BG 3.32 — Karma-Yoga — Sūtrakṛt-Gītā

Bhagavad Gītā 3.32Chapter 3 · Karma-Yoga · Krishna → Arjuna · anuṣṭubh

ये त्वेतदभ्यसूयन्तो नानुतिष्ठन्ति मे मतम् ।

सर्वज्ञानविमूढांस् तान् विद्धि नष्टानचेतसः ॥

ye tv etad abhyasūyanto nānutiṣṭhanti me matam

sarva-jñāna-vimūḍhāṃs tān viddhi naṣṭān acetasaḥ

spokensingle-voice recital; rendered via IndicF5 conditioned on a Sanskrit reference clip

meaning

Those who resent this teaching and refuse to follow it are lost, confused about every kind of knowledge, and without real discernment.

ekras · bhāṣya

The verse names the inverse condition. "Those who, abhyasuyant — finding fault — do not follow this teaching of mine, sarva-jnana-vimudha — wholly bewildered in all knowledge — know them as lost, achetasah." The mirror image of 3.31. Where 3.31's man was shraddhavant and anasuyant, this man is abhyasuyant — actively finding fault. Where 3.31's man followed the teaching, this man refuses.

Madhusudana catches the precise word: the tu — but — at the verse's opening signals the presence of astikya-abhava, the absence of faith. Not just disagreement; an active orientation against the teaching.

Shankara reads sarva-jnana-vimudha precisely: bewildered across every domain of knowing. Not just confused about karma-yoga; confused about everything. The disposition that produces fault-finding toward the deepest teaching produces compromised seeing across the board. The verse's last word is achetasah — without chetana, without inner discernment. The capacity to evaluate has gone. The intellectual machinery that would notice that one's own thinking is unreliable has itself been compromised. Such a person, Krishna says, is nashta — lost. Not condemned by Krishna; structurally lost because the very faculty that would have led him out has been disabled.

Ramanuja sharpens the diagnosis: those who do not act with the understanding that all things are Bhagavan's body, his support, his shesha, and who actively oppose this teaching, have nothing in their inner machinery from which freedom can issue. The verse is uncomfortable. It does not soften the consequence of refusing the teaching. It states what happens to the man who closes his ear: not punishment by the teacher, but a structural inability to receive what could have helped.

Context

where

Chapter 3 · Karma-Yoga · meter anuṣṭubh

who speaks

Krishna → Arjuna

preceded by — BG 3.31

Those who faithfully follow this teaching of mine, finding no fault with it, are freed even by their very actions.

What's going on

Those who resent this teaching and refuse to follow it are lost, confused about every kind of knowledge, and without real discernment.

Sūtras through this verse (73)

JayatīrthaclassicalC

Refuting Śaṅkara-style readings, named or unnamedbetween

3.15He refutes by saying na ca.───→here3.32───→6.1Householder is not figurative saṁnyāsin.

ŚaṅkaraclassicalB

Knowledge alone, with all action laid downbetween

3.4Mere not-doing is not renunciation at all.───→here3.32───→5.13Lay down all acts in mind; sit at ease, body free.

RamsukhdasclassicalB

This human birth — your one chance to actbetween

3.8Even keeping the body alive requires action.───→here3.32───→6.40A fallen seeker still keeps the human birth.

show all 73

Madhusūdanaclassicalmadhusudan_bhagavad_arpana

Madhusudan Bhagavad Arpanabetween · other

3.30Offer all your acts───→here3.32───→6.1Renouncer and yogi together

Śaṅkaraclassicalshankara_jnana_nishtha

Shankara Jnana Nishthabetween · other

3.4Naishkarmya is not just non-doing───→here3.32───→5.13Nine-gated city, all karma laid down

Gauravmoderncivilizational_air_conditioning

Civilizational Air Conditioningbetween

3.21'Yad yad acharati shreshthas tat tad evetaro janah.' Whatever the leader does, o───→here3.32───→6.5'Uddhared atmanatmanam natmanam avasadayet.' Lift yourself by yourself, do not l

