · bhāṣya

Two halves to the answer. The negative half: prajahati yada kaman sarvan mano-gatan — when one has cast off all desires that have lodged in the mind. The positive half: atmany eva atmana tushtah — content in the self alone, by the self alone.

Madhusudana is technically precise about kaman. They are mano-vritti-visheshah — particular modifications of the mind-stream — what Patanjali names as pramana, viparyaya, vikalpa, nidra, smriti, the five vrittis. The desire is not a single craving for a single thing; it is the structure of how the mind moves toward objects. The casting-off is not a moral feat of giving up favorites; it is the dissolving of the vritti-pattern itself. The positive half is what makes the negative half possible. The man who is tushta in the atman, by the atman alone, has no leverage from which a kama can grow. Without the inner deficit that desire fills, the desire does not arise.

Vallabha catches a different angle: this is not a practice of casting off but a description of what arises naturally in the vessel that has received Krishna's prasada. The sthita-prajna is not making the casting-off happen; the casting-off has happened, and what stands afterward is what the verse names. Arjuna asked how the sthita-prajna speaks, sits, walks.

Krishna's first answer is about the inside. The outside will follow.

Context

where

Chapter 2 · Sāṅkhya-Yoga · meter anuṣṭubh

who speaks

Krishna → Arjuna · vocative Pārtha

preceded by — BG 2.54

Arjuna asks: what marks a person of steady wisdom, Keśava, one whose mind rests in samādhi? How does such a person speak, sit, and move?

What's going on

When someone casts off every desire lodged in the mind and rests content in the self alone, Krishna says, that one is called a person of steady wisdom.

Sūtras through this verse · hub (112)

MadhvaclassicalT1

Hari is supreme — the running reading-rulebetween

2.18'Imperishable' is said to mark off the Lord.───→here2.55───→4.24Every word for ritual points back to Viṣṇu.

RamsukhdasclassicalA

What binds you (and how to let go)between

2.47Hold no mine-ness on body or on fruit.───→here2.55───→4.23Clinging to anything is what binds you.

ĀnandagiriclassicalA

The two-niṣṭhā axisbetween

2.39Wisdom closes, action opens. Same axis.───→here2.55───→3.3Three classes, one niṣṭhā each.

show all 112

RamsukhdasclassicalH

All paths arrive at the same roomstation · anchor

───→here2.55───→

RamsukhdasclassicalC

Desire is the root — not actionstation · anchor

───→here2.55───→

RamsukhdasclassicalH

All paths arrive at the same roomstation · anchor

───→here2.55───→

ĀnandagiriclassicalC

Adhikāra: seeker vs. fulfilledstation · anchor

───→here2.55───→

ĀnandagiriclassicalG

Anūdyate, na vidhīyatestation · anchor

───→here2.55───→

MadhvaclassicalT8

Direct vision — the only proximate causestation

───→here2.55───→

MadhvaclassicalT12

Closure by gloss — the small repertoirestation

───→here2.55───→

Madhvaclassicalmadhva_pratibimba

Madhva Pratibimbabetween · other

2.18Image perishes, source endures───→here2.55───→4.13Creates yet uncreated

MadhvaclassicalT2

Soul depends on Lord — the gap that does not closebetween

2.20The soul is conscious but only as reflection.───→here2.55───→3.27Action is the modes'; the soul only seems to act.

MadhvaclassicalT3

Ranking is real — and it never collapsesbetween

2.52Higher devotion earns higher liberation.───→here2.55───→4.6Avatāras differ in their fullness of Hari.

MadhvaclassicalT4

Liberation is bliss in body — not absorptionbetween

2.50Release is embodied, blissful, never merging.───→here2.55───→2.72Body-loss in the verse is only material body.

MadhvaclassicalT5

Mirror-and-image — how seeming-action worksbetween

2.18The image perishes, but the source endures.───→here2.55───→4.13He creates and yet is uncreated by it.

MadhvaclassicalT6

Citation is the spine — texts carry the loadbetween

2.50Six texts in thirty lines carry the long excursus.───→here2.55───→2.72The verse closes with the Akṣapāda rejection.

MadhvaclassicalT7

Action and knowledge — never rivalsbetween

2.49Action without wisdom is the lower zone.───→here2.55───→3.3Two registers, one task, told two ways.

MadhvaclassicalT9

Devotion and grace — what knowledge cannot do alonebetween

2.50Even in liberation grace remains the agent.───→here2.55───→2.72Many lives of bhakti precede the final crossing.

