BG 4.42 — Jñāna-Karma-Sannyāsa-Yoga

Bhagavad Gītā 4.42Chapter 4 · Jñāna-Karma-Sannyāsa-Yoga · Krishna → Arjuna · Bhārata · anuṣṭubh

तस्मादज्ञानसंभूतं हृत्स्थं ज्ञानासिनात्मनः ।

छित्त्वैनं संशयं योगमातिष्ठोत्तिष्ठ भारत ॥

tasmād ajñāna-saṃbhūtaṃ hṛt-sthaṃ jñānāsinātmanaḥ

chittvainaṃ saṃśayaṃ yogam ātiṣṭhottiṣṭha bhārata

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

meaning

Cut the doubt born of ignorance that lives in your own heart, using the sword of Self-knowledge, then take up your yoga and rise to fight, Arjuna.

Bhāṣyakāra purports

Śaṅkaraadvaita
The doubt born of non-discrimination (ajñāna) lodges in the buddhi — Śaṅkara is precise: this is one's own doubt about one's own Self, so only one's own sword of right-seeing (samyag-darśana) can sever it. Cut it, then take up karma-yoga as the proximate means (upāya) to that seeing — not as an end in itself. Rise now for battle: the outer war is simply where the inner severance becomes action.
Rāmānujaviśiṣṭādvaita
Rāmānuja reads the doubt as beginningless (anādi), rooted in the misidentification of the self with matter (prakṛti), and the sword as the ātma-jñāna Kṛṣṇa has personally taught in this very dialogue. Once the doubt is cut, karma-yoga is to be embraced as Bhagavān's prescribed means — and 'rise' means: orient the entire body toward kainkarya (service), beginning with this battle as dharmic duty.
Madhvadvaita
Madhva offers no direct commentary on this verse (panel marks the bhāṣya absent). From his broader position: the doubt arises from the jīva's ignorance of its eternal subordination to Hari; the jñāna-sword is Hari's own grace entering the intellect; yoga here is dependent worship, and 'rise, Bhārata' is Kṛṣṇa commanding the jīva in a relationship of absolute lordship — the jīva does not act from its own sufficiency but from Hari's will.
Vallabhaśuddhādvaita
Vallabha's bhāṣya is direct: cut the doubt that belongs to the non-self (anātmabhūtam saṃśayam) — the Sāṅkhya-intellect that treats the body as the real actor — and take up the yoga already prescribed. Even war is a form of one's own svakarmā; the instruction to 'rise' carries the flavour of Kṛṣṇa's will activating the devotee, since in Puṣṭi-mārga all initiative is Kṛṣṇa's grace-push (anugraha), not the sādhaka's autonomous will.
Śrīdharabhakti
Śrīdhara reads the verse as a structured closing argument: the sword is specifically deha-ātma-viveka-jñāna (the discriminative knowledge separating body from self), which removes the grief-cause (śokādi-nimitta) that generated the doubt. Karma-yoga is the upāya for paramātma-jñāna; battle is its concrete first expression. The address 'Bhārata' signals kshatriya-dharma — war is not an imposition but the natural expression of Arjuna's own constitution.
Madhusūdanaadvaita-bhakti
Madhusūdana offers the most architecturally complete reading: the doubt dwells in the buddhi (the seat of both the instrument and its controller), making it vulnerable — an enemy in one's own fortress, easily slain. The jñāna-sword is niścaya (certainty) about the ātman, which is the cutting edge. Karma-yoga (niṣkāma-karma) is the upāya; 'rise' activates it. His closing verse ties the entire chapter: firm bhakti and śraddhā in Hari are the ground; karma-niṣṭhā is the path; the chapter's upasaṃhāra (conclusion) is Hari's gift.

ekras · bhāṣya

The sentence is a long compound verb-clause closing a chapter. The doubt is named precisely. Ajnana-sambhuta — born of ignorance. Hrit-stha — lodged in the heart. The doubt is not in the air; it is interior, embedded in the seat of feeling and conviction.

Madhusudana reads the doubt as dwelling in the buddhi — an enemy in one's own fortress, harder to dislodge than any external opponent. The instrument is jnana-asi — the sword of knowing. Belonging to the atman; not someone else's sword. The seeker's own knowing, properly trained, is what cuts the doubt.

