If karma and śama belong to different stages, how does a practitioner know when the threshold has been crossed — what internal signal marks the move from ārurukṣu to ārūḍha?

For the seeker still climbing, action is the means; for the one who has reached the summit, stillness is. See seven-school commentary at https://gita.ekrasworks.com/gita/6/3.

Śaṅkara and Śrīdhara both use 'purification of mind' as the bridge; does this imply karma is merely instrumental and ultimately discardable, or does it leave a permanent structural trace in the practitioner?

For the seeker still climbing, action is the means; for the one who has reached the summit, stillness is. See seven-school commentary at https://gita.ekrasworks.com/gita/6/3.

Madhva insists that even the aparokṣa-jñānin may remain in Bhagavat-caritra until residual karma (bhoktavya-karma) is exhausted — does this preserve an irreducibly devotional remainder even after direct realisation, and how does this challenge Advaita's clean jñāna-only endpoint?

For the seeker still climbing, action is the means; for the one who has reached the summit, stillness is. See seven-school commentary at https://gita.ekrasworks.com/gita/6/3.

Rāmānuja reads śama as 'karma-nivṛtti' (withdrawal from action) rather than Śaṅkara's 'upaśama' (quieting of mind) — does this lexical divergence reflect a deeper disagreement about whether liberation is an event or a continuous deepening?

For the seeker still climbing, action is the means; for the one who has reached the summit, stillness is. See seven-school commentary at https://gita.ekrasworks.com/gita/6/3.

Vallabha's footing-metaphor (sthuṇā-khanana, burying a post) implies the yogārūḍha is already siddha and śama consolidates rather than achieves — does this flatten the distinction the verse is trying to draw?

For the seeker still climbing, action is the means; for the one who has reached the summit, stillness is. See seven-school commentary at https://gita.ekrasworks.com/gita/6/3.

All six schools treat karma as having an expiry date; does this create a structural tension with Kṛṣṇa's own injunction in BG 3 and 4 that even the knower should act for loka-saṃgraha?

For the seeker still climbing, action is the means; for the one who has reached the summit, stillness is. See seven-school commentary at https://gita.ekrasworks.com/gita/6/3.

Given that the verse offers no external criterion for when one is 'ascended', is the judgment of yogārūḍha-status made by the practitioner, the guru, or the tradition — and what are the failure-modes of each?

For the seeker still climbing, action is the means; for the one who has reached the summit, stillness is. See seven-school commentary at https://gita.ekrasworks.com/gita/6/3.

BG 6.3 — Dhyāna-Yoga — Sūtrakṛt-Gītā

Bhagavad Gītā 6.3Chapter 6 · Dhyāna-Yoga · Krishna → Arjuna · anuṣṭubh

आरुरुक्षोर् मुनेर् योगं कर्म कारणमुच्यते ।

योगारूढस्य तस्यैव शमः कारणमुच्यते ॥

ārurukṣor muner yogaṃ karma kāraṇam ucyate

yogārūḍhasya tasyaiva śamaḥ kāraṇam ucyate

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

meaning

For the seeker still climbing, action is the means; for the one who has reached the summit, stillness is.

ekras · bhāṣya

The verse names two stations and the means proper to each. "Arurukshor muner yogam karma karanam uchyate. Yoga-arudhasya tasyaiva shamah karanam uchyate." For the muni still climbing toward yoga, karma is the means. For the same person, once ascended, shama — the cessation from action — is the means. One person; two stations; two means. The verse is the ladder-image around which the chapter is organized.

Shankara reads the verse with characteristic precision. For the arurukshu who cannot yet steady himself in dhyana-yoga, prescribed action is the proximate means; it purifies the mind so that renunciation of fruit becomes natural. For one already ascended, cessation from all action is the instrument, because every withdrawal from activity deepens one-pointed samadhi. Vyasa's verse is invoked: there are two paths, and one cannot stand on both rungs simultaneously.

Madhusudana extends the doctrine in his synthesizing register. Karma-yoga is not lifelong; it is mandated by the Veda only as long as the antahkarana's purification remains incomplete. Performed with bhagavad-arpana-buddhi — the mind of offering all to the Lord — it prepares the aspirant for the ascent. Once yoga-arudha, that same person must completely renounce all action; sarva-karma-samnyasa alone becomes the means for jnana to ripen into mukti. The chapter's larger architecture rests on this two-stage shape.

