Bhagavad Gītā Chapter 2, Verse 67: Krishna to Arjuna — Sāṅkhya-Yoga

Bhāṣyakāra purports

• Śaṅkaraadvaita

  When the indriyāṇi (sense-organs) range freely among their respective objects, the manas (mind) that follows them in their wake becomes agitated by the play of sense-objects; that agitated manas, says Śaṅkara, destroys the ātmānātma-viveka-jā (discrimination-born from discernment between Self and non-Self) that is the sole fruit of jñāna-mārga. Just as wind on water forces a vessel off its intended course and onto an unmārga (wrong path), so the manas hijacked by the indriyāṇi tears the sādhaka away from the ātma-viṣayā prajñā (wisdom directed toward the Self) and renders it viṣaya-viṣayā (directed toward objects). The verse thus grounds the preceding teaching that the ayukta (one not unified in yoga) has neither buddhi nor bhāvanā: without restraint of the indriyāṇi, no viveka-ja prajñā can survive.

• Rāmānujaviśiṣṭādvaita

  Rāmānuja reads this verse as identifying the root mechanism of spiritual degradation in the aspirant who has not yet established himself in kainkarya (service-oriented action) to Bhagavān: when the puruṣa (person) actively follows — anuvidhīyate (causes the manas to go along with) — the indriyāṇi that are already moving among objects, the manas is turned from its vivikatātma-pravaṇā prajñā (wisdom inclined toward the pure Self) toward viṣaya-pravaṇatā (inclination toward objects). The simile of the pratikūla vāyu (adverse wind) seizing a boat being steered through water is precise for Rāmānuja: the wind does not merely nudge but prasahya harati (carries off by force), showing that sense-driven manas is not a gentle distraction but a violent displacement from Bhagavān-directed attention. The cure, implicit here and explicit later, is to redirect that same manas toward Nārāyaṇa as the antarātman (inner Self of all), converting viṣaya-pravaṇatā into bhakti.

• Madhvadvaita

  Madhva frames this verse around the question of how an ayukta (one not properly yoked to Hari) fails to generate bhāvanā (contemplative attainment): the indriyāṇi, moving in their objects, cause the manas to be anuvidhīyate — made to conform, or as Madhva implies, made to be enacted by Īśvara's own ordering of buddhi-jñāna in sequential dependence. The prajñā that is destroyed is jñāna proper — even jñāna about to arise (utpatsyat api) is forestalled, and even jñāna already arisen (utpannasya api) is overpowered (abhibhava). For Madhva the point is sharp: the jīva's inherent dependence on Hari means that prajñā is never autonomously held; when the indriyāṇi are not surrendered to Hari's direction, the manas operates in disorder and the dependent jñāna-flow is interrupted at its very source.

• Vallabhaśuddhādvaita

  Vallabha isolates the hetu (cause) contained in this verse: among all the indriyāṇi ranging in objects, it is the manas that is kartṛ prabalam ekam (the one predominant agent) — the single powerful doer — and whatever follows that one manas in its movement is what steals prajñā. In the Puṣṭi reading, this is not merely a psychological description but a disclosure of Kṛṣṇa's sovereignty: the manas that chases viṣayāḥ (objects) has been diverted from the ultimate viṣaya (object), which is Kṛṣṇa's own svarūpa (essential form) received as prasāda. The dṛṣṭānta (illustrative example) — vāyur nāvam ivāmbhasi — renders graphically what happens when a jīva attempts to navigate samsāra without the wind of Kṛṣṇa's anugraha (grace): any other wind carries the vessel everywhere except toward Him.

• Śrīdharabhakti

  Śrīdhara clarifies the causal mechanism with characteristic precision: among the indriyāṇi that are avaśīkṛtāni (unmastered, ungoverned) and freely roaming in viṣayāḥ, even a single indriya that the manas anuvidhīyate — follows after and joins — is sufficient to make that one indriya carry away the prajñā of the manas and of the person, dispersing it among viṣayāḥ. The rhetorical intensification is explicit: kim uta vaktavyam bahūni prajñāṃ haranti — how much more, then, when many indriyāṇi do so together. The simile of the pramatta (heedless) helmsman whose vessel is spun in every direction by wind on open water captures the progressive disorientation: each unguarded indriya is an opening through which the whole ship of the antaḥkaraṇa (inner instrument) can be seized and turned.

• Madhusūdanaadvaita-bhakti

  Madhusūdana weaves jñāna-analysis with devotional application: even a single indriya, when the manas follows it (anuvidhīyate — is impelled, set in motion), removes from this sādhaka (practitioner) his ātma-viṣayā śāstrīyā prajñā (Self-directed, scripture-grounded wisdom) — and this because the manas is then tad-viṣaya-āviṣṭa (possessed by that object). The grammatical note is characteristic of Madhusūdana's precision: the anuvidhīyate is a karmakartari (reflexive-like) construction, suggesting the manas is both agent and object of the motion. Crucially, he extends the simile: just as the wind can only drag a boat on water and not on land (ambhasi eva vāyor naukā-haraṇa-sāmarthyam), so the indriyāṇi can only plunder prajñā when the manas is in the fluid state of cāñcalya (restlessness) — the practitioner who has stabilized the manas in Kṛṣṇa-bhakti is, by that very stability, on solid ground.