MadhvaclassicalT11

Only revealed scripture decides — reason alone cannotbetween

2.24When two scriptures clash the higher one rules.───→here2.55───→2.72Akṣapāda and Kaṇāda are simply ruled out.

MadhvaclassicalT10

The deluder is named — three goddesses, one Lordapproach

───→here2.55───→4.6Even the unborn descends through the deluder Durgā.

RamsukhdasclassicalC

Desire is the root — not actionstation

───→here2.55───→

RamsukhdasclassicalB

This human birth — your one chance to actbetween

2.47Only a human body can do new action.───→here2.55───→3.5No one can stop acting even for a moment.

RamsukhdasclassicalD

The three modes (sattva, rajas, tamas) at workbetween

2.47Even renouncing has three flavors.───→here2.55───→3.27The modes act, ego claims to do.

RamsukhdasclassicalE

Your own work as worshipbetween

2.33Refusal is not safe; it costs everything.───→here2.55───→3.35Your own flawed work beats another's perfect.

RamsukhdasclassicalF

Surrender — the single shelterbetween

2.41A one-pointed mind is the seeker's mark.───→here2.55───→7.1Mind on Me, refuge wholly in Me.

RamsukhdasclassicalG

Equanimity in everythingbetween

2.48Yoga itself is just sameness of mind.───→here2.55───→5.18See a sage, a cow, a dog as one.

RamsukhdasclassicalJ

Divine vs demonic patternsapproach

───→here2.55───→3.37The enemy is desire turning into anger.

RamsukhdasclassicalK

The body is not yoursapproach

───→here2.55───→3.27The modes act, but ego claims the deed.

Śaṅkaraclassicalshankara_jnana_nishtha

Shankara Jnana Nishthabetween · other

2.10Thesis flat───→here2.55───→3.4Naishkarmya is not just non-doing

Gauravmodernheart_leadership

Heart Leadershipbetween

2.48'Yoga-sthah kuru karmani sangam tyaktva Dhananjaya, siddhy-asiddhyoh samo bhutva───→here2.55───→6.7'Jitatmanah prashantasya paramatma samahitah.' For the self-conquered, in-peace,

Gauravmodernkarma_yoga_hand

Karma Yoga Handbetween

2.50Thumb. Kausalam. 'Yogah karmasu kausalam' is the line Gaurav opens the whole mne───→here2.55───→3.27Palm, kartala. Akartritva, non-doership. 'Prakriteh kriyamanani gunaih karmani s

Gauravmodernmemorial_pastoral

Memorial Pastoralbetween

2.27'Jatasya hi dhruvo mrityur dhruvam janma mritasya cha.' Death is certain for the───→here2.55───→8.6'Yam yam vapi smaran bhavam.' Whatever state of being one remembers at the last

Gauravmodernsanatana_dharma_101

Sanatana Dharma 101between

2.22'Vasamsi jirnani yatha vihaya' — body as worn-out clothes. Sister verse to 2.13,───→here2.55───→3.27Karma pillar. The 'ahankara-vimudhatma kartaham iti manyate' line is where Gaura

Gauravmodernwitness_self_neti_neti

Witness Self Neti Netibetween

2.20'Na jayate mriyate va kadachit, nayam bhutva bhavita va na bhuyah, ajo nityah sh───→here2.55───→6.20'Yatroparamate chittam niruddham yoga-sevaya, yatra chaivatmana'tmanam pashyann

ŚaṅkaraclassicalA

Sorrow and delusion are the diseasebetween

2.11The wise mourn neither the living nor the dead.───→here2.55───→2.69Ignorance is night, wisdom alone wakes.

ŚaṅkaraclassicalB

Knowledge alone, with all action laid downbetween

2.10First lay down all action, then knowledge frees.───→here2.55───→3.4Mere not-doing is not renunciation at all.

ŚaṅkaraclassicalC

Knowledge plus action will not save youbetween

2.10Some say: combine knowledge with rites.───→here2.55───→3.1If insight is higher, why this dreadful work?

ŚaṅkaraclassicalD

The fit student vs the unfit studentbetween

2.39So far for the seeker of the real; now hear yoga.───→here2.55───→2.69Action holds only while ignorance still holds.

ŚaṅkaraclassicalJ

Scripture stands behind every claimbetween

2.10Pāṇḍitya is knowing the Self — Bṛhadāraṇyaka.───→here2.55───→3.4Brāhmaṇas seek the Self by Veda, then by rite.