Madhva keeps the dependence-frame steady: until aparoksha-jnana dawns and residual karma is exhausted, asamprajnata-samadhi is not available; even the apparent withdrawal of one not yet arudha is incomplete.

Ramanuja softens the staging — the two are one teleological continuum, not two paths — but holds the same threshold: pratishthita-yoga is what makes karma-nivritti the natural deepening, not a separate move.

Context

where

Chapter 6 · Dhyāna-Yoga · meter anuṣṭubh

who speaks

Krishna → Arjuna

preceded by — BG 6.2

What people call renunciation, Arjuna, know that to be yoga itself, for no one becomes a true yogin while still harboring desire for results.

What's going on

For the seeker still climbing, action is the means; for the one who has reached the summit, stillness is.

Sūtras through this verse (63)

RamsukhdasclassicalA

What binds you (and how to let go)between

6.1True renouncing acts; drops the inner hook.───→here6.3───→7.30Hold the Lord through every layer of life.

RāmānujaclassicalB

The śāstra is one bracket (2.12 → 18.66)between

2.39Practice seam begins.───→here6.3───→6.46The yogi outranks every other path.

MadhvaclassicalT2

Soul depends on Lord — the gap that does not closebetween

5.14The soul rules the inert; the Lord rules the soul.───→here6.3───→6.9Souls differ by nature not by accident alone.

show all 63

RamsukhdasclassicalK

The body is not yoursstation · anchor

───→here6.3───→

RamsukhdasclassicalK

The body is not yoursstation · anchor

───→here6.3───→

Madhusūdanaclassicalmadhusudan_bhagavad_arpana

Madhusudan Bhagavad Arpanabetween · other

6.1Renouncer and yogi together───→here6.3───→9.22Yogakshema as offering returned

MadhusūdanaclassicalB

Different students need different teachingsbetween

6.1The renouncer and yogi are one under two views.───→here6.3───→7.16Four kinds of devotee, ranked by ripeness.

MadhusūdanaclassicalC

Action purifies before knowing can landbetween

6.1Renouncing too lives by purity of mind.───→here6.3───→16.1The dispositions decide who can even begin.

MadhusūdanaclassicalD

Offer the act to the Lord and it stops bindingbetween

6.1The fruit-unattached one is yogi and renouncer.───→here6.3───→9.22The undivided ones the Lord himself sustains.

MadhusūdanaclassicalG

Knowing and acting cannot run togetherbetween

6.1Calling a karma-yogi 'renouncer' is only a courtesy.───→here6.3───→18.1At the very end, the line still holds.

MadhusūdanaclassicalI

Liberation while alive — the body finishes its runbetween

3.1The architecture ends in living-liberation, then bodily.───→here6.3───→6.46The yogi with mind-stilled stands above mere knowing.

MadhusūdanaclassicalE

Devotion is how knowing actually arrivesapproach

───→here6.3───→7.1The chapter elaborates the prior bhajana-line.

MadhusūdanaclassicalF

Every middle chapter opens with a bow to the teacherapproach

───→here6.3───→7.1A bow to the bliss-cloud, Nanda's son, opens seven.

RamsukhdasclassicalB

This human birth — your one chance to actbetween

3.8Even keeping the body alive requires action.───→here6.3───→6.40A fallen seeker still keeps the human birth.

RamsukhdasclassicalC

Desire is the root — not actionbetween

5.26With desire gone, the goal stands on all sides.───→here6.3───→6.24Renounce every desire born of will.

RamsukhdasclassicalG

Equanimity in everythingbetween

5.19A mind in equality has already won.───→here6.3───→6.8Clay, stone, and gold are all level to him.

RamsukhdasclassicalH

All paths arrive at the same roombetween

5.4Insight and practice are not two paths.───→here6.3───→6.46The lover outranks every other yogi.

RamsukhdasclassicalI

The Lord already inside the heartapproach

───→here6.3───→6.30See Me everywhere, I am never lost.

RāmānujaclassicalC

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

6.1The renouncer and yogi are the same person.───→here6.3───→7.1Open the second ṣaṭka: mind clung to Me.

RāmānujaclassicalD

Karma-yoga as kainkarya (worship)between

6.1The renouncer is the one who acts for Me.───→here6.3───→9.27Whatever you do, do it as offering.

