BG 11.55 — Viśvarūpa-Darśana-Yoga

Bhagavad Gītā 11.55Chapter 11 · Viśvarūpa-Darśana-Yoga · Krishna → Arjuna · Pāṇḍava · anuṣṭubh

मत्कर्मकृन् मत्परमो मद्भक्तः सङ्गवर्जितः ।

निर्वैरः सर्वभूतेषु यः स मामेति पाण्डव ॥

mat-karma-kṛn mat-paramo mad-bhaktaḥ saṅga-varjitaḥ

nirvairaḥ sarva-bhūteṣu yaḥ sa mām eti pāṇḍava

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

meaning

Act for Me, hold Me as your highest aim, devote yourself to Me, drop all attachment, and carry no enmity toward any living being; that one, Arjuna, comes to Me.

ekras · bhāṣya

The chapter closes with the operating prescription. Five predicates of the bhakta: action for Krishna; Krishna as the supreme; devotion to Krishna; non-attachment; non-enmity. Each is a working condition; together they constitute the actual life of the one who reaches.

Shankara reads each precisely. Mat-karma-krit — performing all karma for Krishna. Mat-parama — holding Krishna as the supreme aim. Mat-bhakta — devoted to Krishna. Sanga-varjita — free of attachment. Nirvairah sarva-bhuteshu — without enmity toward any being. The five together describe the daily life of the bhakta who reaches; not abstract requirements but concrete conditions.

Madhusudana reads the verse as the chapter's working summary. Cosmic disclosure was the chapter's center; this verse names the daily practice that the disciple is to live in light of that disclosure. Each predicate is a practical anchor.

Ramanuja reads with characteristic warmth: Bhagavan names the natural mode of the bhakta's life — for the bhakta does not need to manufacture these; they emerge from the bhakti-orientation itself.

Madhva reads on the bheda-frame: each predicate names the eternally distinct jiva's appropriate paratantra-mode.

Vallabha reads through pushti-marga: each predicate is the prasada working through the bhakta's daily life.

Shridhara reads cleanly: action-for-Me, Me-as-supreme, devoted-to-Me, free-of-attachment, no-enmity-anywhere; that one comes to Me.

Context

where

Chapter 11 · Viśvarūpa-Darśana-Yoga · meter anuṣṭubh

who speaks

Krishna → Arjuna · vocative Pāṇḍava

preceded by — BG 11.54

Only by devotion that holds to me alone, Arjuna, can you truly know me, see me as I am, and enter into me.

What's going on

Act for Me, hold Me as your highest aim, devote yourself to Me, drop all attachment, and carry no enmity toward any living being; that one, Arjuna, comes to Me.

Sūtras through this verse · hub (46)

AbhinavaguptaclassicalG

Saṃvit: one referent under many namesbetween

11.34Consciousness itself swallows the cosmos.───→here11.55───→12.5Every 'Me' from Krishna is Śiva-consciousness speaking.

RāmānujaclassicalB

The śāstra is one bracket (2.12 → 18.66)between

11.1Arjuna confirms the bracket from inside.───→here11.55───→18.66The teaching closes with one command.

VallabhaclassicalB

Grace alone — the technical markbetween

11.54Undivided love — sādhana stripped, grace-clothed.───→here11.55───→14.26Beyond the modes is grace-rooted love.

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AbhinavaguptaclassicalB

Recognition, not additionstation · anchor

───→here11.55───→

MadhusūdanaclassicalD

Offer the act to the Lord and it stops bindingstation · anchor

───→here11.55───→

RamsukhdasclassicalF

Surrender — the single shelterstation · anchor

───→here11.55───→

RāmānujaclassicalD

Karma-yoga as kainkarya (worship)station

───→here11.55───→

RāmānujaclassicalH

Prapatti / śaraṇāgati — universal upāyastation

───→here11.55───→

RāmānujaclassicalJ

Śeṣa-śeṣī · pati-vrata similestation

───→here11.55───→

AbhinavaguptaclassicalH

Bhakti as non-dual recognitionbetween

11.49Ananya bhakti is non-dual recognition.───→here11.55───→12.2Two paths reconciled — one gracious face.

