BG 3.42 — Karma-Yoga — Sūtrakṛt-Gītā

Bhagavad Gītā 3.42Chapter 3 · Karma-Yoga · Krishna → Arjuna · anuṣṭubh

इन्द्रियाणि पराण्याहुरिन्द्रियेभ्यः परं मनः ।

मनसस् तु परा बुद्धिर् यो बुद्धेः परतस् तु सः ॥

indriyāṇi parāṇy āhur indriyebhyaḥ paraṃ manaḥ

manasas tu parā buddhir yo buddheḥ paratas tu saḥ

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

meaning

The senses are subtler than the body, the mind subtler than the senses, the intellect subtler than the mind — and subtler still is that which stands beyond the intellect.

ekras · bhāṣya

The verse gives the hierarchy of subtlety. "They say the indriyas are para — beyond the body. Beyond the indriyas, the manas. Beyond the manas, the buddhi. Beyond the buddhi — that." Four rungs ascending in subtlety. Body is gross; senses are subtler than the body; mind subtler than the senses; intellect subtler than the mind; and beyond the buddhi — sah — that. The verse leaves the highest rung unnamed. The pronoun sah — he, that — points without specifying. Each commentator fills the name.

Shankara: the atman, witness of all modifications, free from vikara.

Ramanuja: the Bhagavan within the atman, the antaryamin.

Vallabha: Krishna himself, beyond intellect, the goal of the bhakti-buddhi.

Madhusudana opens with the practical question the verse answers: outer restraint is achievable but inner trishna — thirst — seems nearly impossible to abandon. The hierarchy gives the strategy. You cannot fight kama at the level it operates without knowing what stands above it. Restraining the senses needs the manas; restraining the manas needs the buddhi; restraining the buddhi needs sah — what is beyond the buddhi. Each rung commands the rung below. The man who tries to restrain the senses by the senses, or the manas by the manas, finds the enemy and the enforcer at the same level and the fight unwinnable. Standing above the buddhi gives leverage that nothing at lower rungs can give. The verse maps the territory. The closing verse will name the action.

Context

where

Chapter 3 · Karma-Yoga · meter anuṣṭubh

who speaks

Krishna → Arjuna

preceded by — BG 3.41

So first rein in your senses, bull of the Bharatas, then strike down this sinful desire that destroys both knowledge and its living realization.

What's going on

The senses are subtler than the body, the mind subtler than the senses, the intellect subtler than the mind — and subtler still is that which stands beyond the intellect.

Sūtras through this verse (73)

JayatīrthaclassicalC

Refuting Śaṅkara-style readings, named or unnamedbetween

3.15He refutes by saying na ca.───→here3.42───→6.1Householder is not figurative saṁnyāsin.

ŚaṅkaraclassicalB

Knowledge alone, with all action laid downbetween

3.4Mere not-doing is not renunciation at all.───→here3.42───→5.13Lay down all acts in mind; sit at ease, body free.

RamsukhdasclassicalB

This human birth — your one chance to actbetween

3.8Even keeping the body alive requires action.───→here3.42───→6.40A fallen seeker still keeps the human birth.

show all 73

Madhusūdanaclassicalmadhusudan_bhagavad_arpana

Madhusudan Bhagavad Arpanabetween · other

3.30Offer all your acts───→here3.42───→6.1Renouncer and yogi together

Śaṅkaraclassicalshankara_jnana_nishtha

Shankara Jnana Nishthabetween · other

3.4Naishkarmya is not just non-doing───→here3.42───→5.13Nine-gated city, all karma laid down

Gauravmoderncivilizational_air_conditioning

Civilizational Air Conditioningbetween

3.21'Yad yad acharati shreshthas tat tad evetaro janah.' Whatever the leader does, o───→here3.42───→6.5'Uddhared atmanatmanam natmanam avasadayet.' Lift yourself by yourself, do not l

Gauravmodernkarma_yoga_hand

Karma Yoga Handbetween

3.27Palm, kartala. Akartritva, non-doership. 'Prakriteh kriyamanani gunaih karmani s───→here3.42───→5.18Ring finger. Samadrishti. 'Vidya-vinaya-sampanne brahmane gavi hastini, shuni ch

Gauravmodernsanatana_dharma_101

Sanatana Dharma 101between

3.27Karma pillar. The 'ahankara-vimudhatma kartaham iti manyate' line is where Gaura───→here3.42───→4.7Cyclic time. 'Yada yada hi dharmasya glanir bhavati Bharata.' Gaurav uses this l

Gauravmodernthree_yogas_braid

Three Yogas Braidbetween

3.3'Loke'smin dvi-vidha nishtha pura prokta mayanagha, jnana-yogena samkhyanam karm───→here3.42───→5.4'Sankhya-yogau prithag balah pravadanti na panditah.' Only the immature say sank

ŚaṅkaraclassicalC

Knowledge plus action will not save youbetween

3.3Two paths for two kinds — never combined.───→here3.42───→5.2Each path bears fruit by its own working.

