BG 7.11 — Jñāna-Vijñāna-Yoga

Bhagavad Gītā 7.11Chapter 7 · Jñāna-Vijñāna-Yoga · Krishna → Arjuna · Bharatarṣabha · anuṣṭubh

बलं बलवतां चाहं कामरागविवर्जितम् ।

धर्माविरुद्धो भूतेषु कामो ऽस्मि भरतर्षभ ॥

balaṃ balavatāṃ cāhaṃ kāma-rāga-vivarjitam

dharmāviruddho bhūteṣu kāmo 'smi bharatarṣabha

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

meaning

Krishna says: I am the strength in the strong, stripped of craving and clinging, and I am the desire in beings that does not run against dharma.

ekras · bhāṣya

In the strong, I am the strength — but stripped of kama and raga. In beings, I am the kama that does not run against dharma. The verse is being careful: not all strength is Krishna; not all desire is Krishna. Each gets a precise qualifier.

Shankara reads bala precisely. The strength that is Krishna is the mere sattva sufficient to sustain body and sense-faculties in their function — never the strength that fuels the wheel of samsara. Stripped of kama — the craving for the unattained — and stripped of raga — the attachment to what is already held — the bala becomes the simple capacity for life-functions, and that is Krishna.

Madhusudana names the precise definitions. Kama is the chitta-vritti that takes the form let the unattained object be attained even without the means of attainment being present — the wishful demand. Raga is the complementary chitta-vritti, ranjana-atma, that takes the form let what is obtained not diminish even when the cause of diminution is present — the clinging to retention. Both are excluded from the strength that is Krishna.

Shridhara reads the verse as the threefold division. The bala that Krishna claims is sattvika strength — the capacity for svadharma-anushthana, performing one's own duty. Kama is rajasika — desire for the unattained. Raga is tamasika — the trishna-class craving that clings even after attainment. The qualifier separates the sattvika from the rajasika and tamasika; that separation is what the verse is doing.

Ramanuja reads the same identifications relationally: bala, kama, the very constitutions arise from Krishna alone, subsist as his sharira, owned as antaryamin. He stands forth in their differentiated forms; the dharma-aviruddha kama is precisely the kama that does not pull the soul away from him.

Madhva keeps the dependence-frame: from Hari alone flow the svabhavas, but he is never bound by them — sovereign niyamaka, sara-bhokta, never sustained by them.

Vallabha reads the kriya-shakti that constitutes strength as not pravritti-atmaka — not power moving toward worldly engagement — but Krishna's own shakti in pure form.

Context

where

Chapter 7 · Jñāna-Vijñāna-Yoga · meter anuṣṭubh

who speaks

Krishna → Arjuna · vocative Bharatarṣabha

preceded by — BG 7.10

Know me, Arjuna, as the eternal seed of all beings, the intelligence in the wise, and the brilliance in the bold.

What's going on

Krishna says: I am the strength in the strong, stripped of craving and clinging, and I am the desire in beings that does not run against dharma.

Sūtras through this verse (64)

JayatīrthaclassicalB

Pañcabheda — the five distinctions enforced verse by versebetween

7.5Higher prakṛti is Lakṣmī, not matter.───→here7.11───→8.4Adhiyajña is Viṣṇu, not the worshipper.

ĀnandagiriclassicalA

The two-niṣṭhā axisbetween

7.1First hexad ends, middle hexad opens.───→here7.11───→13.1Two niṣṭhās, three kāṇḍas — keystone.

RāmānujaclassicalA

World as the Lord's body (antaryāmin)between

7.7Nothing higher than Me; I string it all.───→here7.11───→9.4World in Me, not Me in it.

show all 64

JayatīrthaclassicalC

Refuting Śaṅkara-style readings, named or unnamedbetween

6.1Householder is not figurative saṁnyāsin.───→here7.11───→7.13Why this declaration? The gloss must answer.

JayatīrthaclassicalD

Saṅgati declared at the head of every adhyāyabetween

7.1First ṣaṭka closed; new pratijñā opens.───→here7.11───→12.1Avyakta follows the manifest rūpa.