Gauravmodernkarma_yoga_hand

Karma Yoga Handbetween

3.27Palm, kartala. Akartritva, non-doership. 'Prakriteh kriyamanani gunaih karmani s───→here3.32───→5.18Ring finger. Samadrishti. 'Vidya-vinaya-sampanne brahmane gavi hastini, shuni ch

Gauravmodernsanatana_dharma_101

Sanatana Dharma 101between

3.27Karma pillar. The 'ahankara-vimudhatma kartaham iti manyate' line is where Gaura───→here3.32───→4.7Cyclic time. 'Yada yada hi dharmasya glanir bhavati Bharata.' Gaurav uses this l

Gauravmodernthree_yogas_braid

Three Yogas Braidbetween

3.3'Loke'smin dvi-vidha nishtha pura prokta mayanagha, jnana-yogena samkhyanam karm───→here3.32───→5.4'Sankhya-yogau prithag balah pravadanti na panditah.' Only the immature say sank

ŚaṅkaraclassicalC

Knowledge plus action will not save youbetween

3.3Two paths for two kinds — never combined.───→here3.32───→5.2Each path bears fruit by its own working.

ŚaṅkaraclassicalD

The fit student vs the unfit studentbetween

3.3Two populations, two distinct paths.───→here3.32───→5.6Renunciation is hard without yoga first.

ŚaṅkaraclassicalG

After knowing, act only to hold the worldbetween

3.25The wise act as the unwise, but unattached.───→here3.32───→4.18The post-knowledge actor does no action at all.

ŚaṅkaraclassicalJ

Scripture stands behind every claimbetween

3.4Brāhmaṇas seek the Self by Veda, then by rite.───→here3.32───→4.13The four orders are the Puruṣa's own body.

JayatīrthaclassicalD

Saṅgati declared at the head of every adhyāyabetween

3.1Self in chapter two; sādhana opens here.───→here3.32───→4.1Three blocks named at the chapter head.

JayatīrthaclassicalE

Vishnu-sarvottamatva read into apparently neutral wordsbetween

3.15Brahmodbhavam — born of parabrahman.───→here3.32───→4.11Mām is Viṣṇu, not generic absolute.

JayatīrthaclassicalG

Citation as proof — śruti, smṛti, MB, Aṣṭādhyāyī, Pañcarātrabetween

3.15Citation closes: ity āgamāt.───→here3.32───→7.5Parā-prakṛti backed by Pañcarātra.

JayatīrthaclassicalH

Pūrva-pakṣa explicit — nanu / iti cet / ity ata āhabetween

3.17No-kartavya rival staged then answered.───→here3.32───→7.13Nanu vijñāna-rūpaṁ — canonical shape.

JayatīrthaclassicalI

Lakṣaṇā-control — literal preferred when availablebetween

3.15If literal works, figurative is idle.───→here3.32───→7.5Surrounding clause picks literal Śrī.

JayatīrthaclassicalJ

Reading the silence — iti śeṣaḥ and iti bhāvaḥbetween

3.17Scope of na vidyate filled by iti śeṣaḥ.───→here3.32───→15.1Tat-prasaṅge alaukikaṁ — iti śeṣaḥ.

MadhusūdanaclassicalA

Three groups of six: you, the Lord, the joiningbetween

3.1The whole map laid out at chapter three's door.───→here3.32───→5.1Two chapters settled action and knowing.

MadhusūdanaclassicalB

Different students need different teachingsbetween

3.3Arjuna's mixed question gets a sorted answer.───→here3.32───→5.1Not combined, not optional; distributed by fitness.

MadhusūdanaclassicalC

Action purifies before knowing can landbetween

3.30Even a seeker not-yet-pure offers, drops fruit-claim.───→here3.32───→5.1Action for the ignorant: purification's only door.

