{
  "verse_id": "3.21",
  "mūla": {
    "devanāgarī": "यद् यद् आचरति श्रेष्ठस् तत् तद् एवेतरो जनः | स यत् प्रमाणं कुरुते लोकस् तद् अनुवर्तते",
    "iast": "yad yad ācarati śreṣṭhas tat tad evetaro janaḥ | sa yat pramāṇaṃ kurute lokas tad anuvartate",
    "chapter_position": "Chapter 3 (Karma-Yoga (The Yoga of Action)), verse 21",
    "speaker": "Krishna",
    "addressed_to": "Arjuna"
  },
  "word_by_word": [
    {
      "surface_form": "yat",
      "lemma": "yad",
      "grammar": "accusative neuter singular noun",
      "senses_attested_in_panel": [],
      "theme_lists": [],
      "surface_devanagari": "यत्"
    },
    {
      "surface_form": "yat",
      "lemma": "yad",
      "grammar": "accusative neuter singular noun",
      "senses_attested_in_panel": [],
      "theme_lists": [],
      "surface_devanagari": "यत्"
    },
    {
      "surface_form": "ācarati",
      "lemma": "√ācar",
      "grammar": "present indicative 3rd person singular verb",
      "senses_attested_in_panel": [
        {
          "sense": "करोति श्रेष्ठः प्रधानः तत्तदेव कर्म आचरति इतरः अन्यः जनः तदनुगतः",
          "school": "advaita",
          "weight": 0.8,
          "witnesses": [
            "shankara"
          ]
        },
        {
          "sense": "तत् तद्",
          "school": "viśiṣṭādvaita",
          "weight": 0.8,
          "witnesses": [
            "ramanuja"
          ]
        }
      ],
      "theme_lists": [],
      "surface_devanagari": "आचरति"
    },
    {
      "surface_form": "śreṣṭhaḥ",
      "lemma": "śreṣṭha",
      "grammar": "nominative masculine singular noun",
      "senses_attested_in_panel": [],
      "theme_lists": [],
      "surface_devanagari": "श्रेष्ठः"
    },
    {
      "surface_form": "tat",
      "lemma": "tad",
      "grammar": "accusative neuter singular noun",
      "senses_attested_in_panel": [],
      "theme_lists": [],
      "surface_devanagari": "तत्"
    },
    {
      "surface_form": "tat",
      "lemma": "tad",
      "grammar": "accusative neuter singular noun",
      "senses_attested_in_panel": [],
      "theme_lists": [],
      "surface_devanagari": "तत्"
    },
    {
      "surface_form": "eva",
      "lemma": "eva",
      "grammar": "",
      "senses_attested_in_panel": [],
      "theme_lists": [],
      "surface_devanagari": "एव"
    },
    {
      "surface_form": "itaraḥ",
      "lemma": "itara",
      "grammar": "nominative masculine singular noun",
      "senses_attested_in_panel": [],
      "theme_lists": [],
      "surface_devanagari": "इतरः"
    },
    {
      "surface_form": "janaḥ",
      "lemma": "jana",
      "grammar": "nominative masculine singular noun",
      "senses_attested_in_panel": [],
      "theme_lists": [],
      "surface_devanagari": "जनः"
    },
    {
      "surface_form": "sa",
      "lemma": "tad",
      "grammar": "nominative masculine singular noun",
      "senses_attested_in_panel": [],
      "theme_lists": [],
      "surface_devanagari": "स"
    },
    {
      "surface_form": "yat",
      "lemma": "yad",
      "grammar": "accusative neuter singular noun",
      "senses_attested_in_panel": [],
      "theme_lists": [],
      "surface_devanagari": "यत्"
    },
    {
      "surface_form": "pramāṇam",
      "lemma": "pramāṇa",
      "grammar": "accusative neuter singular noun",
      "senses_attested_in_panel": [],
      "theme_lists": [],
      "surface_devanagari": "प्रमाणम्"
    },
    {