AbhinavaguptaclassicalI

Anugraha: grace as the active powerbetween

11.35By grace-nature, the secret discloses itself.───→here11.55───→18.62Peace by grace — never by accumulation of work.

RāmānujaclassicalC

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

11.1The aiśvarya-delusion now to be removed.───→here11.55───→12.1Sa-guṇa or nir-guṇa, which path wins?

RāmānujaclassicalE

Bhakti as continuous recollectionbetween

11.54Undivided love beholds it.───→here11.55───→12.2With-form is best.

RāmānujaclassicalI

Vibhūti as evidence for antaryāminbetween

11.13Arjuna sees all at once.───→here11.55───→13.2The whole vibhūti clinches sāmānādhikaraṇya.

AbhinavaguptaclassicalE

Field and field-knower as Parameśvaraapproach

───→here11.55───→13.1One knower in every field — Parameśvara.

RāmānujaclassicalK

Tri-guṇa diagnostic for the bhaktaapproach

───→here11.55───→13.20Both natures cause the body's binding.

AbhinavaguptaclassicalA

Knowing and acting are one powerexit

11.34Already slain — the question is finally retired.───→here11.55───→

AbhinavaguptaclassicalC

Vision is the structural centerexit

11.49Cosmic returns to gracious; ananya means non-dual.───→here11.55───→

AbhinavaguptaclassicalD

Avatāra: appearance without departureexit

11.46Cosmic and gracious one self-luminous.───→here11.55───→

Madhusūdanaclassicalmadhusudan_bhagavad_arpana

Five offering-clausesstation · other · station 5/7

───→here11.55───→

MadhusūdanaclassicalE

Devotion is how knowing actually arrivesstation

───→here11.55───→

MadhusūdanaclassicalF

Every middle chapter opens with a bow to the teacherstation

───→here11.55───→

MadhusūdanaclassicalH

Krishna with form is the ground beneath formless Brahmanstation

───→here11.55───→

MadhusūdanaclassicalK

Arjuna's grief has two roots, not onebetween

11.1Arjuna marks the universal moha cured.───→here11.55───→18.73Confusion gone, memory gained — the cure complete.

JayatīrthaclassicalF

Bhakti-tāratamya: gradation among devotees, gradation in fruitstation

───→here11.55───→

VallabhaclassicalA

Two paths — rule-bound and grace-onlystation

───→here11.55───→

JayatīrthaclassicalC

Refuting Śaṅkara-style readings, named or unnamedbetween

11.16Aneka- is not just two-or-more.───→here11.55───→13.5Brahma-sūtra is text, not just utterance.

JayatīrthaclassicalE

Vishnu-sarvottamatva read into apparently neutral wordsbetween

11.16Many-armed is Viṣṇu, not a pantheon.───→here11.55───→12.1Beyond avyakta is puruṣa, and Viṣṇu.

JayatīrthaclassicalG

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

11.16Aṣṭādhyāyī 5.4.78 settles aneka-.───→here11.55───→15.1Aṣṭādhyāyī 3.2.4 settles aśvattha.

JayatīrthaclassicalI

Lakṣaṇā-control — literal preferred when availablebetween

11.16Aneka- means many; no upacāra needed.───→here11.55───→13.5Brahma-sūtra is text, not paraphrase.

VallabhaclassicalG

The Lord plays — calf-affection, not contractbetween

11.54The form revealed is Krishna in blue, not abstract.───→here11.55───→12.1The object of love is the puruṣottama himself.

VallabhaclassicalH

Stilling the mind — into the Lordbetween

11.54Vision opens only to the love-stilled mind.───→here11.55───→12.13Friend to all beings, mind given to the Lord.

VallabhaclassicalI

A closed three-source citation gridbetween

11.54Bhāgavata + Brahmasūtra fuse at the vision-verse.───→here11.55───→14.26Brahman dwells in the one beyond the modes.

VallabhaclassicalJ

Strategic silence — pointers, not absencesbetween

11.45The frame, not the catalogue, carries the doctrine.───→here11.55───→13.1Skipped — the next verse's prelude does the work.

