BG 7.13 — Jñāna-Vijñāna-Yoga

Bhagavad Gītā 7.13Chapter 7 · Jñāna-Vijñāna-Yoga · Krishna → Arjuna · anuṣṭubh

त्रिभिर् गुणमयैर् भावैरेभिः सर्वमिदं जगत् ।

मोहितं नाभिजानाति मामेभ्यः परमव्ययम् ॥

tribhir guṇa-mayair bhāvair ebhiḥ sarvam idaṃ jagat

mohitaṃ nābhijānāti mām ebhyaḥ param avyayam

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

meaning

Deluded by the three qualities that shape all phenomena, the world does not know Me, who stand beyond them, unchanging.

ekras · bhāṣya

Deluded by these three guna-mayi bhavas, the entire world does not recognize Me — beyond them, unchanging. The sequence is precise: the same gunas that the verse 7.12 named as Krishna's products are also what veils Krishna from view. The world does not see the source because it is held inside the products.

Shankara reads the verse as the diagnosis. The entire world of sentient beings is deluded by these three modes — modifications of the gunas in the form of raga, dvesha, and moha — and therefore does not know Krishna. What does it fail to know? That Krishna stands utterly distinct from these very modes, beyond them, avyaya — unchanging. The chapter's progression is now: substrate, vibhuti, then this disclosure of the obstruction.

Madhusudana raises the natural question. Given that Krishna is by nature nitya-shuddha-buddha-mukta-svabhava, how does the world — which is nothing other than Krishna himself — come to be in samsara? Because this entire world of creatures, deluded by all three guna-modifications, fails to recognize the eternal substrate beneath the modifications. The seeing is occluded; the substrate is not absent.

Ramanuja reads the same on the sharira-frame. The whole sentient-insentient cosmos arises from Krishna, dissolves into him, persists as his sharira; deluded by the three modes — sattva, rajas, tamas objects that are fleeting, karma-conditioned, fit only for momentary enjoyment — it does not recognize him as their substrate.

Madhva reads the suffix -maya in guna-maya as tadatmya: identity-by-character, not literal identity. The gunas pervade all visible phenomena such that every object one sees is wholly constituted by them; the world, seeing even the Lord's form through this guna-conditioned lens, fails to perceive him as ebhyah param.

Vallabha reads the obstruction as guna-tantra: the world is subordinate to the gunas; the three bhavas in their essential triple form veil the avyaya Lord.

Context

where

Chapter 7 · Jñāna-Vijñāna-Yoga · meter anuṣṭubh

who speaks

Krishna → Arjuna

preceded by — BG 7.12

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.

What's going on

Deluded by the three qualities that shape all phenomena, the world does not know Me, who stand beyond them, unchanging.

Sūtras through this verse · hub (64)

JayatīrthaclassicalB

Pañcabheda — the five distinctions enforced verse by versebetween

7.5Higher prakṛti is Lakṣmī, not matter.───→here7.13───→8.4Adhiyajña is Viṣṇu, not the worshipper.

ĀnandagiriclassicalA

The two-niṣṭhā axisbetween

7.1First hexad ends, middle hexad opens.───→here7.13───→13.1Two niṣṭhās, three kāṇḍas — keystone.

RāmānujaclassicalA

World as the Lord's body (antaryāmin)between

7.7Nothing higher than Me; I string it all.───→here7.13───→9.4World in Me, not Me in it.

show all 64

JayatīrthaclassicalC

Refuting Śaṅkara-style readings, named or unnamedstation

───→here7.13───→

JayatīrthaclassicalH

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

───→here7.13───→

JayatīrthaclassicalD

Saṅgati declared at the head of every adhyāyabetween

7.1First ṣaṭka closed; new pratijñā opens.───→here7.13───→12.1Avyakta follows the manifest rūpa.

JayatīrthaclassicalE

Vishnu-sarvottamatva read into apparently neutral wordsbetween

7.5Higher prakṛti is Śrī, not the eight-fold.───→here7.13───→8.3Akṣara is Viṣṇu, not quality-less.

JayatīrthaclassicalF

Bhakti-tāratamya: gradation among devotees, gradation in fruitbetween

4.11Fruit proportional to the service offered.───→here7.13───→7.21Other deities give what Viṣṇu permits.