JayatīrthaclassicalA

Body and embodied — the inference runs on the dehī sidebetween

2.24Uncuttable, unburnt, steady, all-pervading.───→here2.55───→13.5Field and knower: body-self cut returns.

JayatīrthaclassicalB

Pañcabheda — the five distinctions enforced verse by versebetween

2.24No jaḍa-property fits the dehin.───→here2.55───→7.5Higher prakṛti is Lakṣmī, not matter.

JayatīrthaclassicalC

Refuting Śaṅkara-style readings, named or unnamedbetween

2.13One-self-many-bodies runs out of grammar.───→here2.55───→2.72Old-age renunciation is off topic here.

JayatīrthaclassicalD

Saṅgati declared at the head of every adhyāyabetween

2.39Wrap prior section, then announce next.───→here2.55───→2.72Chapter closes here; upasaṁharati names it.

JayatīrthaclassicalG

Citation as proof — śruti, smṛti, MB, Aṣṭādhyāyī, Pañcarātrabetween

2.50Smṛti runs nine citations deep.───→here2.55───→2.62Smṛti pins each link of the chain.

JayatīrthaclassicalH

Pūrva-pakṣa explicit — nanu / iti cet / ity ata āhabetween

2.50Nanu opens, smṛti runs nine deep.───→here2.55───→3.17No-kartavya rival staged then answered.

JayatīrthaclassicalI

Lakṣaṇā-control — literal preferred when availablebetween

2.39Sāṅkhya-yoga literal, not external schools.───→here2.55───→3.15If literal works, figurative is idle.

JayatīrthaclassicalJ

Reading the silence — iti śeṣaḥ and iti bhāvaḥbetween

2.50Each chain closes with iti śeṣaḥ.───→here2.55───→2.68Supply marks the chapter-seal gap.

Gauravmodernchaplaincy_kit_of_tools

Chaplaincy Kit Of Toolsapproach

───→here2.55───→4.34Paramparā / direct transmission. 'Tad viddhi pranipatena pariprashnena sevaya, u

Gauravmoderncivilizational_air_conditioning

Civilizational Air Conditioningapproach

───→here2.55───→2.62'Dhyayato vishayan pumsah sangas teshupajayate, sangat sanjayate kamah.' The out

Gauravmoderninterfaith_cosmology

Interfaith Cosmologyapproach

───→here2.55───→4.11'Ye yatha mam prapadyante tams tathaiva bhajamy aham.' As they approach me, so I

Gauravmodernthree_yogas_braid

Three Yogas Braidapproach

───→here2.55───→3.3'Loke'smin dvi-vidha nishtha pura prokta mayanagha, jnana-yogena samkhyanam karm

ŚaṅkaraclassicalE

Ignorance is the only enemyapproach

───→here2.55───→2.69Wisdom rises; ignorance fades like dawn-darkness.

ŚaṅkaraclassicalF

The Lord is born only as it wereapproach

───→here2.55───→4.6I appear as if born, never really, by māyā.

ŚaṅkaraclassicalG

After knowing, act only to hold the worldapproach

───→here2.55───→3.20Janaka acted only to hold the world together.

ŚaṅkaraclassicalK

Liberation while still embodiedapproach

───→here2.55───→2.72Standing in this state, one reaches Brahman..

JayatīrthaclassicalE

Vishnu-sarvottamatva read into apparently neutral wordsapproach

───→here2.55───→3.15Brahmodbhavam — born of parabrahman.

JayatīrthaclassicalF

Bhakti-tāratamya: gradation among devotees, gradation in fruitapproach

───→here2.55───→4.11Fruit proportional to the service offered.

Gauravmoderneminem_dsm_arjuna

Eminem Dsm Arjunaexit

2.11'Ashochyan anvashochas tvam prajna-vadamsh cha bhashase.' You grieve those not t───→here2.55───→

Ekrasmodernvairagya

Vairāgya — dispassion as instrumentstation · v2 · station 1/10

───→here2.55───→

Ekrasmodernkarma_yoga

Karma yoga — the apprentice pathbetween · v2

2.47Right to action───→here2.55───→3.3Two paths, named

Ekrasmodernend_of_life

End of life — the threshold tourbetween · v2

2.22Worn-out garments───→here2.55───→8.5Last-thought rule

Ekrasmodernstress

Stress — panic to shelterbetween · v2

2.22Worn-out garments───→here2.55───→4.16Even the wise are confused

Ekrasmoderntrigunametry

Trigunametry — guṇas as embodied statesbetween · v2

2.41Single-pointed buddhi───→here2.55───→9.22Yogakshema for the undivided

ĀnandagiriclassicalB

Three hexads = tat tvam asibetween

2.1First hexad opens, tvam-pada implicit.───→here2.55───→6.46Inner-self hexad closes; pivot prepared.

