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Ch 4 · Jñāna-Karma-Sannyāsa-Yoga
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Bhagavad Gītā Chapter 4, Verse 9: Krishna to Arjuna — Jñāna-Karma-Sannyāsa-Yoga

Bhagavad Gītā 4.9Chapter 4 · Jñāna-Karma-Sannyāsa-Yoga · Krishna → Arjuna · anuṣṭubh
जन्म कर्म च मे दिव्यमेवं यो वेत्ति तत्त्वतः ।
त्यक्त्वा देहं पुनर् जन्म नैति मामेति सो ऽर्जुन ॥
janma← janman(18 verses)accusative neuter singular nounbirth, originattested in commentariesadvaitaमायारूपं कर्मviśiṣṭādvaitaचेष्टितंdvaitaनैतीति गतिःadvaita-bhaktiनित्यसिद्धस्यैव मम सच्चिदानन्दघनस्य लीलया तथानुकरणं कर्म karma← karman(144 verses)accusative neuter singular nounaction, deed, the law of actionattested in commentariesadvaitaच साधूनां परित्राणादि मे मम दिव्यम् अप्राकृतम् ऐश्वरम् एवं यथोक्तंviśiṣṭādvaitaइति श्लोकेनdvaitaचे ति। भगवज्जन्मादिज्ञानमात्रेण मुक्तिरुच्यत इति प्रतीतिनिरासायाह पृथगि ति।एकदेशज्ञानेनेत्यर्थः। दर्शनार्थमुपलक्षणार्थमśuddhādvaitaवा मायिकं किन्त्वैच्छिकं दिव्यमित्याशयेन स्वजन्मकर्मणां ज्ञाने फलमाह जन्मकर्मेतिbhaktiच धर्मपालनरूपं दिव्यमलौकिकं तत्त्वतः परानुग्रहार्थमेवेति यो वेत्ति स देहाभिमानं त्यक्त्वा पुनर्जन्म नैति न प्राप्नोति कadvaita-bhaktiच धर्मसंस्थापनेन जगत्परिपालनं मे मम नित्यसिद्धेश्वरस्य दिव्यमप्राकृतमन्यैः कर्तुमशक्यमीश्वरस्यैवासाधारणम् ca← ca(391 verses)and; (homonym: also the consonant ca) me← mad(383 verses)genitive singular nounI, me (1st person pronoun stem); also: to rejoice (verbal root) divyam← divya(16 verses)accusative neuter singular noundivine, celestial, of the godsattested in commentariesadvaitaअप्राकृतम् ऐश्वरम् एवं यथोक्तंviśiṣṭādvaitaअप्राकृतं मदसाधारणं मम जन्म चेष्टितं evaṃ yo vetti← √vid(76 verses)present indicative 3rd person singular verbto know; to find (verbal root)attested in commentariesadvaitaतत्त्वतः तत्त्वेन यथावत् त्यक्त्वा देहम् इमं पुनर्जन्म पुनरुत्पत्तिं न एति न प्राप्नोतिviśiṣṭādvaitaस वर्तमानं देहं परित्यज्य पुनः जन्म न एति माम्śuddhādvaitaसोऽपि जन्मफलं प्राप्य प्राकृतं देहं त्यक्त्वाऽर्थादलोकसम्बन्धिसच्चिदानन्दमयस्वरूपं प्राप्य पुनर्जन्म नैति किन्तु मामेतीbhaktiस देहाभिमानं त्यक्त्वा पुनर्जन्म नैति न प्राप्नोति किंतु मामेव प्राप्नोतिadvaita-bhaktiतत्त्वतो भ्रमनिवर्तनेन tattvataḥ← tattva(14 verses)ablative neuter singular nounthatness, principle, realityattested in commentariesadvaitaतत्त्वेन यथावत् त्यक्त्वा देहम् इमं पुनर्जन्म पुनरुत्पत्तिं न एति न प्राप्नोतिviśiṣṭādvaitaयो वेत्ति स वर्तमानं देहं परित्यज्य पुनः जन्म न एति माम्bhaktiपरानुग्रहार्थमेवेति यो वेत्ति स देहाभिमानं त्यक्त्वा पुनर्जन्म नैति न प्राप्नोति किंतु मामेव प्राप्नोति
tyaktvā← tyaj(17 verses)convto abandon, give up, renounce (verbal root)attested in commentariesadvaitaदेहम् इमं पुनर्जन्म पुनरुत्पत्तिं न एति न प्राप्नोतिbhaktiपुनर्जन्म नैति न प्राप्नोति किंतु मामेव प्राप्नोतिadvaita-bhaktiदेहमिमं पुनर्जन्म नैति किंतु मां भगवन्तं वासुदेवमेव सच्चिदानन्दघनमेति dehaṃ← deha(18 verses)accusative masculine singular nounbody punar← punar(25 verses)again, once more janma← janman(18 verses)accusative neuter singular nounbirth, originattested in commentariesadvaitaमायारूपं कर्मviśiṣṭādvaitaचेष्टितंdvaitaनैतीति गतिःadvaita-bhaktiनित्यसिद्धस्यैव मम सच्चिदानन्दघनस्य लीलया तथानुकरणं कर्म naiti mām eti← √i(8 verses)present indicative 3rd person singular verbto go (verbal root) so 'rjuna
spokensingle-voice recital; rendered via IndicF5 conditioned on a Sanskrit reference clip
meaning

Whoever truly knows my birth and actions to be divine leaves the body without returning to another birth and comes to me, Arjuna.