JayatīrthaclassicalG

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

7.5Parā-prakṛti backed by Pañcarātra.───→here7.13───→11.16Aṣṭādhyāyī 5.4.78 settles aneka-.

JayatīrthaclassicalI

Lakṣaṇā-control — literal preferred when availablebetween

7.5Surrounding clause picks literal Śrī.───→here7.13───→11.16Aneka- means many; no upacāra needed.

VallabhaclassicalD

Chapter-opening preludesbetween

7.1Seven-verse prelude opens the bhakti-ṣaṭka.───→here7.13───→9.1Single-verse prelude names the secret of secrets.

VallabhaclassicalE

Three paths, one teaching orderbetween

7.1The bhakti-ṣaṭka opens the third stage.───→here7.13───→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.───→here7.13───→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.───→here7.13───→9.32The unsheltered run to their cowherd-Lord.

VallabhaclassicalI

A closed three-source citation gridbetween

3.30The Nibandha is cited again on threefold drop.───→here7.13───→7.14Surrender is the only way past the Lord's māyā.

VallabhaclassicalK

Aphorism, gloss, full commentarybetween

7.1The gloss-stage opens with chapter seven.───→here7.13───→13.2The Lord himself writes the third ṣaṭka. .

VallabhaclassicalB

Grace alone — the technical markapproach

───→here7.13───→7.18The wise one is Myself, by grace alone.

RāmānujaclassicalF

Two prakṛtis · jīva as eternal aṃśastation

───→here7.13───→

ĀnandagiriclassicalB

Three hexads = tat tvam asibetween

7.1Middle hexad named: tat-padārtha begins.───→here7.13───→12.20Middle hexad closes; tat-pada sealed.

ĀnandagiriclassicalD

Praśna-bīja chapter openingsbetween

7.1Lord answers a question Arjuna did not ask.───→here7.13───→8.1Recap-and-bind: Ch 8 carries Ch 7 forward.

ĀnandagiriclassicalE

Pūrvapakṣa via nanu / āśaṅkyabetween

7.1Doubt about refuge, blocked by mad-āśraya.───→here7.13───→13.1Boundary protected by stylized doubt.

ĀnandagiriclassicalI

Bhakti carries jñāna, never parallelbetween

7.2Bhakti's fruit is jñāna itself.───→here7.13───→12.12Bhakti's gradient ends in jñāna.

ĀnandagiriclassicalJ

Prakṛti is never autonomousbetween

7.4Two-fold prakṛti is the Lord's own power.───→here7.13───→13.1Prakṛti's autonomy blocked at boundary. Anchor.

ĀnandagiriclassicalL

Akṣarayojanā — word-fit firstbetween

7.1Word-fit holds at the architectural seam.───→here7.13───→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.───→here7.13───→9.1The royal secret of the second ṣaṭka.

RāmānujaclassicalG

Māyā is real causal powerbetween

4.6Self-power, not self-illusion.───→here7.13───→7.14Māyā is real wonder, not unreality.

RāmānujaclassicalH

Prapatti / śaraṇāgati — universal upāyabetween

4.11As they approach Me, so do I receive them.───→here7.13───→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.'───→here7.13───→12.20The middle six are sealed and finished.

MadhusūdanaclassicalB

Different students need different teachingsbetween

6.1The renouncer and yogi are one under two views.───→here7.13───→7.16Four kinds of devotee, ranked by ripeness.

MadhusūdanaclassicalE

Devotion is how knowing actually arrivesbetween

7.1The chapter elaborates the prior bhajana-line.───→here7.13───→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.───→here7.13───→8.1I take refuge in Kāśirāja, the king of Kashi.

RāmānujaclassicalE

Bhakti as continuous recollectionapproach

───→here7.13───→7.17I am dearest to him.

RāmānujaclassicalJ

Śeṣa-śeṣī · pati-vrata simileapproach

───→here7.13───→7.18He is My self; I cannot hold without him.

MadhusūdanaclassicalH

Krishna with form is the ground beneath formless Brahmanapproach

───→here7.13───→9.22I myself am the Lord, the Self of all.

MadhusūdanaclassicalJ

Two kinds of nature — divine and demonicapproach

───→here7.13───→9.13Great souls take refuge in divine nature.

VedāntadeśikaclassicalC

Antaryāmin — the indweller as standing referentbetween

3.30'Mayi sarvāṇi karmāṇi': read as antaryāmin.───→here7.13───→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.───→here7.13───→7.18The jñānin is dearest; not interchangeable.

