Bhagavad Gītā Chapter 2, Verse 58: Krishna to Arjuna — Sāṅkhya-Yoga

Bhāṣyakāra purports

• Śaṅkaraadvaita

  When the yati (renunciant) established in jñāna-niṣṭhā (the steadiness born of Self-knowledge) withdraws the indriyāṇi (sense-organs) completely from all viṣaya (objects) — as a tortoise draws its aṅga (limbs) inward from every direction out of fear — the prājña (one of wisdom) is not merely restraining outer motion but collapsing the very apertures through which avidyā (nescience) flows. Śaṅkara's next question is precise: the limbs of a sick man may be forcibly restrained, yet the rāga (craving) toward those objects persists — so how is rāga itself withdrawn? The answer lies ahead, but the kūrma-dṛṣṭānta (tortoise analogy) establishes the standard: withdrawal must be sarvataḥ (from every direction, total) not partial, because the ātman (Self) is actionless and boundless, and only complete inward abiding reveals it.

  divergence: सर्वशः = सर्वतः; सर्वविषयेभ्यः उपसंहरते — Śaṅkara's gloss on totality; thenforward question: विषयाननाहरतस्य रागः कथं संह्रियते

• Rāmānujaviśiṣṭādvaita

  The sthita-prajña (one of established wisdom) does not merely wait until the indriyāṇi (senses) have already wandered toward viṣaya (sense-objects); the very moment they are poised to reach outward — tadā eva (at that precise instant) — he draws them back and anchors the manas (mind) in ātman itself, as the kūrma (tortoise) retracts its aṅga (limbs) before harm arrives. For Rāmānuja this pratisamhṛti (withdrawal) is not a suppression but a redirected act of kainkarya (service): the senses belong to Bhagavān, and returning them from viṣaya to ātman-in-Bhagavān is itself devotional worship. This verse completes the fourfold description of jñāna-niṣṭhā — each stage built upon the previous — and opens onto the harder question of how such niṣṭhā is actually reached.

  divergence: तदा एव... मन आत्मनि एव स्थापयति; चतुर्विधा ज्ञाननिष्ठा पूर्वपूर्वोत्तरोत्तरनिष्पाद्या — Rāmānuja's sequential-completion framing

• Madhvadvaita

  The jīva (individual soul), eternally distinct from Hari and wholly dependent upon him, withdraws the indriyāṇi (senses) from śubha (pleasant) and aśubha (unpleasant) objects alike — neither craving the one nor hating the other — because sarvatra-anabhisneha (absence of adhesion everywhere) is the mark of one who recognises that all bhoga (enjoyment) belongs to Hari alone. For Madhva the kūrma-dṛṣṭānta (tortoise analogy) is an image of dependent recoil: the tortoise does not withdraw from personal strength but from its own smallness before a larger world; similarly the jīva retracts not from self-sufficiency but from the recognition that viṣaya (objects) can only be truly enjoyed as Hari's prasāda (gift), not as property. The pratiṣṭhitā prajñā (established wisdom) of such a jīva is thus always a prajñā of subordination, never of merger.

  divergence: सर्वत्रानभिस्नेहत्वात् शुभाशुभं प्राप्य नाभिनन्दति न द्वेष्टि — Madhva's combined gloss on 2.57–58

• Vallabhaśuddhādvaita

  Vallabha reads the kūrma-analogy through the lens of svabhāva (innate nature): just as the tortoise withdraws its aṅga (limbs) anāyāsena (effortlessly, by its own nature) without external compulsion, so the devotee whose mind is steeped in Kṛṣṇa-prasāda (grace) finds that pratyāhāra (sense-withdrawal) arises spontaneously — not as yogic effort but as the natural contraction of all outward movement when the heart is already full of Kṛṣṇa. The anāyāsena-saṃhāra (effortless gathering-in) is the signature of puṣṭi-jīva (the grace-nourished soul): there is nowhere for the senses to run because the entire viṣaya-jagat (world of objects) has been swallowed by Kṛṣṇa's mādhurya (sweetness). The verse thus answers kim āsīta — 'how does the sage dwell?' — with a gesture toward utter interiority that is itself a form of divine līlā (play).

  divergence: अनायासेनैकत्र संहारे दृष्टान्तः... यथा स्वभावतः कूर्मः संहरते — Vallabha's svabhāva-reading of the analogy

• Śrīdharabhakti

  Śrīdhara reads the verse functionally: the yogī (practitioner) withdraws the indriyāṇi (senses) from their respective viṣaya (objects) — sounds, forms, tastes and the rest — in the same effortless way the kūrma (tortoise) draws its karacaraṇādi (hands, feet and other limbs) inward by svabhāva (natural habit) rather than by straining effort. The emphasis is on the anāyāsena (without difficulty) quality of mature practice: early stages require forcible restraint, but the true yogī has reached a condition where withdrawal is simply the default posture of a mind that has found its refuge elsewhere — in Bhagavān. The pratiṣṭhitā prajñā (established wisdom) is therefore not an intellectual achievement but the settled devotional orientation that makes straining unnecessary.

  divergence: यदा चायं योगी इन्द्रियार्थेभ्यः सकाशाद् इन्द्रियाणि संहरते प्रत्याहरति; अनायासेन संहारे दृष्टान्तः — Śrīdhara's core Sanskrit (HTML artifacts excluded)

• Madhusūdanaadvaita-bhakti

  Madhusūdana frames the verse within a two-phase movement of the sthita-prajña (steadfast sage): during vyutthāna (the state of rising from samādhi, when prārabdha-karma temporarily stirs the senses outward), the indriyāṇi (senses) are scattered; but the sage's defining act is the puna-upasaṃhṛti (drawing them back again) toward samādhi — precisely what the kūrma-dṛṣṭānta (tortoise analogy) illustrates, since the tortoise that has extended its limbs draws them back once more. The prior verse had established that even during vyutthāna the sage lacks full vṛtti-activity; this verse adds the complementary point that in the samādhi-avasthā (state of absorption) all vṛttis (mental modifications) are dissolved entirely. For Madhusūdana the tortoise-image thus maps a devotional logic: just as Kṛṣṇa is simultaneously the source and the terminus of all movement, the sthita-prajña's senses go out in Kṛṣṇa and return in Kṛṣṇa — the withdrawal is itself an act of love.

  divergence: पुनरुपसंहृत्य समाध्यर्थमेव स्थितप्रज्ञस्य उपवेशनम्; व्युत्थानदशायाम् अपि सकलताभसवृत्त्यभाव — पुनः समाध्यवस्थायां सकलवृत्त्यभावः — Madhusūdana's two-phase contrast