BG 7.15 — Jñāna-Vijñāna-Yoga

Bhagavad Gītā 7.15Chapter 7 · Jñāna-Vijñāna-Yoga · Krishna → Arjuna · anuṣṭubh

न मां दुष्कृतिनो मूढाः प्रपद्यन्ते नराधमाः ।

माययापहृतज्ञाना आसुरं भावमाश्रिताः ॥

na māṃ duṣkṛtino mūḍhāḥ prapadyante narādhamāḥ

māyayāpahṛta-jñānā āsuraṃ bhāvam āśritāḥ

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

meaning

Evil-doers, the deluded, the lowest of humanity, their knowledge stolen by *māyā*, do not take refuge in Me; they cling instead to a demonic nature.

ekras · bhāṣya

The dushkritinah, the mudhah, the naradhamas — their jnana stolen by maya, established in asura bhava — do not take refuge in Me. Four characterizations; one common position.

Shankara reads each precisely. Dushkritin — those habituated to evil. Mudha — those without discriminative intelligence. Naradhama — degraded within the human order, the lowest among humans. Their very knowledge has been plundered by maya; they have established themselves in the asura disposition. Such a one does not take refuge in Krishna because the very capacity for taking refuge has been removed.

Madhusudana opens with an affective exclamation — what misfortune is theirs — before conducting the most psychologically granular analysis. Dushkritin means one in permanent conjunction with sin — dushkritena nityayoginah — making them naradhama in both this life and the next. The four characterizations are not parallel; they form a causal chain: dushkritin produces mudha; mudha produces apahrita-jnana; apahrita-jnana produces asura bhava.

Ramanuja reads four grades of the wicked who fail to surrender. The mudha — those with inverted knowledge, clinging to sense-objects as if those objects were self-sufficient rather than modes of Bhagavan. The naradhama — those who nominally know the Lord's form yet are constitutionally unfit for turning toward him. The other two complete the architecture.

Madhva reads the compound as two linked defects: dushkrititva produces mudhatva; apahrita-jnanatva produces asura-bhava. The theft of knowledge is maya's abhibhava — overpowering — of the jiva's natural jnana.

Vallabha frames the failure to seek refuge as a dual obstacle: bodily and mental faults captured under asura-bhava, and adherence to the Mayavada path — its own species of demonic orientation.

Shridhara offers the cleanest causal chain: naradhamas do not worship; they are mudha because dushkritin; dushkritin from accumulated sin; the chain holds top to bottom.

Context

where

Chapter 7 · Jñāna-Vijñāna-Yoga · meter anuṣṭubh

who speaks

Krishna → Arjuna

preceded by — BG 7.14

This divine māyā of mine, woven from the three guṇas, is nearly impossible to cross — yet those who take refuge in me alone pass beyond it.

What's going on

Evil-doers, the deluded, the lowest of humanity, their knowledge stolen by māyā, do not take refuge in Me; they cling instead to a demonic nature.

Sūtras through this verse (64)

JayatīrthaclassicalB

Pañcabheda — the five distinctions enforced verse by versebetween

7.5Higher prakṛti is Lakṣmī, not matter.───→here7.15───→8.4Adhiyajña is Viṣṇu, not the worshipper.

ĀnandagiriclassicalA

The two-niṣṭhā axisbetween

7.1First hexad ends, middle hexad opens.───→here7.15───→13.1Two niṣṭhās, three kāṇḍas — keystone.

RāmānujaclassicalA

World as the Lord's body (antaryāmin)between

7.7Nothing higher than Me; I string it all.───→here7.15───→9.4World in Me, not Me in it.

show all 64

RamsukhdasclassicalJ

Divine vs demonic patternsstation · anchor

───→here7.15───→

JayatīrthaclassicalC

Refuting Śaṅkara-style readings, named or unnamedbetween

7.13Why this declaration? The gloss must answer.───→here7.15───→11.16Aneka- is not just two-or-more.