MadhvaclassicalT3

Ranking is real — and it never collapsesbetween

4.6Avatāras differ in their fullness of Hari.───→here6.3───→6.9Devas, asuras, mortals are three native kinds.

MadhvaclassicalT6

Citation is the spine — texts carry the loadbetween

4.8Ṛgveda khilas explain the descent as play.───→here6.3───→6.6Maitrāyaṇī defines the stilled mind.

MadhvaclassicalT7

Action and knowledge — never rivalsbetween

6.1The renouncer and yogi are one person, two names.───→here6.3───→18.2The ritualists' śruti fixes the closing definition.

MadhvaclassicalT8

Direct vision — the only proximate causebetween

5.16Mediated knowing is just the first step.───→here6.3───→6.7The stilled mind sees the seated supreme self.

MadhvaclassicalT9

Devotion and grace — what knowledge cannot do alonebetween

2.72Many lives of bhakti precede the final crossing.───→here6.3───→6.30Devotion brings what the seeker cannot earn.

MadhvaclassicalT12

Closure by gloss — the small repertoirebetween

5.7'Self of all' resolves to the Lord himself.───→here6.3───→6.20'Self' here is not soul but the Lord within.

VallabhaclassicalC

Drop the doer, not the deedbetween

6.1Real renouncing keeps the act alive.───→here6.3───→18.1The closing chapter reopens this question.

VallabhaclassicalD

Chapter-opening preludesbetween

6.1Prelude binds yoga to puṣṭi-bhakti.───→here6.3───→7.1Seven-verse prelude opens the bhakti-ṣaṭka.

VallabhaclassicalE

Three paths, one teaching orderbetween

6.1The two paths are one through fruit-renouncing act.───→here6.3───→6.46The lover outranks the wise and the disciplined.

VallabhaclassicalH

Stilling the mind — into the Lordbetween

2.48Yoga itself is just sameness of mind.───→here6.3───→6.46The yogi closing the ṣaṭka is a mind-stiller.

RāmānujaclassicalA

World as the Lord's body (antaryāmin)approach

───→here6.3───→7.4Two natures of the Lord: matter and selves.

RāmānujaclassicalE

Bhakti as continuous recollectionapproach

───→here6.3───→7.17I am dearest to him.

RāmānujaclassicalF

Two prakṛtis · jīva as eternal aṃśaapproach

───→here6.3───→7.4Lower nature: matter.

RāmānujaclassicalJ

Śeṣa-śeṣī · pati-vrata simileapproach

───→here6.3───→7.18He is My self; I cannot hold without him.

VallabhaclassicalB

Grace alone — the technical markapproach

───→here6.3───→7.18The wise one is Myself, by grace alone.

VallabhaclassicalK

Aphorism, gloss, full commentaryapproach

───→here6.3───→6.47Six chapters of aphorism close at this verse.

Gauravmodernchaplaincy_kit_of_tools

Chaplaincy Kit Of Toolsbetween

4.34Paramparā / direct transmission. 'Tad viddhi pranipatena pariprashnena sevaya, u───→here6.3───→6.11Mudra and posture. 'Shuchau deshe pratishthapya sthiram asanam atmanah.' Establi

Gauravmoderncivilizational_air_conditioning

Civilizational Air Conditioningbetween

3.21'Yad yad acharati shreshthas tat tad evetaro janah.' Whatever the leader does, o───→here6.3───→6.5'Uddhared atmanatmanam natmanam avasadayet.' Lift yourself by yourself, do not l

Gauravmodernheart_leadership

Heart Leadershipbetween

2.48'Yoga-sthah kuru karmani sangam tyaktva Dhananjaya, siddhy-asiddhyoh samo bhutva───→here6.3───→6.7'Jitatmanah prashantasya paramatma samahitah.' For the self-conquered, in-peace,

Gauravmodernthree_yogas_braid

Three Yogas Braidbetween

5.5'Yat sankhyaih prapyate sthanam tad yogair api gamyate.' The place reached by sa───→here6.3───→6.46'Tapasvibhyo'dhiko yogi jnanibhyo'pi mato'dhikah, karmibhyash chadhiko yogi tasm

Gauravmodernwitness_self_neti_neti

Witness Self Neti Netibetween

2.20'Na jayate mriyate va kadachit, nayam bhutva bhavita va na bhuyah, ajo nityah sh───→here6.3───→6.20'Yatroparamate chittam niruddham yoga-sevaya, yatra chaivatmana'tmanam pashyann

ĀnandagiriclassicalB

Three hexads = tat tvam asibetween

2.1First hexad opens, tvam-pada implicit.───→here6.3───→6.46Inner-self hexad closes; pivot prepared.

