BG 15.19 — Puruṣottama-Yoga — Sūtrakṛt-Gītā

Bhagavad Gītā 15.19Chapter 15 · Puruṣottama-Yoga · Krishna → Arjuna · Bhārata · anuṣṭubh

यो मामेवमसंमूढो जानाति पुरुषोत्तमम् ।

स सर्वविद् भजति मां सर्वभावेन भारत ॥

yo mām evam asaṃmūḍho jānāti puruṣottamam

sa sarva-vid bhajati māṃ sarva-bhāvena bhārata

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

meaning

Whoever knows me without confusion as the Highest Person truly knows all there is to know and worships me with their whole being, Arjuna.

ekras · bhāṣya

Whoever, asammudhah — undeluded — knows Me thus, as Purushottama, that one is sarva-vit — knower of all — and bhajati — worships — Me with sarva-bhavena, his whole being.

Krishna names two consequences: the knower of Purushottama is omniscient because all-that-is rests in Krishna; and his bhajana toward Krishna is total. Knowing and worshiping coincide.

Shankara reads whoever, free from confusion, knows Krishna — bearing the qualities described — as Purushottama in the manner stated, knowing 'this is what I am,' that one is sarva-vit — for knowing the Self of all things is knowing all. Such a one worships Krishna with sarva-bhavena — through the mode of universal selfhood — every aspect of his being aligned with the recognition that all aspects are Krishna. Knowing is the worship; worship is the knowing.

Madhusudana frames the verse as the fruit of knowing the etymological self-disclosure — nama-nirvachanam — of Purushottama elaborated in prior verses. Whoever, freed from the confusion of taking Krishna to be merely a man — manushya eva ayam kashchit krishna — knows Him as Ishvara without delusion, that one worships with the devotional yoga of love — prema-lakshanena bhakti-yogena — and is sarva-vit precisely because the highest jnana has settled. The bhakti is not other than the jnana; both are aspects of the same recognition.

Ramanuja reads one who knows Krishna as Purushottama — categorically unlike — visajatiya — both kshara and akshara — in respect of His imperishable nature and His lordship of vyapana and bharana — that one is sarva-vit, for they know everything that must be known as means to attaining Krishna. They worship Krishna in every — sarva-bhavena — relational mode that Bhagavan Himself permits the bhakta. The bhakta's whole repertoire — service, surrender, contemplation, devotion — is Krishna-directed.

Madhva reads on the bheda-frame: one who, asammudhah, knows Hari as Purushottama — eternally supreme, categorically distinct from all jivas and matter — is called sarva-vit not in the sense of absolute omniscience, which belongs to Hari alone, but in the sense of knowing what is most worth knowing. Such a one serves — bhajati — Hari with sarva-bhavena, his whole paratantra-mode oriented to Hari. The bheda is preserved through the bhakta's whole-being worship.

Vallabha reads because Krishna is of this supreme nature — Purushottama, utterly excellent — therefore one who possesses true sat-jnana is omniscient through a single realization. Knowing Krishna as the unborn, beginningless Purushottama is knowing all. The path's distinctiveness: that one serves Krishna with sarva-bhavena, free from demonic confusion. Pushti-marga reads sarva-bhavena as the bhakta's full pushti-flow — every aspect of being saturated with Krishna-rasa.

Shridhara states the phala for one who knows Krishna as described: whoever, with a settled and unconfused intellect — nishchita-matih — knows Krishna as Purushottama in the manner spoken — that one serves Krishna alone in every mode, sarva-bhavena, and thereby becomes sarva-vit. The sequence is deliberate: the completeness of bhajana follows from the completeness of jnana; the bhakta's life becomes the operating expression of the recognition.

Context

where

Chapter 15 · Puruṣottama-Yoga · meter anuṣṭubh

who speaks

Krishna → Arjuna · vocative Bhārata

preceded by — BG 15.18

Because I stand above the perishable and am higher still than the imperishable, I am celebrated in scripture and in the world as Puruṣottama, the Highest Person.

What's going on

Whoever knows me without confusion as the Highest Person truly knows all there is to know and worships me with their whole being, Arjuna.

Sūtras through this verse (48)

MadhvaclassicalT1

Hari is supreme — the running reading-rulebetween

15.1The world-tree's root is Viṣṇu above.───→here15.19───→17.23Oṃ-tat-sat names the Lord, three times.

