Bhagavad Gītā Chapter 14, Verse 11: Krishna to Arjuna — Guṇatraya-Vibhāga-Yoga

Bhāṣyakāra purports

• Śaṅkaraadvaita

  When the inner faculty (antahkarana) projects its modification through all the gates of perception — the ears and other sense-organs (shrotra-adi), which are the doors of the self's apprehension — that very cognitive luminosity is what is called knowledge (jnana). Recognize this light as the sign (linga) that sattva has risen dominant in the body. The light is not the self; it is the index of sattva's increase, useful as a diagnostic, not as an object of attachment.

  divergence: Shankara identifies ‘all gates' as the sense-organs as instruments of the self's apprehension (upalabdhi-dvarani); the light is the vritti (modification) of buddhi, not an independent phenomenon. He reads ‘uta' as ‘also,’ implying happiness and other signs equally confirm sattva.

• Rāmānujaviśiṣṭādvaita

  When through all the sense-gates — eyes, ears, and the rest — genuine luminous knowledge (jnana) arises that illuminates the true nature of things (vastu-yathatmya-prakasha), one should understand that sattva has grown predominant in this body. Such knowledge is Bhagavan's own light shining through the purified instrument; it is a grace that reveals reality, not mere cognitive function.

  divergence: Ramanuja specifies ‘vastu-yathatmya-prakasha' — knowledge of the actual nature of things — distinguishing this from mere sense-data processing. The devotional implication is that clarity of perception tracks proximity to Bhagavan.

• Madhvadvaita

  Reconstructed from the dvaita school's doctrine, not translated from Madhva's commentary at this verse.

  Sarva-dvāreṣu dehe ‘smin prakāśa upajāyate jñānaṃ yadā — when prakāśa (luminous clarity) arises at every gate of this body and jñāna (cognition) floods the sense-apertures, one should know sattva has grown predominant. In Dvaita reckoning, sattva is a paratantra (eternally dependent) guṇa of prakṛti, and the jīva (the individual self) who experiences this brightening is himself paratantra, never svatantra (the independently real, self-sufficient) — that status belongs to Hari alone. The illumination is not self-originated in the jīva; it is Hari's superintendence through antaryāmitva that permits sattva to rise and cognition to sharpen. Bheda (real distinction) between Lord, jīva, and guṇa holds even at the peak of sāttvik clarity: the light in the gates registers the jīva‘s fitness, not an identity with its source. Recognizing vivṛddhaṃ sattvam correctly is itself an act of discernment within the taratamya (graded ontological hierarchy) — it positions the jīva for bhakti (devotion) as ontological subordination to Hari, the one in whom prakāśa is svataḥsiddha (self-established) rather than borrowed.

  divergence: Madhva and Jayatīrtha are silent on this verse. The reading is reconstructed from Dvaita siddhānta: pañca-bheda (the five-fold real distinction: Lord–jīva, Lord–matter, jīva–jīva, jīva–matter, matter–matter) governs the analysis of guṇa-states; sāttvik clarity is a datum of dependent cognition, not a mark of non-dual absorption.

• Vallabhaśuddhādvaita

  In this body which is the seat of experience (bhogayana), when through the ears and other gates the light that is knowledge of sound and other sense-objects (shabda-adi-jnana-atmaka prakasha) arises, and when that knowledge is accompanied by sukha (delight), one should recognize sattva as fully risen. Vallabha reads ‘uta' as ‘and also' — happiness is a co-sign with light, and together they signal a state ripe for Krsna's prasada to flow through the prepared vessel.

  divergence: Vallabha's bhashya explicitly ties ‘uta' to ‘sukham' as an additional linga alongside prakasha, and frames the body as ‘bhogayana' (seat of enjoyment), consistent with his Pushti framing of embodiment as Krsna's gift for relishing.

• Śrīdharabhakti

  Here begins the three-verse sequence announcing the signs of the guṇas in their risen state — tribuḥ (by three). In asmin ātmano bhogāyatane dehe (this body, the seat of the self's experience), through all the gates, sarveṣv api dvāreṣu śrotrādiṣu (all the openings, beginning with hearing), when śabdādi-jñānātmakaḥ prakāśaḥ (the light consisting in knowledge of sound and other objects) upajāyate (arises), one should know by this sign of light — anena prakāśa-liṅgena — that sattva is risen, vivṛddham. The word uta signals that by the sign of sukha and the rest — sukhādi-liṅgenāpi — one should know the same: jānīyāt.

  divergence: Śrīdhara marks uta as carrying sukhādi-liṅgena api jānīyāt — happiness confirms the same conclusion as prakāśa, a second independent sign rather than a subordinate gloss.

• Madhusūdanaadvaita-bhakti

  In this body which is the seat of the self's enjoyment, when through all the gates — the sense-instruments of apprehension such as shrotra and the rest — arises that luminosity which is a specific modification of buddhi (buddhi-parinama-vishesha), taking the form of its object and opposing that object's concealing veil like a lamp, that very cognitive light directed at sound and other objects is what is called knowledge (jnana). Recognize by this sign that sattva is risen and unfolded; and by the additional sign of happiness and the rest, know the same.

  divergence: Madhusudan's extended gloss specifies the light as ‘buddhi-parinama-vishesha vishaya-akara' (a specific transformation of buddhi taking the object's form) that opposes concealment ‘like a lamp' (dipavat) — an Advaita epistemological precision. He also confirms ‘uta' as pointing to sukha-adi as supplementary linga.