BG 7.23 — Jñāna-Vijñāna-Yoga

Bhagavad Gītā 7.23Chapter 7 · Jñāna-Vijñāna-Yoga · Krishna → Arjuna · anuṣṭubh

अन्तवत् तु फलं तेषां तद् भवत्यल्पमेधसाम् ।

देवान् देवयजो यान्ति मद्भक्ता यान्ति मामपि ॥

antavat tu phalaṃ teṣāṃ tad bhavaty alpa-medhasām

devān deva-yajo yānti mad-bhaktā yānti mām api

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

meaning

Those with little wisdom worship the devas and reach the devas, winning fruit that runs out. My devotees reach me, and that does not run out.

ekras · bhāṣya

The fruit of those of small mind is bounded. Deva-worshippers reach the devas; My devotees reach Me. Two halves; the second is the cleanest contrast in the chapter. Same effort, different destinations. Same shraddha, different scopes. The deva-worshipper reaches the deva — finite. The mat-bhakta reaches Krishna — without bound.

Shankara's pain is audible here. With equal effort, they could reach the infinite, yet they choose the finite — kashtam — how grievous. The alpa-medhasam — the limited-minded — are not the wicked; they are the worshippers of 7.21-22, the sukritins whose discrimination did not reach far enough. The fruit accruing is perishable because the deity worshipped is perishable; the choice was made before the worship began.

Madhusudana reads the diverging fruit as turning on a single variable: vastu-viveka. All devas are bodies of the universal Self; their worship is in truth Krishna's worship; he is the antaryamin who gives every fruit. Yet the fruit diverges because the discriminating devotee, knowing this, receives the unbound destination, while the undiscriminating receives the bound. The metaphysics is the same; the recognition makes the difference.

Ramanuja reads the bound fruit precisely. Worshippers of Indra and the lesser devas obtain fruits that are both slight and impermanent, because those devas are themselves of paricchinna-bhoga and finite duration. When their sayujya — union — with such devas runs out, they fall back. The devotees of Bhagavan, having Krishna himself as their object, do not fall.

Madhva reads alpa-medhasam with the strict bheda-frame: the deva-worshippers approach what is paratantra while missing the svatantra Lord.

Vallabha names the inner reason for the divergence: the worshipper of one branch of the tree receives only that branch's fruit. Yet in the Vedic yajna where the devas are understood as angas of Krishna, the same action delivers the unbound destination because the inner orientation is whole.

Context

where

Chapter 7 · Jñāna-Vijñāna-Yoga · meter anuṣṭubh

who speaks

Krishna → Arjuna

preceded by — BG 7.22

Armed with that faith, he worships the chosen deity and wins the desires he sought, but I alone ordained those fruits.

What's going on

Those with little wisdom worship the devas and reach the devas, winning fruit that runs out. My devotees reach me, and that does not run out.

Sūtras through this verse (64)

JayatīrthaclassicalB

Pañcabheda — the five distinctions enforced verse by versebetween

7.5Higher prakṛti is Lakṣmī, not matter.───→here7.23───→8.4Adhiyajña is Viṣṇu, not the worshipper.

ĀnandagiriclassicalA

The two-niṣṭhā axisbetween

7.1First hexad ends, middle hexad opens.───→here7.23───→13.1Two niṣṭhās, three kāṇḍas — keystone.

RāmānujaclassicalA

World as the Lord's body (antaryāmin)between

7.7Nothing higher than Me; I string it all.───→here7.23───→9.4World in Me, not Me in it.

show all 64

JayatīrthaclassicalF

Bhakti-tāratamya: gradation among devotees, gradation in fruitstation

───→here7.23───→

JayatīrthaclassicalC

Refuting Śaṅkara-style readings, named or unnamedbetween

7.13Why this declaration? The gloss must answer.───→here7.23───→11.16Aneka- is not just two-or-more.

JayatīrthaclassicalD

Saṅgati declared at the head of every adhyāyabetween

7.1First ṣaṭka closed; new pratijñā opens.───→here7.23───→12.1Avyakta follows the manifest rūpa.

JayatīrthaclassicalE

Vishnu-sarvottamatva read into apparently neutral wordsbetween

7.5Higher prakṛti is Śrī, not the eight-fold.───→here7.23───→8.3Akṣara is Viṣṇu, not quality-less.

JayatīrthaclassicalG

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

7.5Parā-prakṛti backed by Pañcarātra.───→here7.23───→11.16Aṣṭādhyāyī 5.4.78 settles aneka-.

JayatīrthaclassicalH

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

7.13Nanu vijñāna-rūpaṁ — canonical shape.───→here7.23───→12.5Avyakta-rival raised, then answered.

