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Ch 7 · Jñāna-Vijñāna-Yoga
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Bhagavad Gītā Chapter 7, Verse 3: Krishna to Arjuna — Jñāna-Vijñāna-Yoga

Bhagavad Gītā 7.3Chapter 7 · Jñāna-Vijñāna-Yoga · Krishna → Arjuna · anuṣṭubh
मनुष्याणां सहस्रेषु कश् चिद् यतति सिद्धये ।
यततामपि सिद्धानां कश् चिन् मां वेत्ति तत्त्वतः ॥
manuṣyāṇāṃ← manuṣya(7 verses)genitive masculine plural nounhuman being sahasreṣu← sahasra(6 verses)locative neuter plural nounthousandattested in commentariesadvaitaअनेकेषु कश्चित् यतति प्रयत्नं करोति सिद्धये सिद्ध्यर्थम्viśiṣṭādvaitaकश्चिद्bhaktiमध्ये कश्चिदेव प्रकृष्टपुण्यवशात्सिद्धये आत्मज्ञानाय प्रयतते प्रयत्नं कुर्वतामपि सहस्रेषु कश्चिदेव प्रकृष्टपुण्यवशादात्advaita-bhaktiमध्ये कश्चिदेकोऽनेकजन्मकृतसुकृतसमासादितनित्यानित्यवस्तुविवेकः सन् यतति यतते सिद्धये सत्त्वशुद्धिद्वारा ज्ञानोत्पत्तये ka← ka(42 verses)nominative masculine singular nounwho? what? (interrogative)ś cid yatati← √yat(10 verses)present indicative 3rd person singular verbwho, which (relative pronoun, variant of yad); also: to strive, exert (verbal root)attested in commentariesadvaitaप्रयत्नं करोति सिद्धये सिद्ध्यर्थम्advaita-bhaktiयतते सिद्धये सत्त्वशुद्धिद्वारा ज्ञानोत्पत्तये siddhaye← siddhi(14 verses)dative feminine singular nounperfection, attainment, success; supernatural power (yogic)attested in commentariesadvaitaसिद्ध्यर्थम्viśiṣṭādvaitaयतते। मद्विदां सहस्रेषु तत्त्वतो यथावत्स्थितं मां वेत्ति न कश्चिद् इति अभिप्रायः।स महात्मा सुदुर्लभः (गीता 7।19)मां तुadvaita-bhaktiसत्त्वशुद्धिद्वारा ज्ञानोत्पत्तये
yatatām api← api(103 verses)also, even, although siddhānāṃ← siddha(6 verses)genitive masculine plural nounperfected, accomplished; a class of celestial beings ka← ka(42 verses)nominative masculine singular nounwho? what? (interrogative)ś cin māṃ← mad(383 verses)accusative singular nounI, me (1st person pronoun stem); also: to rejoice (verbal root) vetti← √vid(76 verses)present indicative 3rd person singular verbto know; to find (verbal root)attested in commentariesadvaitaतत्त्वतः यथावत्viśiṣṭādvaitaन कश्चिद् इति अभिप्रायःbhaktiतादृशानां चात्मज्ञानसिद्धानां सहस्रेषु कश्चिदेव मां परमात्मानं मत्प्रसादेन तत्त्वतो वेत्ति तदेवमतिदुर्लभमपि मज्ज्ञानं तadvaita-bhaktiसाक्षात्करोति तत्त्वतः प्रत्यगभेदेन तत्त्वमसीत्यादिगुरूपदिष्टमहावाक्येभ्यः tattvataḥ← tattva(14 verses)ablative neuter singular nounthatness, principle, realityattested in commentariesadvaitaयथावत्viśiṣṭādvaitaइति विशिष्टं वेदनं सामान्यतोऽपि वेदनमात्रे सत्येव हि भवति अतोयततामपि सिद्धानां कश्चिन्मां वेत्तिमद्विधेषु कश्चिन्मां ततśuddhādvaitaनिरतिशयमहिमत्वतः कश्चिदेव व्यासवामदेवशुकादिर्वेत्ति न सर्वःadvaita-bhaktiप्रत्यगभेदेन तत्त्वमसीत्यादिगुरूपदिष्टमहावाक्येभ्यः
spokensingle-voice recital; rendered via IndicF5 conditioned on a Sanskrit reference clip
meaning

Among thousands who strive for liberation, barely one finds it; among those rare achievers, still fewer truly know Me as I am.