ĀnandagiriclassicalE

Pūrvapakṣa via nanu / āśaṅkyabetween

2.47Four objections in one paragraph. Anchor.───→here2.55───→7.1Doubt about refuge, blocked by mad-āśraya.

ĀnandagiriclassicalF

Which karma? — fourfold typologybetween

2.47No-fruit ≠ no-karma: kāmya-tyāga ≠ nitya-tyāga.───→here2.55───→3.3Vaidika action sorted by life-stage rule.

ĀnandagiriclassicalH

Phala-saṃkalpa is the only upādhibetween

2.48Yogasthaḥ kuru karmāṇi: stand and act.───→here2.55───→3.4No mokṣa from mere non-starting.

ĀnandagiriclassicalK

Upasaṃhāra — recap as instrumentbetween

2.39Wisdom section wound up here.───→here2.55───→6.46Dhyāna section sealed: yogin is supreme.

ĀnandagiriclassicalL

Akṣarayojanā — word-fit firstbetween

2.10Word-fit holds even at the dialogue's pivot.───→here2.55───→3.1Chapter-1 verse opens with word-fit, then bīja.

Ekrasmodernleadership

Leadership — svadharma in actionapproach · v2

───→here2.55───→3.20Janaka, lokasangraha

Ekrasmodernparadox_of_doership

Paradox of doership — kartṛtvaapproach · v2

───→here2.55───→3.27Modes act, ego claims

Ekrasmodernanger_management

Anger Managementapproach · other

───→here2.55───→2.62Brooding breeds attachment

ĀnandagiriclassicalD

Praśna-bīja chapter openingsapproach

───→here2.55───→3.1Buddhi-vyākulatva named the seed.

Ekrasmodernfamily_conflict

Family Conflictexit · other

2.8No grief-remover I see───→here2.55───→

Madhusūdanaclassicalmadhusudan_bhagavad_arpana

Madhusudan Bhagavad Arpanabetween · other

2.47Fruit-free action cannot bind───→here2.55───→3.30Offer all your acts

VallabhaclassicalD

Chapter-opening preludesbetween

2.1Six-verse prelude lays out the whole map.───→here2.55───→3.1Four-verse prelude frames renunciation.

VallabhaclassicalE

Three paths, one teaching orderbetween

2.39The yoga-mind is just the sāṅkhya-mind, retold.───→here2.55───→5.4Only the foolish call the two paths different.

VallabhaclassicalF

Soul as part of the highest Personbetween

2.16Real and unreal sort into pure and impure.───→here2.55───→7.4Lower nature is eight-fold; higher is the soul-collective.

VallabhaclassicalH

Stilling the mind — into the Lordbetween

2.48Yoga itself is just sameness of mind.───→here2.55───→6.46The yogi closing the ṣaṭka is a mind-stiller.

VallabhaclassicalI

A closed three-source citation gridbetween

2.11Vallabha quotes his own Nibandha at verse two.───→here2.55───→3.30The Nibandha is cited again on threefold drop.

MadhusūdanaclassicalB

Different students need different teachingsbetween

2.39Two minds, two paths, never one rule for all.───→here2.55───→3.3Arjuna's mixed question gets a sorted answer.

MadhusūdanaclassicalC

Action purifies before knowing can landbetween

2.47The unready can only act, not yet know.───→here2.55───→3.30Even a seeker not-yet-pure offers, drops fruit-claim.

MadhusūdanaclassicalD

Offer the act to the Lord and it stops bindingbetween

2.47Action offered, fruit-free, cannot bear bondage.───→here2.55───→3.30Offer all your acts; fight without fruit-claim.

MadhusūdanaclassicalG

Knowing and acting cannot run togetherbetween

2.39Like light and dark, they cannot share a place.───→here2.55───→2.69The knower wakes to what the world sleeps to.