JayatīrthaclassicalI

Lakṣaṇā-control — literal preferred when availablebetween

7.5Surrounding clause picks literal Śrī.───→here7.23───→11.16Aneka- means many; no upacāra needed.

VallabhaclassicalB

Grace alone — the technical markbetween

7.18The wise one is Myself, by grace alone.───→here7.23───→9.22Grace alone — never calculation of merit.

VallabhaclassicalD

Chapter-opening preludesbetween

7.1Seven-verse prelude opens the bhakti-ṣaṭka.───→here7.23───→9.1Single-verse prelude names the secret of secrets.

VallabhaclassicalE

Three paths, one teaching orderbetween

7.1The bhakti-ṣaṭka opens the third stage.───→here7.23───→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.───→here7.23───→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.───→here7.23───→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.───→here7.23───→9.22The Bhāgavata block grounds grace-only doctrine.

VallabhaclassicalK

Aphorism, gloss, full commentarybetween

7.1The gloss-stage opens with chapter seven.───→here7.23───→13.2The Lord himself writes the third ṣaṭka. .

ĀnandagiriclassicalB

Three hexads = tat tvam asibetween

7.1Middle hexad named: tat-padārtha begins.───→here7.23───→12.20Middle hexad closes; tat-pada sealed.

ĀnandagiriclassicalD

Praśna-bīja chapter openingsbetween

7.1Lord answers a question Arjuna did not ask.───→here7.23───→8.1Recap-and-bind: Ch 8 carries Ch 7 forward.

ĀnandagiriclassicalE

Pūrvapakṣa via nanu / āśaṅkyabetween

7.1Doubt about refuge, blocked by mad-āśraya.───→here7.23───→13.1Boundary protected by stylized doubt.

ĀnandagiriclassicalI

Bhakti carries jñāna, never parallelbetween

7.2Bhakti's fruit is jñāna itself.───→here7.23───→12.12Bhakti's gradient ends in jñāna.

ĀnandagiriclassicalJ

Prakṛti is never autonomousbetween

7.4Two-fold prakṛti is the Lord's own power.───→here7.23───→13.1Prakṛti's autonomy blocked at boundary. Anchor.

ĀnandagiriclassicalL

Akṣarayojanā — word-fit firstbetween

7.1Word-fit holds at the architectural seam.───→here7.23───→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.───→here7.23───→9.1The royal secret of the second ṣaṭka.

RāmānujaclassicalE

Bhakti as continuous recollectionbetween

7.19After many lives — home.───→here7.23───→8.14Easily reached by unbroken recollection.

RāmānujaclassicalF

Two prakṛtis · jīva as eternal aṃśabetween

7.13Modes hide the higher.───→here7.23───→13.20Both natures beginningless.

RāmānujaclassicalG

Māyā is real causal powerbetween

7.14Māyā is real wonder, not unreality.───→here7.23───→7.25My power, not your blindness, hides Me.

RāmānujaclassicalH

Prapatti / śaraṇāgati — universal upāyabetween

7.14Surrender alone crosses the māyā.───→here7.23───→9.32Even the lowest birth reaches Me through this.

RāmānujaclassicalJ

Śeṣa-śeṣī · pati-vrata similebetween

7.18He is My self; I cannot hold without him.───→here7.23───→9.34Set toward Me, the seeker's whole posture.

MadhusūdanaclassicalA

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

7.1First six unfold 'you,' middle six unfold 'that.'───→here7.23───→12.20The middle six are sealed and finished.

MadhusūdanaclassicalB

Different students need different teachingsbetween

7.16Four kinds of devotee, ranked by ripeness.───→here7.23───→12.1Saguṇa or nirguṇa? Depends on who's asking.

MadhusūdanaclassicalE

Devotion is how knowing actually arrivesbetween

7.16The lover-knower stands at the top of the four.───→here7.23───→9.22Constant thought of Me is self-contemplation itself.

MadhusūdanaclassicalF

Every middle chapter opens with a bow to the teacherbetween

7.1A bow to the bliss-cloud, Nanda's son, opens seven.───→here7.23───→8.1I take refuge in Kāśirāja, the king of Kashi.

MadhusūdanaclassicalH

Krishna with form is the ground beneath formless Brahmanapproach

───→here7.23───→9.22I myself am the Lord, the Self of all.

MadhusūdanaclassicalJ

Two kinds of nature — divine and demonicapproach

───→here7.23───→9.13Great souls take refuge in divine nature.

VedāntadeśikaclassicalB

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

7.14Those who take refuge cross the māyā.───→here7.23───→9.22For the undivided, I carry it Myself.

VedāntadeśikaclassicalC

Antaryāmin — the indweller as standing referentbetween

7.21Whatever form is worshipped, I steady it.───→here7.23───→9.24Receiver of every rite is the indweller alone.

