BG 7.2 — Jñāna-Vijñāna-Yoga

Bhagavad Gītā 7.2Chapter 7 · Jñāna-Vijñāna-Yoga · Krishna → Arjuna · anuṣṭubh

ज्ञानं ते ऽहं सविज्ञानमिदं वक्ष्याम्यशेषतः ।

यज् ज्ञात्वा नेह भूयो ऽन्यज् ज्ञातव्यमवशिष्यते ॥

jñānaṃ te 'haṃ sa-vijñānam idaṃ vakṣyāmy aśeṣataḥ

yaj jñātvā neha bhūyo 'nyaj jñātavyam avaśiṣyate

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

meaning

I will teach you this knowledge along with direct experience of it, completely and without remainder; knowing this, nothing else will be left for you to know.

ekras · bhāṣya

I shall declare to you, without remainder, this jnana along with vijnana — knowing which, nothing else here remains to be known. Two compound terms held together: jnana and vijnana; one promise — that the teaching exhausts the field.

Shankara stresses the structural relationship between the two terms. Vijnana is svanubhava — one's own realization — not supplementary data. Scriptural knowledge that has not culminated in firsthand apperception is still mediated; the chapter promises both the doctrinal knowledge and the experience that completes it. Jnatva na iha bhuyah anyat jnatavyam — once known thus, the field is exhausted.

Madhusudana opens by dissolving a technical anxiety. The knowledge promised is not merely paroksha — indirect, inferential — but is itself aparoksha, immediate, self-luminous. What is called paroksha is the same aparoksha-jnana temporarily obstructed by asambhavana — doubt about possibility — and viparita-bhavana, contrary impressions. When vichara-paripaka, the ripening of sustained inquiry, removes both obstructions, the same knowledge stands forth as self-evident.

Ramanuja reads vijnana as viviktakara — distinctly-formed knowledge — namely, how Krishna stands utterly apart from the entire totality of chit and achit reality, replete with unlimited auspicious qualities and infinite vibhuti. The distinct-formed knowing is what makes the bhakti of ch7 onward possible; without it, devotion is directed at an unspecified object.

Shridhara draws the cleanest practical distinction: jnana is shastriya, derived from scripture, conceptual; vijnana is anubhava, lived experience of the same. The chapter discloses both — the conceptual scaffold and the experiential fruition.

Madhva is terse but precise: jnana is general acquaintance with Hari; vijnana is the specific differentiated recognition of his absolute independence and the jiva's perpetual dependence. Two registers; one knowing.

Vallabha reads jnana as mahatmya-vishayaka and vijnana as the yathartha-jnana that perceives the Lord's vibhuti in all its avantara-vishesha — the internal gradations.

Context

where

Chapter 7 · Jñāna-Vijñāna-Yoga · meter anuṣṭubh

who speaks

Krishna → Arjuna

preceded by — BG 7.1

Listen, Pārtha: with your mind fixed on Me, taking Me as your only shelter, and practicing yoga, you will know Me fully and without doubt.

What's going on

I will teach you this knowledge along with direct experience of it, completely and without remainder; knowing this, nothing else will be left for you to know.

Sūtras through this verse (64)

JayatīrthaclassicalB

Pañcabheda — the five distinctions enforced verse by versebetween

2.24No jaḍa-property fits the dehin.───→here7.2───→7.5Higher prakṛti is Lakṣmī, not matter.

ĀnandagiriclassicalA

The two-niṣṭhā axisbetween

7.1First hexad ends, middle hexad opens.───→here7.2───→13.1Two niṣṭhās, three kāṇḍas — keystone.

RāmānujaclassicalC

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

7.1Open the second ṣaṭka: mind clung to Me.───→here7.2───→9.1The royal secret of the second ṣaṭka.

show all 64

JayatīrthaclassicalC

Refuting Śaṅkara-style readings, named or unnamedbetween

6.1Householder is not figurative saṁnyāsin.───→here7.2───→7.13Why this declaration? The gloss must answer.

JayatīrthaclassicalD

Saṅgati declared at the head of every adhyāyabetween

7.1First ṣaṭka closed; new pratijñā opens.───→here7.2───→12.1Avyakta follows the manifest rūpa.

JayatīrthaclassicalE

Vishnu-sarvottamatva read into apparently neutral wordsbetween

4.11Mām is Viṣṇu, not generic absolute.───→here7.2───→7.5Higher prakṛti is Śrī, not the eight-fold.

