BG 6.32 — Dhyāna-Yoga — Sūtrakṛt-Gītā

Bhagavad Gītā 6.32Chapter 6 · Dhyāna-Yoga · Krishna → Arjuna · anuṣṭubh

आत्मौपम्येन सर्वत्र समं पश्यति यो ऽर्जुन ।

सुखं वा यदि वा दुःखं स योगी परमो मतः ॥

ātmaupamyena sarvatra samaṃ paśyati yo 'rjuna

sukhaṃ vā yadi vā duḥkhaṃ sa yogī paramo mataḥ

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

meaning

The yogi who sees his own joy and sorrow reflected in every living being, and measures all pleasure and pain by that same standard, Krishna calls the highest.

ekras · bhāṣya

The yogi who, by the analogy of his own self, sees the same everywhere — pleasure or pain — that one is held to be the supreme yogi. The instrument is named precisely: atma-aupamya. The seeing of the other through the seeing of oneself.

Shankara reads atma-aupamya as the discriminative move that makes ahimsa natural, not effortful. What is anukula — agreeable — to oneself is equally anukula to all sentient beings; what is pratikula — disagreeable — to oneself is equally pratikula to all. The yogi who acts from this seeing is ahimsaka not by self-discipline but by recognition. The samyag-darshana that 6.29 named has now ripened into the operating ethic of 6.32.

Madhusudana places the verse precisely: the yogi who has tattva-jnana but still experiences the residue of prarabdha-karma rises from samadhi to perceive — by atma-aupamya — that the pleasure and pain of all living beings are equal in reality. Free from raga and dvesha, his vision treats all beings the same; the doctrinal recognition has become the lived posture.

Madhva is precise on what atma-aupamya delivers that 5.29's sama-darshana did not. Sama-darshana could be misconstrued as a homogenizing flatness; atma-aupamya does it differently — through the analogy that locates the self in each sentient being while preserving the bheda.

Ramanuja reads the verse as asambandha-samya — the equality of non-relation. When atmans are recognized as qualitatively identical in jnana-eka-akarata, the yogi sees joy at a son's birth and grief at a son's death as equally unrelated to the true self — one's own as much as another's.

Vallabha catches the warmest register: seeing pain and pleasure everywhere through sva-sadrishya is to abide in Krishna's own vision, in which the divine affect itself spans every creature.

Context

where

Chapter 6 · Dhyāna-Yoga · meter anuṣṭubh

who speaks

Krishna → Arjuna

preceded by — BG 6.31

The yogi who worships Me as one self dwelling in all beings, however he moves through the world, lives in Me.

What's going on

The yogi who sees his own joy and sorrow reflected in every living being, and measures all pleasure and pain by that same standard, Krishna calls the highest.

Sūtras through this verse (63)

RamsukhdasclassicalA

What binds you (and how to let go)between

6.1True renouncing acts; drops the inner hook.───→here6.32───→7.30Hold the Lord through every layer of life.

RāmānujaclassicalB

The śāstra is one bracket (2.12 → 18.66)between

2.39Practice seam begins.───→here6.32───→6.46The yogi outranks every other path.

MadhvaclassicalT2

Soul depends on Lord — the gap that does not closebetween

6.9Souls differ by nature not by accident alone.───→here6.32───→13.23Soul and Lord coexist in the body, not as one.

show all 63

RamsukhdasclassicalG

Equanimity in everythingstation · anchor

───→here6.32───→

Madhusūdanaclassicalmadhusudan_bhagavad_arpana

Madhusudan Bhagavad Arpanabetween · other

6.1Renouncer and yogi together───→here6.32───→9.22Yogakshema as offering returned

MadhusūdanaclassicalB

Different students need different teachingsbetween

6.1The renouncer and yogi are one under two views.───→here6.32───→7.16Four kinds of devotee, ranked by ripeness.

MadhusūdanaclassicalC

Action purifies before knowing can landbetween

6.1Renouncing too lives by purity of mind.───→here6.32───→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.───→here6.32───→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.───→here6.32───→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.───→here6.32───→6.46The yogi with mind-stilled stands above mere knowing.

MadhusūdanaclassicalE

Devotion is how knowing actually arrivesapproach

───→here6.32───→7.1The chapter elaborates the prior bhajana-line.

MadhusūdanaclassicalF

Every middle chapter opens with a bow to the teacherapproach

───→here6.32───→7.1A bow to the bliss-cloud, Nanda's son, opens seven.

RamsukhdasclassicalG

Equanimity in everythingstation

───→here6.32───→

RamsukhdasclassicalB

This human birth — your one chance to actbetween

3.8Even keeping the body alive requires action.───→here6.32───→6.40A fallen seeker still keeps the human birth.