JayatīrthaclassicalE

Vishnu-sarvottamatva read into apparently neutral wordsbetween

7.5Higher prakṛti is Śrī, not the eight-fold.───→here7.11───→8.3Akṣara is Viṣṇu, not quality-less.

JayatīrthaclassicalF

Bhakti-tāratamya: gradation among devotees, gradation in fruitbetween

4.11Fruit proportional to the service offered.───→here7.11───→7.21Other deities give what Viṣṇu permits.

JayatīrthaclassicalG

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

7.5Parā-prakṛti backed by Pañcarātra.───→here7.11───→11.16Aṣṭādhyāyī 5.4.78 settles aneka-.

JayatīrthaclassicalH

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

3.17No-kartavya rival staged then answered.───→here7.11───→7.13Nanu vijñāna-rūpaṁ — canonical shape.

JayatīrthaclassicalI

Lakṣaṇā-control — literal preferred when availablebetween

7.5Surrounding clause picks literal Śrī.───→here7.11───→11.16Aneka- means many; no upacāra needed.

VallabhaclassicalD

Chapter-opening preludesbetween

7.1Seven-verse prelude opens the bhakti-ṣaṭka.───→here7.11───→9.1Single-verse prelude names the secret of secrets.

VallabhaclassicalE

Three paths, one teaching orderbetween

7.1The bhakti-ṣaṭka opens the third stage.───→here7.11───→13.2The third ṣaṭka is the Lord's own bhāṣya.

VallabhaclassicalF

Soul as part of the highest Personbetween

7.6From these two natures all beings come forth.───→here7.11───→13.2The kṣetra-knower in every field is the Lord himself.

VallabhaclassicalG

The Lord plays — calf-affection, not contractbetween

7.1The play-Person of every form opens chapter 7.───→here7.11───→9.32The unsheltered run to their cowherd-Lord.

VallabhaclassicalI

A closed three-source citation gridbetween

3.30The Nibandha is cited again on threefold drop.───→here7.11───→7.14Surrender is the only way past the Lord's māyā.

VallabhaclassicalK

Aphorism, gloss, full commentarybetween

7.1The gloss-stage opens with chapter seven.───→here7.11───→13.2The Lord himself writes the third ṣaṭka. .

VallabhaclassicalB

Grace alone — the technical markapproach

───→here7.11───→7.18The wise one is Myself, by grace alone.

ĀnandagiriclassicalB

Three hexads = tat tvam asibetween

7.1Middle hexad named: tat-padārtha begins.───→here7.11───→12.20Middle hexad closes; tat-pada sealed.

ĀnandagiriclassicalD

Praśna-bīja chapter openingsbetween

7.1Lord answers a question Arjuna did not ask.───→here7.11───→8.1Recap-and-bind: Ch 8 carries Ch 7 forward.

ĀnandagiriclassicalE

Pūrvapakṣa via nanu / āśaṅkyabetween

7.1Doubt about refuge, blocked by mad-āśraya.───→here7.11───→13.1Boundary protected by stylized doubt.

ĀnandagiriclassicalI

Bhakti carries jñāna, never parallelbetween

7.2Bhakti's fruit is jñāna itself.───→here7.11───→12.12Bhakti's gradient ends in jñāna.

ĀnandagiriclassicalJ

Prakṛti is never autonomousbetween

7.4Two-fold prakṛti is the Lord's own power.───→here7.11───→13.1Prakṛti's autonomy blocked at boundary. Anchor.

ĀnandagiriclassicalL

Akṣarayojanā — word-fit firstbetween

7.1Word-fit holds at the architectural seam.───→here7.11───→13.1Same discipline at the keystone chapter.

RāmānujaclassicalC

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

7.1Open the second ṣaṭka: mind clung to Me.───→here7.11───→9.1The royal secret of the second ṣaṭka.

RāmānujaclassicalF

Two prakṛtis · jīva as eternal aṃśabetween

7.5Higher nature: conscious selves.───→here7.11───→7.13Modes hide the higher.

RāmānujaclassicalG

Māyā is real causal powerbetween

4.6Self-power, not self-illusion.───→here7.11───→7.14Māyā is real wonder, not unreality.