ŚaṅkaraclassicalD

The fit student vs the unfit studentbetween

3.3Two populations, two distinct paths.───→here3.42───→5.6Renunciation is hard without yoga first.

ŚaṅkaraclassicalG

After knowing, act only to hold the worldbetween

3.25The wise act as the unwise, but unattached.───→here3.42───→4.18The post-knowledge actor does no action at all.

ŚaṅkaraclassicalJ

Scripture stands behind every claimbetween

3.4Brāhmaṇas seek the Self by Veda, then by rite.───→here3.42───→4.13The four orders are the Puruṣa's own body.

JayatīrthaclassicalD

Saṅgati declared at the head of every adhyāyabetween

3.1Self in chapter two; sādhana opens here.───→here3.42───→4.1Three blocks named at the chapter head.

JayatīrthaclassicalE

Vishnu-sarvottamatva read into apparently neutral wordsbetween

3.15Brahmodbhavam — born of parabrahman.───→here3.42───→4.11Mām is Viṣṇu, not generic absolute.

JayatīrthaclassicalG

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

3.15Citation closes: ity āgamāt.───→here3.42───→7.5Parā-prakṛti backed by Pañcarātra.

JayatīrthaclassicalH

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

3.17No-kartavya rival staged then answered.───→here3.42───→7.13Nanu vijñāna-rūpaṁ — canonical shape.

JayatīrthaclassicalI

Lakṣaṇā-control — literal preferred when availablebetween

3.15If literal works, figurative is idle.───→here3.42───→7.5Surrounding clause picks literal Śrī.

JayatīrthaclassicalJ

Reading the silence — iti śeṣaḥ and iti bhāvaḥbetween

3.17Scope of na vidyate filled by iti śeṣaḥ.───→here3.42───→15.1Tat-prasaṅge alaukikaṁ — iti śeṣaḥ.

MadhusūdanaclassicalA

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

3.1The whole map laid out at chapter three's door.───→here3.42───→5.1Two chapters settled action and knowing.

MadhusūdanaclassicalB

Different students need different teachingsbetween

3.3Arjuna's mixed question gets a sorted answer.───→here3.42───→5.1Not combined, not optional; distributed by fitness.

MadhusūdanaclassicalC

Action purifies before knowing can landbetween

3.30Even a seeker not-yet-pure offers, drops fruit-claim.───→here3.42───→5.1Action for the ignorant: purification's only door.

MadhusūdanaclassicalD

Offer the act to the Lord and it stops bindingbetween

3.30Offer all your acts; fight without fruit-claim.───→here3.42───→6.1The fruit-unattached one is yogi and renouncer.

MadhusūdanaclassicalG

Knowing and acting cannot run togetherbetween

3.1The grand architecture cannot mix the two.───→here3.42───→4.34Approach a knower; knowing is not earned by action.

MadhusūdanaclassicalI

Liberation while alive — the body finishes its runbetween

3.1The architecture ends in living-liberation, then bodily.───→here3.42───→6.46The yogi with mind-stilled stands above mere knowing.

Gauravmodernchaplaincy_kit_of_tools

Chaplaincy Kit Of Toolsapproach

───→here3.42───→4.34Paramparā / direct transmission. 'Tad viddhi pranipatena pariprashnena sevaya, u

Gauravmoderninterfaith_cosmology

Interfaith Cosmologyapproach

───→here3.42───→4.11'Ye yatha mam prapadyante tams tathaiva bhajamy aham.' As they approach me, so I

ŚaṅkaraclassicalF

The Lord is born only as it wereapproach

───→here3.42───→4.6I appear as if born, never really, by māyā.

ŚaṅkaraclassicalH

The Lord is friend of every beingapproach

───→here3.42───→5.29Friend of all beings, the witness of every act.