RamsukhdasclassicalC

Desire is the root — not actionbetween

6.24Renounce every desire born of will.───→here6.32───→18.49Free of longing everywhere — same goal.

RamsukhdasclassicalH

All paths arrive at the same roombetween

5.4Insight and practice are not two paths.───→here6.32───→6.46The lover outranks every other yogi.

RamsukhdasclassicalI

The Lord already inside the heartbetween

6.30See Me everywhere, I am never lost.───→here6.32───→8.22The highest Person, reached by the undivided.

RamsukhdasclassicalK

The body is not yoursbetween

6.3Body, senses, and mind: none of them yours.───→here6.32───→13.20Nature causes the act; you only experience.

MadhvaclassicalT12

Closure by gloss — the small repertoirestation

───→here6.32───→

RāmānujaclassicalC

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

6.1The renouncer and yogi are the same person.───→here6.32───→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.───→here6.32───→9.27Whatever you do, do it as offering.

MadhvaclassicalT3

Ranking is real — and it never collapsesbetween

6.9Devas, asuras, mortals are three native kinds.───→here6.32───→14.27Brahman has gradations within its own form.

MadhvaclassicalT6

Citation is the spine — texts carry the loadbetween

6.6Maitrāyaṇī defines the stilled mind.───→here6.32───→7.5Doubled prakṛti named from a single śruti.

MadhvaclassicalT7

Action and knowledge — never rivalsbetween

6.1The renouncer and yogi are one person, two names.───→here6.32───→18.2The ritualists' śruti fixes the closing definition.

MadhvaclassicalT8

Direct vision — the only proximate causebetween

6.7The stilled mind sees the seated supreme self.───→here6.32───→6.46The five-rung ladder ends in love, not knowledge.

MadhvaclassicalT9

Devotion and grace — what knowledge cannot do alonebetween

6.30Devotion brings what the seeker cannot earn.───→here6.32───→7.16Four kinds approach; the devoted is best.

VallabhaclassicalC

Drop the doer, not the deedbetween

6.1Real renouncing keeps the act alive.───→here6.32───→18.1The closing chapter reopens this question.

VallabhaclassicalD

Chapter-opening preludesbetween

6.1Prelude binds yoga to puṣṭi-bhakti.───→here6.32───→7.1Seven-verse prelude opens the bhakti-ṣaṭka.

VallabhaclassicalE

Three paths, one teaching orderbetween

6.1The two paths are one through fruit-renouncing act.───→here6.32───→6.46The lover outranks the wise and the disciplined.

VallabhaclassicalH

Stilling the mind — into the Lordbetween

2.48Yoga itself is just sameness of mind.───→here6.32───→6.46The yogi closing the ṣaṭka is a mind-stiller.

RāmānujaclassicalA

World as the Lord's body (antaryāmin)approach

───→here6.32───→7.4Two natures of the Lord: matter and selves.

RāmānujaclassicalE

Bhakti as continuous recollectionapproach

───→here6.32───→7.17I am dearest to him.

RāmānujaclassicalF

Two prakṛtis · jīva as eternal aṃśaapproach

───→here6.32───→7.4Lower nature: matter.

RāmānujaclassicalJ

Śeṣa-śeṣī · pati-vrata simileapproach

───→here6.32───→7.18He is My self; I cannot hold without him.

VallabhaclassicalB

Grace alone — the technical markapproach

───→here6.32───→7.18The wise one is Myself, by grace alone.

VallabhaclassicalK

Aphorism, gloss, full commentaryapproach

───→here6.32───→6.47Six chapters of aphorism close at this verse.

Gauravmodernchaplaincy_kit_of_tools

Chaplaincy Kit Of Toolsbetween

6.11Mudra and posture. 'Shuchau deshe pratishthapya sthiram asanam atmanah.' Establi───→here6.32───→9.26Puja and havan. 'Patram pushpam phalam toyam yo me bhaktya prayachchhati.' Whoev

Gauravmoderncivilizational_air_conditioning

Civilizational Air Conditioningbetween

6.5'Uddhared atmanatmanam natmanam avasadayet.' Lift yourself by yourself, do not l───→here6.32───→16.21'Tri-vidham narakasyedam dvaram nashanam atmanah, kamah krodhas tatha lobhah.' T

Gauravmodernheart_leadership

Heart Leadershipbetween

6.7'Jitatmanah prashantasya paramatma samahitah.' For the self-conquered, in-peace,───→here6.32───→6.35'Asamshayam maha-baho mano durnigraham chalam, abhyasena tu Kaunteya vairagyena