JayatīrthaclassicalF

Bhakti-tāratamya: gradation among devotees, gradation in fruitbetween

4.11Fruit proportional to the service offered.───→here7.2───→7.21Other deities give what Viṣṇu permits.

JayatīrthaclassicalG

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

3.15Citation closes: ity āgamāt.───→here7.2───→7.5Parā-prakṛti backed by Pañcarātra.

JayatīrthaclassicalH

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

3.17No-kartavya rival staged then answered.───→here7.2───→7.13Nanu vijñāna-rūpaṁ — canonical shape.

JayatīrthaclassicalI

Lakṣaṇā-control — literal preferred when availablebetween

3.15If literal works, figurative is idle.───→here7.2───→7.5Surrounding clause picks literal Śrī.

VallabhaclassicalD

Chapter-opening preludesbetween

7.1Seven-verse prelude opens the bhakti-ṣaṭka.───→here7.2───→9.1Single-verse prelude names the secret of secrets.

VallabhaclassicalE

Three paths, one teaching orderbetween

7.1The bhakti-ṣaṭka opens the third stage.───→here7.2───→13.2The third ṣaṭka is the Lord's own bhāṣya.

VallabhaclassicalF

Soul as part of the highest Personbetween

2.16Real and unreal sort into pure and impure.───→here7.2───→7.4Lower nature is eight-fold; higher is the soul-collective.

VallabhaclassicalG

The Lord plays — calf-affection, not contractbetween

7.1The play-Person of every form opens chapter 7.───→here7.2───→9.32The unsheltered run to their cowherd-Lord.

VallabhaclassicalI

A closed three-source citation gridbetween

3.30The Nibandha is cited again on threefold drop.───→here7.2───→7.14Surrender is the only way past the Lord's māyā.

VallabhaclassicalK

Aphorism, gloss, full commentarybetween

7.1The gloss-stage opens with chapter seven.───→here7.2───→13.2The Lord himself writes the third ṣaṭka. .

VallabhaclassicalB

Grace alone — the technical markapproach

───→here7.2───→7.18The wise one is Myself, by grace alone.

ĀnandagiriclassicalI

Bhakti carries jñāna, never parallelstation

───→here7.2───→

ĀnandagiriclassicalB

Three hexads = tat tvam asibetween

7.1Middle hexad named: tat-padārtha begins.───→here7.2───→12.20Middle hexad closes; tat-pada sealed.

ĀnandagiriclassicalD

Praśna-bīja chapter openingsbetween

7.1Lord answers a question Arjuna did not ask.───→here7.2───→8.1Recap-and-bind: Ch 8 carries Ch 7 forward.

ĀnandagiriclassicalE

Pūrvapakṣa via nanu / āśaṅkyabetween

7.1Doubt about refuge, blocked by mad-āśraya.───→here7.2───→13.1Boundary protected by stylized doubt.

ĀnandagiriclassicalL

Akṣarayojanā — word-fit firstbetween

7.1Word-fit holds at the architectural seam.───→here7.2───→13.1Same discipline at the keystone chapter.

RāmānujaclassicalG

Māyā is real causal powerbetween

4.6Self-power, not self-illusion.───→here7.2───→7.14Māyā is real wonder, not unreality.

RāmānujaclassicalH

Prapatti / śaraṇāgati — universal upāyabetween

4.11As they approach Me, so do I receive them.───→here7.2───→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.'───→here7.2───→12.20The middle six are sealed and finished.

MadhusūdanaclassicalB

Different students need different teachingsbetween

6.1The renouncer and yogi are one under two views.───→here7.2───→7.16Four kinds of devotee, ranked by ripeness.

MadhusūdanaclassicalE

Devotion is how knowing actually arrivesbetween

7.1The chapter elaborates the prior bhajana-line.───→here7.2───→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.───→here7.2───→8.1I take refuge in Kāśirāja, the king of Kashi.

ĀnandagiriclassicalJ

Prakṛti is never autonomousapproach

───→here7.2───→7.4Two-fold prakṛti is the Lord's own power.

RāmānujaclassicalA

World as the Lord's body (antaryāmin)approach

───→here7.2───→7.4Two natures of the Lord: matter and selves.

RāmānujaclassicalE

Bhakti as continuous recollectionapproach

───→here7.2───→7.17I am dearest to him.

RāmānujaclassicalF

Two prakṛtis · jīva as eternal aṃśaapproach

───→here7.2───→7.4Lower nature: matter.

RāmānujaclassicalJ

Śeṣa-śeṣī · pati-vrata simileapproach

───→here7.2───→7.18He is My self; I cannot hold without him.