ĀnandagiriclassicalC

Adhikāra: seeker vs. fulfilledbetween

5.1Two saṃnyāsas: fruit and means.───→here6.3───→6.46Yogin vs. jñānin: not synonyms.

ĀnandagiriclassicalK

Upasaṃhāra — recap as instrumentbetween

2.39Wisdom section wound up here.───→here6.3───→6.46Dhyāna section sealed: yogin is supreme.

ĀnandagiriclassicalI

Bhakti carries jñāna, never parallelapproach

───→here6.3───→7.1Upāsya and tat-pada in apposition. Anchor.

ĀnandagiriclassicalJ

Prakṛti is never autonomousapproach

───→here6.3───→7.4Two-fold prakṛti is the Lord's own power.

Śaṅkaraclassicalshankara_jnana_nishtha

Shankara Jnana Nishthabetween · other

6.1Soft sense of renouncer───→here6.3───→18.49Naishkarmya-siddhi by sannyāsa

ŚaṅkaraclassicalB

Knowledge alone, with all action laid downbetween

6.1The fire-keeper is renouncer only in a soft sense.───→here6.3───→18.49Action-freedom comes from full renunciation.

VedāntadeśikaclassicalF

Saṅgati — anticipation-and-resolutionbetween

3.1Arjuna's question resolves 2.49's hint.───→here6.3───→6.47Top-yogin clause — the chapter-7 hinge.

VedāntadeśikaclassicalG

Three yogas — three angles on one configurationbetween

6.1The renouncer and yogi are one figure.───→here6.3───→6.46The yogi outranks tapasvi, jñāni, karmin.

ŚrīdharaclassicalL

Chapter prefaces as the bhāṣya's spinebetween

6.1Pure mind is not yet release: now meditate.───→here6.3───→8.1Now, the questions of Brahman and self.

ŚaṅkaraclassicalI

The lover and the knower are one personapproach

───→here6.3───→7.16Of the four devotees, the knower is dearest.

VedāntadeśikaclassicalB

Prapatti — bhakti's access for those the long path defeatsapproach

───→here6.3───→7.14Those who take refuge cross the māyā.

VedāntadeśikaclassicalI

9.24 — the standing citation for ārādhyaapproach

───→here6.3───→7.21Deity-worship: His self-arrangement of grace.

ŚrīdharaclassicalC

Devotion is both the way and the homeapproach

───→here6.3───→6.47Be a devotee: that is the meaning.

ŚrīdharaclassicalH

The grammar of single-pointednessapproach

───→here6.3───→7.14Undivided love crosses the great mist.

ŚrīdharaclassicalK

Death-memory as the test of daily habitapproach

───→here6.3───→8.5Whoever remembers Me at the last reaches Me.

ŚaṅkaraclassicalG

After knowing, act only to hold the worldexit

5.8I do nothing at all, says the knower.───→here6.3───→

Ekrasmodernvairagya

Vairāgya — dispassion as instrumentbetween · v2

5.28Senses, mind, buddhi held───→here6.3───→6.4Renounced in resolve

Ekrasmodernmeditation

Meditation — the dhyāna tourapproach · v2

───→here6.3───→6.10Solitary seat

Ekrasmodernbhakti

Bhakti — devotion pathapproach · v2

───→here6.3───→7.16Four kinds of bhakta

JayatīrthaclassicalC

Refuting Śaṅkara-style readings, named or unnamedbetween

6.1Householder is not figurative saṁnyāsin.───→here6.3───→7.13Why this declaration? The gloss must answer.

JayatīrthaclassicalD

Saṅgati declared at the head of every adhyāyabetween

6.1Karma-yoga is outer; samādhi-yoga inner.───→here6.3───→7.1First ṣaṭka closed; new pratijñā opens.