VedāntadeśikaclassicalE

Pūrva-pakṣa — name the rival, close the doorbetween

7.18The jñānin is dearest; not interchangeable.───→here7.23───→9.34Refuge is not bondage by another name.

VedāntadeśikaclassicalF

Saṅgati — anticipation-and-resolutionbetween

7.1'Mayy āsakta-manāḥ' resolves the 6.47 hint.───→here7.23───→9.1Chapter 7's residue of wonder forces 9's disclosure.

VedāntadeśikaclassicalI

9.24 — the standing citation for ārādhyabetween

7.22The fruits of those rites are ordained by Me.───→here7.23───→9.20Soma-drinking heaven- seekers worship Me too.

ŚrīdharaclassicalC

Devotion is both the way and the homebetween

7.17The wise lover is my own dearest one.───→here7.23───→9.22I carry getting and keeping for them.

ŚrīdharaclassicalD

The path that turns no one awaybetween

7.21Whichever form I steady that faith.───→here7.23───→9.30Even fallen conduct, love makes pure.

ŚrīdharaclassicalF

The Lord inside as inner rulerbetween

7.21I am the one who steadies your chosen faith.───→here7.23───→8.5Remember Me as the inner-ruler form.

ŚrīdharaclassicalH

The grammar of single-pointednessbetween

7.17Always-yoked, fixed on the One alone.───→here7.23───→8.14Mind on no other, constantly remembers Me.

RamsukhdasclassicalA

What binds you (and how to let go)between

6.1True renouncing acts; drops the inner hook.───→here7.23───→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.───→here7.23───→13.21Clinging to modes causes any new birth.

RamsukhdasclassicalF

Surrender — the single shelterbetween

7.1Mind on Me, refuge wholly in Me.───→here7.23───→9.22For the undivided I personally provide.

RamsukhdasclassicalJ

Divine vs demonic patternsbetween

7.15The demonic never come near to Me.───→here7.23───→9.12Vain hopes, vain acts, their own punishment.

Ramsukhdasclassical

Sādhaka Sañjīvanī commentary at this versebetween

───→here7.23───→

ŚrīdharaclassicalK

Death-memory as the test of daily habitapproach

───→here7.23───→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.───→here7.23───→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.───→here7.23───→7.30The cosmic and the rite-Lord are one Lord, known together.

ŚaṅkaraclassicalI

The lover and the knower are one personbetween

7.16Of the four devotees, the knower is dearest.───→here7.23───→9.22For those who see only Me I myself bear all need.

AbhinavaguptaclassicalA

Knowing and acting are one powerbetween

7.1Together they cover everything to be known.───→here7.23───→11.18Sat names the union of the two powers.

AbhinavaguptaclassicalB

Recognition, not additionbetween

4.14Recognize, do not learn — the verb shifts.───→here7.23───→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.───→here7.23───→14.5Three primary contractions of cit.

AbhinavaguptaclassicalH

Bhakti as non-dual recognitionapproach

───→here7.23───→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.───→here7.23───→

MadhvaclassicalT6

Citation is the spine — texts carry the loadbetween

7.5Doubled prakṛti named from a single śruti.───→here7.23───→12.6Saukarāyaṇa-śruti ranks the personal route.

MadhvaclassicalT9

Devotion and grace — what knowledge cannot do alonebetween

7.16Four kinds approach; the devoted is best.───→here7.23───→9.22For the undivided, I personally provide.

MadhvaclassicalT10

The deluder is named — three goddesses, one Lordbetween

7.14Only by surrender does the māyā lift.───→here7.23───→14.3Three goddesses named in a single śruti.

Ekrasmodernstress

Stress — panic to shelterbetween · v2

7.14Cross the maya───→here7.23───→9.22Yogakshema

Ekrasmodernbhakti

Bhakti — devotion pathbetween · v2

7.19After many births───→here7.23───→9.13Mahātmas of divine nature

Gauravmoderninterfaith_cosmology

Interfaith Cosmologybetween

7.21'Yo yo yam yam tanum bhaktah shraddhayarchitum ichchhati.' Whatever form the dev───→here7.23───→9.4'Maya tatam idam sarvam jagad avyakta-murtina.' All this universe is pervaded by

Śabda · lemmas (13 unique · 17 occurrences)