RāmānujaclassicalH

Prapatti / śaraṇāgati — universal upāyabetween

4.11As they approach Me, so do I receive them.───→here7.11───→7.14Surrender alone crosses the māyā.

MadhusūdanaclassicalA

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

7.1First six unfold 'you,' middle six unfold 'that.'───→here7.11───→12.20The middle six are sealed and finished.

MadhusūdanaclassicalB

Different students need different teachingsbetween

6.1The renouncer and yogi are one under two views.───→here7.11───→7.16Four kinds of devotee, ranked by ripeness.

MadhusūdanaclassicalE

Devotion is how knowing actually arrivesbetween

7.1The chapter elaborates the prior bhajana-line.───→here7.11───→7.16The lover-knower stands at the top of the four.

MadhusūdanaclassicalF

Every middle chapter opens with a bow to the teacherbetween

7.1A bow to the bliss-cloud, Nanda's son, opens seven.───→here7.11───→8.1I take refuge in Kāśirāja, the king of Kashi.

RāmānujaclassicalE

Bhakti as continuous recollectionapproach

───→here7.11───→7.17I am dearest to him.

RāmānujaclassicalJ

Śeṣa-śeṣī · pati-vrata simileapproach

───→here7.11───→7.18He is My self; I cannot hold without him.

MadhusūdanaclassicalH

Krishna with form is the ground beneath formless Brahmanapproach

───→here7.11───→9.22I myself am the Lord, the Self of all.

MadhusūdanaclassicalJ

Two kinds of nature — divine and demonicapproach

───→here7.11───→9.13Great souls take refuge in divine nature.

VedāntadeśikaclassicalC

Antaryāmin — the indweller as standing referentbetween

3.30'Mayi sarvāṇi karmāṇi': read as antaryāmin.───→here7.11───→7.21Whatever form is worshipped, I steady it.

VedāntadeśikaclassicalE

Pūrva-pakṣa — name the rival, close the doorbetween

2.39Sāṅkhya-yoga split: not two methods, two angles.───→here7.11───→7.18The jñānin is dearest; not interchangeable.

VedāntadeśikaclassicalF

Saṅgati — anticipation-and-resolutionbetween

7.1'Mayy āsakta-manāḥ' resolves the 6.47 hint.───→here7.11───→9.1Chapter 7's residue of wonder forces 9's disclosure.

ŚrīdharaclassicalC

Devotion is both the way and the homebetween

6.47Be a devotee: that is the meaning.───→here7.11───→7.14Only undivided love crosses the great mist.

ŚrīdharaclassicalD

The path that turns no one awaybetween

4.11However they come, I meet them so.───→here7.11───→7.16Four kinds of seekers, all good-hearted.

ŚrīdharaclassicalF

The Lord inside as inner rulerbetween

3.30Lay every act in Me; I move within.───→here7.11───→7.21I am the one who steadies your chosen faith.

RamsukhdasclassicalA

What binds you (and how to let go)between

6.1True renouncing acts; drops the inner hook.───→here7.11───→7.30Hold the Lord through every layer of life.

RamsukhdasclassicalD

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

3.33Even the wise act by their own nature.───→here7.11───→7.12The modes come from the Lord, not in Him.

RamsukhdasclassicalF

Surrender — the single shelterbetween

7.1Mind on Me, refuge wholly in Me.───→here7.11───→9.22For the undivided I personally provide.

RamsukhdasclassicalJ

Divine vs demonic patternsbetween

3.37The enemy is desire turning into anger.───→here7.11───→7.15The demonic never come near to Me.

Ramsukhdasclassical

Sādhaka Sañjīvanī commentary at this versebetween

───→here7.11───→

VedāntadeśikaclassicalB

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

───→here7.11───→7.14Those who take refuge cross the māyā.

VedāntadeśikaclassicalI

9.24 — the standing citation for ārādhyaapproach

───→here7.11───→7.21Deity-worship: His self-arrangement of grace.

ŚrīdharaclassicalH

The grammar of single-pointednessapproach

───→here7.11───→7.14Undivided love crosses the great mist.

ŚrīdharaclassicalK

Death-memory as the test of daily habitapproach

───→here7.11───→8.5Whoever remembers Me at the last reaches Me.