ŚrīdharaclassicalB

The Lord descends out of compassionbetween

11.43Teacher, and teacher's teacher beyond compare.───→here11.55───→18.64Hear the supreme word spoken because dear.

ŚrīdharaclassicalC

Devotion is both the way and the homebetween

11.54By undivided love alone — knowable, seen.───→here11.55───→12.2Such are dearest to Me of all yogis.

ŚrīdharaclassicalH

The grammar of single-pointednessbetween

11.54Undivided love alone unlocks the world-form.───→here11.55───→12.6Single-aim devotion draws the lifting hand.

ŚrīdharaclassicalD

The path that turns no one awayexit

9.32Women, śūdras, all, also reach the goal.───→here11.55───→

VedāntadeśikaclassicalB

Prapatti — bhakti's access for those the long path defeatsbetween

11.54Bhakti without rival is the seeing-instrument.───→here11.55───→12.7I lift them out of saṃsāra's ocean.

VedāntadeśikaclassicalF

Saṅgati — anticipation-and-resolutionbetween

11.54The saguṇa-bhakta privileged ahead of 12.1.───→here11.55───→12.1Arjuna's question Krishna already answered.

VedāntadeśikaclassicalJ

Sañjaya's frame — evidentiary, not ornamentalbetween

11.50Sañjaya names the viśva-rūpa as witness.───→here11.55───→18.74The frame closes: 'I heard this dialogue.'

RamsukhdasclassicalF

Surrender — the single shelterstation

───→here11.55───→

Ekrasmodernbhakti

Bhakti — devotion pathbetween · v2

11.54Only by undivided bhakti───→here11.55───→12.13Dear-bhakta description begins

Ekrasmodernforgiveness

Forgivenessapproach · other

───→here11.55───→12.13Friendly, compassionate

ŚaṅkaraclassicalH

The Lord is friend of every beingstation

───→here11.55───→

Gauravmodernkarma_yoga_hand

Karma Yoga Handbetween

11.32Wrist, kalai. Kala, time. 'Kalo'smi loka-kshaya-krit pravriddhah.' Gaurav arrive───→here11.55───→18.47Pointing finger. Svadharma. 'Shreyan svadharmo vigunah para-dharmat svanushthita

Śabda · lemmas (14 unique · 17 occurrences)

निर्वैरः nirvaira — free from enmity (nis- + vaira) · nominative masculine singular noun · also at 12.6
पाण्डव pāṇḍava — son of Pāṇḍu (the five Pāṇḍava brothers) · vocative masculine singular noun · also at 1.1, 1.2, 1.14, 1.20, 4.35, 6.2 +4

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मद्·माम् mad ×4 — I, me (1st person pronoun stem); also: to rejoice (verbal root) · compound / accusative singular noun
कर्म karman — action, deed, the law of action · compound
कृत् kṛt — doer, maker (from √kṛ); the kṛt-suffixes in Pāṇini · nominative masculine singular noun
परमः parama — highest, supreme · nominative masculine singular noun
भक्तः bhakta — devotee; one who is devoted · nominative masculine singular noun · also at 7.21, 9.31, 12.14, 12.15, 12.16
सङ्ग saṅga — attachment, contact (= saṅga in earlier dict — alternate spelling) · compound
वर्जितः √varjay — to avoid, exclude (caus. of √vṛj) · nominative masculine singular participle noun
सर्व sarva — all, entire · compound
भूतेषु bhūta — being, creature; element; past, gone · locative neuter plural noun
यः yad — which, who (relative pronoun) · nominative masculine singular noun
स tad — that (distal demonstrative); also 3rd-person pronoun · nominative masculine singular noun
एति √i — to go (verbal root) · present indicative 3rd person singular verb

Praśna · so what (7)

01Śaṅkara calls this verse the teaching he 'wished to give' — why does the Gītā place the five-mark summary at the close of Chapter 11 (the cosmic-vision chapter) rather than at the end of Chapter 18?
02The five marks — mat-karma-kṛt, mat-paramaḥ, mad-bhaktaḥ, saṅga-varjitaḥ, nirvairaḥ — appear in a specific sequence. Does their order encode a developmental logic (action → goal → devotion → detachment → enmity-cessation), or are they simultaneous conditions?