MadhusūdanaclassicalK

Arjuna's grief has two roots, not onebetween

2.11Anchor: two confusions — one universal, one yours alone.───→here2.55───→11.1Arjuna marks the universal moha cured.

VallabhaclassicalA

Two paths — rule-bound and grace-onlyapproach

───→here2.55───→4.11Each soul takes the path Krishna assigns to it.

VallabhaclassicalC

Drop the doer, not the deedapproach

───→here2.55───→3.1Drop something inside the act, not the act.

VallabhaclassicalG

The Lord plays — calf-affection, not contractapproach

───→here2.55───→4.7When dharma weakens, the Lord descends to play.

MadhusūdanaclassicalA

Three groups of six: you, the Lord, the joiningapproach

───→here2.55───→3.1The whole map laid out at chapter three's door.

MadhusūdanaclassicalI

Liberation while alive — the body finishes its runapproach

───→here2.55───→3.1The architecture ends in living-liberation, then bodily.

VedāntadeśikaclassicalA

The carama-śloka as retroactive bracketbetween

2.12From here to 18.66: one Krishna-utterance.───→here2.55───→5.16Knowledge dispels what mā śucaḥ will close.

VedāntadeśikaclassicalE

Pūrva-pakṣa — name the rival, close the doorbetween

2.39Sāṅkhya-yoga split: not two methods, two angles.───→here2.55───→7.18The jñānin is dearest; not interchangeable.

VedāntadeśikaclassicalF

Saṅgati — anticipation-and-resolutionbetween

2.39What chapter 3 will resolve, named here.───→here2.55───→3.1Arjuna's question resolves 2.49's hint.

VedāntadeśikaclassicalG

Three yogas — three angles on one configurationbetween

2.39Sāṅkhya and yoga: not two roads.───→here2.55───→3.3Two paths, one orientation toward Me.

VedāntadeśikaclassicalH

Mā śucaḥ — the inclusio of evolving griefbetween

2.11First grief — chapter-1 cowardice — closed.───→here2.55───→5.16Knowledge-darkness cleared — not yet refuge.

VedāntadeśikaclassicalC

Antaryāmin — the indweller as standing referentapproach

───→here2.55───→3.30'Mayi sarvāṇi karmāṇi': read as antaryāmin.

VedāntadeśikaclassicalD

Adhikāra — eligibility as architecture, not exceptionapproach

───→here2.55───→4.11'Yathā' is open; the verb is the gate.

ŚrīdharaclassicalA

The Gītā as raft across griefbetween

2.11Confusing self with body is the source of grief.───→here2.55───→13.2For their rescue, truth-knowledge is uttered.

ŚrīdharaclassicalE

Inner cleansing reconciles work and knowingbetween

2.39Work polishes the inner instrument first.───→here2.55───→3.3One path, two grades: impure, then pure mind.

ŚrīdharaclassicalD

The path that turns no one awayapproach

───→here2.55───→4.11However they come, I meet them so.

ŚrīdharaclassicalF

The Lord inside as inner rulerapproach

───→here2.55───→3.30Lay every act in Me; I move within.

ŚrīdharaclassicalI

His evenness as ground for refugeapproach

───→here2.55───→4.11I meet each one as that one approaches.

ŚrīdharaclassicalJ

Insight given as a gift, not earned aloneapproach

───→here2.55───→4.34Knowers will pass it to you by teaching.

AbhinavaguptaclassicalA

Knowing and acting are one powerbetween

2.24The self is one unbroken awareness.───→here2.55───→3.1Knowing versus acting is the wrong cut.

AbhinavaguptaclassicalF

Three guṇas: contractions of one consciousnessbetween

2.45Exit the modes — not better modes are the goal.───→here2.55───→7.12Modes from the Lord — the Lord not in them.

AbhinavaguptaclassicalG

Saṃvit: one referent under many namesbetween

2.20Cit alone — the self cannot be destroyed.───→here2.55───→8.3Brahman, ātman, all facets of one Lord.

AbhinavaguptaclassicalB

Recognition, not additionapproach

───→here2.55───→4.14Recognize, do not learn — the verb shifts.

AbhinavaguptaclassicalD

Avatāra: appearance without departureapproach

───→here2.55───→4.1Teaching descends; the teacher does not move.

RāmānujaclassicalB

The śāstra is one bracket (2.12 → 18.66)between

2.39Practice seam begins.───→here2.55───→6.46The yogi outranks every other path.

