Bhagavad Gītā Chapter 18, Verse 41: Krishna to Arjuna — Mokṣa-Sannyāsa-Yoga
The duties of brahmanas, kshatriyas, vaishyas, and shudras are each distinctly assigned by the *guṇas* that arise from their own nature.
Bhāṣyakāra purports
- Śaṅkaraadvaita
The duties of brahmanas, kshatriyas, vaishyas, and shudras, O Parantapa, are apportioned by the gunas (sattva, rajas, tamas) that arise from svabhava (one's own nature). Shankara glosses svabhava as either Ishvara's trigunatmika maya from which gunas emerge, or as the prarabdha-samskaras of prior births now expressing themselves as natural aptitude. Critically, even the scriptural division of duties is not independent of guna-distribution: shastra itself presupposes the guna-capacities of its adhikarins, so guna-prabhava and shastra-prabhava are not in conflict.
- Rāmānujaviśiṣṭādvaita
The karma (action-duties) of the four varnas are distinctly ordained by gunas that arise from svabhava, where svabhava means the pracina-karma (past-birth karma) that itself caused the birth in that varna. For a brahmana, sattva predominates with rajas-tamas suppressed; for a kshatriya, rajas predominates with sattva-tamas suppressed; for a vaishya, tamas is slightly elevated with rajas; for a shudra, tamas is sharply elevated. Shastra then articulates these guna-differentiated duties as kainkarya-paths back to Bhagavan.
- Madhvadvaita
No direct bhashya survives for this verse in the Madhva corpus as transmitted. From broader Dvaita principle: the four varnas are eternal categories in Hari's cosmic order (vishva-vyavastha), each assigned duties reflecting the degree of sattva granted by Hari's own will to those jivas. The shudra's separate mention signals a real ontological gradation among jivas, consistent with Madhva's doctrine of svabhavika-bheda (inherent difference) among jiva-classes.
- Vallabhaśuddhādvaita
Vallabha frames this verse within the preceding discourse on tyaga (renunciation understood as surrendering kartritva and kama-phala to the antarayamin). Now, having established that all action proceeds from Bhagavan as inner agent, the text enumerates how the four varnas are created with differing guna-blends: brahmanas as sattvika, kshatriyas as sattvika-rajasika, vaishyas as tamasika-rajasika, shudras as tamasika. Even these apparent natural inequalities are grounded in the jiva's own purva-kriti (prior deeds), a just self-causation within Krishna's lila.
- Śrīdharabhakti
Sridhara frames 18.41-end as the summation of the entire Gita's teaching: that moksha comes through worshiping Parameshvara via one's own adhikara-prescribed duties and through jnana received as His prasada. The verse establishes the foundation: duties are pravibhakta (distinctly apportioned) among the four varnas by gunas that are svabhava-prabhava (arising from one's svabhava). Svabhava is either the sattvadi-guna-mixture one is born with, or the purvajanma-samskaras that now manifest as natural inclination. Brahmanas are sattva-pradhana; kshatriyas, sattvopasarjana-rajas-pradhana; vaishyas, tamopasarjana-rajas-pradhana; shudras, rajopasarjana-tamas-pradhana.
- Madhusūdanaadvaita-bhakti
Madhusudhana situates 18.41 as the pivot where the Gita's entire varnashrama-dharma teaching is shown to be the practical path for obtaining the asanga-shastra (sword of non-attachment, metaphor from 15.3) needed to cut the samsara-vriksha. Since all samsara is trigunatmika and mithya-jnana-kalpita, only by propitiating Parameshvara through svadharma can the jiva receive jnana-prasada that destroys attachment. Madhusudhana gives the most extensive treatment: citing Vasishtha, Gautama, Apastamba, and Manu to anchor guna-varna correlations in smriti authority, then adds the philosophical gloss that shastra itself presupposes guna-adhikara, so both are non-contradictory.