Gauravmodernthree_yogas_braid

Three Yogas Braidbetween

5.5'Yat sankhyaih prapyate sthanam tad yogair api gamyate.' The place reached by sa───→here6.32───→6.46'Tapasvibhyo'dhiko yogi jnanibhyo'pi mato'dhikah, karmibhyash chadhiko yogi tasm

Gauravmodernwitness_self_neti_neti

Witness Self Neti Netibetween

6.29'Sarva-bhuta-stham atmanam sarva-bhutani cha'tmani, ikshate yoga-yuktatma sarvat───→here6.32───→13.32'Anaditvan nirgunatvat paramatma'yam avyayah, sharira-stho'pi Kaunteya na karoti

ĀnandagiriclassicalB

Three hexads = tat tvam asibetween

2.1First hexad opens, tvam-pada implicit.───→here6.32───→6.46Inner-self hexad closes; pivot prepared.

ĀnandagiriclassicalC

Adhikāra: seeker vs. fulfilledbetween

5.1Two saṃnyāsas: fruit and means.───→here6.32───→6.46Yogin vs. jñānin: not synonyms.

ĀnandagiriclassicalK

Upasaṃhāra — recap as instrumentbetween

2.39Wisdom section wound up here.───→here6.32───→6.46Dhyāna section sealed: yogin is supreme.

ĀnandagiriclassicalI

Bhakti carries jñāna, never parallelapproach

───→here6.32───→7.1Upāsya and tat-pada in apposition. Anchor.

ĀnandagiriclassicalJ

Prakṛti is never autonomousapproach

───→here6.32───→7.4Two-fold prakṛti is the Lord's own power.

Śaṅkaraclassicalshankara_jnana_nishtha

Shankara Jnana Nishthabetween · other

6.1Soft sense of renouncer───→here6.32───→18.49Naishkarmya-siddhi by sannyāsa

ŚaṅkaraclassicalB

Knowledge alone, with all action laid downbetween

6.1The fire-keeper is renouncer only in a soft sense.───→here6.32───→18.49Action-freedom comes from full renunciation.

VedāntadeśikaclassicalF

Saṅgati — anticipation-and-resolutionbetween

3.1Arjuna's question resolves 2.49's hint.───→here6.32───→6.47Top-yogin clause — the chapter-7 hinge.

VedāntadeśikaclassicalG

Three yogas — three angles on one configurationbetween

6.1The renouncer and yogi are one figure.───→here6.32───→6.46The yogi outranks tapasvi, jñāni, karmin.

ŚrīdharaclassicalL

Chapter prefaces as the bhāṣya's spinebetween

6.1Pure mind is not yet release: now meditate.───→here6.32───→8.1Now, the questions of Brahman and self.

ŚaṅkaraclassicalI

The lover and the knower are one personapproach

───→here6.32───→7.16Of the four devotees, the knower is dearest.

VedāntadeśikaclassicalB

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

───→here6.32───→7.14Those who take refuge cross the māyā.

VedāntadeśikaclassicalI

9.24 — the standing citation for ārādhyaapproach

───→here6.32───→7.21Deity-worship: His self-arrangement of grace.

ŚrīdharaclassicalC

Devotion is both the way and the homeapproach

───→here6.32───→6.47Be a devotee: that is the meaning.

ŚrīdharaclassicalH

The grammar of single-pointednessapproach

───→here6.32───→7.14Undivided love crosses the great mist.

ŚrīdharaclassicalK

Death-memory as the test of daily habitapproach

───→here6.32───→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.───→here6.32───→

Ekrasmodernmeditation

Meditation — the dhyāna tourbetween · v2

6.29Self in all beings───→here6.32───→8.12Om at the close

Ekrasmodernvairagya

Vairāgya — dispassion as instrumentbetween · v2

6.4Renounced in resolve───→here6.32───→6.35Practice and dispassion

Ekrasmodernbhakti

Bhakti — devotion pathapproach · v2

───→here6.32───→7.16Four kinds of bhakta

JayatīrthaclassicalC

Refuting Śaṅkara-style readings, named or unnamedbetween

6.1Householder is not figurative saṁnyāsin.───→here6.32───→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.───→here6.32───→7.1First ṣaṭka closed; new pratijñā opens.