RāmānujaclassicalD

Karma-yoga as kainkarya (worship)between

2.47Act, but not for the fruit of acting.───→here2.55───→3.3Action without claim = worship.

RāmānujaclassicalG

Māyā is real causal powerapproach

───→here2.55───→4.6Self-power, not self-illusion.

RāmānujaclassicalH

Prapatti / śaraṇāgati — universal upāyaapproach

───→here2.55───→4.11As they approach Me, so do I receive them.

Śabda · lemmas (14 unique · 15 occurrences)

कामान् kāma — desire, lust, sensual pleasure · accusative masculine plural noun · also at 1.22, 2.71, 7.22
तुष्टः √tuṣ — to be satisfied, content (verbal root) · nominative masculine singular participle noun
सर्वान् sarva — all, entire · accusative masculine plural noun · also at 1.27, 2.71, 4.21, 4.32, 6.24, 11.15
प्रजहाति pra-√hā — (pra- + hā: to abandon) · present indicative 3rd person singular verb
पार्थ pārtha — son of Pṛthā (Kuntī); epithet of Arjuna · vocative masculine singular noun · also at 1.25, 1.26, 1.28, 1.29, 1.30, 2.3 +40

show all 14

आत्मनि·आत्मना ātman ×2 — the Self, soul; one's own self · locative masculine singular noun / instrumental masculine singular noun
यदा yadā — when
मनः manas — mind (lower mind), the inner organ of perception · compound
गतान् √gam — to go (verbal root) · accusative masculine plural participle noun
एव eva — indeed, truly, only (emphatic particle)
स्थित √sthā — to stand, remain (verbal root) · compound participle (compound member)
प्रज्ञः prajñā — wisdom, insight, discriminating intelligence · nominative masculine singular noun
तदा tadā — then, at that time
उच्यते √vac — to speak (verbal root) · present indicative pass 3rd person singular verb

Praśna · so what (7)

01Kṛṣṇa says 'casts off all desires' (sarvān kāmān prajahāti) — but is this a precondition for sthitaprajñatā or its consequence? The schools divide: is the abandonment the cause of the wisdom-stability, or does the stability produce the abandonment automatically?
02The phrase ātmany evātmanā tuṣṭaḥ is the verse's pivot: 'satisfied in the self alone by the self.' What is the referent of each ātman — are both the same entity (jīva recognizing itself), or is one the jīva and one the Paramātmā, and does the answer change the entire moral topology of the teaching?

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03The qualifier mano-gatān (desires that have entered the mind) implies that desires have a location and a direction of travel. If they are mind-properties, not ātman-properties, why do they require heroic effort to relinquish rather than simply being seen through?
04This is the first definition of sthitaprajña in the entire Gītā — Arjuna asked four questions (2.54) and this verse answers only the first. What work is Kṛṣṇa doing by leading with desire-abandonment rather than with equanimity in pain and pleasure (2.56) or non-attachment to action (2.57)?
05Madhva notes that even realized sages like Śuka retain bhakti-desire — is there a structural difference between kāma (desire rooted in ego-lack) and bhakti-icchā (desire rooted in love of the Lord), or is this an ad hoc exception that reveals a tension in the Dvaita reading?
06If sthitaprajña is a realized state with visible external marks, is Kṛṣṇa here offering a diagnostic tool for the community — a way to recognize the sage — or is he offering Arjuna an aspirational self-image? The pedagogical function of the description is itself a question.
07The verse uses the word muni (implied in 'sthitaprajñas tadocyate') without naming it here, but the compound encodes it: prajñā that stands (sthitā). Standing against what force? The implicit adversary is vikṣepa — the dispersal-force of desire. What is the phenomenology of prajñā 'falling over' when desire strikes?

Vyavahāra · try it in your life

Advaita

When you notice the mind generating a wanting — for approval, for a particular outcome, for comfort — pause and ask: whose wanting is this? Trace it back: the want belongs to manas, not to the witnessing awareness that is registering the want. Do not suppress the desire; inquire into its owner. Repeated paramārtha-vicāra (inquiry into ultimate reality) is the Śaṅkara-path application: each desire-episode becomes a site for ātma-anātma viveka. Over time the desires thin not by willpower but by repeated recognition that they are mano-dharma, not ātma-dharma — as Śaṅkara says, they can be relinquished precisely because they are not intrinsic to consciousness the way heat is intrinsic to fire.