Bhāṣyakāra purports

  • Śaṅkaraadvaita

    Among thousands of humans, some rare one strives for siddhi (liberation-completion); yet even among those who strive, barely one truly knows Me in tattva (essential reality). Śaṅkara glosses siddhi as mōkṣa, and the striving itself as preliminary — the crowd is disqualified not by laziness but by the obscuring force of māyā (illusory superimposition). The verse functions as a prarocanā — a hook to orient the qualified listener toward what follows, underscoring that direct brahma-jñāna (knowledge of Brahman) is the rarest of rare attainments.

  • Rāmānujaviśiṣṭādvaita

    Rāmānuja reads a three-tier rarity: among śāstra-qualified humans, few strive to the end of siddhi; among those, fewer still strive knowing 'from Bhagavān alone comes siddhi'; among even that set, none truly knows Me as I actually am (yathāvasthita). The verse thus sets up 7.19 ('sa mahātmā sudurlabhaḥ') and 7.26 ('māṃ tu veda na kaścana') as direct fulfillments. Knowing the Lord is not intellectual but relational — it is the complete bhakti-prasāda (devotional grace-fruit) that no unaided effort can produce.

  • Madhvadvaita

    Madhva's compressed gloss — 'daurabhyaṃ jñānasya āha' ('he states the rarity of knowledge') — is deliberately terse. In Dvaita, the jīva (individual self) is eternally and irrevocably distinct from Hari; knowledge of Hari is therefore not a function of sādhana (practice) alone but of Hari's own anugraha (grace). The verse diagnoses a structural scarcity: most humans lack even the impulse to strive; among those who strive, tat-tattva-jñāna (knowledge of His essential nature) is blocked by svābhāvika-avidyā (innate ignorance of the jīva class) until Hari's grace intervenes.

  • Vallabhaśuddhādvaita

    Vallabha identifies only exemplars — Vyāsa, Vāmadeva, Śuka — as those who truly know the Bhagavān as paramātman, sarvadharma-āśraya (the substrate of all dharmas), and niratīśaya-mahiman (of unsurpassed glory). Ordinary sādhana reaches ātma-tattva-jñāna (knowledge of the self-principle) but not bhagavat-tattva (knowledge of Bhagavān's own nature); only Kṛṣṇa's own prasāda-śakti (grace-power) bridges that gap. The verse is therefore Kṛṣṇa's self-invitation: 'therefore I shall tell you that knowledge which is Mine to give.'

  • Śrīdharabhakti

    Śrīdhara adds a fourth rung below Śaṅkara's two: the vast mass of non-human jīvas cannot even enter the frame of śreyas (the good); among humans, a rare prakṛṣṭa-puṇya-vaśa (one driven by accumulated meritorious karma) strives; among those, a rare one knows the ātman; and among even those ātma-jñāna-siddha (self-knowledge completers), a further rare one knows the paramātman by mat-prasāda (the Lord's own grace). The verse thus constructs a four-stage scarcity ladder, concluding that bhakti-vinā (without devotion) even ātma-jñāna cannot bridge to Bhagavān-jñāna.

  • Madhusūdanaadvaita-bhakti

    Madhusūdana anchors the verse in aneka-janma-kṛta-sukṛta (merit built over many births), which produces nityānityavastu-viveka (discrimination between eternal and transient), the prerequisite for any striving. Even then, śravaṇa-manana-nididhyāsana (hearing, reflecting, deep contemplation) must fully ripen before the mahāvākya (great utterance 'tat tvam asi') is grasped as pratyag-abhedena (non-dual identity with the inner self). Without the Lord's own anugraha (grace), even a fully qualified sādhaka (practitioner) remains outside the threshold — making this verse a simultaneous argument for the necessity of jñāna-mārga and the indispensability of bhakti-prasāda.

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