JayatīrthaclassicalD

Saṅgati declared at the head of every adhyāyabetween

7.1First ṣaṭka closed; new pratijñā opens.───→here7.15───→12.1Avyakta follows the manifest rūpa.

JayatīrthaclassicalE

Vishnu-sarvottamatva read into apparently neutral wordsbetween

7.5Higher prakṛti is Śrī, not the eight-fold.───→here7.15───→8.3Akṣara is Viṣṇu, not quality-less.

JayatīrthaclassicalF

Bhakti-tāratamya: gradation among devotees, gradation in fruitbetween

4.11Fruit proportional to the service offered.───→here7.15───→7.21Other deities give what Viṣṇu permits.

JayatīrthaclassicalG

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

7.5Parā-prakṛti backed by Pañcarātra.───→here7.15───→11.16Aṣṭādhyāyī 5.4.78 settles aneka-.

JayatīrthaclassicalH

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

7.13Nanu vijñāna-rūpaṁ — canonical shape.───→here7.15───→12.5Avyakta-rival raised, then answered.

JayatīrthaclassicalI

Lakṣaṇā-control — literal preferred when availablebetween

7.5Surrounding clause picks literal Śrī.───→here7.15───→11.16Aneka- means many; no upacāra needed.

VallabhaclassicalD

Chapter-opening preludesbetween

7.1Seven-verse prelude opens the bhakti-ṣaṭka.───→here7.15───→9.1Single-verse prelude names the secret of secrets.

VallabhaclassicalE

Three paths, one teaching orderbetween

7.1The bhakti-ṣaṭka opens the third stage.───→here7.15───→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.───→here7.15───→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.───→here7.15───→9.32The unsheltered run to their cowherd-Lord.

VallabhaclassicalI

A closed three-source citation gridbetween

7.14Surrender is the only way past the Lord's māyā.───→here7.15───→9.22The Bhāgavata block grounds grace-only doctrine.

VallabhaclassicalK

Aphorism, gloss, full commentarybetween

7.1The gloss-stage opens with chapter seven.───→here7.15───→13.2The Lord himself writes the third ṣaṭka. .

VallabhaclassicalB

Grace alone — the technical markapproach

───→here7.15───→7.18The wise one is Myself, by grace alone.

ĀnandagiriclassicalB

Three hexads = tat tvam asibetween

7.1Middle hexad named: tat-padārtha begins.───→here7.15───→12.20Middle hexad closes; tat-pada sealed.

ĀnandagiriclassicalD

Praśna-bīja chapter openingsbetween

7.1Lord answers a question Arjuna did not ask.───→here7.15───→8.1Recap-and-bind: Ch 8 carries Ch 7 forward.

ĀnandagiriclassicalE

Pūrvapakṣa via nanu / āśaṅkyabetween

7.1Doubt about refuge, blocked by mad-āśraya.───→here7.15───→13.1Boundary protected by stylized doubt.

ĀnandagiriclassicalI

Bhakti carries jñāna, never parallelbetween

7.2Bhakti's fruit is jñāna itself.───→here7.15───→12.12Bhakti's gradient ends in jñāna.

ĀnandagiriclassicalJ

Prakṛti is never autonomousbetween

7.4Two-fold prakṛti is the Lord's own power.───→here7.15───→13.1Prakṛti's autonomy blocked at boundary. Anchor.

ĀnandagiriclassicalL

Akṣarayojanā — word-fit firstbetween

7.1Word-fit holds at the architectural seam.───→here7.15───→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.───→here7.15───→9.1The royal secret of the second ṣaṭka.

RāmānujaclassicalF

Two prakṛtis · jīva as eternal aṃśabetween

7.13Modes hide the higher.───→here7.15───→13.20Both natures beginningless.

RāmānujaclassicalG

Māyā is real causal powerbetween

7.14Māyā is real wonder, not unreality.───→here7.15───→7.25My power, not your blindness, hides Me.

RāmānujaclassicalH

Prapatti / śaraṇāgati — universal upāyabetween

7.14Surrender alone crosses the māyā.───→here7.15───→9.32Even the lowest birth reaches Me through this.