MadhusūdanaclassicalD

Offer the act to the Lord and it stops bindingbetween

3.30Offer all your acts; fight without fruit-claim.───→here3.32───→6.1The fruit-unattached one is yogi and renouncer.

MadhusūdanaclassicalG

Knowing and acting cannot run togetherbetween

3.1The grand architecture cannot mix the two.───→here3.32───→4.34Approach a knower; knowing is not earned by action.

MadhusūdanaclassicalI

Liberation while alive — the body finishes its runbetween

3.1The architecture ends in living-liberation, then bodily.───→here3.32───→6.46The yogi with mind-stilled stands above mere knowing.

Gauravmodernchaplaincy_kit_of_tools

Chaplaincy Kit Of Toolsapproach

───→here3.32───→4.34Paramparā / direct transmission. 'Tad viddhi pranipatena pariprashnena sevaya, u

Gauravmoderninterfaith_cosmology

Interfaith Cosmologyapproach

───→here3.32───→4.11'Ye yatha mam prapadyante tams tathaiva bhajamy aham.' As they approach me, so I

ŚaṅkaraclassicalF

The Lord is born only as it wereapproach

───→here3.32───→4.6I appear as if born, never really, by māyā.

ŚaṅkaraclassicalH

The Lord is friend of every beingapproach

───→here3.32───→5.29Friend of all beings, the witness of every act.

JayatīrthaclassicalF

Bhakti-tāratamya: gradation among devotees, gradation in fruitapproach

───→here3.32───→4.11Fruit proportional to the service offered.

Gauravmoderneminem_dsm_arjuna

Eminem Dsm Arjunaexit

2.11'Ashochyan anvashochas tvam prajna-vadamsh cha bhashase.' You grieve those not t───→here3.32───→

ĀnandagiriclassicalA

The two-niṣṭhā axisbetween

3.3Three classes, one niṣṭhā each.───→here3.32───→5.1Every clause tagged jñāna or karma.

ĀnandagiriclassicalC

Adhikāra: seeker vs. fulfilledbetween

3.3Three classes, each its own niṣṭhā.───→here3.32───→5.1Two saṃnyāsas: fruit and means.

ĀnandagiriclassicalD

Praśna-bīja chapter openingsbetween

3.1Buddhi-vyākulatva named the seed.───→here3.32───→5.1Recap-then-question becomes the rule.

ĀnandagiriclassicalF

Which karma? — fourfold typologybetween

3.3Vaidika action sorted by life-stage rule.───→here3.32───→4.18Action-in-inaction needs the typology.

ĀnandagiriclassicalH

Phala-saṃkalpa is the only upādhibetween

3.4No mokṣa from mere non-starting.───→here3.32───→4.18Action-in-inaction: the upādhi seen. Anchor.

ĀnandagiriclassicalL

Akṣarayojanā — word-fit firstbetween

3.1Chapter-1 verse opens with word-fit, then bīja.───→here3.32───→7.1Word-fit holds at the architectural seam.

ŚrīdharaclassicalE

Inner cleansing reconciles work and knowingbetween

3.3One path, two grades: impure, then pure mind.───→here3.32───→4.39Faith earns knowing; work readies that faith.

ŚrīdharaclassicalF

The Lord inside as inner rulerbetween

3.30Lay every act in Me; I move within.───→here3.32───→7.21I am the one who steadies your chosen faith.

RamsukhdasclassicalC

Desire is the root — not actionbetween

2.71The steady seer walks with no want, no mine.───→here3.32───→3.37One enemy alone: desire, only desire.

RamsukhdasclassicalD

The three modes (sattva, rajas, tamas) at workbetween

3.27The modes act, ego claims to do.───→here3.32───→3.33Even the wise act by their own nature.

RamsukhdasclassicalE

Your own work as worshipbetween

2.33Refusal is not safe; it costs everything.───→here3.32───→3.35Your own flawed work beats another's perfect.