MadhusūdanaclassicalH

Krishna with form is the ground beneath formless Brahmanapproach

───→here7.2───→9.22I myself am the Lord, the Self of all.

MadhusūdanaclassicalJ

Two kinds of nature — divine and demonicapproach

───→here7.2───→9.13Great souls take refuge in divine nature.

VedāntadeśikaclassicalC

Antaryāmin — the indweller as standing referentbetween

3.30'Mayi sarvāṇi karmāṇi': read as antaryāmin.───→here7.2───→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.───→here7.2───→7.18The jñānin is dearest; not interchangeable.

VedāntadeśikaclassicalF

Saṅgati — anticipation-and-resolutionbetween

7.1'Mayy āsakta-manāḥ' resolves the 6.47 hint.───→here7.2───→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.───→here7.2───→7.14Only undivided love crosses the great mist.

ŚrīdharaclassicalD

The path that turns no one awaybetween

4.11However they come, I meet them so.───→here7.2───→7.16Four kinds of seekers, all good-hearted.

ŚrīdharaclassicalF

The Lord inside as inner rulerbetween

3.30Lay every act in Me; I move within.───→here7.2───→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.───→here7.2───→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.───→here7.2───→7.12The modes come from the Lord, not in Him.

RamsukhdasclassicalF

Surrender — the single shelterbetween

7.1Mind on Me, refuge wholly in Me.───→here7.2───→9.22For the undivided I personally provide.

RamsukhdasclassicalJ

Divine vs demonic patternsbetween

3.37The enemy is desire turning into anger.───→here7.2───→7.15The demonic never come near to Me.

Ramsukhdasclassical

Sādhaka Sañjīvanī commentary at this versebetween

───→here7.2───→

VedāntadeśikaclassicalB

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

───→here7.2───→7.14Those who take refuge cross the māyā.

VedāntadeśikaclassicalI

9.24 — the standing citation for ārādhyaapproach

───→here7.2───→7.21Deity-worship: His self-arrangement of grace.

ŚrīdharaclassicalH

The grammar of single-pointednessapproach

───→here7.2───→7.14Undivided love crosses the great mist.

ŚrīdharaclassicalK

Death-memory as the test of daily habitapproach

───→here7.2───→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.───→here7.2───→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.───→here7.2───→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.───→here7.2───→11.18Sat names the union of the two powers.

AbhinavaguptaclassicalB

Recognition, not additionbetween

4.14Recognize, do not learn — the verb shifts.───→here7.2───→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.───→here7.2───→7.12Modes from the Lord — the Lord not in them.

ŚaṅkaraclassicalI

The lover and the knower are one personapproach

───→here7.2───→7.16Of the four devotees, the knower is dearest.

AbhinavaguptaclassicalH

Bhakti as non-dual recognitionapproach

───→here7.2───→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.───→here7.2───→

MadhvaclassicalT6

Citation is the spine — texts carry the loadbetween

6.6Maitrāyaṇī defines the stilled mind.───→here7.2───→7.5Doubled prakṛti named from a single śruti.

MadhvaclassicalT9

Devotion and grace — what knowledge cannot do alonebetween

6.30Devotion brings what the seeker cannot earn.───→here7.2───→7.16Four kinds approach; the devoted is best.

MadhvaclassicalT10

The deluder is named — three goddesses, one Lordbetween

4.6Even the unborn descends through the deluder Durgā.───→here7.2───→7.4Eight elements name the inert side of nature.

Ekrasmodernstress

Stress — panic to shelterbetween · v2

4.16Even the wise are confused───→here7.2───→7.14Cross the maya

Ekrasmodernbhakti

Bhakti — devotion pathapproach · v2

───→here7.2───→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───→here7.2───→7.21'Yo yo yam yam tanum bhaktah shraddhayarchitum ichchhati.' Whatever form the dev

Śabda · lemmas (15 unique · 16 occurrences)

ज्ञात्वा·ज्ञातव्यम् jñā ×2 — to know (verbal root) · conv / nominative neuter singular gdv noun
ज्ञानम् jñāna — knowledge, wisdom, cognition · accusative neuter singular noun · also at 3.39, 3.40, 3.41, 4.34, 10.4, 10.5 +7
अवशिष्यते ava-√śiṣ — to remain, be left over (ava- + √śiṣ) · present indicative pass 3rd person singular verb