VedāntadeśikaclassicalF

Saṅgati — anticipation-and-resolutionbetween

7.1'Mayy āsakta-manāḥ' resolves the 6.47 hint.───→here7.13───→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.───→here7.13───→7.14Only undivided love crosses the great mist.

ŚrīdharaclassicalD

The path that turns no one awaybetween

4.11However they come, I meet them so.───→here7.13───→7.16Four kinds of seekers, all good-hearted.

ŚrīdharaclassicalF

The Lord inside as inner rulerbetween

3.30Lay every act in Me; I move within.───→here7.13───→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.───→here7.13───→7.30Hold the Lord through every layer of life.

RamsukhdasclassicalD

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

7.12The modes come from the Lord, not in Him.───→here7.13───→13.21Clinging to modes causes any new birth.

RamsukhdasclassicalF

Surrender — the single shelterbetween

7.1Mind on Me, refuge wholly in Me.───→here7.13───→9.22For the undivided I personally provide.

RamsukhdasclassicalJ

Divine vs demonic patternsbetween

3.37The enemy is desire turning into anger.───→here7.13───→7.15The demonic never come near to Me.

Ramsukhdasclassical

Sādhaka Sañjīvanī commentary at this versebetween

───→here7.13───→

VedāntadeśikaclassicalB

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

───→here7.13───→7.14Those who take refuge cross the māyā.

VedāntadeśikaclassicalI

9.24 — the standing citation for ārādhyaapproach

───→here7.13───→7.21Deity-worship: His self-arrangement of grace.

ŚrīdharaclassicalH

The grammar of single-pointednessapproach

───→here7.13───→7.14Undivided love crosses the great mist.

ŚrīdharaclassicalK

Death-memory as the test of daily habitapproach

───→here7.13───→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.───→here7.13───→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.───→here7.13───→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.───→here7.13───→11.18Sat names the union of the two powers.

AbhinavaguptaclassicalB

Recognition, not additionbetween

4.14Recognize, do not learn — the verb shifts.───→here7.13───→7.24Failure of seeing, not absence of presence.

AbhinavaguptaclassicalF

Three guṇas: contractions of one consciousnessbetween

7.12Modes from the Lord — the Lord not in them.───→here7.13───→14.5Three primary contractions of cit.

ŚaṅkaraclassicalI

The lover and the knower are one personapproach

───→here7.13───→7.16Of the four devotees, the knower is dearest.

AbhinavaguptaclassicalH

Bhakti as non-dual recognitionapproach

───→here7.13───→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.───→here7.13───→

MadhvaclassicalT10

The deluder is named — three goddesses, one Lordstation

───→here7.13───→

MadhvaclassicalT6

Citation is the spine — texts carry the loadbetween

7.5Doubled prakṛti named from a single śruti.───→here7.13───→12.6Saukarāyaṇa-śruti ranks the personal route.

MadhvaclassicalT9

Devotion and grace — what knowledge cannot do alonebetween

6.30Devotion brings what the seeker cannot earn.───→here7.13───→7.16Four kinds approach; the devoted is best.

Ekrasmodernstress

Stress — panic to shelterbetween · v2

4.16Even the wise are confused───→here7.13───→7.14Cross the maya

Ekrasmodernbhakti

Bhakti — devotion pathapproach · v2

───→here7.13───→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───→here7.13───→7.21'Yo yo yam yam tanum bhaktah shraddhayarchitum ichchhati.' Whatever form the dev

Śabda · lemmas (13 unique · 15 occurrences)

एभिः·इदम्·एभ्यः idam ×3 — this (proximal demonstrative) · instrumental masculine plural noun / nominative neuter singular noun / ablative masculine plural noun · also at 3.12
सर्वम् sarva — all, entire · nominative neuter singular noun · also at 2.17, 4.33, 7.7, 7.19, 8.22, 8.28 +3

