Bhagavad Gītā Chapter 16, Verse 2: Krishna to Arjuna — Daivāsura-Sampad-Vibhāga-Yoga

Bhāṣyakāra purports

• Śaṅkaraadvaita

  Ahimsa (non-injury) means abstaining from causing pain to any living being whatsoever. Satya (truthfulness) is speech that reflects things as they actually are, free from both unpleasantness and falsehood. Akrodha (freedom from anger) is the quelling of anger that arises when one is abused or struck; tyaga here means renunciation (samnyasa), since dana was already listed; and shanti is the composure of the inner organ. Apaishunam is the absence of slander, which is exposing others' faults behind their backs; aloluptvam is the non-agitation of the sense organs even in the presence of their objects. Mardavam is softness, freedom from cruelty; hri is shame before improper conduct; and acapalam is not engaging the speech, hands, feet, and other organs without genuine purpose.

• Rāmānujaviśiṣṭādvaita

  Ahimsa is the avoidance of harm to others; satya is speech that conveys things as actually seen and is beneficial to beings. Akrodha is the freedom from mental disturbance arising as fruit of causing harm to others — one remains unshaken even when wronged. Tyaga is the relinquishment of possessions inimical to one's own spiritual welfare; shanti is the trained restraint of the senses from their tendency toward objects. Apaishunam is the non-reporting of words that harm another; daya is the inability to bear the suffering of any being; mardavam is freedom from hardness, meaning fitness for intimate fellowship with virtuous people. Hri is the shame felt when about to perform an improper act; acapalam is the absence of restlessness even when desirable objects are near at hand.

• Madhvadvaita

  Paishunam — the specific focus of Madhva's bhashya on this verse — is the reporting of faults that are grounds for harm to another, particularly to a king or authority figure, out of pride or fear rather than genuine witness. Laulya is passion or obsessive attachment, equivalent to raga. Acapalam is steadiness (sthairya), the opposite of chanchalata (vacillation): the person of daivi sampat does not waver when confronted with temptation or threat, remaining fixed in Hari's will. These qualities enumerate the concrete behavioral markers by which jivas who are Hari's favourites are distinguished from those who are not.

• Vallabhaśuddhādvaita

  Vallabha reads BG 16.1-3 as a unified triplet elaborating who is the assammudha devotee who 'knows Me as Purushottama' (BG 15.19). The twenty-six qualities of daivi sampat — of which this verse's ahimsa through acapalam form the middle cluster — are not ethical imperatives but the natural efflorescence in a jiva born into divine destiny through Bhagavan's grace-current (pushti). Each quality is a marker of Krsna's own nature shining through the purified vessel; the daiva-jiva does not cultivate them by effort but receives them as prasada. The contrast with asuri sampat is not moral condemnation but a description of two modes of manifestation in Bhagavan's lila.

• Śrīdharabhakti

  Ahimsa is abstention from harming others; satya is speaking things as they are; akrodha is the non-arising of disturbance in the mind even when one is struck. Tyaga is generosity (audarya); shanti is the composure of the mind (citta-uparati). Paishunam is the revealing of another's faults behind their back — apaishunam is freedom from that. Daya is compassion toward those who are afflicted (dina); aloluptvam is the absence of greed (lobhabhava), with the elision of one letter being an archaic usage. Mardavam is gentleness and freedom from cruelty; hri is the shame of public opinion (loka-lajja) when about to engage in improper conduct; acapalam is the absence of purposeless activity.

• Madhusūdanaadvaita-bhakti

  Himsa is the severing of the life-continuity of beings; ahimsa is being no cause of that. Satya is speech that reflects things as they truly are and carries no harmful consequence. Akrodha is the immediate quelling of anger that arises when one is abused or struck; tyaga is samnyasa (since dana was earlier listed); shanti is composure of the inner organ (since dama was earlier listed). Mardavam is freedom from cruelty — including the capacity to correct students and juniors through gentle instruction rather than harsh speech. Hri is the social shame that obstructs the very inception of improper conduct; acapalam is the absence of purposeless engagement of speech, hands, and the other organs. These qualities from arjava onward through acapalam belong distinctively to the brahmana, marking out the inner discipline that makes jnana-bhakti possible.