Bhagavad Gītā Chapter 2, Verse 39: Krishna to Arjuna — Sāṅkhya-Yoga
That was the sāṃkhya wisdom; now hear the yoga wisdom, Pārtha, armed with which you will break free of the bonds that action creates.
Bhāṣyakāra purports
- Śaṅkaraadvaita
What has been declared to you here is the buddhi (discriminative insight) operative in sāṅkhya (the domain of paramārtha-vastu-viveka, discernment of ultimate reality) — that very jñāna (direct knowledge) which removes the root causes of saṃsāra (cycle of conditioned existence): śoka (grief), moha (delusion), and their kin. Now hear this buddhi as it applies to yoga — specifically to karma-yoga (action performed without attachment) as a means of īśvara-ārādhana (worship of the Lord), pursued through niḥsaṅgatā (freedom from clinging) and dvandva-prahāṇa (relinquishment of opposing pairs), and to samādhi-yoga (absorption), both of which are upāyas (means) toward that same paramārtha. Equipped with this yoga-buddhi, O Pārtha, you will utterly shed the karma-bandha (bondage constituted by action classified as dharma and adharma), for that shedding is effected only through jñāna arising by īśvara's grace.
- Rāmānujaviśiṣṭādvaita
The buddhi that has just been communicated to you concerning sāṅkhya — the domain whose content is ātma-tattva (the truth of the self), to be grasped by the faculty of discernment (saṅkhyā-buddhi) — extends from 'na tv evāham' (2.12) through 'tasmāt sarvāṇi bhūtāni' (2.30), and that teaching is now complete. What is called 'yoga' here is buddhi-yoga, the intelligent disposition for performing karma as the instrumental means toward mokṣa (liberation), grounded in prior ātma-jñāna (knowledge of the self) — as Kṛṣṇa will shortly affirm: 'dūreṇa hy avaraṃ karma buddhi-yogāt' (2.49), that karma is far inferior to buddhi-yoga. Now hear that buddhi pertaining to yoga, equiped with which you will cast off the saṃsāra-bandha (bondage of conditioned existence) produced by karma, so that every act becomes a step in the ascending ladder of kainkarya (loving service) toward Bhagavān.
- Madhvadvaita
Sāṅkhya here means jñāna in the precise sense of śuddha-ātma-tattva-vijñāna (knowledge of the pure nature of the individual self) — as attested by Bhagavān's own statement in Vyāsa-smṛti — and yoga means upāya (instrumental means), as the Bhāgavata establishes in its usage 'yogāḥ prayuktāḥ puṃsāṃ śreyaḥ-prasiddhaye.' Neither sāṅkhya nor yoga in any alternative sense is here intended; the term karma-yoga as a compound, together with the śāstra of Pañcarātra, confirms that these two designate specifically the path of hari-upāsana (worship of Hari) in which the jīva (individual soul), eternally and irreducibly distinct from Brahman, renders all action as dependent service. By the buddhi that enables discernment through language — 'budhyate 'nayā iti buddhiḥ,' she through whom one awakes to what is communicated — you, equipped with yoga, will shed karma-bandha.
- Vallabhaśuddhādvaita
Observing that Pārtha is not fully satisfied by the sāṅkhya teaching alone — for his mind is not yet settled (manas-samādhāna, mental composure) — Kṛṣṇa now introduces ātma-yoga to complete the work of removing śoka (grief): the buddhi for sāṅkhya (ātma-anātma-tattva-saṅkhyāna, the enumeration of self and non-self) has been stated, including the intermediate teaching that one must perform svadharma (one's own proper duty). Now hear, distinct from that, the buddhi appropriate to yoga — yoga understood as mano-nirodha (restraint of mind) whose purpose is sāmya-sthiti (equipoise) rooted in īśvara-ālambana (refuge in the Lord), which alone enables all action to float in Kṛṣṇa's līlā-prasāda (the grace of his playful gifting). Armed with this buddhi you will shed the twofold karma-bandha — both puṇya (merit) and pāpa (demerit) — for in Puṣṭi-mārga (the path of grace) even dharma-bondage dissolves in Kṛṣṇa's abundance.
- Śrīdharabhakti
Concluding the upadeśa (teaching) of jñāna-yoga just given, Kṛṣṇa now introduces karma-yoga as its sādhana (instrumental means) — for sāṅkhya is that by which vastu-tattva (the truth of reality) is rightly illuminated: saṃyak khyāyate prakāśyate vastu-tattvam anayā iti saṃkhyā — correct knowledge — and the buddhi operative in it has been declared. But if ātma-tattva has not yet become aparokṣa (directly perceived, not merely inferential) for you through that teaching, then hear now, for the sake of antaḥkaraṇa-śuddhi (purification of the inner faculty) that will open the way to aparokṣa: the buddhi proper to karma-yoga, in which all action is offered to Parameśvara (the supreme Lord) and the purified antaḥkaraṇa (inner instrument), cleansed by that very offering, receives the grace that grants direct knowledge — and by that knowledge you will utterly shed karma-bandha.
- Madhusūdanaadvaita-bhakti
An objection internal to Arjuna's own reasoning is here resolved: if the jñānin (one who knows) neither acts nor is bound — 'kas taṃ ghātayati hanti kam' (2.19) — then a teaching that simultaneously prescribes both jñāna and karma appears self-contradictory, as irreconcilable as light and darkness; and that objection will become explicit at 3.1. Kṛṣṇa's answer is that the two teachings address two different adhikāra-states (levels of qualification): for the śuddha-antaḥkaraṇa (purified inner faculty) jñāna-upadeśa is directly appropriate; for the aśuddha-antaḥkaraṇa (impure inner faculty) only karma is appropriate — 'karmaṇy evādhikāras te' (3.47). The sāṅkhya-buddhi (2.12–2.30, the Upaniṣadic purusa) has been stated for those fit for śravaṇa (hearing) and vicāra (reflection); now hear the yoga-buddhi, the phalābhisandhi-tyāga-lakṣaṇā buddhi (buddhi characterized by renunciation of attachment to results), which removes karma-bandha understood as āśaya-aśuddhi (impurity of deep motivational disposition) — the very obstruction to jñāna — so that karma itself becomes the outer means that clears the ground for jñāna to arise.