JayatīrthaclassicalF

Bhakti-tāratamya: gradation among devotees, gradation in fruitapproach

───→here3.42───→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───→here3.42───→

ĀnandagiriclassicalA

The two-niṣṭhā axisbetween

3.3Three classes, one niṣṭhā each.───→here3.42───→5.1Every clause tagged jñāna or karma.

ĀnandagiriclassicalC

Adhikāra: seeker vs. fulfilledbetween

3.3Three classes, each its own niṣṭhā.───→here3.42───→5.1Two saṃnyāsas: fruit and means.

ĀnandagiriclassicalD

Praśna-bīja chapter openingsbetween

3.1Buddhi-vyākulatva named the seed.───→here3.42───→5.1Recap-then-question becomes the rule.

ĀnandagiriclassicalF

Which karma? — fourfold typologybetween

3.3Vaidika action sorted by life-stage rule.───→here3.42───→4.18Action-in-inaction needs the typology.

ĀnandagiriclassicalH

Phala-saṃkalpa is the only upādhibetween

3.4No mokṣa from mere non-starting.───→here3.42───→4.18Action-in-inaction: the upādhi seen. Anchor.

ĀnandagiriclassicalL

Akṣarayojanā — word-fit firstbetween

3.1Chapter-1 verse opens with word-fit, then bīja.───→here3.42───→7.1Word-fit holds at the architectural seam.

ŚrīdharaclassicalE

Inner cleansing reconciles work and knowingbetween

3.3One path, two grades: impure, then pure mind.───→here3.42───→4.39Faith earns knowing; work readies that faith.

ŚrīdharaclassicalF

The Lord inside as inner rulerbetween

3.30Lay every act in Me; I move within.───→here3.42───→7.21I am the one who steadies your chosen faith.

RamsukhdasclassicalC

Desire is the root — not actionbetween

3.37One enemy alone: desire, only desire.───→here3.42───→3.43Use intellect to slay the enemy within.

RamsukhdasclassicalD

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

3.33Even the wise act by their own nature.───→here3.42───→7.12The modes come from the Lord, not in Him.

RamsukhdasclassicalE

Your own work as worshipbetween

3.35Your own flawed work beats another's perfect.───→here3.42───→4.13The four orders are His own creation.

RamsukhdasclassicalJ

Divine vs demonic patternsbetween

3.37The enemy is desire turning into anger.───→here3.42───→7.15The demonic never come near to Me.

RamsukhdasclassicalK

The body is not yoursbetween

3.27The modes act, but ego claims the deed.───→here3.42───→5.8The knower thinks, 'I do nothing at all.'

Ramsukhdasclassical

Sādhaka Sañjīvanī commentary at this versebetween

───→here3.42───→

ŚrīdharaclassicalD

The path that turns no one awayapproach

───→here3.42───→4.11However they come, I meet them so.

ŚrīdharaclassicalI

His evenness as ground for refugeapproach

───→here3.42───→4.11I meet each one as that one approaches.

ŚrīdharaclassicalJ

Insight given as a gift, not earned aloneapproach

───→here3.42───→4.34Knowers will pass it to you by teaching.

ŚrīdharaclassicalL

Chapter prefaces as the bhāṣya's spineapproach

───→here3.42───→5.1Settling the doubt: renounce or work?

Ekrasmodernkarma_yoga

Karma yoga — the apprentice pathbetween · v2

3.20Janaka, lokasangraha───→here3.42───→4.18Action in inaction

Ekrasmodernleadership

Leadership — svadharma in actionbetween · v2

3.25Wise act as the unwise act───→here3.42───→18.41Duties divided by guṇa

Ekrasmodernparadox_of_doership

Paradox of doership — kartṛtvabetween · v2

3.27Modes act, ego claims───→here3.42───→5.13Nine-gated city

Ekrasmodernanger_management

Anger Managementbetween · other

3.37Kāma is the enemy───→here3.42───→5.23Endure the urge

VallabhaclassicalC

Drop the doer, not the deedbetween

3.30Drop the fruit, the mine, the doership — keep the act.───→here3.42───→5.1Arjuna asks the wrong question. first.

VallabhaclassicalD

Chapter-opening preludesbetween

3.1Four-verse prelude frames renunciation.───→here3.42───→4.1Four-verse prelude names avatāra-līlā.

VallabhaclassicalI

A closed three-source citation gridbetween

3.30The Nibandha is cited again on threefold drop.───→here3.42───→7.14Surrender is the only way past the Lord's māyā.