Shankara is precise: this is one's own doubt about one's own Self, so only one's own sword of samyag-darshana can sever it. Two imperatives close the chapter. Yogam atishtha — take up yoga; settle into the discipline. Uttishtha — stand up. Same verb that opened chapter two, in 2.3, when Krishna first told Arjuna to rise. The chapter therefore returns to the same imperative four chapters later, but with the inner condition now fully described. The man who is told to stand up here is not the man of 2.3; he has been walked through the dehin teaching, the karma-yoga arc, the avatara-disclosure, the jnana-yajna catalogue, the four-fold qualification, the doubt-class diagnostic. Now, with all that received, the same imperative lands differently. Stand up. Take up your yoga. Fight.

Context

where

Chapter 4 · Jñāna-Karma-Sannyāsa-Yoga · meter anuṣṭubh

who speaks

Krishna → Arjuna · vocative Bhārata

preceded by — BG 4.41

When you have surrendered action through yoga, cut doubt with knowledge, and stand possessed of yourself, Dhanañjaya, no karma can bind you.

What's going on

Cut the doubt born of ignorance that lives in your own heart, using the sword of Self-knowledge, then take up your yoga and rise to fight, Arjuna.

Sūtras through this verse (51)

ŚrīdharaclassicalB

The Lord descends out of compassionbetween

4.9His acts are willed only to bless others.───→here4.42───→11.1By high compassion He showed the world-form.

ŚaṅkaraclassicalE

Ignorance is the only enemybetween

4.18See not-doing in doing, doing in not-doing.───→here4.42───→5.13Body-self confusion is the only error.

MadhvaclassicalT1

Hari is supreme — the running reading-rulebetween

4.24Every word for ritual points back to Viṣṇu.───→here4.42───→5.7'Self of all beings' just means the Lord.

show all 51

Madhvaclassicalmadhva_pratibimba

Madhva Pratibimbabetween · other

4.14Acts without clinging───→here4.42───→5.14Two tiers of rulership

MadhvaclassicalT3

Ranking is real — and it never collapsesbetween

4.6Avatāras differ in their fullness of Hari.───→here4.42───→6.9Devas, asuras, mortals are three native kinds.

MadhvaclassicalT5

Mirror-and-image — how seeming-action worksbetween

4.14He acts but does not cling to the act.───→here4.42───→5.14The Lord rules the modes; the soul rules the body.

MadhvaclassicalT6

Citation is the spine — texts carry the loadbetween

4.8Ṛgveda khilas explain the descent as play.───→here4.42───→6.6Maitrāyaṇī defines the stilled mind.

MadhvaclassicalT10

The deluder is named — three goddesses, one Lordbetween

4.6Even the unborn descends through the deluder Durgā.───→here4.42───→7.4Eight elements name the inert side of nature.

MadhvaclassicalT12

Closure by gloss — the small repertoirebetween

4.25'Divine' just means the Lord, named indirectly.───→here4.42───→5.7'Self of all' resolves to the Lord himself.

ŚrīdharaclassicalD

The path that turns no one awaybetween

4.11However they come, I meet them so.───→here4.42───→7.16Four kinds of seekers, all good-hearted.

ŚrīdharaclassicalE

Inner cleansing reconciles work and knowingbetween

4.39Faith earns knowing; work readies that faith.───→here4.42───→5.5See sāṅkhya and yoga as one — see truly.

ŚrīdharaclassicalI

His evenness as ground for refugebetween

4.11I meet each one as that one approaches.───→here4.42───→9.29Even to all — yet near to those who turn.

ŚrīdharaclassicalJ

Insight given as a gift, not earned alonebetween

4.34Knowers will pass it to you by teaching.───→here4.42───→10.10I give them buddhi by which they come.

ŚrīdharaclassicalC

Devotion is both the way and the homeapproach

───→here4.42───→6.47Be a devotee: that is the meaning.

ŚrīdharaclassicalL

Chapter prefaces as the bhāṣya's spineapproach

───→here4.42───→5.1Settling the doubt: renounce or work?