MadhusūdanaclassicalA

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

7.1First six unfold 'you,' middle six unfold 'that.'───→here7.15───→12.20The middle six are sealed and finished.

MadhusūdanaclassicalB

Different students need different teachingsbetween

6.1The renouncer and yogi are one under two views.───→here7.15───→7.16Four kinds of devotee, ranked by ripeness.

MadhusūdanaclassicalE

Devotion is how knowing actually arrivesbetween

7.1The chapter elaborates the prior bhajana-line.───→here7.15───→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.───→here7.15───→8.1I take refuge in Kāśirāja, the king of Kashi.

RāmānujaclassicalE

Bhakti as continuous recollectionapproach

───→here7.15───→7.17I am dearest to him.

RāmānujaclassicalJ

Śeṣa-śeṣī · pati-vrata simileapproach

───→here7.15───→7.18He is My self; I cannot hold without him.

MadhusūdanaclassicalH

Krishna with form is the ground beneath formless Brahmanapproach

───→here7.15───→9.22I myself am the Lord, the Self of all.

MadhusūdanaclassicalJ

Two kinds of nature — divine and demonicapproach

───→here7.15───→9.13Great souls take refuge in divine nature.

RamsukhdasclassicalJ

Divine vs demonic patternsstation

───→here7.15───→

VedāntadeśikaclassicalB

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

7.14Those who take refuge cross the māyā.───→here7.15───→9.22For the undivided, I carry it Myself.

VedāntadeśikaclassicalC

Antaryāmin — the indweller as standing referentbetween

3.30'Mayi sarvāṇi karmāṇi': read as antaryāmin.───→here7.15───→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.───→here7.15───→7.18The jñānin is dearest; not interchangeable.

VedāntadeśikaclassicalF

Saṅgati — anticipation-and-resolutionbetween

7.1'Mayy āsakta-manāḥ' resolves the 6.47 hint.───→here7.15───→9.1Chapter 7's residue of wonder forces 9's disclosure.

ŚrīdharaclassicalC

Devotion is both the way and the homebetween

7.14Only undivided love crosses the great mist.───→here7.15───→7.17The wise lover is my own dearest one.

ŚrīdharaclassicalD

The path that turns no one awaybetween

4.11However they come, I meet them so.───→here7.15───→7.16Four kinds of seekers, all good-hearted.

ŚrīdharaclassicalF

The Lord inside as inner rulerbetween

3.30Lay every act in Me; I move within.───→here7.15───→7.21I am the one who steadies your chosen faith.

ŚrīdharaclassicalH

The grammar of single-pointednessbetween

7.14Undivided love crosses the great mist.───→here7.15───→7.17Always-yoked, fixed on the One alone.

RamsukhdasclassicalA

What binds you (and how to let go)between

6.1True renouncing acts; drops the inner hook.───→here7.15───→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.───→here7.15───→13.21Clinging to modes causes any new birth.

RamsukhdasclassicalF

Surrender — the single shelterbetween

7.1Mind on Me, refuge wholly in Me.───→here7.15───→9.22For the undivided I personally provide.

VedāntadeśikaclassicalI

9.24 — the standing citation for ārādhyaapproach

───→here7.15───→7.21Deity-worship: His self-arrangement of grace.

ŚrīdharaclassicalK

Death-memory as the test of daily habitapproach

───→here7.15───→8.5Whoever remembers Me at the last reaches Me.

ŚaṅkaraclassicalF

The Lord is born only as it werebetween

7.14Divine illusion is hard to cross alone.───→here7.15───→7.25The magician sees through his own illusion.

ŚaṅkaraclassicalH

The Lord is friend of every beingbetween

5.29Friend of all beings, the witness of every act.───→here7.15───→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.───→here7.15───→11.18Sat names the union of the two powers.

AbhinavaguptaclassicalB

Recognition, not additionbetween

4.14Recognize, do not learn — the verb shifts.───→here7.15───→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.───→here7.15───→14.5Three primary contractions of cit.