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03Rāmānuja supplies three distinct philosophical grounds for nirvairaḥ (self-fault, paratantratā, union/separation as sole hedonic cause). What does it mean that freedom from enmity requires doctrinal argument rather than mere feeling?
04Vallabha insists that even the resolve to perform mat-karma is Bhagavān's gift. If the determination is not self-generated, what is the status of the practitioner's agency in the Puṣṭi-mārga path?
05Madhusūdana uses abheda ('non-difference') as the terminus of mām eti. Rāmānuja uses madekānubhava ('sole experience of Me'). Both claim the highest arrival — what is the phenomenological difference between these two outcomes for the practitioner?
06The verse closes 'he pāṇḍava' — addressed to Arjuna specifically. After the cosmic form has been retracted and Kṛṣṇa stands again in his human form, why does this intimate address matter for how the teaching lands?
07All six schools agree the five marks form a unity. Which of the five is the most generative causal condition — the one that if genuinely established would produce the others as consequences — and do the schools agree on which it is?

Vyavahāra · try it in your life

Advaita

When doing your work — answering email, coding, teaching, cooking — practice the discipline of treating each action as mat-karma: it belongs to the function, not to your self-image. The question is not 'what credit do I gain?' but 'is this the action that needs doing?' Enmity-free conduct (nirvairaḥ) in the Advaita frame means: when someone blocks or criticizes you, recognize that the enmity-producing narrative is a movement of the mind attributing independent agency to others, which Advaita says is itself the root ignorance. Dissolve the narrative, not the person.

Viśiṣṭādvaita

Rāmānuja's three grounds for freedom from enmity are a daily cognitive practice: (1) when something goes wrong, locate your own contribution first (svāparādha-nimittam); (2) recognize the person causing difficulty as equally paratantra — dependent on the same Bhagavān, not an autonomous adversary; (3) remind yourself that your actual joy is only in communion with the Divine, so no human action can touch that ground. These three moves, applied before reacting, replace enmity with structural understanding.

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Dvaita

Dvaita's insistence on eternal distinction means: you are not trying to dissolve into Bhagavān — you are trying to perform your function as a dependent worshipper with full awareness of the hierarchy. In practical terms this means no spiritual bypassing: your particular skills, role, and relationships are the actual field of kainkarya (service). The freedom from attachment and enmity comes not from flattening distinctions but from recognizing that each being — including the one you are most tempted to resent — occupies its Hari-ordained station.

Śuddhādvaita

The Puṣṭi-mārga application is about releasing the burden of self-generated spiritual effort. If even the resolve to practice is the Lord's gift, then on days when the resolve is absent, the Vallabha practitioner does not spiral into self-blame — the absence is also within the Lord's dispensation. Practically: establish the simplest daily forms of service (smaraṇa, kīrtana, a small offering), and trust that the grace will supply what your own will cannot. The action is the container; the Lord fills it.

Bhakti

Śrīdhara's framing — this is the 'essence of all scripture' — invites a consolidation practice. Instead of maintaining an elaborate multi-track sādhana, ask: among all my practices, which ones actually embody these five marks? Prune to those. If an activity does not serve the Lord (mat-karma), does not orient toward the highest goal (mat-paramaḥ), does not deepen devotion (mad-bhaktaḥ), or feeds attachment or enmity — it may not belong in the essential core, whatever its cultural or social value.

Advaita-Bhakti

Madhusūdana's dialectical method — posing each obstacle as a counter-question, then negating it — is a usable inner practice. Before any significant action, run the five tests: Is there a desire for external outcome that makes this not mat-karma? Is the ultimate goal something other than the highest (svarga, prestige, security)? Is this action in the register of bhajana or of self-aggrandizement? Is there a hidden attachment making this conditional? Is there even a trace of enmity toward anyone involved? The five tests are a pre-action diagnostic, not a checklist to perform once.

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 11, Verse 55: Krishna to Arjuna — Viśvarūpa-Darśana-Yoga