      "surface_form": "kurute",
      "lemma": "kṛ",
      "grammar": "present indicative 3rd person singular verb",
      "senses_attested_in_panel": [
        {
          "sense": "लौकिकं वैदिकं वा लोकः",
          "school": "advaita",
          "weight": 0.8,
          "witnesses": [
            "shankara"
          ]
        },
        {
          "sense": "इत्यत्रस यच्छास्त्रं प्रमाणीकरोति तदनुवर्तते लोकः इत्यस्मिन्नर्थे तदनुवर्तनस्य तदर्थानुष्ठानरूपत्वादर्थतः पुनरुक्तिः स्",
          "school": "viśiṣṭādvaita",
          "weight": 0.8,
          "witnesses": [
            "vedantadeshika"
          ]
        },
        {
          "sense": "इत्यत्र यच्छब्देन प्रमाणमप्रमाणं वा विवक्षितम् आद्ये प्रमाणं कुरुत इत्ययुक्तम् स्थितस्य करणाभावात्",
          "school": "dvaita",
          "weight": 0.8,
          "witnesses": [
            "jayatirtha"
          ]
        },
        {
          "sense": "प्रमाणत्वेन मन्यते तदेव लोकोऽप्यनुवर्तते प्रमाणं कुरुते नतु स्वातन्त्र्येण किंचिदित्यर्थः",
          "school": "advaita-bhakti",
          "weight": 0.8,
          "witnesses": [
            "madhusudan"
          ]
        }
      ],
      "theme_lists": [],
      "surface_devanagari": "कुरुते"
    },
    {
      "surface_form": "lokaḥ",
      "lemma": "loka",
      "grammar": "nominative masculine singular noun",
      "senses_attested_in_panel": [],
      "theme_lists": [],
      "surface_devanagari": "लोकः"
    },
    {
      "surface_form": "tat",
      "lemma": "tad",
      "grammar": "accusative neuter singular noun",
      "senses_attested_in_panel": [],
      "theme_lists": [],
      "surface_devanagari": "तत्"
    },
    {
      "surface_form": "anuvartate",
      "lemma": "anu-√vṛt",
      "grammar": "present indicative 3rd person singular verb",
      "senses_attested_in_panel": [
        {
          "sense": "तदेव प्रमाणीकरोति इत्यर्थः",
          "school": "advaita",
          "weight": 0.8,
          "witnesses": [
            "shankara"
          ]
        }
      ],
      "theme_lists": [],
      "surface_devanagari": "अनुवर्तते"
    }
  ],
  "intertextual_panel": [
    {
      "verse": "13.29",
      "type": "lemma-family resonance",
      "score": 0.9003,
      "feature_breakdown": {
        "cosine": 0.8403,
        "theme_graph": 0.0,
        "vocative": 0.0,
        "substring": 0.0,
        "lemma_overlap": 8.4116,
        "stem_prefix": 6.0
      }
    },
    {
      "verse": "17.18",
      "type": "shared-vocabulary echo",
      "score": 0.8936,
      "feature_breakdown": {
        "cosine": 0.8336,
        "theme_graph": 0.0,
        "vocative": 0.0,
        "substring": 0.0,
        "lemma_overlap": 7.9698,
        "stem_prefix": 6.0
      }
    },
    {
      "verse": "3.9",
      "type": "cross-chapter thematic parallel",
      "score": 0.8878,
      "feature_breakdown": {
        "cosine": 0.8178,
        "theme_graph": 1.0,
        "vocative": 0.0,
        "substring": 0.0,
        "lemma_overlap": 12.962,
        "stem_prefix": 6.0
      }
    },
    {
      "verse": "15.4",
      "type": "long-distance thematic echo",
      "score": 0.8874,
      "feature_breakdown": {
        "cosine": 0.8274,
        "theme_graph": 1.0,
        "vocative": 0.0,
        "substring": 0.0,
        "lemma_overlap": 5.2829,
        "stem_prefix": 5.0
      }
    },
    {
      "verse": "5.5",
      "type": "shared-vocabulary echo",
      "score": 0.8866,