RamsukhdasclassicalK

The body is not yoursbetween

3.27The modes act, but ego claims the deed.───→here3.32───→5.8The knower thinks, 'I do nothing at all.'

Ramsukhdasclassical

Sādhaka Sañjīvanī commentary at this versebetween

───→here3.32───→

ŚrīdharaclassicalD

The path that turns no one awayapproach

───→here3.32───→4.11However they come, I meet them so.

ŚrīdharaclassicalI

His evenness as ground for refugeapproach

───→here3.32───→4.11I meet each one as that one approaches.

ŚrīdharaclassicalJ

Insight given as a gift, not earned aloneapproach

───→here3.32───→4.34Knowers will pass it to you by teaching.

ŚrīdharaclassicalL

Chapter prefaces as the bhāṣya's spineapproach

───→here3.32───→5.1Settling the doubt: renounce or work?

RamsukhdasclassicalJ

Divine vs demonic patternsapproach

───→here3.32───→3.37The enemy is desire turning into anger.

Ekrasmodernkarma_yoga

Karma yoga — the apprentice pathbetween · v2

3.20Janaka, lokasangraha───→here3.32───→4.18Action in inaction

Ekrasmodernleadership

Leadership — svadharma in actionbetween · v2

3.25Wise act as the unwise act───→here3.32───→18.41Duties divided by guṇa

Ekrasmodernparadox_of_doership

Paradox of doership — kartṛtvabetween · v2

3.27Modes act, ego claims───→here3.32───→5.13Nine-gated city

Ekrasmodernanger_management

Anger Managementbetween · other

2.63Anger to ruin───→here3.32───→3.37Kāma is the enemy

VallabhaclassicalC

Drop the doer, not the deedbetween

3.30Drop the fruit, the mine, the doership — keep the act.───→here3.32───→5.1Arjuna asks the wrong question. first.

VallabhaclassicalD

Chapter-opening preludesbetween

3.1Four-verse prelude frames renunciation.───→here3.32───→4.1Four-verse prelude names avatāra-līlā.

VallabhaclassicalI

A closed three-source citation gridbetween

3.30The Nibandha is cited again on threefold drop.───→here3.32───→7.14Surrender is the only way past the Lord's māyā.

VallabhaclassicalA

Two paths — rule-bound and grace-onlyapproach

───→here3.32───→4.11Each soul takes the path Krishna assigns to it.

VallabhaclassicalG

The Lord plays — calf-affection, not contractapproach

───→here3.32───→4.7When dharma weakens, the Lord descends to play.

Ekrasmodernfamily_conflict

Family Conflictexit · other

2.8No grief-remover I see───→here3.32───→

RāmānujaclassicalD

Karma-yoga as kainkarya (worship)between

3.30Surrender every act.───→here3.32───→4.24Brahman the offering, Brahman the offerer.

VedāntadeśikaclassicalC

Antaryāmin — the indweller as standing referentbetween

3.30'Mayi sarvāṇi karmāṇi': read as antaryāmin.───→here3.32───→7.21Whatever form is worshipped, I steady it.

VedāntadeśikaclassicalF

Saṅgati — anticipation-and-resolutionbetween

3.1Arjuna's question resolves 2.49's hint.───→here3.32───→6.47Top-yogin clause — the chapter-7 hinge.

VedāntadeśikaclassicalG

Three yogas — three angles on one configurationbetween

3.30Karma offered to the indweller becomes worship.───→here3.32───→4.33Knowledge-rite outranks mere material rites.

RāmānujaclassicalC

Three ṣaṭkas (1–6 / 7–12 / 13–18)approach

───→here3.32───→5.1A four-clause summary of all of 2 through 4.

RāmānujaclassicalG

Māyā is real causal powerapproach

───→here3.32───→4.6Self-power, not self-illusion.

RāmānujaclassicalH

Prapatti / śaraṇāgati — universal upāyaapproach

───→here3.32───→4.11As they approach Me, so do I receive them.