VallabhaclassicalA

Two paths — rule-bound and grace-onlyapproach

───→here3.42───→4.11Each soul takes the path Krishna assigns to it.

VallabhaclassicalG

The Lord plays — calf-affection, not contractapproach

───→here3.42───→4.7When dharma weakens, the Lord descends to play.

Ekrasmodernfamily_conflict

Family Conflictexit · other

2.8No grief-remover I see───→here3.42───→

RāmānujaclassicalD

Karma-yoga as kainkarya (worship)between

3.30Surrender every act.───→here3.42───→4.24Brahman the offering, Brahman the offerer.

VedāntadeśikaclassicalC

Antaryāmin — the indweller as standing referentbetween

3.30'Mayi sarvāṇi karmāṇi': read as antaryāmin.───→here3.42───→7.21Whatever form is worshipped, I steady it.

VedāntadeśikaclassicalF

Saṅgati — anticipation-and-resolutionbetween

3.1Arjuna's question resolves 2.49's hint.───→here3.42───→6.47Top-yogin clause — the chapter-7 hinge.

VedāntadeśikaclassicalG

Three yogas — three angles on one configurationbetween

3.30Karma offered to the indweller becomes worship.───→here3.42───→4.33Knowledge-rite outranks mere material rites.

RāmānujaclassicalC

Three ṣaṭkas (1–6 / 7–12 / 13–18)approach

───→here3.42───→5.1A four-clause summary of all of 2 through 4.

RāmānujaclassicalG

Māyā is real causal powerapproach

───→here3.42───→4.6Self-power, not self-illusion.

RāmānujaclassicalH

Prapatti / śaraṇāgati — universal upāyaapproach

───→here3.42───→4.11As they approach Me, so do I receive them.

VedāntadeśikaclassicalD

Adhikāra — eligibility as architecture, not exceptionapproach

───→here3.42───→4.11'Yathā' is open; the verb is the gate.

AbhinavaguptaclassicalA

Knowing and acting are one powerbetween

3.1Knowing versus acting is the wrong cut.───→here3.42───→7.1Together they cover everything to be known.

MadhvaclassicalT2

Soul depends on Lord — the gap that does not closebetween

3.27Action is the modes'; the soul only seems to act.───→here3.42───→5.14The soul rules the inert; the Lord rules the soul.

MadhvaclassicalT7

Action and knowledge — never rivalsbetween

3.20Even Janaka acted; the wise still do.───→here3.42───→5.1Renouncing isn't quitting the householder's life.

AbhinavaguptaclassicalB

Recognition, not additionapproach

───→here3.42───→4.14Recognize, do not learn — the verb shifts.

AbhinavaguptaclassicalD

Avatāra: appearance without departureapproach

───→here3.42───→4.1Teaching descends; the teacher does not move.

MadhvaclassicalT10

The deluder is named — three goddesses, one Lordapproach

───→here3.42───→4.6Even the unborn descends through the deluder Durgā.

Śabda · lemmas (9 unique · 15 occurrences)

इन्द्रियाणि·इन्द्रियेभ्यः indriya ×2 — sense, sense-organ; the eleven indriyas (5 jñānendriyas + 5 karmendriyas + manas) · accusative neuter plural noun / ablative neuter plural noun · also at 2.60, 3.7, 3.40, 5.8, 5.9, 13.5
बुद्धिः·बुद्धेः buddhi ×2 — intellect, intelligence, discriminating faculty · nominative feminine singular noun / ablative feminine singular noun

show all 9

पराणि·परम्·परा para ×3 — highest, supreme, beyond, other · accusative neuter plural noun / nominative neuter singular noun / nominative feminine singular noun
मनः·मनसः manas ×2 — mind (lower mind), the inner organ of perception · nominative neuter singular noun / ablative neuter singular noun
तु tu ×2 — but, on the other hand (particle)
आहुः √ah — to say, declare (defective verbal root) · past indicative 3rd person plural verb
यः yad — which, who (relative pronoun) · nominative masculine singular noun
परतस् paratas — from beyond, higher than (para + -tas)
सः tad — that (distal demonstrative); also 3rd-person pronoun · nominative masculine singular noun

Praśna · so what (7)

01If manas activates the senses and buddhi governs manas, why does disciplining the senses (prāṇāyāma, āsana) feel more tractable in practice than quieting manas — what does the hierarchy predict about the order of difficulty?
02Rāmānuja reads 'saḥ' as Kāma and Śaṅkara reads it as Ātman — both are grammatically permissible antecedents in the original Sanskrit; what hermeneutic principle decides which referent the reader should trust, and does the Gītā's own context (3.43 follows immediately with 'evaṃ buddheḥ paraṃ buddhvā') settle it?

