Bhagavad Gītā Chapter 17, Verse 11: Krishna to Arjuna — Śraddhātraya-Vibhāga-Yoga

Bhāṣyakāra purports

• Śaṅkaraadvaita

  That yajña (sacrifice) is sāttvika which is performed by those who seek no fruit whatsoever — 'aphalaakanksha' (no fruit-desire) — and which has been prescribed by vidhi (scriptural injunction), settling the mind with firm resolve: 'yastāvyam eva' (it is simply to be performed'), nothing more. The performer recognises no personal benefit to be gained: the rite is its own completeness, not an instrument for any puruṣārtha (human end). Such action purifies the antaḥkaraṇa (inner instrument) and removes the obstacle to jñāna (liberating knowledge) — its entire value is preparatory, not terminal.

  divergence: Shankara: 'na anena puruṣārtho mama kartavyaḥ' — 'no personal end is to be accomplished by me through this'; the yajña is vidhidṛṣṭa (seen/enjoined by scripture), its performance itself is the sole intention.

• Rāmānujaviśiṣṭādvaita

  The sāttvika yajña is performed by persons free from phalaakanksha (fruit-desire), with all mantras, dravya (ritual substances), and kriyā (actions) intact as scripture prescribes, settling the mind thus: 'this is to be performed as kainkarya (service) to Bhagavān — it is svayaṃprayojana (self-sufficient as an end in itself) because it is His worship.' The rite is not means-to-something-else but is already union with the Lord; nitya-karma (obligatory rites) performed this way become bhakti-yoga (the path of loving service) in action-form. The absence of fruit-desire is not mere negation but positive orientation: all desire flows toward Bhagavān alone.

  divergence: Ramanuja: 'bhagavadārādhanatven svayaṃprayojanatayā yaṣṭavyam iti manaḥ samādhāya' — settling the mind that it is to be performed as the Lord's worship, which is its own end.

• Madhvadvaita

  *Aphalākāṅkṣibhiḥ* — those who bear no hunger for fruit — perform *yajña* (sacrifice) as enjoined by *vidhi* (scriptural ordinance), settling the mind on the sole resolve *yaṣṭavyam eva* ('this is simply to be performed'): that sacrifice is *sāttvika*. In *dvaita* reading, this resolve is not mere psychological equanimity but an expression of the *jīva*'s *paratantra* (eternally dependent) status before *svatantra* (the independently real, self-sufficient) Hari. The *pañca-bheda* (the five-fold real distinction) between Lord and *jīva* makes fruit-desire an ontological error: to worship Hari in order to secure a private return is to invert the hierarchy, treating the supreme *svatantra* as instrument of *paratantra* ends. *Vidhi-dṛṣṭa* — what is seen through scriptural injunction — names the authoritative *taratamya* (graded ontological hierarchy) by which each order of being has its proper *dharma*; for the *jīva*, worship is not a transaction but its own *svabhāva* (intrinsic nature), the natural posture of subordination to Hari. *Manaḥ samādhāya* — settling or concentrating the mind — is the interior stabilisation in which the *jīva* rests in that subordination, undeflected by desire for *phala* (fruit). Such *yajña* is *sāttvika* because it keeps the ontological order intact: the *paratantra jīva* directing its action entirely toward the *svatantra* Lord, with no competing aim to pull it back toward the self.

  divergence: No Madhva or Jayatīrtha bhāṣya on this verse; reading voiced directly from dvaita siddhānta off the mūla.

• Vallabhaśuddhādvaita

  Vallabha's gloss is minimal: 'afaleti' — 'beginning with aphalā.' The sāttvika yajña is the threefold scriptural rite now classified. From Puṣṭi-mārga perspective: all action offered to Kṛṣṇa as His own līlā-prasāda (grace-play) is already free of fruit-desire, because Kṛṣṇa is the only real agent. The worshipper simply holds the mind steady — 'manaḥ samādhāya' — in the recognition that the rite belongs to Kṛṣṇa, not to oneself. The sanction is vidhidṛṣṭa (scriptural prescription) but the spirit is unconditional surrender to His will.

  divergence: Vallabha: 'śāstrīyayajñasya ca traividhyam tribhiḥ spaṣṭam — afaleti' — the threefold classification of scriptural sacrifice is stated plainly beginning with 'aphalā'. Commentary is very brief.

• Śrīdharabhakti

  Shridhara opens the triad of yajña-types with the sāttvika: that yajña which is performed by persons free from phalaakanksha (fruit-desire), which is vidhidṛṣṭa — mandated as āvaśyaka (absolutely necessary) by scripture — and performed with ekāgra (one-pointed) mind held in the resolve 'yaṣṭavyam eva: the performance of yajña itself is what must be done; no other fruit is to be sought.' The emphasis is practical: the mind's posture of śamādhāna (settled determination) is as constitutive of sāttvika quality as the absence of desire. Form, substance, and inner disposition must all align.

  divergence: Shridhara: 'yajñānuṣṭhānam eva kāryaṃ nānyat phalaṃ sādhanīyam iti evaṃ manaḥ samādhāya ekāgraṃ kṛtvā' — 'the performance of yajña alone is to be done; no other fruit is to be accomplished — settling the mind thus, making it one-pointed.'

• Madhusūdanaadvaita-bhakti

  Madhusudan distinguishes yajña as twofold — kāmya (desire-driven, enjoined conditionally on a desired fruit) and nitya (obligatory, enjoined unconditionally as life-sustaining duty). The sāttvika yajña is the nityakarma performed with all aṅgas (ritual limbs) assembled as far as possible — even by substitute when the full form is unavailable — because prātyavāya (the sin of omission) demands it, not any anticipated gain. It is performed by those who are 'antaḥkaraṇaśuddhy-artha' (seeking inner-instrument purification), turning away from kāmya-prayoga (desire-motivated application), with the mind resolved: 'yaṣṭavyam eva' (it must simply be performed). This inner-purity orientation is what makes the nitya-rite sāttvika and what, for Madhusudan, opens the passage from karma-kāṇḍa toward bhakti and ultimately advaita-jñāna.

  divergence: Madhusudan: 'antaḥkaraṇaśuddhyarthamanuṣṭhīyamāno nityaprayogaḥ sāttvikaḥ jñeyaḥ' — 'the nitya-rite performed for the sake of inner-instrument purification is to be known as sāttvika.'