ŚaṅkaraclassicalA

Sorrow and delusion are the diseasestation

───→here4.42───→

ŚaṅkaraclassicalF

The Lord is born only as it werebetween

4.9My birth and acts are not of this world.───→here4.42───→7.14Divine illusion is hard to cross alone.

ŚaṅkaraclassicalG

After knowing, act only to hold the worldbetween

4.18The post-knowledge actor does no action at all.───→here4.42───→5.8I do nothing at all, says the knower.

ŚaṅkaraclassicalJ

Scripture stands behind every claimbetween

4.13The four orders are the Puruṣa's own body.───→here4.42───→15.1The world-tree is the tree of the Kaṭha.

RamsukhdasclassicalA

What binds you (and how to let go)between

4.23Clinging to anything is what binds you.───→here4.42───→5.12Drop the wish for fruit, not the fruit itself.

RamsukhdasclassicalE

Your own work as worshipbetween

4.13The four orders are His own creation.───→here4.42───→18.41Each order's work is born of its nature.

RamsukhdasclassicalH

All paths arrive at the same roombetween

4.36Knowledge ferries you across the ocean.───→here4.42───→5.4Insight and practice are not two paths.

Ramsukhdasclassical

Sādhaka Sañjīvanī commentary at this versebetween

───→here4.42───→

ŚaṅkaraclassicalH

The Lord is friend of every beingapproach

───→here4.42───→5.29Friend of all beings, the witness of every act.

RamsukhdasclassicalI

The Lord already inside the heartapproach

───→here4.42───→6.30See Me everywhere, I am never lost.

Ekrasmodernkarma_yoga

Karma yoga — the apprentice pathbetween · v2

4.18Action in inaction───→here4.42───→5.6Renunciation needs the path

Ekrasmodernstress

Stress — panic to shelterbetween · v2

4.16Even the wise are confused───→here4.42───→7.14Cross the maya

Gauravmodernchaplaincy_kit_of_tools

Chaplaincy Kit Of Toolsbetween

4.34Paramparā / direct transmission. 'Tad viddhi pranipatena pariprashnena sevaya, u───→here4.42───→6.11Mudra and posture. 'Shuchau deshe pratishthapya sthiram asanam atmanah.' Establi

Gauravmoderninterfaith_cosmology

Interfaith Cosmologybetween

4.11'Ye yatha mam prapadyante tams tathaiva bhajamy aham.' As they approach me, so I───→here4.42───→7.21'Yo yo yam yam tanum bhaktah shraddhayarchitum ichchhati.' Whatever form the dev

Gauravmodernsanatana_dharma_101

Sanatana Dharma 101between

4.8'Paritranaya sadhunam vinashaya cha dushkritam, dharma-samsthapana-arthaya sambh───→here4.42───→9.27Dharma-as-offering pillar. 'Yat karoshi yad ashnasi yaj juhoshi dadasi yat.' Gau

RāmānujaclassicalD

Karma-yoga as kainkarya (worship)between

4.24Brahman the offering, Brahman the offerer.───→here4.42───→6.1The renouncer is the one who acts for Me.

RāmānujaclassicalG

Māyā is real causal powerbetween

4.6Self-power, not self-illusion.───→here4.42───→7.14Māyā is real wonder, not unreality.

RāmānujaclassicalH

Prapatti / śaraṇāgati — universal upāyabetween

4.11As they approach Me, so do I receive them.───→here4.42───→7.14Surrender alone crosses the māyā.

VallabhaclassicalA

Two paths — rule-bound and grace-onlybetween

4.11Each soul takes the path Krishna assigns to it.───→here4.42───→9.4The Lord pervades all, yet stays untouched.

VallabhaclassicalD

Chapter-opening preludesbetween

4.1Four-verse prelude names avatāra-līlā.───→here4.42───→5.1Single-verse prelude sets sannyāsa-yoga eka.

VallabhaclassicalG

The Lord plays — calf-affection, not contractbetween

4.8A mother chastising her child is no cruelty.───→here4.42───→7.1The play-Person of every form opens chapter 7.

Ekrasmodernmeditation

Meditation — the dhyāna tourapproach · v2

───→here4.42───→6.10Solitary seat

RāmānujaclassicalC

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

───→here4.42───→5.1A four-clause summary of all of 2 through 4.