      "feature_breakdown": {
        "cosine": 0.8366,
        "theme_graph": 0.0,
        "vocative": 0.0,
        "substring": 0.0,
        "lemma_overlap": 6.1477,
        "stem_prefix": 5.0
      }
    },
    {
      "verse": "2.55",
      "type": "shared-vocabulary echo",
      "score": 0.8847,
      "feature_breakdown": {
        "cosine": 0.8347,
        "theme_graph": 0.0,
        "vocative": 0.0,
        "substring": 0.0,
        "lemma_overlap": 6.4559,
        "stem_prefix": 5.0
      }
    },
    {
      "verse": "17.15",
      "type": "lemma-family resonance",
      "score": 0.8834,
      "feature_breakdown": {
        "cosine": 0.8234,
        "theme_graph": 0.0,
        "vocative": 0.0,
        "substring": 0.0,
        "lemma_overlap": 8.3708,
        "stem_prefix": 6.0
      }
    },
    {
      "verse": "18.16",
      "type": "lemma-family resonance",
      "score": 0.883,
      "feature_breakdown": {
        "cosine": 0.823,
        "theme_graph": 0.0,
        "vocative": 0.0,
        "substring": 0.0,
        "lemma_overlap": 10.2428,
        "stem_prefix": 6.0
      }
    }
  ],
  "doctrinal_projections": {
    "advaita": {
      "reading_summary": "(reading summary extraction pending; ENABLE_READING_SUMMARIES=true to generate)",
      "key_cross_references": [],
      "witness_passages": [
        "shankara_3.21",
        "anandgiri_3.21"
      ],
      "score": 0.5,
      "divergence_note": "For Śaṅkara the śreṣṭha's authority is instrumentally useful for loka-saṃgraha; the ultimate end remains jñāna, not exemplary action as a terminal value.",
      "english_rendering": "Whatever action (karma) the foremost person (śreṣṭha) performs, the common person follows that very action — not out of independent discernment but out of gravitational imitation. Further, whatever standard (pramāṇa) — whether worldly (laukika) or Vedic (vaidika) — the śreṣṭha establishes, the world (loka) treats that alone as authoritative. This is precisely why Kṛṣṇa turns the argument back on Arjuna: if even a jñānī who has transcended result-seeking must act for loka-saṃgraha (upholding the world's fabric), how much more binding is that obligation on a kṣatriya-king who has not yet crossed to the far shore of jñāna."
    },
    "viśiṣṭādvaita": {
      "reading_summary": "(reading summary extraction pending; ENABLE_READING_SUMMARIES=true to generate)",
      "key_cross_references": [],
      "witness_passages": [
        "ramanuja_3.21",
        "vedantadeshika_3.21"
      ],
      "score": 0.5,
      "divergence_note": "Unlike Śaṅkara, Rāmānuja insists karma is not merely preparatory but constitutive of bhakti-yoga; exemplary action binds the community of jīvas to Bhagavān through the śreṣṭha's mediating role.",
      "english_rendering": "The śreṣṭha here is specifically he who is known both as a complete knower of śāstra (kṛtsna-śāstra-jñātṛ) and as a scrupulous practitioner (anuṣṭhātṛ) — not merely an intellectual authority. When such a person performs karma with all its prescribed auxiliaries (aṅgas), the ignorant (akṛtsnavid) follow that very form of practice, aṅgas and all. Therefore the person of established excellence (śiṣṭa) bearing social-ritual responsibility must perform varnāśrama-appropriate karma completely and always — for failing to do so generates the sin of loka-nāśa (world-destruction), which would dislodge even one on the path of jñāna-yoga."