ŚaṅkaraclassicalF

The Lord is born only as it werebetween

4.9My birth and acts are not of this world.───→here7.11───→7.14Divine illusion is hard to cross alone.

ŚaṅkaraclassicalH

The Lord is friend of every beingbetween

5.29Friend of all beings, the witness of every act.───→here7.11───→7.30The cosmic and the rite-Lord are one Lord, known together.

AbhinavaguptaclassicalA

Knowing and acting are one powerbetween

7.1Together they cover everything to be known.───→here7.11───→11.18Sat names the union of the two powers.

AbhinavaguptaclassicalB

Recognition, not additionbetween

4.14Recognize, do not learn — the verb shifts.───→here7.11───→7.24Failure of seeing, not absence of presence.

AbhinavaguptaclassicalF

Three guṇas: contractions of one consciousnessbetween

2.45Exit the modes — not better modes are the goal.───→here7.11───→7.12Modes from the Lord — the Lord not in them.

ŚaṅkaraclassicalI

The lover and the knower are one personapproach

───→here7.11───→7.16Of the four devotees, the knower is dearest.

AbhinavaguptaclassicalH

Bhakti as non-dual recognitionapproach

───→here7.11───→9.22Consciousness tending its own self-knowing modes.

ŚaṅkaraclassicalG

After knowing, act only to hold the worldexit

5.8I do nothing at all, says the knower.───→here7.11───→

MadhvaclassicalT6

Citation is the spine — texts carry the loadbetween

7.5Doubled prakṛti named from a single śruti.───→here7.11───→12.6Saukarāyaṇa-śruti ranks the personal route.

MadhvaclassicalT9

Devotion and grace — what knowledge cannot do alonebetween

6.30Devotion brings what the seeker cannot earn.───→here7.11───→7.16Four kinds approach; the devoted is best.

MadhvaclassicalT10

The deluder is named — three goddesses, one Lordbetween

7.5Above the inert is Lakṣmī, the holder of souls.───→here7.11───→7.13The modes hide the One who deploys them.

Ekrasmodernstress

Stress — panic to shelterbetween · v2

4.16Even the wise are confused───→here7.11───→7.14Cross the maya

Ekrasmodernbhakti

Bhakti — devotion pathapproach · v2

───→here7.11───→7.16Four kinds of bhakta

Gauravmoderninterfaith_cosmology

Interfaith Cosmologybetween

4.11'Ye yatha mam prapadyante tams tathaiva bhajamy aham.' As they approach me, so I───→here7.11───→7.21'Yo yo yam yam tanum bhaktah shraddhayarchitum ichchhati.' Whatever form the dev

Śabda · lemmas (13 unique · 14 occurrences)

भूतेषु bhūta — being, creature; element; past, gone · locative neuter plural noun

show all 13

काम·कामः kāma ×2 — desire, lust, sensual pleasure · compound / nominative masculine singular noun
बलम् bala — strength, power, force · nominative neuter singular noun
बलवताम् balavat — (bala + -vat: strength) · genitive masculine plural noun
च ca — and; (homonym: also the consonant ca)
अहम् mad — I, me (1st person pronoun stem); also: to rejoice (verbal root) · nominative singular noun
राग rāga — passion, attachment, color · compound
विवर्जितम् vi-√varjay — to abandon, give up (caus. of vi- + √vṛj) · nominative neuter singular participle noun
धर्म dharma — duty, law, righteousness; the principle of right action; one's own nature (sva-dharma) · compound
अविरुद्धः aviruddha — uncontradicted, consistent (a- + viruddha) · nominative masculine singular noun
अस्मि √as — to be (verbal root) · present indicative 1st person singular verb
भरत bharata — Bharata (ancestor of the Kurus); a descendant of Bharata · compound
ऋषभ ṛṣabha — bull (often as 'best of'); ṛṣabha · vocative masculine singular noun

Praśna · so what (7)

01If Kṛṣṇa claims only the kāma-rāga-free strength, what happens to the strength I use while driven by desire — is it simply absent of Kṛṣṇa, or is it something else entirely?
02Śaṅkara and Śrīdhara both say the accepted bala is just enough to sustain the body in its duty — does this verse set an implicit ceiling on how much ambition or physical power is spiritually legitimate?