show all 7

03Madhusūdana imports the full Kaṭha cosmic hierarchy (mahat → avyakta → puruṣa) into a verse that names only buddhi and 'saḥ' — is this legitimate intertextual expansion or a case of external-vector collapse (reading BG through Upaniṣadic grid)?
04Madhva insists partial knowledge at any rung is insufficient for mukti; Śaṅkara implies that knowing Ātman at the top rung is sufficient — what experimental or phenomenological difference would distinguish these two claims in a practitioner's experience?
05If Vallabha's 'para' means 'forcefully obstructing' rather than 'ontologically higher,' does the verse become a threat-map rather than a liberation-ladder — and how does that affect the emotional posture a Puṣṭi-mārga sādhaka brings to the text?
06Śrīdhara's use of 'sākṣitvenavasthi-taḥ' (abiding as witness) for Ātman is close to but not identical with Śaṅkara's nirvikalpa-sākṣin — what is the devotional valence added by Śrīdhara's framing, and does it subtly personalise the witness?
07Given that all six commentators agree on the four-rung series (indriya < manas < buddhi < X) but disagree on what X is, does this verse function as a Rorschach for each school's metaphysics rather than as a determinate philosophical claim — and is that polysemy by design?

Vyavahāra · try it in your life

Advaita

When a decision feels urgent and emotionally charged, pause and locate which layer is driving: is it a sense-pull, a habitual mental pattern, a reasoned judgment, or pure awareness observing all three? The Advaita practitioner treats the witnessing pause itself — the moment before reaction — as direct contact with 'saḥ,' the Ātman that is never swept away. The practice: 'I am not the craving, not the doubt, not even the reasoned conclusion — I am what knows all three.'

Viśiṣṭādvaita

In Rāmānuja's reading, 'saḥ' is Kāma lurking beyond even a well-reasoned buddhi — the desire that survives every intellectual justification ('I've thought it through, it makes sense, therefore I should have it'). The everyday application: after completing a rational cost-benefit analysis, ask once more: 'Is there a want underneath this reasoning that the reasoning is secretly serving?' That residual want is the enemy named here. The practice is surrendering the residual to Bhagavān's will as kainkarya.

show all 6

Dvaita

Madhva's insistence on totality means no partial fix suffices: fixing diet without fixing speech, fixing speech without fixing interior motivation, fixing motivation without knowledge of Hari — each is a rung that feels sufficient but leaves the enemy alive one level higher. The everyday application is auditing one's practice portfolio for gaps: which rung is currently unattended? The practice is systematic, not spontaneous — like Madhva's own commentary style.

Śuddhādvaita

Vallabha's 'para as forceful obstruction' reframes every setback in sādhana: the reason discipline keeps failing is not weakness of will but the structural ferocity of Kāma at the buddhi-level, which outguns willpower by design. The Puṣṭi solution is not to fight harder but to flood the system with Kṛṣṇa's beauty — kirtan, smaraṇa, sevā — until Kāma is crowded out rather than suppressed. The everyday application: when you relapse, don't double the discipline; add more sweetness.

Bhakti

Śrīdhara's viśleṣa (discrimination) practice is a morning or pre-action inquiry: 'What is asking to act right now — the body's sensation, the mind's habit-loop, the intellect's justification, or the witness that is none of these?' The point is not to suppress lower levels but to correctly identify their source, because misidentification (Kāma posing as Ātman, desire posing as insight) is the core confusion the verse diagnoses. The practice generates clean action by clarifying the actor.

Advaita-Bhakti

Madhusūdana's synthesis speaks to practitioners who find pure jñāna-mārga cold and pure bhakti psychologically unstable: the cosmological extension of 'saḥ' (from individual witness all the way to paramātman beyond avyakta) means that the beloved Kṛṣṇa encountered in devotion is not a smaller reality than the impersonal Brahman — he is the same Para compressed into a personal form. The everyday application: in moments of devotional dryness, recall that the witness watching your dry practice is the same 'saḥ' the Kaṭha calls the ultimate goal. Devotion and self-inquiry converge at the top rung.

Adhiṣṭhāna · substrate signature

substratev2.6-frozen

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

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

show all metadata

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 3, Verse 42: Krishna to Arjuna — Karma-Yoga