{ "verse_id": "2.50", "mūla": { "devanāgarī": "बुद्धि-युक्तो जहातीह उभे सुकृत-दुष्कृते | तस्माद् योगाय युज्यस्व योगः कर्मसु कौशलम्", "iast": "buddhi-yukto jahātīha ubhe sukṛta-duṣkṛte | tasmād yogāya yujyasva yogaḥ karmasu kauśalam", "chapter_position": "Chapter 2 (Sāṅkhya-Yoga (The Yoga of Knowledge)), verse 50", "speaker": "Krishna", "addressed_to": "Arjuna" }, "word_by_word": [ { "surface_form": "buddhi", "lemma": "buddhi", "grammar": "compound (compound member)", "senses_attested_in_panel": [], "theme_lists": [], "surface_devanagari": "बुद्धि" }, { "surface_form": "yuktaḥ", "lemma": "√yuj", "grammar": "nominative masculine singular participle noun", "senses_attested_in_panel": [], "theme_lists": [], "surface_devanagari": "युक्तः" }, { "surface_form": "jahāti", "lemma": "hā", "grammar": "present indicative 3rd person singular verb", "senses_attested_in_panel": [], "theme_lists": [], "surface_devanagari": "जहाति" }, { "surface_form": "iha", "lemma": "iha", "grammar": "", "senses_attested_in_panel": [], "theme_lists": [], "surface_devanagari": "इह" }, { "surface_form": "ubhe", "lemma": "ubh", "grammar": "accusative neuter dual noun", "senses_attested_in_panel": [], "theme_lists": [], "surface_devanagari": "उभे" }, { "surface_form": "sukṛta", "lemma": "sukṛta", "grammar": "compound (compound member)", "senses_attested_in_panel": [], "theme_lists": [], "surface_devanagari": "सुकृत" }, { "surface_form": "duṣkṛte", "lemma": "duṣkṛta", "grammar": "accusative neuter dual noun", "senses_attested_in_panel": [], "theme_lists": [], "surface_devanagari": "दुष्कृते" }, { "surface_form": "tasmāt", "lemma": "tasmāt", "grammar": "", "senses_attested_in_panel": [], "theme_lists": [], "surface_devanagari": "तस्मात्" }, { "surface_form": "yogāya", "lemma": "yoga", "grammar": "dative masculine singular noun", "senses_attested_in_panel": [ { "sense": "युज्यस्व घटस्व", "school": "advaita", "weight": 0.8, "witnesses": [ "shankara" ] }, { "sense": "युज्यस्व", "school": "dvaita", "weight": 0.8, "witnesses": [ "madhva", "jayatirtha" ] } ], "theme_lists": [], "surface_devanagari": "योगाय" }, { "surface_form": "yujyasva", "lemma": "√yuj", "grammar": "present imperative pass 2nd person singular verb", "senses_attested_in_panel": [ { "sense": "घटस्व। योगो हि कर्मसु कौशलम् स्वधर्माख्येषु कर्मसु वर्तमानस्य या सिद्ध्यसिद्ध्योः समत्वबुद्धिः ईश्वरार्पितचेतस्तया तत्", "school": "advaita", "weight": 0.8, "witnesses": [ "shankara" ] }, { "sense": "। योगः कर्मसु कौशलं कर्मसु क्रियमाणेषु अयं बुद्धियोगः कौशलम् अतिसामर्थ्यम् अतिसामर्थ्यसाध्यः इत्यर्थः।", "school": "viśiṣṭādvaita", "weight": 0.8, "witnesses": [ "ramanuja" ] }, { "sense": "। ज्ञानोपायाय। तद्धि कर्मकौशलम्।", "school": "dvaita", "weight": 0.8, "witnesses": [ "madhva" ] }, { "sense": "घटस्व। यतः कर्मसु यत्कौशलं बन्धकानामपि तेषामीश्वराराधनेन मोक्षपरत्वसंपादनचातुर्यं स एव योगः। function playAudio(){ if(d", "school": "bhakti", "weight": 0.8, "witnesses": [ "sridhara" ] }, { "sense": "घटस्य उद्युक्तो भव", "school": "advaita-bhakti", "weight": 0.8, "witnesses": [ "madhusudan" ] } ], "theme_lists": [], "surface_devanagari": "युज्यस्व" }, { "surface_form": "yogaḥ", "lemma": "yoga", "grammar": "nominative masculine singular noun", "senses_attested_in_panel": [ { "sense": "कर्मसु कौशलं कर्मसु क्रियमाणेषु अयं बुद्धियोगः कौशलम् अतिसामर्थ्यम् अतिसामर्थ्यसाध्यः इत्यर्थः", "school": "viśiṣṭādvaita", "weight": 0.8, "witnesses": [ "ramanuja" ] }, { "sense": "। function playAudio(){ if(document.getElementById('slkaudio') != null) document.getElementById('slkaudio').play(); else", "school": "bhakti", "weight": 