यान्ति √yā ×2 — to go (verbal root) · present indicative 3rd person plural verb
अन्तवत् antavat — (anta + -vat: end) · nominative neuter singular noun
देवान्·देव deva ×2 — god, deity, celestial being; the devas · accusative masculine plural noun / compound

show all 13

तेषाम्·तत् tad ×2 — that (distal demonstrative); also 3rd-person pronoun · genitive masculine plural noun / nominative neuter singular noun
मद्·माम् mad ×2 — I, me (1st person pronoun stem); also: to rejoice (verbal root) · compound / accusative singular noun
तु tu — but, on the other hand (particle)
फलम् phala — fruit, result · nominative neuter singular noun
भवति √bhū — to be, become; the earth (verbal root / noun) · present indicative 3rd person singular verb
अल्प alpa — small, little, scant · compound
मेधसाम् medhas — intelligence, wisdom (variant of medhā) · genitive masculine plural noun
यजः yaj — to sacrifice, worship (verbal root) · nominative masculine plural noun
भक्ताः bhakta — devotee; one who is devoted · nominative masculine plural noun
अपि api — also, even, although

Praśna · so what (7)

01If the Lord himself grants the fruit of deva-worship (as Śrīdhara and Madhusūdana both assert), what exactly constitutes the 'mistake' of the alpa-medhas — is it the object of worship or the quality of understanding brought to it?
02Rāmānuja says devotees 'do not return' (na punar nivartante) — how does this square with the Gītā's allowance that even sākāma (desire-driven) bhaktas of Kṛṣṇa eventually reach Him: is the distinction in time-to-mokṣa or in kind of liberation?

show all 7

03Śaṅkara identifies 'equal effort' (samāna āyāsa) between deva-worshippers and Kṛṣṇa-worshippers — if the effort is the same, is the alpa-medhās fault purely epistemic (ignorance of what is available) rather than motivational?
04Vallabha uses the 'watering the root' image for bhakti: does this imply that Puṣṭi-mārga devotion fulfills all dharmic obligations automatically, or does it require them as simultaneous practices?
05The verse uses 'mām api' — the 'also' (api) suggests devotees of Kṛṣṇa receive everything deva-worshippers receive and more. Does Madhusūdana's reading (desires fulfilled first, then mokṣa) resolve the 'also' grammatically?
06If bounded fruits arise from bounded understanding, what is the Sūtrakṛt-relevant question: is polysemy itself a mark of 'high medhas' — the capacity to hold multiple valid readings simultaneously rather than collapsing to one?
07Madhva's absence from this verse is itself data: does Dvaita have a structural difficulty with this verse because the verse's logic threatens to make deva-worship and Kṛṣṇa-worship differ only in degree, not in kind?

Vyavahāra · try it in your life

Advaita

Before investing effort in a goal, ask: is this fruit antavat — does it terminate? Not as renunciation but as calibration. The same energy directed toward understanding the nature of awareness rather than its objects yields what Śaṅkara calls 'ananta-phala' — results that do not reverse. Choose goals whose completion increases your capacity for clarity, not just your inventory of things.

Viśiṣṭādvaita

Reframe your daily work as kainkarya — service to the whole rather than extraction for the self. Rāmānuja's key move is recognizing that the same action changes register entirely when its motivation shifts from 'paricchinna-phala-saṅga' (clinging to bounded reward) to 'mat-prīṇana' (pleasing the source). You do not change what you do; you change what you are doing it for — and the consequence of that shift is irreversibility.

show all 6

Dvaita

Distinguish clearly between instrumental goods (things that serve a purpose and are replaceable) and the one good that is not instrumental. Dvaita's insistence on the absolute distinction between Hari and everything else is practically an instruction: do not mistake a good boss, a loving partner, or a fulfilling career for the terminus — they are real and valuable as devas, but they are antavat. Anchor your deepest dependence only in what is not bounded.

Śuddhādvaita

Vallabha's 'water the root' principle: when overwhelmed by competing obligations (family, work, community, personal practice), identify which one is the mūla-rūpa for this season of your life and devote fully to it. The Puṣṭi-mārga does not demand the abandonment of branches — it demands recognition of which action, when done with full bhāva, nourishes everything else simultaneously.

Bhakti

Śrīdhara's 'paricchinna-dṛṣṭi' (limited vision) is the operative diagnosis. In practical terms: if a relationship, profession, or community consistently returns you to a sense of contraction rather than expansion, the limitation is not in the object but in the frame of vision you bring. Widening the frame — asking 'what is this situation an aspect of?' rather than 'what do I get from this?' — shifts the fruit from antavat to anādy-anta.

Advaita-Bhakti

Madhusūdana's 'api' logic: you do not have to give up wanting things in order to move toward the infinite. The path is sequential — pursue your desire with full commitment, but pursue it as a devotee who remains in relationship with the larger ground. The desire itself, when brought into contact with that ground, ripens (parīpāka) into something beyond itself. This is a pedagogy for people who cannot yet renounce: start where you are, but start consciously.

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 23: Krishna to Arjuna — Jñāna-Vijñāna-Yoga