Śabda · lemmas (15 unique · 16 occurrences)

सर्वत्र sarvatra — everywhere · also at 2.57, 6.29, 6.30, 9.6, 12.3, 12.4 +3
योगी yogin — yogi (yoga + -in 'possessor of') · nominative masculine singular noun
पश्यति dṛś — to see (verbal root) · present indicative 3rd person singular verb · also at 2.29, 5.5, 6.30, 13.27, 13.29, 13.30 +2

show all 15

वा vā ×2 — or; either-or; (also: alternative)
आत्म ātman — the Self, soul; one's own self · compound
औपम्येन aupamya — comparison, analogy (from upamā) · instrumental neuter singular noun
समम् sama — equal, same, even-minded · accusative neuter singular noun
यः yad — which, who (relative pronoun) · nominative masculine singular noun
अर्जुन arjuna — Arjuna (the third Pāṇḍava); also: white, bright · vocative masculine singular noun
सुखम् sukha — happiness, pleasure, ease · accusative neuter singular noun
यदि yadi — if
दुःखम् duḥkha — suffering, sorrow, pain · accusative neuter singular noun
स tad — that (distal demonstrative); also 3rd-person pronoun · nominative masculine singular noun
परमः parama — highest, supreme · nominative masculine singular noun
मतः √man — to think, regard, consider (verbal root) · nominative masculine singular participle noun

Praśna · so what (7)

01Does ātmaupamya (analogy of the self) require that I first know my own suffering clearly before I can see another's — and what does that imply for the sequence of inner work?
02Śaṅkara concludes that this vision entails ahiṃsā; Śrīdhara adds active wishing of another's good (anukampā) — are these the same ethical commitment or categorically different?

show all 7

03Madhusūdana distinguishes the yogin who has tattva-jñāna but not yet mano-nāśa (mental dissolution) — what does it mean practically that a person can know truth and still suffer, and still be 'supreme'?
04Rāmānuja's asambandha-sāmya (equal non-relation to joy and grief) sounds like detachment; Vallabha's sva-sādṛśya sounds like feeling-with. Can a practice simultaneously cultivate both?
05The verse says 'paramo mataḥ' — 'considered supreme.' By whom? Kṛṣṇa's declaration raises the question of what kind of authority grants supremacy in a context where all yogins are presumably pursuing the same ultimate.
06If the criterion of supreme yoga is universal empathy rather than samādhi-depth or ritual perfection, what does this verse imply about the relationship between contemplative attainment and ethical life?
07Madhva's minimal comment leaves the most interpretive room — why might the Dvaita tradition be least invested in unpacking this verse, given that its ethics of dependent worship could provide a rich reading?

Vyavahāra · try it in your life

Advaita

Before reacting to someone who has hurt you, pause and apply the ātmaupamya (self-analogy) test: 'Would I want someone to do this to me?' Śaṅkara's point is that this is not a moral rule imposed from outside but a recognition — if the ātman is one, harm to another is structurally self-harm. Practise this as a reality-check that interrupts reactive pratikūla-ācaraṇa (acting against another's interest) not through willpower but through a moment of clear seeing.

Viśiṣṭādvaita

When you catch yourself treating your child's success as more real or important than a colleague's grief, apply Rāmānuja's asambandha-sāmya — both events are equally unrelated to the true self, yours and theirs. The practical move is to notice the inflation of 'mine,' not to stop caring, but to care with the same quality of attention you would bring to a stranger's loss. Equality of relation, not absence of relation.

show all 6

Dvaita

In Madhva's framework, every person you encounter is equally a jīva dependent on Hari. When someone is suffering, your response is an act of worship — not because you have dissolved into them but because Hari is equally present in their predicament as in yours. This makes practical service (sevā) the everyday application: responding to another's need is not empathy as a feeling but worship as an action, offered to the Lord who equally inhabits every dependent soul.

Śuddhādvaita

Vallabha's sva-sādṛśya suggests a practice of imaginative identification: when encountering another's joy or pain, ask 'How does Kṛṣṇa see this moment?' — since the supreme yogin's vision replicates the Lord's own gaze of universal affection. In daily life this translates to consciously receiving another's delight as something Kṛṣṇa also delights in, and another's grief as something Kṛṣṇa also tenderly holds. The practice is looking through the Lord's eyes, not merely calculating equal treatment.

Bhakti

Śrīdhara's active anukampā (compassion-in-action) translates directly: make a habit of asking 'What would actually help this person?' rather than simply noticing their pain with equanimity. The verse's ethical benchmark is not just perceiving others' suffering as equal to your own, but actively wishing their joy (sukhām eva sarveṣāṃ vāñchati). In practice, this means converting the perception of another's pain into a concrete, if small, act of support rather than leaving it at sympathetic awareness.

Advaita-Bhakti

Madhusūdana's insight that rāga-śūnyatva and dveṣa-śūnyatva (absence of attraction and aversion) are both required suggests a daily audit: notice not only when you are pulled toward someone's success (rāga) but also when you quietly engineer another's difficulty (dveṣa) by withholding help you could give. The 'supreme yogin' actively provides another's good (pareṣyāṃ iṣṭaṃ saṃpādayati) not from duty but from the settled absence of contraction — a calibration to check at the end of each day.

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 32: Krishna to Arjuna — Dhyāna-Yoga