JayatīrthaclassicalC

Refuting Śaṅkara-style readings, named or unnamedbetween

15.16Refusing kṣara=inert, akṣara=soul.───→here15.19───→18.66Drop varṇāśrama too is blocked here.

ŚrīdharaclassicalF

The Lord inside as inner rulerbetween

15.15Seated in every heart; memory comes from Me.───→here15.19───→18.62Let go of self-claim; take refuge there.

show all 48

MadhvaclassicalT2

Soul depends on Lord — the gap that does not closebetween

15.8The Lord carries the soul from body to body.───→here15.19───→18.14Of the five causes, Viṣṇu is the prime mover.

MadhvaclassicalT11

Only revealed scripture decides — reason alone cannotbetween

15.15The Veda's whole knowable is named as Hari.───→here15.19───→18.66The closing verdict is sealed by its own authority.

MadhvaclassicalT12

Closure by gloss — the small repertoirebetween

15.1'Above' is just Viṣṇu, the upward one.───→here15.19───→17.14'Worship of gods' is worship of the One.

JayatīrthaclassicalD

Saṅgati declared at the head of every adhyāyabetween

15.1World-tree rooted up; Viṣṇu is ūrdhva.───→here15.19───→18.1Renunciation closes; threads converge.

JayatīrthaclassicalI

Lakṣaṇā-control — literal preferred when availablebetween

15.16Bhūta covers jīva; literal range holds.───→here15.19───→18.66Dharma as upalakṣaṇa of its own results.

MadhvaclassicalT3

Ranking is real — and it never collapsesexit

15.17Beyond all selves stands the Highest Person alone.───→here15.19───→

MadhvaclassicalT4

Liberation is bliss in body — not absorptionexit

15.6The supreme abode does not return its dwellers.───→here15.19───→

MadhvaclassicalT8

Direct vision — the only proximate causeexit

13.25Three classes, one ladder, each class on a different rung.───→here15.19───→

MadhvaclassicalT10

The deluder is named — three goddesses, one Lordexit

15.4Cut the world-tree by knowing whose play it is.───→here15.19───→

JayatīrthaclassicalA

Body and embodied — the inference runs on the dehī sideexit

13.5Field and knower: body-self cut returns.───→here15.19───→

JayatīrthaclassicalB

Pañcabheda — the five distinctions enforced verse by verseexit

15.17Three orders, each a distinct relatum.───→here15.19───→

JayatīrthaclassicalE

Vishnu-sarvottamatva read into apparently neutral wordsexit

15.16Uttama-puruṣa is Viṣṇu, beyond both.───→here15.19───→

JayatīrthaclassicalG

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

15.16Aṣṭādhyāyī 5.2.127 controls bhūta.───→here15.19───→

JayatīrthaclassicalJ

Reading the silence — iti śeṣaḥ and iti bhāvaḥexit

15.1Tat-prasaṅge alaukikaṁ — iti śeṣaḥ.───→here15.19───→

MadhusūdanaclassicalE

Devotion is how knowing actually arrivesbetween

15.1Krishna is the ground, not a partner-god.───→here15.19───→18.55Bhakti is the engine of the highest knowing.

MadhusūdanaclassicalF

Every middle chapter opens with a bow to the teacherbetween

12.20Therefore I praise him, Kāśirāja, my own.───→here15.19───→15.20The closing verse names Krishna as the supreme.

MadhusūdanaclassicalH

Krishna with form is the ground beneath formless Brahmanbetween

15.1Chapter fifteen unfolds what fourteen sealed.───→here15.19───→18.66Final refuge in Me is final refuge in the ground.

MadhusūdanaclassicalJ

Two kinds of nature — divine and demonicbetween

9.14Constantly singing, striving with steady vow.───→here15.19───→15.20The chapter closes gesturing toward sixteen.

RamsukhdasclassicalA

What binds you (and how to let go)between

15.1Cut the world-tree at its root, clinging.───→here15.19───→18.1Renouncing means cutting the false relationship.

RamsukhdasclassicalB

This human birth — your one chance to actbetween

15.7The self wears body as a costume.───→here15.19───→18.46Worship the One through your own work.