Śabda · lemmas (10 unique · 13 occurrences)

उच्यते √vac ×2 — to speak (verbal root) · present indicative pass 3rd person singular verb
कर्म karman — action, deed, the law of action · nominative neuter singular noun
तस्य tad — that (distal demonstrative); also 3rd-person pronoun · genitive masculine singular noun
कारणम् kāraṇa ×2 — cause, reason · nominative neuter singular noun

show all 10

योगम्·योग yoga ×2 — yoga; union, discipline, application · accusative masculine singular noun / compound
आरुरुक्षोः ārurukṣu — desirous of climbing/ascending (desid. of ā- + √ruh) · genitive masculine singular noun
मुनेः muni — sage, silent ascetic (from √man 'think') · genitive masculine singular noun
आरूढस्य √āruh — to ascend, mount (ā- + √ruh) · genitive masculine singular participle noun
एव eva — indeed, truly, only (emphatic particle)
शमः śama — calm, tranquility (from √śam 'be at peace') · nominative masculine singular noun

Praśna · so what (7)

01If karma and śama belong to different stages, how does a practitioner know when the threshold has been crossed — what internal signal marks the move from ārurukṣu to ārūḍha?
02Śaṅkara and Śrīdhara both use 'purification of mind' as the bridge; does this imply karma is merely instrumental and ultimately discardable, or does it leave a permanent structural trace in the practitioner?

show all 7

03Madhva insists that even the aparokṣa-jñānin may remain in Bhagavat-caritra until residual karma (bhoktavya-karma) is exhausted — does this preserve an irreducibly devotional remainder even after direct realisation, and how does this challenge Advaita's clean jñāna-only endpoint?
04Rāmānuja reads śama as 'karma-nivṛtti' (withdrawal from action) rather than Śaṅkara's 'upaśama' (quieting of mind) — does this lexical divergence reflect a deeper disagreement about whether liberation is an event or a continuous deepening?
05Vallabha's footing-metaphor (sthuṇā-khanana, burying a post) implies the yogārūḍha is already siddha and śama consolidates rather than achieves — does this flatten the distinction the verse is trying to draw?
06All six schools treat karma as having an expiry date; does this create a structural tension with Kṛṣṇa's own injunction in BG 3 and 4 that even the knower should act for loka-saṃgraha?
07Given that the verse offers no external criterion for when one is 'ascended', is the judgment of yogārūḍha-status made by the practitioner, the guru, or the tradition — and what are the failure-modes of each?

Vyavahāra · try it in your life

Advaita

While the mind still wanders in meetings, in arguments, in anxious planning — keep performing duties precisely and without result-fixation. This is not virtue-ethics; it is engine-warming. The day you notice that stillness arrives uninvited between tasks, that is Śaṅkara's signal: begin trading outward busyness for longer inner silence.

Viśiṣṭādvaita

Every act of professional service — teaching, coding, caregiving — is karma-yoga as long as it is framed as kainkarya (service to Bhagavān who inhabits the person before you). Do not resign from service prematurely to 'meditate'; resign only when ātma-darśana is so stable that activity genuinely clouds it. Until then, serve with full presence.

show all 6

Dvaita

You are not the author of any outcome; Hari is. Act with complete effort and simultaneously hold zero ownership of results — this is not passivity but the Dvaita practitioner's specific discipline. When samādhi genuinely arises (not fantasised), you will know: the devotional stories and japa that sustained you until then will slide away naturally, not because you dropped them but because Hari withdrew the scaffolding.

Śuddhādvaita

In Puṣṭi-mārga practice: perform your nityakarma and sevā as Kṛṣṇa's own play-activity (līlā), not as a ladder to climb. Once the mood of Kṛṣṇa's presence is stable — not manufactured but given (prasāda) — the relinquishing of personal volition (saṅkalpa-parityāga) is itself the joy, not a sacrifice.

Bhakti

Track your inner instrument (antaḥkaraṇa): is it clearer, less reactive, less scattered than a year ago? Karma-yoga is functioning correctly if yes. If your contemplative sittings still feel like white-knuckled concentration rather than natural settling, your antaḥkaraṇa needs more action-based purification — more selfless work, not more meditation hours.

Advaita-Bhakti

Offer each task explicitly to Kṛṣṇa before beginning — this converts routine work into yoga without changing the external form. Watch for the moment when this offering becomes effortless and the sense of personal doer-ship feels thin; at that crossing, withdraw from unnecessary obligations and deepen interior silence. The Bhakti current and the Jñāna current meet at this crossing-point.

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 6, Verse 3: Krishna to Arjuna — Dhyāna-Yoga