VedāntadeśikaclassicalD

Adhikāra — eligibility as architecture, not exceptionapproach

───→here3.32───→4.11'Yathā' is open; the verb is the gate.

AbhinavaguptaclassicalA

Knowing and acting are one powerbetween

3.1Knowing versus acting is the wrong cut.───→here3.32───→7.1Together they cover everything to be known.

MadhvaclassicalT2

Soul depends on Lord — the gap that does not closebetween

3.27Action is the modes'; the soul only seems to act.───→here3.32───→5.14The soul rules the inert; the Lord rules the soul.

MadhvaclassicalT7

Action and knowledge — never rivalsbetween

3.20Even Janaka acted; the wise still do.───→here3.32───→5.1Renouncing isn't quitting the householder's life.

AbhinavaguptaclassicalB

Recognition, not additionapproach

───→here3.32───→4.14Recognize, do not learn — the verb shifts.

AbhinavaguptaclassicalD

Avatāra: appearance without departureapproach

───→here3.32───→4.1Teaching descends; the teacher does not move.

MadhvaclassicalT10

The deluder is named — three goddesses, one Lordapproach

───→here3.32───→4.6Even the unborn descends through the deluder Durgā.

Śabda · lemmas (15 unique · 15 occurrences)

विद्धि √vid — to know; to find (verbal root) · present imperative 2nd person singular verb · also at 2.17, 3.15, 4.13, 4.14, 4.32, 4.34 +16
नष्टान् √naś — to perish, be lost (verbal root) · accusative masculine plural participle noun
अचेतसः acetas — (a- + cetas: consciousness) · accusative masculine plural noun · also at 15.11, 17.6

show all 15

ये yad — which, who (relative pronoun) · nominative masculine plural noun
तु tu — but, on the other hand (particle)
एतत् etad — this (proximal demonstrative) · accusative neuter singular noun
अभ्यसूयन्तः √abhyasūy — to be jealous of, resent (abhi- + √asūy) · nominative masculine plural present participle verb
न na — not (negation particle)
अनुतिष्ठन्ति anu-√sthā — to undertake, perform (anu- + √sthā 'stand') · present indicative 3rd person plural verb
मे mad — I, me (1st person pronoun stem); also: to rejoice (verbal root) · genitive singular noun
मतम् mata — thought, opinion; held to be (past-pple. of √man) · accusative neuter singular noun
सर्व sarva — all, entire · compound
ज्ञान jñāna — knowledge, wisdom, cognition · compound · also at 1.1, 3.1, 3.2, 3.3, 3.26, 3.33 +70
विमूढान् vi-√muh — to be utterly deluded (vi- + √muh) · accusative masculine plural participle noun
तान् tad — that (distal demonstrative); also 3rd-person pronoun · accusative masculine plural noun

Praśna · so what (7)

01What distinguishes legitimate intellectual doubt about a teaching from the abhyasūyā (malicious fault-finding) the verse condemns — and how does a practitioner honestly locate themselves on that spectrum?
02If sarva-jñāna-vimūḍha means confusion in every domain of knowing (not just the spiritual), what does the verse imply about the relationship between moral orientation and cognitive clarity?

show all 7

03Madhva reads 3.31–32 as a unit about the necessity of aparokṣa-jñāna (direct vision). Does this suggest that all karma-yoga paths converge on a single epistemic event, or are there genuinely plural endpoints?
04Rāmānuja anchors 'acetas' in the failure of cetaḥ-kārya (the intellect's proper function, which is fixing the truth of things). What pedagogical consequences follow — is correcting a student's practice less important than correcting their ontology?
05The verse says 'know them as ruined' (tān viddhi naṣṭān) — not 'they will be ruined.' Is ruin already accomplished at the moment of refusal, or is the verse projecting a trajectory?
06Madhusūdana's tripartite confusion (pramāṇa, prameya, prayojana — means, object, purpose) suggests the error is systematic. What is the minimal intervention that could re-orient someone so thoroughly confused?
07Śrīdhara frames the verse around īśvara-artha (for the sake of the Lord) as the criterion. Does this mean that technically correct action performed for any other end falls under the same condemnation?