RamsukhdasclassicalI

The Lord already inside the heartbetween

15.15Seated in every heart; memory comes from Me.───→here15.19───→18.61He turns all beings mounted on a machine.

Ramsukhdasclassical

Sādhaka Sañjīvanī commentary at this versebetween

───→here15.19───→

MadhusūdanaclassicalA

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

13.1The last six work what 'are' really means.───→here15.19───→

RamsukhdasclassicalK

The body is not yoursexit

15.7Self drags the senses like wind drags scent.───→here15.19───→

ŚrīdharaclassicalG

Soul as His portion, neither cut nor identicalbetween

15.7The soul is My portion, wrapped in unknowing.───→here15.19───→18.55He enters Me; he is not absorbed away.

ŚrīdharaclassicalL

Chapter prefaces as the bhāṣya's spinebetween

15.1Dispassion first; else neither knowing nor love.───→here15.19───→18.1The eighteenth gathers the whole Gītā in one.

VallabhaclassicalF

Soul as part of the highest Personbetween

15.15The Lord seated in every heart is the witness.───→here15.19───→18.55By love alone the soul knows what and whose it is.

VallabhaclassicalI

A closed three-source citation gridbetween

15.7Three Brahmasūtras quoted in the soul-as-part verse.───→here15.19───→18.55The Nibandha's sevā-section names the means.

ŚrīdharaclassicalH

The grammar of single-pointednessexit

14.26Unswerving devotion crosses the modes.───→here15.19───→

ŚrīdharaclassicalI

His evenness as ground for refugeexit

13.10A steady evenness is the seeker's mark.───→here15.19───→

VallabhaclassicalE

Three paths, one teaching orderexit

13.2The third ṣaṭka is the Lord's own bhāṣya.───→here15.19───→

VallabhaclassicalK

Aphorism, gloss, full commentaryexit

15.15The bhāṣya-author is named by the Lord himself.───→here15.19───→

ĀnandagiriclassicalB

Three hexads = tat tvam asibetween

13.1Vākyārtha hexad begins. Anchor.───→here15.19───→15.20Whole teaching named guhyatamaṃ śāstram.

ĀnandagiriclassicalK

Upasaṃhāra — recap as instrumentbetween

12.20Bhakti hexad sealed at the close.───→here15.19───→15.20Whole śāstra named most-secret-teaching.

RāmānujaclassicalA

World as the Lord's body (antaryāmin)between

15.15I sit in every heart.───→here15.19───→18.46The cluster is recalled.

RāmānujaclassicalH

Prapatti / śaraṇāgati — universal upāyabetween

15.4Find the Origin and take refuge in him.───→here15.19───→18.62Take refuge whole-being.

ĀnandagiriclassicalJ

Prakṛti is never autonomousexit

15.7Aṃśa pinned to the Lord, not free.───→here15.19───→

RāmānujaclassicalF

Two prakṛtis · jīva as eternal aṃśaexit

15.18Named Puruṣottama.───→here15.19───→

Ekrasmodernvairagya

Vairāgya — dispassion as instrumentbetween · v2

15.5Free of pride and delusion───→here15.19───→18.49Naishkarmya-siddhi

ŚaṅkaraclassicalJ

Scripture stands behind every claimbetween

15.1The world-tree is the tree of the Kaṭha.───→here15.19───→18.66Renounce all dharmas — śruti ratifies.

Ekrasmodernend_of_life

End of life — the threshold tourexit · v2

15.8Carrying the perfume───→here15.19───→

ŚaṅkaraclassicalF

The Lord is born only as it wereexit

15.16Both the changing and changeless are below the supreme.───→here15.19───→

AbhinavaguptaclassicalE

Field and field-knower as Parameśvarabetween

15.16Two persons inside the field, one beyond.───→here15.19───→18.61He turns all beings like a great machine.

VedāntadeśikaclassicalC

Antaryāmin — the indweller as standing referentbetween

15.17The Highest Person: disambiguation summit.───→here15.19───→18.46Worship by one's work reaches the indweller.