0.8, "witnesses": [ "sridhara" ] } ], "theme_lists": [], "surface_devanagari": "योगः" }, { "surface_form": "karmasu", "lemma": "karman", "grammar": "locative neuter plural noun", "senses_attested_in_panel": [ { "sense": "कौशलम् स्वधर्माख्येषु कर्मसु वर्तमानस्य या सिद्ध्यसिद्ध्योः समत्वबुद्धिः ईश्वरार्पितचेतस्तया", "school": "advaita", "weight": 0.8, "witnesses": [ "shankara", "anandgiri" ] }, { "sense": "कौशलं कर्मसु क्रियमाणेषु अयं बुद्धियोगः कौशलम् अतिसामर्थ्यम् अतिसामर्थ्यसाध्यः इत्यर्थः", "school": "viśiṣṭādvaita", "weight": 0.8, "witnesses": [ "ramanuja" ] }, { "sense": "कौशलं निर्बन्धनतावृत्तिसाधनमिति", "school": "śuddhādvaita", "weight": 0.8, "witnesses": [ "vallabha" ] }, { "sense": "यत्कौशलं बन्धकानामपि तेषामीश्वराराधनेन मोक्षपरत्वसंपादनचातुर्यं स", "school": "bhakti", "weight": 0.8, "witnesses": [ "sridhara" ] }, { "sense": "बुद्धियुक्तः समत्वबुद्ध्या युक्तो जहाति परित्यजति उभे सुकृतदुष्कृते पुण्यपापे सत्त्वशुद्धिज्ञानप्राप्तिद्वारेण", "school": "advaita-bhakti", "weight": 0.8, "witnesses": [ "madhusudan" ] } ], "theme_lists": [], "surface_devanagari": "कर्मसु" }, { "surface_form": "kauśalam", "lemma": "kauśala", "grammar": "nominative neuter singular noun", "senses_attested_in_panel": [ { "sense": "स्वधर्माख्येषु कर्मसु वर्तमानस्य या सिद्ध्यसिद्ध्योः समत्वबुद्धिः ईश्वरार्पितचेतस्तया", "school": "advaita", "weight": 0.8, "witnesses": [ "shankara" ] }, { "sense": "अतिसामर्थ्यम् अतिसामर्थ्यसाध्यः इत्यर्थः", "school": "viśiṣṭādvaita", "weight": 0.8, "witnesses": [ "ramanuja" ] }, { "sense": "इति पुनर्व्याख्यायते इत्यतः स्तुतिरियं योगस्य क्रियत इति भावेनाह तद्धी ति", "school": "dvaita", "weight": 0.8, "witnesses": [ "jayatirtha" ] } ], "theme_lists": [], "surface_devanagari": "कौशलम्" } ], "intertextual_panel": [ { "verse": "2.51", "type": "next-verse continuation", "score": 0.9366, "feature_breakdown": { "cosine": 0.8659, "theme_graph": 2.0, "vocative": 0.0, "substring": 0.1037, "lemma_overlap": 4.7718, "stem_prefix": 3.0 } }, { "verse": "4.18", "type": "cross-chapter thematic parallel", "score": 0.9276, "feature_breakdown": { "cosine": 0.8672, "theme_graph": 2.0, "vocative": 0.0, "substring": 0.0519, "lemma_overlap": 6.8106, "stem_prefix": 3.0 } }, { "verse": "3.26", "type": "cross-chapter thematic parallel", "score": 0.9236, "feature_breakdown": { "cosine": 0.8615, "theme_graph": 2.0, "vocative": 0.0, "substring": 0.0605, "lemma_overlap": 6.8106, "stem_prefix": 3.0 } }, { "verse": "2.39", "type": "cross-chapter thematic parallel", "score": 0.9211, "feature_breakdown": { "cosine": 0.8608, "theme_graph": 2.0, "vocative": 0.0, "substring": 0.0519, "lemma_overlap": 4.7718, "stem_prefix": 3.0 } }, { "verse": "2.49", "type": "next-verse continuation", "score": 0.9207, "feature_breakdown": { "cosine": 0.8669, "theme_graph": 1.0, "vocative": 0.0, "substring": 0.0691, "lemma_overlap": 6.8106, "stem_prefix": 3.0 } }, { "verse": "2.53", "type": "thematic-cluster continuation", "score": 0.9064, "feature_breakdown": { "cosine": 0.8661, "theme_graph": 1.0, "vocative": 0.0, "substring": 0.0519, "lemma_overlap": 4.7718, "stem_prefix": 2.0 } }, { "verse": "5.11", "type": "shared-vocabulary echo", "score": 0.8995, "feature_breakdown": { "cosine": 0.8695, "theme_graph": 0.0, "vocative": 0.0, "substring": 0.0, "lemma_overlap": 6.8106, "stem_prefix": 3.0 } }, { "verse": "2.41", "type": "cross-chapter thematic parallel", "score": 0.8985, "feature_breakdown": { "cosine": 0.8581, "theme_graph": 1.0, "vocative": 0.0, "substring": 0.0519, "lemma_overlap": 