BG 7.12 — Jñāna-Vijñāna-Yoga

Bhagavad Gītā 7.12Chapter 7 · Jñāna-Vijñāna-Yoga · Krishna → Arjuna · anuṣṭubh

ये चैव सात्त्विका भावा राजसास् तामसाश् च ये ।

मत्त एवेति तान् विद्धि न त्वहं तेषु ते मयि ॥

ye caiva sāttvikā bhāvā rājasās tāmasāś ca ye

matta eveti tān viddhi na tv ahaṃ teṣu te mayi

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

meaning

Know that every state in the world, whether clear, agitated, or dull, comes from Me alone, yet I am not in them; they rest in Me.

ekras · bhāṣya

Whatever sattvika, rajasa, and tamasa states arise — know all of them as from Me. But I am not in them; they are in Me. Two clauses; the second is the precise correction.

Krishna is the source of all guna-states but not contained by them. The flow is one-way: states arise from him; he does not depend on them.

Shankara reads the verse cleanly. All sattvika, rajasa, and tamasa states arising in beings through the force of their own karma are issuing from Krishna alone. Yet he does not dwell in them as a dependent, bound by their flux as a samsarin would be. The states inhere in him; he does not inhere in them. The asymmetry is the doctrinal heart of the chapter.

Madhusudana extends the claim. All bhavas — sattvika ones like shama, rajasa ones like harsha and darpa, tamasa ones like shoka and moha — arising in beings through avidya and karma — issue from Krishna. The eva is emphatic. Yet the second clause na tu aham teshu te mayi establishes that Krishna remains paramartha-svatantra: the states are mithya-superimposed on the eternal ground; the ground is not contaminated by what is superimposed on it.

Ramanuja reads the verse on the sharira-frame. The states subsist as Krishna's body — mat-sharirataya — held within him.

Krishna does not depend on them for his own being; they depend on him entirely. The states are objects of enjoyment, bodies, sense-faculties, and their causes — all of these stand in the world as Krishna's body-modes.

Madhva keeps the niyamaka-frame steady: all three orders originate from the Lord, but Hari regulates the very svabhava of each, not merely its occasion. The Lord is not bound: tad-ashritam jagat sarvam — na asau kutrachit ashritah.

Vallabha reads the verse as making vivid the prior mattah parataram. Even the prakrita states are from Krishna because all gunas are operations of his sat-prakriti.

Context

where

Chapter 7 · Jñāna-Vijñāna-Yoga · meter anuṣṭubh

who speaks

Krishna → Arjuna

preceded by — BG 7.11

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.

What's going on

Know that every state in the world, whether clear, agitated, or dull, comes from Me alone, yet I am not in them; they rest in Me.

Sūtras through this verse (64)

JayatīrthaclassicalB

Pañcabheda — the five distinctions enforced verse by versebetween

7.5Higher prakṛti is Lakṣmī, not matter.───→here7.12───→8.4Adhiyajña is Viṣṇu, not the worshipper.

ĀnandagiriclassicalA

The two-niṣṭhā axisbetween

7.1First hexad ends, middle hexad opens.───→here7.12───→13.1Two niṣṭhās, three kāṇḍas — keystone.

RāmānujaclassicalA

World as the Lord's body (antaryāmin)between

7.7Nothing higher than Me; I string it all.───→here7.12───→9.4World in Me, not Me in it.

show all 64

RamsukhdasclassicalD

The three modes (sattva, rajas, tamas) at workstation · anchor

───→here7.12───→

JayatīrthaclassicalC

Refuting Śaṅkara-style readings, named or unnamedbetween

6.1Householder is not figurative saṁnyāsin.───→here7.12───→7.13Why this declaration? The gloss must answer.

JayatīrthaclassicalD

Saṅgati declared at the head of every adhyāyabetween

7.1First ṣaṭka closed; new pratijñā opens.───→here7.12───→12.1Avyakta follows the manifest rūpa.

JayatīrthaclassicalE

Vishnu-sarvottamatva read into apparently neutral wordsbetween

7.5Higher prakṛti is Śrī, not the eight-fold.───→here7.12───→8.3Akṣara is Viṣṇu, not quality-less.

JayatīrthaclassicalF

Bhakti-tāratamya: gradation among devotees, gradation in fruitbetween

4.11Fruit proportional to the service offered.───→here7.12───→7.21Other deities give what Viṣṇu permits.

JayatīrthaclassicalG

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

7.5Parā-prakṛti backed by Pañcarātra.───→here7.12───→11.16Aṣṭādhyāyī 5.4.78 settles aneka-.