Gauravmodernwitness_self_neti_neti

Witness Self Neti Netiexit

15.7'Mamaivamsho jiva-loke jiva-bhutah sanatanah.' A part of me, eternal, has become───→here15.19───→

Śabda · lemmas (12 unique · 14 occurrences)

भजति √bhaj — to share, partake of, worship, love (verbal root) · present indicative 3rd person singular verb
जानाति jñā — to know (verbal root) · present indicative 3rd person singular verb
भारत bhārata — descendant of Bharata; epithet of Arjuna · vocative masculine singular noun

show all 12

माम् mad ×2 — I, me (1st person pronoun stem); also: to rejoice (verbal root) · accusative singular noun
सर्व sarva ×2 — all, entire · compound
यः yad — which, who (relative pronoun) · nominative masculine singular noun
एवम् evam — thus, in this way
असंमूढः asaṃmūḍha — undeluded (a- + sam- + mūḍha, from √muh) · nominative masculine singular noun
पुरुषोत्तमम् puruṣottama — the Supreme Person (puruṣa + uttama 'highest') · accusative masculine singular noun
स tad — that (distal demonstrative); also 3rd-person pronoun · nominative masculine singular noun
विद् vid — to know; to find (verbal root) · nominative masculine singular noun
भावेन bhāva — being, state, mood, emotion, condition · instrumental masculine singular noun

Praśna · so what (7)

01If knowing Puruṣottama makes one sarva-vid (all-knowing), what precisely is the 'all' that is known — and what remains unknown?
02Shankara equates knowing Puruṣottama with knowing the Self of all; Ramanuja equates it with knowing the means to attaining Bhagavan: are these two different epistemologies or two descriptions of the same threshold?

show all 7

03The verse makes asammūḍhaḥ (freedom from delusion) the precondition of knowing: is this a moral qualification, a cognitive achievement, or a gift of grace — and does the answer differ across the six schools?
04Sarva-bhāvena (with all being) follows sarva-vid (all-knowing): does bhajana here name a consequence of jñāna or does it name something non-reducible to jñāna?
05Madhva's school must explain why utter dependence (pāratantrya) on the Lord is described as all-knowing — is knowledge itself a borrowed attribute in Dvaita?
06The verse ends with the address 'Bharata' (Arjuna as scion of Bharata): why here, at the close of the puruṣottama-yoga, and what does the lineage invocation signal about who can receive this knowledge?
07Madhusudan cites two confirming verses (guṇas transcended, Brahman's foundation): is this a synthesis of Advaita and Bhakti or does it reveal that the synthesis was already present in the Gita's structure?

Vyavahāra · try it in your life

Advaita

When a practitioner stops relating to their own mind as 'my private possession' and begins to see it as one local expression of the single Consciousness, the obsessive protection of reputation, preference, and viewpoint relaxes naturally — that relaxation is the daily texture of asammūḍha in Shankara's sense.

Viśiṣṭādvaita

In Ramanuja's reading, learning a skill or taking on a role 'for Bhagavan's service' is not a motivational trick but an ontological claim: the skill and the one who holds it are both modes (prakāra) of the Lord, so whole-hearted application (sarva-bhāvena) is the most accurate possible description of what the self is doing.

show all 6

Dvaita

Dvaita practice asks the devotee to hold two things simultaneously each day: full effort and zero authorship. The one who knows Hari as Puruṣottama does not relax effort — there is no 'Hari will handle it' quietism — but attributes outcome entirely to His independent will, because pāratantrya is not passivity but lucid participation.

Śuddhādvaita

Vallabha's path locates the transformation at the moment of recognition: if Kṛṣṇa is truly seen as the beginningless Puruṣottama and not as one option among many spiritual paths, then nothing in daily life remains outside His lila. The practitioner does not 'dedicate' actions one by one but inhabits a world that is already entirely His.

Bhakti

Shridhara's framing makes settled conviction (niścita-mati) the hinge: vague spiritual sympathy produces partial devotion; precise, unambiguous knowing of who is being worshipped produces whole-being service. The practical implication is that clarity of understanding and depth of devotion reinforce each other — studying bhāṣya is itself a devotional act.

Advaita-Bhakti

Madhusudan's synthesis means that the encounter with an extraordinary person, text, or moment of beauty need not be routed through the question 'Is this Brahman or Bhagavan?' — both recognitions converge in the act of loving attention. Prema-lakṣaṇa bhakti is the phenomenology of non-dual knowing when it becomes relational.

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 15, Verse 19: Krishna to Arjuna — Puruṣottama-Yoga