6.7642, "stem_prefix": 2.0 } } ], "doctrinal_projections": { "advaita": { "reading_summary": "(reading summary extraction pending; ENABLE_READING_SUMMARIES=true to generate)", "key_cross_references": [], "witness_passages": [ "shankara_2.50", "anandgiri_2.50" ], "score": 0.5, "english_rendering": "One who is buddha-yukta (endowed with equanimity-intelligence) abandons here both puṇya (merit) and pāpa (demerit) through the portal of sattva-śuddhi (purification of mind) leading to jñāna-prāpti (attainment of knowledge) — not as moral achievement but as the natural falling-away of what never bound the self. Kauśalam (skill) is not technical dexterity but the precise capacity of samatva-buddhi (equanimity-intelligence) to prevent even svadharma-karman from accruing the bondage it carries by nature: karma performed with īśvara-arpaṇa-cetasā (mind surrendered to the Lord) ceases to bind, as if denatured. Therefore commit to yoga not as a path toward something but as the release from the assumption that action is yours — for that assumption alone is the binder.", "commentator": "Śaṅkarācārya" }, "viśiṣṭādvaita": { "reading_summary": "(reading summary extraction pending; ENABLE_READING_SUMMARIES=true to generate)", "key_cross_references": [], "witness_passages": [ "ramanuja_2.50" ], "score": 0.5, "english_rendering": "The jīva (individual soul) yoked to buddhi-yoga in action discards both pāpa and puṇya — not merely their future accumulation but the anādi-kāla-sañcita (beginninglessly accumulated) stock that forms the anaṇta-bandha (infinite bondage) keeping the jīva from Bhagavān. Kauśalam here carries Rāmānuja's gloss atisāmarthya (supreme efficacy) — it is not mere adroitness but the extraordinary power that makes karma capable of an end far beyond its own reach, namely, bhagavat-prāpti (attainment of Bhagavān). Buddhi-yoga is thus kauśalam in the sense that it is the supremely potent means — an efficacy not inherent in the action itself but granted by the action's orientation toward Bhagavān as the final upāya (means) and upeya (end).", "commentator": "Rāmānujācārya" }, "dvaita": { "reading_summary": "(reading summary extraction pending; ENABLE_READING_SUMMARIES=true to generate)", "key_cross_references": [], "witness_passages": [ "madhva_2.50", "jayatirtha_2.50" ], "score": 0.5, "english_rendering": "The jñāna-phala (fruit of knowledge) announced here is that the buddha-yukta jīva abandons even suktṛa (meritorious karma) insofar as it yields mānuṣyādi-phala (human-scale results) — not the bṛhat-phala (great fruit) accruing from upāsanā (meditation) and worship of Hari, which śruti (revealed scripture) explicitly protects: na hāsya karma kṣīyate (his karma does not perish, BU 1.4.15). Kauśalam for Madhva is thus the skill of discriminating which karma to abandon (karma seeking perishable reward) from which to magnify (karma as sevā to Hari), since the jīva is nitya-bhinna (eternally distinct) from Brahman and its actions can only attain liberation through Hari's prasāda (grace), never through any independent jñāna-bhāva (state of knowledge) that would erase the jīva's individuality.", "commentator": "Madhvācārya" }, "śuddhādvaita": { "reading_summary": "(reading summary extraction pending; ENABLE_READING_SUMMARIES=true to generate)", "key_cross_references": [], "witness_passages": [ "vallabha_2.50" ], "score": 0.5, "english_rendering": "Vallabha reads kauśalam as nirbandhnatā-vṛtti-sādhana (the discipline that produces the condition of non-bondage) — the skill is in becoming nirbandha (free from binding-force) while remaining in the very stream of Kṛṣṇa's guṇa-āviṣkaraṇa (manifestation of qualities), for Śuddhādvaita holds that Kṛṣṇa's world is not māyā (illusion) to be renounced but his own svarūpa (essential nature) to be participated in. Puṇya and pāpa are abandoned as suvarṇa-loha-bandhana-tulya (equivalent to bondage whether the chain is gold or iron) — the Puṣṭi-mārga practitioner does not choose between virtuous and sinful action but exits the entire economy of action-as-transaction, receiving karma as Kṛṣṇa's līlā-prasāda (grace-play). The buddhi-yukta state is thus the state of the bhakta who is carried rather than one who chooses.", "commentator": "Vallabhācārya" }, "bhakti": { "reading_summary": "(reading summary extraction pending; ENABLE_READING_SUMMARIES=true to generate)", "key_cross_references": [], "witness_passages": [ "sridhara_2.50" ], "score": 0.5, "english_rendering": "Śrīdhara clarifies the two terms precisely: suktṛa (meritorious karma) leads to svarga (heaven) and higher realms; duṣkṛta (demeritorious karma) leads to naraka (hell) — and both are abandoned iha janmani (in this very life) by paramaiśvara-prasāda (the grace of the Supreme Lord), not through one's own effort alone. Kauśalam is the cāturya (adroitness) of converting karma that is by nature bandhaka (binding) into a vehicle for mokṣa-paratva-sampādana (achievement of liberation-orientation) through īśvara-ārādhana (worship of the Lord). The defining move of bhakti kauśalam is not withdrawing from action but transforming its valence: the same action that binds when offered to the ego liberates when offered to the Lord — skill as transmutation rather than renunciation.", "commentator": "Śrīdhara Svāmī" }, "advaita-bhakti": { "reading_summary": "(reading summary extraction pending; ENABLE_READING_SUMMARIES=true to generate)", "key_cross_references": [], "witness_passages": [ "madhusudan_2.50" ], "score": 0.5, "english_rendering": "Madhusūdana holds two readings simultaneously: in the first, buddhi-yukta describes one already in samatva (equanimity) whose karma produces sattva-śuddhi, which in turn yields ātma-sākṣātkāra (direct realization of the self), leading to the natural abandonment of puṇya-pāpa — karma-yoga as the śuddhi-dvāra (portal of purification). In the second, buddhi-yoga itself, when it has ripened, is mahā-kuśala (supremely skillful) because it accomplishes the destruction of duṣṭa-karma (corrupted karma) while remaining action — a kauśalam Madhusūdana marks with the resonant phrase: samata-buddhi-yukta karmayoga karmaātmā api san duṣkarma-kṣayaṃ karoti (karma-yoga, though itself action, destroys evil karma), which neither pure jñāna-mārga nor pure karma-mārga alone achieves. The synthesis here is not conceptual but functional: Kṛṣṇa-bhakti supplies the arpita-cetasā (mind-surrendered-to-Kṛṣṇa) that alone makes samatva genuinely non-performative.", "commentator": "Madhusūdana Sarasvatī" } }, "prosodic_information": { "meter": "anuṣṭubh", "meter_shift_from_previous": true, "meter_shift_to_next": true, "pragmatic_context": { "vocative": "", "preceding_question": "", "following_response": "" } }, "theme_list_memberships": [ { "list": "बुद्धि", "role": "supporting", "other_verses_in_list": [ "2.19", "2.39", "2.41", "2.44", "2.49", "2.51", "2.52", "2.53", "2.63", "2.65", "2.66", "3.1", "3.2", "3.3", "3.26", "3.40", "3.42", "4.18", "5.17", "5.20", "5.28", "6.9", "6.21", "6.43", "7.4", "7.5", "7.10", "8.7", "10.4", "10.10", "12.8", "12.14", "13.5", "15.20", "18.16", "18.17", "18.30", "18.31", "18.32", "18.37", "18.49", "18.57" ] }, { "list": "युक्त", "role": "supporting", "other_verses_in_list": [ "1.14", "2.28", "2.39", "2.51", "2.61", "2.64", "2.66", "3.26", "3.36", "4.18", "5.6", "5.7", "5.8", "5.12", "5.21", "5.23", "5.26", "6.8", "6.14", "6.17", "6.18", "6.29", "6.47", "7.17", "7.18", "7.22", "7.30", "8.8", "8.10", "8.14", "8.27", "9.14", "9.22", "9.28", "9.34", "10.10", "12.1", "12.2", "15.14", "17.5", "17.17", "18.28", "18.51" ] }, { "list": "योगः कर्मसु कौशलम्", "role": "supporting", "other_verses_in_list": [ "4.16" ] } ], "audit_trail": { "substrate_version": "v2.6-frozen", "fitted_weights": { "a": 1.0, "b": 0.01, "e_v": 0.005, "z": 0.2, "h": 0.0, "th": 0.01 }, "corpus_provenance": { "mūla": "Belvalkar critical edition (BORI 1947), via Ambuda multi-witness", "panel_witnesses": [ "bg-mula", "bg-shankara", "bg-ramanuja", "bg-madhva", "bg-vedantadeshika", "bg-vallabha", "bg-jayatirtha", "bg-anandgiri", "bg-sridhara", "bg-madhusudan" ] }, "extraction_date": "2026-04-21", "score_methodology_documented_at": "Paper 1, Section II.B", "word_by_word_parser": "ByT5-Sanskrit-multitask (Nehrdich/Hellwig/Keutzer EMNLP 2024)", "post_generation_repairs": [ { "date": "2026-05-03", "fix": "verb-lemma-misidentification (broader heuristic: prefix-√root canonical for all verb-tagged tokens)", "scope": "word_by_word[].lemma", "loci": [ "yuktaḥ: yuj -> √yuj", "yujyasva: yuj -> √yuj" ] } ] }, "so_what_questions": [ "If kauśalam (skill) means samatva-buddhi (equanimity-intelligence) rather than technique, what distinguishes a skilled teacher from one who merely knows the subject — and can that distinction be observed from the outside?", "Śaṅkara says even suktṛa (meritorious karma) must be abandoned: does this mean there is something morally dangerous about performing conspicuously good deeds, and how should one navigate public recognition of virtuous action?", "Rāmānuja's atisāmarthya (supreme efficacy) frames yoga as the most powerful means to Bhagavān — is the superiority of buddhi-yoga over other paths a claim about ontology (what the world is) or about psychology (how minds work)?", "Madhva's distinction between perishable suktṛa-phala and the indestructible bṛhat-phala of upāsanā implies a hierarchy of karma by destination: what practical criterion does a person use, in the middle of an ordinary day, to know which category their action falls into?", "Vallabha's suvarṇa-loha-bandhana (gold-chain-iron-chain) image treats pāpa and puṇya as structurally identical: does this mean a Puṣṭi-mārga practitioner is permitted to be morally indifferent, or is there a finer distinction the image does not capture?", "The verse closes with a definition — yogaḥ karmasu kauśalam — rather than a prescription: why does Kṛṣṇa end here with a definition, and what does that rhetorical choice tell us about how this śloka (verse) functions within the arc of Chapter 2?", "All six schools agree that abandoning puṇya-pāpa is the result of buddhi-yoga, but disagree on what grounds — grace, purification, discrimination, realization, or transmutation: is this a genuine empirical disagreement or a difference in the vocabulary used to describe the same phenomenology?" ], "everyday_applications": { "advaita": "When a professional delivers excellent work and receives neither praise nor blame without internal change — not performing stoicism, but genuinely undisturbed — that is samatva-buddhi (equanimity-intelligence) in action. The Śaṅkara criterion of kauśalam is met not when the work