JayatīrthaclassicalH

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

3.17No-kartavya rival staged then answered.───→here7.12───→7.13Nanu vijñāna-rūpaṁ — canonical shape.

JayatīrthaclassicalI

Lakṣaṇā-control — literal preferred when availablebetween

7.5Surrounding clause picks literal Śrī.───→here7.12───→11.16Aneka- means many; no upacāra needed.

VallabhaclassicalD

Chapter-opening preludesbetween

7.1Seven-verse prelude opens the bhakti-ṣaṭka.───→here7.12───→9.1Single-verse prelude names the secret of secrets.

VallabhaclassicalE

Three paths, one teaching orderbetween

7.1The bhakti-ṣaṭka opens the third stage.───→here7.12───→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.───→here7.12───→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.───→here7.12───→9.32The unsheltered run to their cowherd-Lord.

VallabhaclassicalI

A closed three-source citation gridbetween

3.30The Nibandha is cited again on threefold drop.───→here7.12───→7.14Surrender is the only way past the Lord's māyā.

VallabhaclassicalK

Aphorism, gloss, full commentarybetween

7.1The gloss-stage opens with chapter seven.───→here7.12───→13.2The Lord himself writes the third ṣaṭka. .

VallabhaclassicalB

Grace alone — the technical markapproach

───→here7.12───→7.18The wise one is Myself, by grace alone.

ĀnandagiriclassicalB

Three hexads = tat tvam asibetween

7.1Middle hexad named: tat-padārtha begins.───→here7.12───→12.20Middle hexad closes; tat-pada sealed.

ĀnandagiriclassicalD

Praśna-bīja chapter openingsbetween

7.1Lord answers a question Arjuna did not ask.───→here7.12───→8.1Recap-and-bind: Ch 8 carries Ch 7 forward.

ĀnandagiriclassicalE

Pūrvapakṣa via nanu / āśaṅkyabetween

7.1Doubt about refuge, blocked by mad-āśraya.───→here7.12───→13.1Boundary protected by stylized doubt.

ĀnandagiriclassicalI

Bhakti carries jñāna, never parallelbetween

7.2Bhakti's fruit is jñāna itself.───→here7.12───→12.12Bhakti's gradient ends in jñāna.

ĀnandagiriclassicalJ

Prakṛti is never autonomousbetween

7.4Two-fold prakṛti is the Lord's own power.───→here7.12───→13.1Prakṛti's autonomy blocked at boundary. Anchor.

ĀnandagiriclassicalL

Akṣarayojanā — word-fit firstbetween

7.1Word-fit holds at the architectural seam.───→here7.12───→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.───→here7.12───→9.1The royal secret of the second ṣaṭka.

RāmānujaclassicalF

Two prakṛtis · jīva as eternal aṃśabetween

7.5Higher nature: conscious selves.───→here7.12───→7.13Modes hide the higher.

RāmānujaclassicalG

Māyā is real causal powerbetween

4.6Self-power, not self-illusion.───→here7.12───→7.14Māyā is real wonder, not unreality.

RāmānujaclassicalH

Prapatti / śaraṇāgati — universal upāyabetween

4.11As they approach Me, so do I receive them.───→here7.12───→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.'───→here7.12───→12.20The middle six are sealed and finished.

MadhusūdanaclassicalB

Different students need different teachingsbetween

6.1The renouncer and yogi are one under two views.───→here7.12───→7.16Four kinds of devotee, ranked by ripeness.

MadhusūdanaclassicalE

Devotion is how knowing actually arrivesbetween

7.1The chapter elaborates the prior bhajana-line.───→here7.12───→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.───→here7.12───→8.1I take refuge in Kāśirāja, the king of Kashi.

RāmānujaclassicalE

Bhakti as continuous recollectionapproach

───→here7.12───→7.17I am dearest to him.

RāmānujaclassicalJ

Śeṣa-śeṣī · pati-vrata simileapproach

───→here7.12───→7.18He is My self; I cannot hold without him.

MadhusūdanaclassicalH

Krishna with form is the ground beneath formless Brahmanapproach

───→here7.12───→9.22I myself am the Lord, the Self of all.

MadhusūdanaclassicalJ

Two kinds of nature — divine and demonicapproach

───→here7.12───→9.13Great souls take refuge in divine nature.