Viśiṣṭādvaita

Rāmānuja's application is relational: practice ātmaikāvalambana — single-minded anchorage in Bhagavān as the inner self. Concretely this means redirecting the attention, whenever it is about to hook onto a subsidiary want, back to the one sustaining ground: 'I rest in the Lord who dwells within.' The Viśiṣṭādvaita practitioner does not war against desires but cultivates sufficiency in Bhagavān; the practical exercise is bhagavad-anusandhāna (continuous remembrance of Bhagavān) during ordinary activity, so that the mind's habit of seeking satisfaction externally is gradually replaced by the discovery that the ground of sufficiency is already present. Desires do not need to be pushed out; they simply lose their urgency when the greater satisfaction is found.

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Dvaita

The Madhva application is ruthlessly diagnostic: test every desire against the question 'does this move toward Hari or away from Hari?' Desires oriented toward Hari's service — even very specific ones, like the desire to chant, to study the Bhāgavata, to serve — are not the kāmān being condemned here; they are the one permissible icchā. All other desires — for status, for outcome, for self-confirmation — are evidence of abhhibhūtatā, of being overpowered by ajñāna. The practical discipline is therefore discernment and categorical sorting, not blanket renunciation. Dvaita's everyday application is a daily audit: which desires moved toward Hari today, which moved away?

Śuddhādvaita

Vallabha's path does not ask the devotee to renounce desires through effort — it asks the devotee to place themselves in the stream of Kṛṣṇa's grace and trust the dissolution that follows. The everyday application is sevā: concrete, daily, physical service to Kṛṣṇa's form (mūrti, scripture, community) performed as an offering of one's entire being, including one's desiring self. The practitioner does not try to be ātmārāma; they offer the non-ārāma parts too, trusting that Kṛṣṇa's ānanda will flood in proportion to the openness of the vessel. The discipline is therefore surrender of self-management, not self-management.

Bhakti

Śrīdhara's insight — that the siddha's lakṣaṇa is the sādhaka's sādhana — makes this verse a mirror: look at the marks of the arrived one and begin living them provisionally, as practice. The everyday application is what might be called 'anticipatory ātmārāmatā': before reaching for a distraction or a pleasure, pause and taste the background ānanda that is already present in simple awareness. This is not suppression; it is learning to find the paramānanda-rūpa ātman sufficiently interesting that the kṣudra-viṣayāḥ — petty objects — become genuinely less compelling. Meditation, specifically on the ānanda-dimension of pure awareness, is the Śrīdhara-path's practical anchor.

Advaita-Bhakti

Madhusūdana's synthesis offers the most technically complete everyday practice: treat every arising mental modification (vṛtti) as a kāma in Patañjali's expanded sense — pramāṇa-vṛtti (opining), viparyaya-vṛtti (misperception), vikalpa-vṛtti (fantasy), nidrā-vṛtti (dullness), smṛti-vṛtti (compulsive remembering) — and practice nirodha not as suppression but as return to the svaprakāśa-cid-rūpa substrate. The Kṛṣṇa-bhakti element enters as the affective charge: the light of consciousness is not an abstract Brahman but Kṛṣṇa's own cit-prakāśa. When a desire-wave subsides, do not experience the subsidence as blank emptiness; receive it as a momentary taste of Kṛṣṇa's ānanda flooding the cleared space. Samādhi-practice and devotional practice are thus not two techniques but one.

Adhiṣṭhāna · substrate signature

substratev2.6-frozen

parserByT5-Sanskrit-multitask (Nehrdich/Hellwig/Keutzer EMNLP 2024)

mūlaBelvalkar critical edition (BORI 1947), via Ambuda multi-witness

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weightsa=1 · b=0.01 · e_v=0.005 · z=0.2 · h=0 · th=0.01

anchorfit on Ramsukhdas's Sādhak Sañjīvanī (1980), frozen across the eight-commentator panel; cross-validated R@4 = 71.6% on Śaṅkara

extracted2026-04-21

methodPaper 1, Section II.B

↓ view raw per-verse object (JSON)↗ per-verse-object schema ↗ substrate code (MIT) + data (CC-BY 4.0)

The schema generalizes to any bounded-polysemy corpus with discrete primary text units, attested witness traditions, identifiable schools, and formal substrate. Port the per-verse object; refit weights on a domain-appropriate Layer-3 anchor; ship.

Bhagavad Gītā Chapter 2, Verse 55: Krishna to Arjuna — Sāṅkhya-Yoga