ŚaṅkaraclassicalI

The lover and the knower are one personapproach

───→here7.15───→7.16Of the four devotees, the knower is dearest.

AbhinavaguptaclassicalH

Bhakti as non-dual recognitionapproach

───→here7.15───→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.───→here7.15───→

MadhvaclassicalT6

Citation is the spine — texts carry the loadbetween

7.5Doubled prakṛti named from a single śruti.───→here7.15───→12.6Saukarāyaṇa-śruti ranks the personal route.

MadhvaclassicalT9

Devotion and grace — what knowledge cannot do alonebetween

6.30Devotion brings what the seeker cannot earn.───→here7.15───→7.16Four kinds approach; the devoted is best.

MadhvaclassicalT10

The deluder is named — three goddesses, one Lordbetween

7.14Only by surrender does the māyā lift.───→here7.15───→14.3Three goddesses named in a single śruti.

Ekrasmodernstress

Stress — panic to shelterbetween · v2

7.14Cross the maya───→here7.15───→9.22Yogakshema

Ekrasmodernbhakti

Bhakti — devotion pathapproach · v2

───→here7.15───→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───→here7.15───→7.21'Yo yo yam yam tanum bhaktah shraddhayarchitum ichchhati.' Whatever form the dev

Śabda · lemmas (13 unique · 13 occurrences)

प्रपद्यन्ते pra-√pad — to take refuge in, surrender to (pra- + √pad) · present indicative 3rd person plural verb · also at 4.11, 7.14, 7.20
मूढाः √muh — to be deluded, faint (verbal root) · nominative masculine plural participle noun
मायया māyā — illusion, the cosmic illusory power · instrumental feminine singular noun
आश्रिताः √āśri — to take refuge in, resort to · nominative masculine plural participle noun
भावम् bhāva — being, state, mood, emotion, condition · accusative masculine singular noun

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न na — not (negation particle)
माम् mad — I, me (1st person pronoun stem); also: to rejoice (verbal root) · accusative singular noun
दुष्कृतिनः duṣkṛtin — evildoer (duṣkṛt + -in) · nominative masculine plural noun
नर nara — man, human · compound
अधमाः adhama — lowest, vilest (superl. of adhas) · nominative masculine plural noun
अपहृत a-√pahṛ — to take away, steal (apa- + √hṛ) · compound participle (compound member)
ज्ञानाः jñāna — knowledge, wisdom, cognition · nominative masculine plural noun
आसुरम् āsura — demonic, of the asuras · accusative masculine singular noun

Praśna · so what (7)

01All six commentators agree that māyā 'steals' knowledge — but they differ on what māyā steals: is it discrimination between self and non-self (Advaita), recognition of Bhagavān's personal sovereignty (Viśiṣṭādvaita), the jīva's intrinsic jñāna (Dvaita), certainty of Kṛṣṇa's mūrti (Śuddhādvaita), scripture-teacher-instilled knowledge (Śrīdhara), or the power of viveka itself (Madhusūdana)? What does each school's specific object of theft reveal about its metaphysics?
02Rāmānuja is alone in ranking four distinct sub-types of the wicked in ascending degrees — is this taxonomic precision a feature of Viśiṣṭādvaita's relational ontology, or does it serve a soteriological purpose (showing that some grades may still be redeemable while the last cannot)?