show all 13

त्रिभिः tri — three · instrumental masculine plural noun
गुण guṇa — quality, attribute (esp. the three guṇas: sattva/rajas/tamas) · compound
मयैः maya — consisting of (suffix); also: Maya the asura architect · instrumental masculine plural noun
भावैः bhāva — being, state, mood, emotion, condition · instrumental masculine plural noun
जगत् jagant — the world, the moving (universe) · nominative neuter singular noun
मोहितम् √mohay — to bewilder, delude (caus. of √muh) · nominative neuter singular participle noun
न na — not (negation particle)
अभिजानाति abhi-√jñā — to recognize, know (abhi- + √jñā 'know') · present indicative 3rd person singular verb
माम् mad — I, me (1st person pronoun stem); also: to rejoice (verbal root) · accusative singular noun
परम् para — highest, supreme, beyond, other · accusative masculine singular noun
अव्ययम् avyaya — imperishable (a- + vyaya 'perishable', from vi-√i 'go away') · accusative masculine singular noun · also at 2.21, 4.1, 4.2, 4.13, 4.14, 7.25 +8

Praśna · so what (7)

01If the gunas are Kṛṣṇa's own māyā, why does He describe them as causing non-recognition of Himself — is delusion something the Lord actively maintains or merely permits?
02Madhva reads guna-maya as tādātmya (identity-by-character) rather than vikāra (modification); Śaṅkara reads it as vikāra — what is at stake doctrinally in that grammatical choice?

show all 7

03Rāmānuja says the jīva mistakes fleeting guna-objects for the highest enjoyment while the eternal Lord of infinite kalyāṇa-guṇas is present as their very substratum — what practical consequence follows for prayer and worship?
04Madhusūdana frames non-recognition as viveka-ayogyatva (incapacity for discrimination) rather than mere ignorance — does this imply the jīva needs grace before effort, or effort before grace?
05Vallabha insists all knowledge aids (jñāna) remain insufficient without Kṛṣṇa's prasāda (grace) — how does this square with the Gītā's own extensive teaching about jñāna?
06All six schools agree the world is mohita (deluded) — but they disagree on whether the Lord is qualitatively distinct from, bodily identical with, or non-different from the deluded world. What testable difference does that make to sādhana (practice)?
07Śrīdhara calls the Lord the niyantā (inner regulator) of the very bhāvas that conceal Him — is recognition of the regulator behind the veil itself the beginning of bhakti?

Vyavahāra · try it in your life

Advaita

When a wave of rāga (attraction) or dveṣa (aversion) arises, pause before acting and ask: 'Is this a guna-modification passing through awareness, or is it Me?' The practice is not suppression but viveka — the repeated discrimination between the changeless witness and the changing modification. Over time this discrimination becomes more rapid, eventually spontaneous.

Viśiṣṭādvaita

Treat the impulse to prefer any fleeting pleasure — a compliment, a meal, a status signal — as a diagnostic: this is a kṣaṇa-vidhvaṃsin (moment-perishing) guna-object. Let the recognition prompt a brief interior turn toward the Lord as the only genuinely satisfying object. This is not world-rejection but constant re-orienting: every pleasure becomes a pointer to its infinite source.

show all 6

Dvaita

When you observe your own or others' actions driven by the three gunas, remember that Hari alone is nirguṇa — beyond all this. Offer each action, however tamasic or rajasic it feels, as dependent service (kainkarya) to Hari. This prevents the error of imagining that your guna-conditioned nature disqualifies you from worship; the distance between jīva and Hari is eternal, but service bridges it.

Śuddhādvaita

Abandon the attempt to work your way out of māyā through accumulated effort or knowledge. Instead, take full refuge (prapatti) in Kṛṣṇa by surrendering every day's first act to Him — literally the first choice of the morning, before the gunas have fully mobilized. This is Vallabha's 'viśvāsaṃ sarvatas tyaktvā': drop reliance on all other supports before your feet hit the floor.

Bhakti

Notice which guna-modification is currently dominant — desire (kāma), greed (lobha), or confusion (moha) — and name it plainly, without drama. Śrīdhara's key: the Lord is niyantā, the regulator behind the very force pulling at you. Addressing the Lord directly in that moment ('You are behind this; I see it') is itself a bhakti-act, turning the veil into a window.

Advaita-Bhakti

When a situation triggers strong guna-force, let Madhusūdana's image arise: the Lord as ānanda-ghana (dense bliss) and ātma-prakāśa (self-luminous awareness), immediate and not separated from you by even a hair's breadth, yet entirely unmodified by what the gunas are doing. Rest there for one breath. This simultaneous recognition of the Lord's immanence and transcendence is the advaita-bhakti practice in miniature.

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 13: Krishna to Arjuna — Jñāna-Vijñāna-Yoga