RamsukhdasclassicalD

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

───→here7.12───→

VedāntadeśikaclassicalC

Antaryāmin — the indweller as standing referentbetween

3.30'Mayi sarvāṇi karmāṇi': read as antaryāmin.───→here7.12───→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.───→here7.12───→7.18The jñānin is dearest; not interchangeable.

VedāntadeśikaclassicalF

Saṅgati — anticipation-and-resolutionbetween

7.1'Mayy āsakta-manāḥ' resolves the 6.47 hint.───→here7.12───→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.───→here7.12───→7.14Only undivided love crosses the great mist.

ŚrīdharaclassicalD

The path that turns no one awaybetween

4.11However they come, I meet them so.───→here7.12───→7.16Four kinds of seekers, all good-hearted.

ŚrīdharaclassicalF

The Lord inside as inner rulerbetween

3.30Lay every act in Me; I move within.───→here7.12───→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.───→here7.12───→7.30Hold the Lord through every layer of life.

RamsukhdasclassicalF

Surrender — the single shelterbetween

7.1Mind on Me, refuge wholly in Me.───→here7.12───→9.22For the undivided I personally provide.

RamsukhdasclassicalJ

Divine vs demonic patternsbetween

3.37The enemy is desire turning into anger.───→here7.12───→7.15The demonic never come near to Me.

VedāntadeśikaclassicalB

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

───→here7.12───→7.14Those who take refuge cross the māyā.

VedāntadeśikaclassicalI

9.24 — the standing citation for ārādhyaapproach

───→here7.12───→7.21Deity-worship: His self-arrangement of grace.

ŚrīdharaclassicalH

The grammar of single-pointednessapproach

───→here7.12───→7.14Undivided love crosses the great mist.

ŚrīdharaclassicalK

Death-memory as the test of daily habitapproach

───→here7.12───→8.5Whoever remembers Me at the last reaches Me.

AbhinavaguptaclassicalF

Three guṇas: contractions of one consciousnessstation

───→here7.12───→

ŚaṅkaraclassicalF

The Lord is born only as it werebetween

4.9My birth and acts are not of this world.───→here7.12───→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.───→here7.12───→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.───→here7.12───→11.18Sat names the union of the two powers.

AbhinavaguptaclassicalB

Recognition, not additionbetween

4.14Recognize, do not learn — the verb shifts.───→here7.12───→7.24Failure of seeing, not absence of presence.

ŚaṅkaraclassicalI

The lover and the knower are one personapproach

───→here7.12───→7.16Of the four devotees, the knower is dearest.

AbhinavaguptaclassicalH

Bhakti as non-dual recognitionapproach

───→here7.12───→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.───→here7.12───→

MadhvaclassicalT6

Citation is the spine — texts carry the loadbetween

7.5Doubled prakṛti named from a single śruti.───→here7.12───→12.6Saukarāyaṇa-śruti ranks the personal route.

MadhvaclassicalT9

Devotion and grace — what knowledge cannot do alonebetween

6.30Devotion brings what the seeker cannot earn.───→here7.12───→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.───→here7.12───→7.13The modes hide the One who deploys them.

Ekrasmodernstress

Stress — panic to shelterbetween · v2

4.16Even the wise are confused───→here7.12───→7.14Cross the maya

Ekrasmodernbhakti

Bhakti — devotion pathapproach · v2

───→here7.12───→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───→here7.12───→7.21'Yo yo yam yam tanum bhaktah shraddhayarchitum ichchhati.' Whatever form the dev

Śabda · lemmas (13 unique · 20 occurrences)

तान्·तेषु·ते tad ×3 — that (distal demonstrative); also 3rd-person pronoun · accusative masculine plural noun / locative masculine plural noun / nominative masculine plural noun
विद्धि √vid — to know; to find (verbal root) · present imperative 2nd person singular verb · also at 2.17, 3.15, 3.32, 4.13, 4.14, 4.32 +16

show all 13

मत्तः·अहम्·मयि mad ×3 — I, me (1st person pronoun stem); also: to rejoice (verbal root) · ablative masculine singular noun / nominative singular noun / locative singular noun
ये yad ×2 — which, who (relative pronoun) · nominative masculine plural noun
च ca ×2 — and; (homonym: also the consonant ca)
एव eva ×2 — indeed, truly, only (emphatic particle)
सात्त्विकाः sāttvika — sāttvika (derived from sattva: 'pertaining to the sattva guṇa') · nominative masculine plural noun
भावाः bhāva — being, state, mood, emotion, condition · nominative masculine plural noun
राजसाः rājasa — rājasic; pertaining to the rajas guṇa (passion, activity) · nominative masculine plural noun
तामसाः tāmasa — tāmasa (derived from tamas 'darkness': 'pertaining to the tamas guṇa') · nominative masculine plural noun
इति iti — thus (quotative particle)
न na — not (negation particle)
तु tu — but, on the other hand (particle)