Vyavahāra · try it in your life

Advaita

When you find yourself persistently criticizing a discipline (a meditative practice, a course of study, a teacher's method) without actually trying it — Śaṅkara's reading demands honest self-inquiry: is this reasoned discrimination (viveka) or is it avoidance dressed as intellect? The verse calls the refuser avivekina (without discrimination). Test by asking whether your objection is falsifiable through practice; if it is not, it is abhyasūyā (carping), not discernment.

Viśiṣṭādvaita

Rāmānuja's anchor is the recognition that your agency is not self-originating — it arises within a larger whole (mac-charīratayā, as Bhagavān's body). In professional or family life, this translates to performing your function not for personal credit but as the role's own completion. The confusion Rāmānuja diagnoses — treating one's own effort as self-caused — is endemic in achievement cultures; the correction is not passivity but re-attribution of authorship at the moment of action.

show all 6

Dvaita

Madhva's reading of aparokṣa-dṛṣṭi (direct vision of Hari) as the indispensable liberating event implies that all karma, however renunciate, remains instrumental until that vision occurs. Everyday application: treat every discipline — exercise, work, service — not as intrinsically meaningful but as clearing the ground for a recognition that cannot be manufactured by effort alone. Rejecting the teaching blocks this clearing; following it sustains the conditions for grace.

Śuddhādvaita

Vallabha's Puṣṭi-mārga orients resistance as absence of Kṛṣṇa's own prasāda (grace-gift) rather than willful sin. The practical implication: if you encounter someone hostile to a teaching you hold true, the response is not argument but prayer that Kṛṣṇa's prasāda reach them. You cannot argue someone into receiving a gift; you can only stay in the relationship and continue offering.

Bhakti

Śrīdhara's īśvara-artha criterion is practically demanding: every action is to be oriented toward the Lord. The everyday test is simple and repeated: before an action, ask 'for whom?' The verse's warning applies not to spectacular apostasy but to the quiet habitual performance of action for self-gain that accumulates into the confusion of viveka-śūnyatā (absence of discernment). The corrective is not grand renunciation but re-dedication, one action at a time.

Advaita-Bhakti

Madhusūdana identifies the root as āstikya-abhāva (absence of the faith-premise) — not just wrong action but corrupted cit (intellect-consciousness). The everyday implication is diagnostic: when someone appears confused across multiple domains simultaneously (their relationships, their work, their worldview all seem systematically distorted), Madhusūdana's reading suggests looking for a foundational śraddhā (faith) deficit rather than domain-specific errors. Addressing the root — through satsaṅga (company of the faithful), bhajana (devotional practice), or study — is more efficient than correcting each symptom separately.

Adhiṣṭhāna · substrate signature

substratev2.6-frozen

parserByT5-Sanskrit-multitask (Nehrdich/Hellwig/Keutzer EMNLP 2024)

mūlaBelvalkar critical edition (BORI 1947), via Ambuda multi-witness

show all metadata

weightsa=1 · b=0.01 · e_v=0.005 · z=0.2 · h=0 · th=0.01

anchorfit on Ramsukhdas's Sādhak Sañjīvanī (1980), frozen across the eight-commentator panel; cross-validated R@4 = 71.6% on Śaṅkara

extracted2026-04-21

methodPaper 1, Section II.B

↓ view raw per-verse object (JSON)↗ per-verse-object schema ↗ substrate code (MIT) + data (CC-BY 4.0)

The schema generalizes to any bounded-polysemy corpus with discrete primary text units, attested witness traditions, identifiable schools, and formal substrate. Port the per-verse object; refit weights on a domain-appropriate Layer-3 anchor; ship.

Bhagavad Gītā Chapter 3, Verse 32: Krishna to Arjuna — Karma-Yoga