Bhāṣyakāra purports

  • Śaṅkaraadvaita

    Kṛṣṇa's birth (janma) is māyā-rūpa (of the nature of māyā) — not a real entry into saṃsāra but its sovereign enactment for the protection of the virtuous; his karma likewise is aishvara (lordly), wholly beyond the prakṛta (natural). Śaṅkara insists that 'knowing this tattvatah (in its real nature)' is jñāna itself — the cognition dissolves the superimposition of ordinary birth on the birthless Ātman. That dissolution is mukti: the knower, having abandoned the body's false identification, does not re-enter embodied becoming but arrives at Brahman, which is none other than 'mām' (me) — the non-dual ground the seeker already is.

    divergence: janna māyārūpaṃ … māmeti āgacchati sa mucyate — Śaṅkara bhāṣya directly

  • Rāmānujaviśiṣṭādvaita

    For Rāmānuja the verse is a soteriological guarantee grounded in Bhagavān's utter distinctness from all conditioned existence: his janma is free from the triguṇa-prakṛti contact that causes ordinary rebirth, and his karma flows entirely from his satyasaṅkalpa (true will) and kalya̤ṇaguṇas (auspicious qualities). Knowing this tattvatah eradicates the accumulated pāpa that obstructs śaraṇāgati (surrender), so that even within this very birth the devotee, having taken Bhagavān as sole refuge, advances toward mām — direct experience of the qualified Brahman who is Viṣṇu. The verse thus converts śāstric understanding into bhakti-yoga kinesis: insight is not merely cognitive but a love-act that draws the jīva into the Lord's own being.

    divergence: viddhvastasamestamatsamāśrayaṇavirōdhi-pāpmā asminneva janmani … māmeva prāpnoti — Rāmānuja bhāṣya

  • Madhvadvaita

    Madhva reads the liberation-promise here as conditional on sarvajñāna (complete knowledge) — knowing Hari's janma and karma tattvatah is not a partial doctrinal acquaintance but a comprehensive upāsanā rooted in Vedic revelation. He cites the Mahākaurma-purāṇa: only the one who knows and worships Hari as scripture enjoins will receive his darśana; no other path reaches him. The qualifier 'tattvatah' thus entails the entire Vedic-Vaiṣṇava sādhana — jīva and Brahman remain eternally distinct (bhedābheda rejected), so 'māmeti' means the jīva arrives at Hari's proximity in mokṣa, not identity.

    divergence: vedādyuktaṃ tu sarvaṃ yo jñātvopāste sadā hi māṃ … nānyasya kasyacit — Mahākaurma-citation in Madhva bhāṣya

  • Vallabhaśuddhādvaita

    Vallabha distinguishes three modes of janma: anitya (impermanent, ordinary), nitya-paricchinna (eternal-but-limited), and nityāparicchinna-tanu-prākaṭya (manifestation of the eternal-unlimited body). Kṛṣṇa's avatāra belongs only to the third — a voluntary, icchā-rūpa (will-formed) prākaṭya of the ānandamaya-puruṣa who is eternally whole with body-mind-life-intellect as modalities of sat-cit-ānanda. Knowing this dissolves the error of treating Bhagavān's form as pāñcabhautika (five-elemental); the knower who abandons the prākṛta body receives that very saccidānanda-svarūpa and reaches 'mām' — not an abstract Brahman but the full, form-bearing Puruṣottama of Vṛndāvana.

    divergence: nityāparicchinna-tanoh prākaṭyam eva janmatvena … ānandamayo'bhyāsāt — Vallabha bhāṣya

  • Śrīdharabhakti

    Śrīdhara Svāmī holds the verse's center of gravity in the word 'divyam' (divine, non-ordinary): Kṛṣṇa's birth is svecchā-kṛta (self-willed) and his karma is dharma-pālana-rūpa (the protection of dharma) — both causally disconnected from the karma-nexus that binds jīvas. The one who grasps this 'tattvatah (in truth)' relinquishes dehābhimāna (body-identification), the root obstruction, and reaches Bhagavān directly. Śrīdhara's reading is economical and devotionally pointed: the theological argument is the least one needs; what liberates is the surrender of the 'I-am-the-body' error in the light of Kṛṣṇa's svātantrya (absolute independence).

    divergence: me janma svecchākṛtaṃ karma ca dharma-pālana-rūpaṃ divyam iti yo vetti sa dehābhimānaṃ tyaktvā — Śrīdhara bhāṣya

  • Madhusūdanaadvaita-bhakti

    Madhusūdana Sarasvatī opens the verse into his characteristic double register: 'tattvatah' means piercing the bhrama (error) by which ordinary minds superimpose garbhavāsa (womb-existence) and svabhoga-karma on the nityasiddha-saccidānanda-ghana (eternally perfected, solid mass of being-awareness-bliss). Kṛṣṇa's janma is a māyayā-anukārana (imitation by māyā) of birth, not real birth; his karma a paramānugraha-anukārana (compassionate imitation) of action, not real karma. Yet the one who knows this does not dissolve into contentless Brahman — he reaches 'māṃ Bhagavantaṃ Vāsudevam' (me, Bhagavān Vāsudeva), identified explicitly as saccidānanda-ghana. Jñāna removes the screen; bhakti reveals the luminous personal form behind it.

    divergence: ātmano'pi tattva-sphuranāt … māṃ bhagavantaṃ vāsudevameva … saccidānanda-ghanam eti — Madhusūdana bhāṣya

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