Praśna · so what (7)

01If all three guṇas — including the tāmasa states of grief and delusion — originate from the Lord, does that make the Lord the author of ignorance (avidyā)? How do the schools resolve this without making liberation meaningless?
02Śaṅkara, Rāmānuja, and Madhva all affirm the asymmetry — the world rests in the Lord but the Lord does not rest in the world. What is actually at stake in that asymmetry for the practitioner who is still caught in tāmas?

show all 7

03Madhusūdana's rope-snake analogy says the guṇas borrow their reality from Brahman. Does this make the path of practice (sādhana) more urgent or less — if the bondage is only superimposed, why bother removing it?
04Rāmānuja insists the world is the Lord's śarīra (body) and serves no purpose for Him beyond līlā (play). What ethical responsibility does a practitioner carry if their suffering is, from the highest view, the Lord's play?
05Madhva's Gītā-kalpa quotes establish Hari as specifically the inner regulator of rasa (essence-quality). Does this mean sāttvika qualities are more directly 'of Hari' than tāmasa ones — and if so, does the spiritual path simply mean increasing sattva?
06Vallabha locates the guṇas as operations of sat-prakṛti, not māyā. Does this make the material world ontologically positive in Puṣṭi-mārga in a way the other schools resist?
07The verse ends 'na tv ahaṃ teṣu te mayi' — I am not in them; they are in Me. Why does Kṛṣṇa state His own non-entanglement before assuring Arjuna of the world's dependence? What rhetorical or soteriological work does this sequence do?

Vyavahāra · try it in your life

Advaita

When you notice a mood — irritability, clarity, heaviness — pause and recognize it as a guṇa-modification arising from karma, not as 'you.' The Advaita move: observe the state without owning it. Śaṅkara's point is that the saṃsārin becomes owned by every mood; the jñānin (one who knows) watches moods arise and dissolve without becoming their captive. Practice: name the guṇa present ('this is tamas — inertia arising') and ask who is watching it.

Viśiṣṭādvaita

Treat every situation — including unpleasant rājasa conflicts at work or tāmasa fatigue at home — as arising within the Lord's body, sustained by His will for no purpose other than His own play. This is not resignation; it is recognition that the Lord is structurally unaffected. Rāmānuja's application: since I am part of His body, my own distress is real within that body — I can address it — but I need not conclude the cosmos is hostile to me.

show all 6

Dvaita

Madhva's insight that Hari is the inner regulator of every sāttvika quality means that whenever you act from genuine goodness — patience, honesty, generosity — you are operating in Hari's direct domain. Cultivate those qualities not as self-improvement but as upāsanā (worship). The tāmasa and rājasa states are also from Him, but He is not their intimate regulator in the same way — so the practical aim is to migrate conduct toward the sāttvika where His presence is most immediately available.

Śuddhādvaita

In Puṣṭi-mārga, even the 'bad day' — lethargy, irritation, desire — is Kṛṣṇa's sat-prakṛti in motion. The practitioner's response is not to fight the guṇa but to offer it back: 'this agitation is Your doing; I return it to You.' Vallabha's mūla-kartā (root-agent) framing removes the guilt architecture entirely. The practice is arpana (surrender of the state itself), not suppression of it.

Bhakti

Śrīdhara's reading is the most practically direct: sāttvika states (śama, dama — composure, restraint) are from the Lord; so are rājasa states (pride, aversion) and tāmasa states (grief, delusion). This demolishes the tendency to take pride in sāttvika moods ('I am calm today — I am progressing') and despair over tāmasa ones. All three are equally His. The bhakta's job is not to manufacture sattva but to keep referring every state back to its source, which is Bhagavān.

Advaita-Bhakti

Madhusūdana's rope-snake image is directly usable in daily life: the fear, elation, or heaviness you experience is real as experience — the serpent is genuinely frightening — but it has no substance apart from the rope (Brahman). The practical move is two-stage: first, feel it fully without suppression (bhakti — the serpent is real to the devotee); then see through it to the rope (jñāna — it was Brahman all along). Neither step alone is complete. This is why Madhusūdana's synthesis is not compromise but a sequential path within a single verse.

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 12: Krishna to Arjuna — Jñāna-Vijñāna-Yoga