    },
    "dvaita": {
      "reading_summary": "(reading summary extraction pending; ENABLE_READING_SUMMARIES=true to generate)",
      "key_cross_references": [],
      "witness_passages": [
        "madhva_3.21",
        "jayatirtha_3.21"
      ],
      "score": 0.5,
      "divergence_note": "Madhva's bhāṣya is terse; Jayatīrtha's *Nyāya-sudhā* carries the epistemological weight, distinguishing the case where *pramāṇa* is already present in the śreṣṭha's speech from any attempt to 'make' something authoritative by fiat. The *pañca-bheda* structure situates this epistemology: *śabda-pramāṇa* as the highest instrument reflects Hari's own testimony operating through the exemplary devotee.",
      "english_rendering": "*Yad yad ācarati śreṣṭhas tat tad evetaro janaḥ* — whatever the eminent one does, the ordinary person does likewise; *sa yat pramāṇaṃ kurute lokas tad anuvartate* — whatever standard he establishes, the world follows it. Madhva reads *sa yat pramāṇaṃ kurute* through the gloss *yad vākyādikaṃ pramāṇīkurute yad ukta-prakāreṇa tiṣṭhati*: the śreṣṭha does not merely perform an act but, through speech and conduct, makes known as *pramāṇa* what the common people had not recognized as such. Jayatīrtha sharpens this: the *yat* in *sa yat pramāṇaṃ kurute* picks out the śreṣṭha's utterances and acts that are already *pramāṇa* in themselves, even if unrecognized; the śreṣṭha's function is to disclose that authority to those who would otherwise miss it — *tat pramāṇatayā jñāpayati*. The reading holds whether one takes *yat* as qualifying a single act (*ekam idam evaṃ pramāṇakaṃ karma*) or the full range of the śreṣṭha's conduct. Because the *jīva* is *paratantra* (eternally dependent) and *bheda* (real distinction) between Hari and *jīva* is irreducible, the śreṣṭha's *pramāṇa*-establishing power is itself derivative of Hari's ordering will; *anuvartatе* names the world's recognition of a hierarchy it did not initiate."
    },
    "śuddhādvaita": {
      "reading_summary": "(reading summary extraction pending; ENABLE_READING_SUMMARIES=true to generate)",
      "key_cross_references": [],
      "witness_passages": [
        "vallabha_3.21"
      ],
      "score": 0.5,
      "divergence_note": "Vallabha's recorded gloss is two words (*yad yad iti*), pointing to the verse as self-evident ground. The reading is reconstructed from *puṣṭi-mārga* and *śuddhādvaita* siddhānta applied directly to the mūla.",
      "english_rendering": "*Yad yad ācarati śreṣṭhaḥ* — whatever the eminent one does, that alone the rest of humanity follows; whatever *pramāṇa* (authoritative standard) he establishes, the world conforms to it. In *puṣṭi-mārga* (the path of grace), the *śreṣṭha* is not merely a moral exemplar but Kṛṣṇa Himself, whose every act is *līlā* (divine play) and whose every movement is *prasāda* (grace-overflow) sustaining the world. The ordinary *jīva* (individual self) does not imitate from the outside by volitional effort; rather, it is drawn along by the current of Kṛṣṇa's own nature flowing through the eminent one. *Anuvartate* — the world 'follows after' — names not deliberate mimicry but participation in divine *pravāha* (flow). The *pramāṇa* Kṛṣṇa establishes is not a rule imposed from without; it is the self-manifesting standard of Brahman's own real and gracious self-expression in the world, for in *śuddhādvaita* the world is no *māyā*-projection but Brahman's genuine manifestation. *Sevā* (loving service) of such a śreṣṭha is therefore itself the path: to follow is to be carried by grace.",
      "provenance": "siddhānta_reconstruction"
    },
    "bhakti": {
      "reading_summary": "(reading summary extraction pending; ENABLE_READING_SUMMARIES=true to generate)",
      "key_cross_references": [],
      "witness_passages": [
        "sridhara_3.21"
      ],
      "score": 0.5,
      "divergence_note": "Śrīdhara's synthesis is notably even-handed — he does not subordinate action to jñāna (as Śaṅkara) or insist on aṅga-completeness (as Rāmānuja). The bhakti register keeps the example-setting function devotionally open: the śreṣṭha's life itself becomes an act of seva to the community.",
      "english_rendering": "For the sake of loka-saṃgraha — upholding the coherence of worldly order — the ordinary person (prākṛta jana) follows exactly whatever the śreṣṭha does. Further, whether the śreṣṭha takes karma-śāstra or nivṛtti-śāstra as his operative standard (pramāṇa), the loka follows that standard too. Śrīdhara's balanced reading refuses to flatten the verse into a merely political teaching: the śreṣṭha's normative power extends across both engagement (pravṛtti) and renunciation (nivṛtti) domains, and the loka tracks whichever register the exemplar inhabits."