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03Madhva's etymological move — 'asura' = attached to prāṇas (asu) — combined with his Vyāsa-yoga citation implies a naturalised, possibly eternal class of non-devotees. How does this sit against the other five schools, all of which treat āsura-bhāva as circumstantial and potentially curable?
04Vallabha equates adherence to Māyāvāda philosophy with āsura-bhāva. Is this a polemical move, a doctrinal claim, or both? How should a modern reader who takes Advaita seriously weigh this equation?
05Madhusūdana's synthesis opens with 'what misfortune is theirs' — an affective register absent from Śaṅkara's terse dialectic. Does emotional engagement with the wicked change the pedagogical structure of the verse, and what does it imply for how the Gītā reader is meant to receive this catalogue?
06The verse lists four descriptors (duṣkṛtin, mūḍha, narādhama, māyayāpahṛta-jñāna) and one disposition (āsura-bhāva). Across the six readings, the causal ordering of these five elements differs significantly. Which ordering is most internally consistent, and what evidence from the mūla (root text) would adjudicate between them?
07Śrīdhara's gloss 'apahṛtam = nirasta (displaced by śāstrācārya-upadeśa)' implies that the knowledge in question was once present and was then removed. Does this mean āsura-bhāva is always a fall from a prior condition — and if so, what are the implications for how one evaluates apparently irredeemable persons?

Vyavahāra · try it in your life

Advaita

Notice when habitual wrongdoing (duṣkṛti — not dramatic evil but repeated small dishonesty, cruelty, self-indulgence) accumulates enough momentum to make inquiry feel pointless. Śaṅkara's reading suggests that the obstacle to self-knowledge is not ignorance alone but the active suppression of discrimination by entrenched patterns of action. The Advaita practice response: treat ethical discipline (śama, dama, uparati) as clearing the ground so māyā cannot continue stealing the very faculty needed for the path — not as the path itself.

Viśiṣṭādvaita

Rāmānuja's four-grade taxonomy is a diagnostic for one's own orientation toward Bhagavān: Am I attached to sense-pleasure while nominally believing in the Lord (grade 1-mūḍha)? Do I know Bhagavān's form intellectually but feel no pull toward His service (grade 2-narādhama)? Have sophisticated philosophical arguments destabilised my conviction in His sovereignty (grade 3-apahṛta-jñāna)? Or does awareness of His greatness actually generate resentment in me (grade 4-āsura)? Honest placement locates the specific remedy: bhakti-yoga for the first two, careful study of Viśiṣṭādvaita proofs for the third, and — most urgently — rooting out any resentment toward Bhagavān's unconditional claims.

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Dvaita

Madhva's reading insists that knowledge is the jīva's natural state and māyā is an external overpowering force — which means the devotee's task is not to create jñāna but to stop feeding what suppresses it. In practice: identify the specific sins (duṣkṛti) that strengthen māyā's grip — not abstractly, but concretely, by asking which repeated actions leave one less capable of attending to Hari. Withdrawing those actions is not moralism; it is maintenance of the cognitive infrastructure that devotion requires.

Śuddhādvaita

Vallabha's inclusion of Māyāvāda adherence as āsura-bhāva is a warning about conceptual frameworks, not only conduct: any system of thought that systematically dismisses Bhagavān's personal form as lesser or illusory is, in this reading, a form of theft of viveka. The everyday application is vigilance about which philosophical frameworks one habitually uses — not to close inquiry, but to notice whether one's preferred conceptual vocabulary quietly forecloses encounter with the personal, relational, mūrti-present Kṛṣṇa.

Bhakti

Śrīdhara's causal chain — sin → delusion → expulsion of learned knowledge → demonic disposition — maps a recognisable psychological arc: the person who once had genuine religious instruction and has drifted is not merely uninformed but has had something removed. The practical implication is that returning to the teacher (ācārya) and scripture (śāstra) is not merely adding new information but recovering a specific type of discriminative capacity that was previously active. Re-establishing contact with the śāstrācārya is the reversal of the theft.

Advaita-Bhakti

Madhusūdana's identification of māyā's mechanism as body-sense-aggregate identification (śarīra-indriya-saṅghāta-tādātmya-bhrānti) points to a specific daily practice: notice the moments when one is so fused with physical sensation, social role, or emotional state that the question 'who is aware of this?' does not arise. That fusion is the machinery by which viveka-sāmarthya (the power of discrimination) is blocked. His synthesis adds: the affective response to recognising this in oneself or others is compassion ('what misfortune!') — not condemnation — because the trapped person cannot see their own trap.

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 15: Krishna to Arjuna — Jñāna-Vijñāna-Yoga