show all 7

03Madhusūdana defines kāma and rāga as two distinct citta-vṛtti types with opposing modal structures; can you catch these two vṛttis operating in a single real desire you have right now?
04Madhva says this verse is upāsanā — a meditation instruction, not just ontology. What would it actually mean to contemplate your own capacity-for-effort as Vāsudeva rather than as 'my willpower'?
05Rāmānuja says all these modes are Kṛṣṇa's śarīra. If the body-of-God includes lawful desire, does that dissolve the common equation of spirituality with desire-elimination?
06Śrīdhara assigns kāma to rajas and rāga to tamas. If the energy driving your most persistent habits is tāmasika rāga rather than rājasika kāma, does that change how you would approach transforming it?
07The verse draws the line at dharma-conformity: kāma that does not contradict dharma is Kṛṣṇa; kāma that does contradict dharma is not. Who or what determines that line in contexts where dharma itself is contested?

Vyavahāra · try it in your life

Advaita

Before a demanding task, pause and ask: is the energy I am about to deploy aimed at sustaining what genuinely needs doing (dehādi-dhāraṇa-mātra), or is it loaded with tṛṣṇā for outcome and rāga for continuation? Strip the tṛṣṇā-rāga coloring and act from what remains — that remainder is sāttvika bala, and that alone is Brahman acting through you. The practical test: would you bring equal force to the task if no one would ever know the result?

Viśiṣṭādvaita

When you notice a legitimate desire rising — for a project to succeed, for a relationship to deepen, for a student to flourish — recognize it as already arising from Kṛṣṇa and resting in Him as śarīra (His body). Do not suppress it and do not inflate it; instead, consciously return it: 'This desire is His mode, not mine to hoard.' This transforms ordinary wanting into kainkarya — service-shaped desire that moves toward its object while remaining oriented to the Lord who is both the desirer and the desired.

show all 6

Dvaita

Use the verse as a daily upāsanā checkpoint: when you draw on your capacity to act — physical stamina, professional competence, emotional resilience — mentally attribute it to Hari as its sovereign source. The jīva's strength is always dependent (paratantra); claiming it as 'mine' is the primary error. A practical discipline: at the start of any effort, silently name it 'Vāsudeva's śakti working through this body' — not as a formula, but as a recognition that reorients the actor without abolishing the action.

Śuddhādvaita

Desire itself — when it is dharma-anukūla (aligned with one's proper role) — is not the obstacle; the rājasa-tāmasa coloring is. In Puṣṭi-mārga practice this means embracing the energy of devotion fully, with joy, without the guilt that treats all wanting as contamination. Let strength be kriyāśakti (action-power) in service of Kṛṣṇa's delight (prīti), not a neutral instrument you must keep sanitized. The test is not 'am I desiring?' but 'is this desire Kṛṣṇa's own movement through me, or is it the rajasa-tāmasa pattern pulling me away from Him?'

Bhakti

Map your dominant desires onto the guṇa-schema Śrīdhara supplies: kāma as rājasika (chasing the unattained), rāga as tāmasika (clinging after attainment, always wanting more). Most chronic dissatisfaction is rāga, not kāma — the mind that already has what it wanted but cannot stop reaching. Identifying which guṇa is driving a specific craving gives you a practical handle: rājasika kāma responds to redirection toward svadharma; tāmasika rāga requires a more fundamental inquiry into why retention feels necessary.

Advaita-Bhakti

Madhusūdana's citta-vṛtti analysis yields a concrete contemplative exercise: catch the exact moment when the mind generates either the 'let me obtain what I lack' vṛtti (kāma-mode) or the 'let me not lose what I have' vṛtti (rāga-mode). Neither vṛtti is you — both are modifications. Strength that is free of both is available right now, not as an attainment but as the natural state of a mind turned away from saṃsāra (saṃsāra-parāṅmukha). The synthesis: see that residual sāttvika strength as Kṛṣṇa himself threading through you, and let action arise from there.

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 7, Verse 11: Krishna to Arjuna — Jñāna-Vijñāna-Yoga