VallabhaclassicalK

Aphorism, gloss, full commentaryapproach

───→here4.42───→6.47Six chapters of aphorism close at this verse.

Ekrasmodernfamily_conflict

Family Conflictexit · other

2.8No grief-remover I see───→here4.42───→

Gauravmoderneminem_dsm_arjuna

Eminem Dsm Arjunaexit

2.11'Ashochyan anvashochas tvam prajna-vadamsh cha bhashase.' You grieve those not t───→here4.42───→

JayatīrthaclassicalD

Saṅgati declared at the head of every adhyāyabetween

4.1Three blocks named at the chapter head.───→here4.42───→6.1Karma-yoga is outer; samādhi-yoga inner.

JayatīrthaclassicalE

Vishnu-sarvottamatva read into apparently neutral wordsbetween

4.11Mām is Viṣṇu, not generic absolute.───→here4.42───→7.5Higher prakṛti is Śrī, not the eight-fold.

JayatīrthaclassicalF

Bhakti-tāratamya: gradation among devotees, gradation in fruitbetween

4.11Fruit proportional to the service offered.───→here4.42───→7.21Other deities give what Viṣṇu permits.

ĀnandagiriclassicalF

Which karma? — fourfold typologybetween

4.18Action-in-inaction needs the typology.───→here4.42───→5.1Body-residue karma vs. fruit-bearing karma.

ĀnandagiriclassicalH

Phala-saṃkalpa is the only upādhibetween

4.18Action-in-inaction: the upādhi seen. Anchor.───→here4.42───→5.13All actions renounced by mind alone.

AbhinavaguptaclassicalB

Recognition, not additionbetween

4.14Recognize, do not learn — the verb shifts.───→here4.42───→7.24Failure of seeing, not absence of presence.

AbhinavaguptaclassicalD

Avatāra: appearance without departurebetween

4.13Four orders made by the one who stays equal.───→here4.42───→9.4He pervades, yet is not in any of it.

VedāntadeśikaclassicalD

Adhikāra — eligibility as architecture, not exceptionbetween

4.11'Yathā' is open; the verb is the gate.───→here4.42───→9.22Yoga-kṣemam: the Lord's work, not the seeker's caste.

VedāntadeśikaclassicalG

Three yogas — three angles on one configurationbetween

4.33Knowledge-rite outranks mere material rites.───→here4.42───→5.4Whoever sees them as one, sees rightly.

MadhusūdanaclassicalG

Knowing and acting cannot run togetherbetween

4.34Approach a knower; knowing is not earned by action.───→here4.42───→5.1Neither combined, nor optionally substituted.

Śabda · lemmas (15 unique · 15 occurrences)

भारत bhārata — descendant of Bharata; epithet of Arjuna · vocative masculine singular noun
आतिष्ठ ā-√sthā — to take a stand on, resort to (ā- + √sthā) · present imperative 2nd person singular verb
योगम् yoga — yoga; union, discipline, application · accusative masculine singular noun · also at 2.53, 3.7, 6.12, 6.19, 7.1, 9.5 +2

show all 15

तस्मात् tasmāt — therefore, from that · also at 2.30, 2.68, 3.15, 3.19, 3.41, 4.15 +5
अज्ञान ajñāna — ignorance, lack of knowledge (a- + jñāna) · compound · also at 3.26, 3.28, 5.10, 5.15, 5.16, 10.11 +5
संभूतम् sam-√bhū — to arise, become (sam- + √bhū) · accusative masculine singular participle noun
हृद् hṛd — heart · compound
स्थम् stha — standing, situated (suffix) · accusative masculine singular noun
ज्ञान jñāna — knowledge, wisdom, cognition · compound · also at 1.1, 3.1, 3.2, 3.3, 3.26, 3.32 +70
असिना asi — sword · instrumental masculine singular noun
आत्मनः ātman — the Self, soul; one's own self · genitive masculine singular noun
छित्त्वा chid — to cut, sever (verbal root) · conv
एनम् enad — this, this here (close demonstrative) · accusative masculine singular noun
संशयम् saṃśaya — doubt (sam- + √śi 'lie/rest' — 'lying both ways') · accusative masculine singular noun
उत्तिष्ठ ut-√sthā · present imperative 2nd person singular verb