    },
    "advaita-bhakti": {
      "reading_summary": "(reading summary extraction pending; ENABLE_READING_SUMMARIES=true to generate)",
      "key_cross_references": [],
      "witness_passages": [
        "madhusudan_3.21"
      ],
      "score": 0.5,
      "divergence_note": "Madhusūdana uniquely foregrounds the epistemological danger: since the common person's very sense of pramāṇa is shaped by the śreṣṭha, an irresponsible exemplar corrupts not just behavior but the community's capacity for normative judgment itself.",
      "english_rendering": "Madhusūdana stages the verse as an answer to a live objection: if I (Kṛṣṇa) were to act, why would the world follow Me? The answer: because the prākṛta person (common folk) lacks independent discernment and follows the śreṣṭha — king or other leading figure — whether that leader's action is auspicious (śubha) or inauspicious (aśubha). A further objection arises: why not simply consult śāstra and discard the śreṣṭha's possibly non-scriptural conduct? Madhusūdana's reply: even in matters of normative conduct (ācāra), the common person follows the śreṣṭha's determination of what counts as pramāṇa — laukika or vaidika — not any independent reading of śāstra. Arjuna as rājā is therefore constitutively a śreṣṭha: his public action shapes the epistemic and ethical world of the loka."
    }
  },
  "prosodic_information": {
    "meter": "anuṣṭubh",
    "meter_shift_from_previous": false,
    "meter_shift_to_next": true,
    "pragmatic_context": {
      "vocative": "",
      "preceding_question": "",
      "following_response": ""
    }
  },
  "theme_list_memberships": [
    {
      "list": "स्वयं",
      "role": "supporting",
      "other_verses_in_list": [
        "3.13",
        "3.17",
        "3.19",
        "3.26",
        "3.27",
        "3.28",
        "3.30",
        "3.31",
        "3.35",
        "4.1",
        "4.3",
        "4.38",
        "10.13",
        "12.8",
        "12.14",
        "15.4"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "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": [
          "ācarati: ācar -> √ācar",
          "anuvartate: anuvṛt -> anu-√vṛt"
        ]
      }
    ]
  },
  "so_what_questions": [
    "If the loka follows the śreṣṭha regardless of whether the action is śubha (auspicious) or aśubha (inauspicious) — as Madhusūdana explicitly notes — does the verse contain an implicit warning about the dangers of corrupted leadership rather than only a positive teaching about exemplary conduct?",
    "Rāmānuja insists the śreṣṭha must perform karma with full aṅga-completeness; what happens in communities where the exemplar follows only the spirit of a practice while dropping its structural forms — does the loka then follow a degraded form, and is that degradation traceable back to the śreṣṭha's partial anuṣṭhāna?",
    "Śaṅkara's pivot — 'why do you not look to Me (mām) as your pramāṇa?' — reframes the verse from sociology of imitation to direct spiritual instruction: when Kṛṣṇa Himself is the śreṣṭha, does this verse dissolve the distinction between dharmic example and divine revelation?",
    "Madhusūdana identifies a two-stage influence: first imitation of act, then adoption of the śreṣṭha's pramāṇa (epistemic standard). Does this mean leadership corruption is more dangerous at the second stage — corrupting what counts as evidence — than at the first?",
    "Śrīdhara's inclusion of nivṛtti-śāstra alongside karma-śāstra suggests a renunciant's conduct is equally imitated: what obligations does this place on sādhus, sannyāsīs, and public teachers whose example shapes lay practice in domains they may consider beyond the householder's concern?",
    "All commentators agree the prākṛta jana follows without independent judgment — yet the verse is addressed to Arjuna, who is not prākṛta. Does the verse ask Arjuna to accept the burden of being imitated even when he himself has not resolved his own dharmic confusion?",
    "If the śreṣṭha's authority is self-reinforcing (the loka's imitation itself confirms the śreṣṭha's pramāṇa-status), what external check prevents a culturally dominant but doctrinally mistaken figure from capturing the normative center? Does any school's commentary provide such a check?"