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ते tvad — you (2nd person pronoun stem) · dative singular noun
अहम् mad — I, me (1st person pronoun stem); also: to rejoice (verbal root) · nominative singular noun
स sa — with, having (prefix); also: he, that (pronoun)
विज्ञानम् vijñāna — discriminative knowledge, realized knowing (vi- + √jñā) · accusative neuter singular noun
इदम् idam — this (proximal demonstrative) · accusative neuter singular noun
वक्ष्यामि √vac — to speak (verbal root) · future indicative 1st person singular verb
अशेषतस् aśeṣatas — completely, without remainder (a- + śeṣa + -tas)
यत् yad — which, who (relative pronoun) · accusative neuter singular noun
न na — not (negation particle)
इह iha — here, in this world, in this life
भूयस् bhūyas — more, again, abundantly
अन्यत् anya — other, different · nominative neuter singular noun

Praśna · so what (7)

01If vijñāna is svānubhava (direct self-experience) rather than additional information, what practical conditions — in study, practice, or relationship — mark the crossing from parokṣa to aparokṣa knowledge, and how would one know the crossing has occurred?
02Śaṅkara and Madhusūdana both claim that knowing the Lord's tattva makes one sarvajña (all-knowing), yet the claim is not encyclopedic — what kind of completeness is meant, and what does it leave out?

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03Rāmānuja insists Bhagavān stands vivikta (distinctly apart) from the entire cit-acit totality while still being its inner controller — how does 'part from, yet pervading' differ from Śaṅkara's Brahman that simply is everything?
04Madhva's entry is two sentences while Madhusūdana's runs nearly a paragraph — what does the compression of Dvaita commentary on this verse suggest about where Dvaita's theological weight actually falls?
05All six schools agree that after this knowledge 'nothing remains to be known' — yet each means something different by 'nothing.' What are the six different boundaries of that 'nothing,' and are any of them mutually compatible?
06Śrīdhara's jñāna/vijñāna gloss (śāstrīya/anubhava) is the plainest, yet it implies that scripture alone cannot fulfill the verse's promise. What role does the teacher play in completing the passage from one to the other?
07The verse is a promise made by Bhagavān in the first person: 'I shall tell you.' How does the identity of the speaker alter the epistemological status of what is about to be disclosed — is this testimony, revelation, or something the traditions cannot quite classify?

Vyavahāra · try it in your life

Advaita

Before opening a text or beginning a practice session, pause and notice whether you are collecting facts or moving toward svānubhava (direct seeing). If study always adds content without ever settling into stillness, treat the accumulation itself as the obstacle Śaṅkara names. The verse licenses you to stop when you arrive — not when the syllabus ends.

Viśiṣṭādvaita

When you encounter any domain — a relationship, a profession, a crisis — ask: where in this is Bhagavān's vibhūti (sovereign excellence) distinctly present? Rāmānuja's vijñāna is the trained eye that sees Bhagavān as qualifiedly present in each differentiated form, not dissolved into it. Practicing this keeps wonder intact where Advaita might otherwise collapse difference prematurely.

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Dvaita

Maintain the felt distinction between yourself and the source of goodness you depend on. Madhva's 'mad-viṣaya jñāna' is knowledge that keeps its object distinct: when you pray, serve, or study, the awareness that Hari is genuinely other — and genuinely sovereign — prevents the ego from quietly re-absorbing what it was supposed to surrender. Dependency, honestly held, is the practice.

Śuddhādvaita

Receive each moment as an avāntara-viśeṣa (specific gradation) of Kṛṣṇa's māhātmya — not as a neutral event to be managed. Vallabha's gloss frames knowing as recognizing greatness already present in the particular. Applied daily: before reacting to any situation, let the first move be recognition of what is already given by grace, rather than calculation of what is owed.

Bhakti

Pair every unit of śāstrīya (scriptural/conceptual) study with a corresponding anubhava (experiential) test: where in my actual life does this teaching show up? Śrīdhara's clean split makes the gap visible — you can track which half of your practice is flourishing. If conceptual knowledge grows without corresponding experience, that gap is the next ādhyāya (lesson).

Advaita-Bhakti

When understanding stalls — a teaching that you know theoretically but cannot feel — name the specific obstruction: is it asaṃbhāvanā (doubt that the realization is even possible for you) or viparīta-bhāvanā (a competing conviction running beneath the surface)? Madhusūdana's framework makes the obstruction diagnosable rather than mysterious. Remove the named obstacle through vicāra (sustained inquiry), and the parokṣa already in your possession becomes aparokṣa without needing new information.

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 2: Krishna to Arjuna — Jñāna-Vijñāna-Yoga