Praśna · so what (7)

01Why does Kṛṣṇa name the sword jñāna-asi (jñāna-sword) rather than simply saying 'know the truth' — what does the sword metaphor add to the epistemology of doubt-removal?
02Śaṅkara insists the doubt is 'one's own about one's own Self' — why is this grammatical precision (ātmanaḥ...saṃśaya) philosophically load-bearing rather than rhetorical?

show all 7

03If doubt is cut by jñāna, why does Kṛṣṇa then prescribe yoga (action) rather than stopping at the cutting — what does 'ātiṣṭha' (take up, abide in) add that 'jñāna alone' does not?
04Madhusūdana locates the doubt in the buddhi as both instrument and residence — does this mean the same faculty that generates doubt is also the means of its removal, and what are the implications for self-referential inquiry?
05The verse closes a chapter on jñāna with a battlefield command ('uttisṭha') — is this a descent from the philosophical to the pragmatic, or is the battlefield the only place the philosophy can be verified?
06Rāmānuja's 'anādi' (beginningless doubt) implies no originating moment — how does a jñāna-sword cut something with no identifiable root, and does this differ meaningfully from Śaṅkara's account?
07Śrīdhara's address 'Bhārata' as pointing to kshatriya svadharma suggests doubt is caste-contextual — does the prescription change for a brāhmaṇa or sannyāsī, or is the verse universal only at the jñāna level?

Vyavahāra · try it in your life

Advaita

When paralysed by a decision that loops back on itself — the Advaita signal is that the looping is doubt in the buddhi mistaking the body-mind complex for the deciding agent. The practice: sit still, trace the doubt to 'who is doubting,' and act from the residual clarity — not from the loudest option but from the quietest certainty. The sword does not slash outward; it turns inward once.

Viśiṣṭādvaita

In a relationship or role where you feel unworthy or uncertain of purpose, Rāmānuja's reading suggests: the doubt is beginningless conditioning, not evidence. Take up the karma (the actual work of service) prescribed by your relationship to Bhagavān — show up, do the next concrete act of kainkarya, and trust that the teaching has already been given. Doubt dissolves in action-as-offering, not in prior resolution.

show all 6

Dvaita

For situations where you are waiting for certainty before acting: Madhva's framework removes the burden of self-generated clarity. You are not the originator of your own sufficiency — the clarity, when it comes, is Hari's. The application is: stop holding the action hostage to your own readiness, and offer the action to Hari as a dependent act. The 'rising' is itself worship.

Śuddhādvaita

In creative work or any domain where the inner critic (the Sāṅkhya-intellect cataloguing what 'you' are capable of) blocks forward motion: Vallabha's point is that the doubt belongs to the non-self. Cut it not by arguing with it but by recognising it as the wrong subject's concern. Then act — not because you are ready, but because Kṛṣṇa's anugraha (grace-push) is already moving through you when you stop blocking it.

Bhakti

When grief or anxiety has generated a secondary layer of confusion ('I don't know what to do'), Śrīdhara's structural reading is practically useful: the grief-cause and the doubt are sequential — address the viveka (discriminate body from self) first, and the doubt that feeds on the grief loses its ground. Then take up the next dharmic act (the 'battle' specific to your constitution). The address 'Bhārata' is the reminder: your svadharma is already encoded in who you are.

Advaita-Bhakti

Madhusūdana's insight that the doubt lives in the buddhi as 'an enemy in one's own fortress, easily slain' is directly applicable to inner conflict about spiritual practice itself — the doubt about whether one is doing it right, whether bhakti is real, whether jñāna is accessible. His answer: the enemy is inside and therefore exposed. Bring niścaya (certainty, not false confidence) about the ātman to bear — even a moment of genuine śraddhā is the sword entering the fortress. Then act.

Adhiṣṭhāna · substrate signature

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

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↓ 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 4, Verse 42: Krishna to Arjuna — Jñāna-Karma-Sannyāsa-Yoga

Bhāṣyakāra purports