  ],
  "everyday_applications": {
    "advaita": "A manager who has genuinely internalized non-attachment to outcomes (niṣkāma-karma) will find their team unconsciously adopting the same disposition — not because a policy was announced, but because the standard (pramāṇa) of 'what counts as good work' has shifted. The Advaita application: before trying to change team culture, examine which personal pramāṇa you are publicly enacting. Are you, in practice, treating quarterly metrics as the only valid evidence of success? The loka will follow that pramāṇa, not your stated values.",
    "viśiṣṭādvaita": "Rāmānuja's aṅga-completeness principle applies directly to mentorship: if a senior practitioner — whether in craft, medicine, or spiritual practice — performs their discipline fully but then short-circuits certain 'minor' preparatory steps when observed by juniors, the juniors will copy the truncated form while missing why the aṅgas mattered. Viśiṣṭādvaita application: the śreṣṭha's responsibility is not just exemplary outcome but exemplary process — every auxiliary step performed in full, always, because loka-rakṣā (protection of the community) depends on the integrity of the transmitted form.",
    "dvaita": "In Madhva's framework, the śreṣṭha's vākya (utterance) is the primary vehicle of pramāṇa. Everyday application: what a leader says publicly — especially casual speech — becomes normative faster than any official policy. A CEO who jokes dismissively about a competitor's ethics, or a teacher who offhandedly discounts a certain kind of evidence, is unknowingly installing an epistemic standard in everyone present. Dvaita application: treat public speech as pramāṇa-setting, not merely information-sharing; the loka will quote what you said, not what you meant.",
    "śuddhādvaita": "Puṣṭi-mārga reads exemplary leadership as participation in Kṛṣṇa's own grace-flow (prasāda). Everyday application: a parent, teacher, or community elder who acts from genuine love — seva to those in their care — generates an energy that is received as prasāda rather than instruction. The community does not follow because they calculated that following is rational; they follow because they were drawn. Śuddhādvaita application: invest in the quality of your inner state (bhāva) before your external conduct; it is the bhāva, not the performance of leadership, that the loka unconsciously tracks.",
    "bhakti": "Śrīdhara's inclusion of nivṛtti-śāstra makes this verse relevant to those who choose simplicity, minimalism, or voluntary restraint as a public practice. A teacher who visibly renounces prestige-seeking does not need to lecture on ego; the prākṛta jana around them begins recalibrating what counts as success. Bhakti application: loka-saṃgraha is served equally by exemplary pravṛtti and exemplary nivṛtti — the world learns its normative range from those willing to embody both poles honestly.",
    "advaita-bhakti": "Madhusūdana's warning — that the loka follows the śreṣṭha even in aśubha (inauspicious) action — maps directly onto institutional ethics. A founder who cuts ethical corners 'just this once' to hit a target is not merely making a one-time compromise; they are shifting the organization's pramāṇa. The team's internal standard of what counts as acceptable evidence for a decision, what counts as a real commitment, begins to drift. Advaita-Bhakti application: treat every visible decision as a pramāṇa-setting act, not an isolated choice — because the loka's epistemology, not just its behavior, is being shaped by your example."
  },
  "primary_meaning": "Whatever a great person does, others do too; whatever standard that person sets, the world follows."
}