is flawless but when its outcome no longer functions as a mirror for the ego: the result falls away like water from stone. The practice: after any consequential action, notice the precise moment the mind reaches for a verdict on itself — that grasping is the binder, and simply seeing it is the release.", "viśiṣṭādvaita": "Rāmānuja's atisāmarthya (supreme efficacy) translates daily as the recognition that no amount of competent action is sufficient by itself — the efficacy of any work is borrowed from its orientation toward Bhagavān. A caregiver who serves a difficult patient and silently dedicates that service to Bhagavān is exercising exactly the kauśalam Rāmānuja describes: the action's reach extends past what the action could achieve alone. The practice: before each significant act, briefly restore the intention — not as ritual formula but as a genuine re-anchoring of who the action is for.", "dvaita": "Madhva's discrimination between mānuṣyādi-phala (human-scale results) and bṛhat-phala (great fruit) maps onto a daily distinction between actions done for visible returns and actions done as sevā (service) to Hari with no return-calculation. A business decision that maximizes quarterly results but depletes a community's trust falls in the first category; a decision that sacrifices a short-term gain to honor a commitment falls in the second. The kauśalam Madhva identifies is the capacity to correctly classify one's own motivations — an uncomfortable but repeatable self-examination.", "śuddhādvaita": "Vallabha's nirbandhnatā (non-binding condition) is not quietism — it is the discovery that Kṛṣṇa's own energy is already moving through the practitioner's hands. A musician who stops calculating whether a performance will be received well and simply plays as an offering into Kṛṣṇa's space enters the Puṣṭi-mārga understanding of kauśalam: the skill is in removing the obstruction of the self-monitoring ego so the guṇa-āviṣkaraṇa (manifestation of Kṛṣṇa's qualities) can happen unimpeded. The practice is not effort but surrender to the current already running.", "bhakti": "Śrīdhara's cāturya (adroitness) in converting binding karma into a vehicle for liberation has a direct everyday expression: begin and end each task with a brief, honest dedication to the Lord — not as a superstition but as a structural act that changes the action's frame from self-referential to offering. A parent raising a child who remembers, even occasionally, that this work is īśvara-ārādhana (worship of the Lord) is exercising bhakti-kauśalam: the same acts of patience and sacrifice that would otherwise generate pride and resentment are transmuted into the very substance of devotion.", "advaita-bhakti": "Madhusūdana's mahā-kauśalam — the capacity to destroy duṣṭa-karma (corrupted karma) while still acting — manifests in those rare practitioners who engage fully in the world without accumulating the residue of that engagement. The test Madhusūdana implies is functional, not philosophical: does extended, difficult action in the world leave a person more contracted and defended, or more open? If more open, arpita-cetasā (mind surrendered to Kṛṣṇa) is operational. The synthesis asks us to hold jñāna (knowledge) and bhakti (devotion) simultaneously: to see clearly that there is no independent doer, while directing every act of that transparent selfhood toward Kṛṣṇa." }, "primary_meaning": "Joined to steady wisdom, a person sheds both merit and sin in this very life; so commit to yoga, for yoga is skill in action." }