सूत्रकृत्·Sūtrakṛt-Gītā
Ch 9 · Rāja-Vidyā-Rāja-Guhya-Yoga
← back to plaincompare← 9.229.24 →

Bhagavad Gītā Chapter 9, Verse 23: Krishna to Arjuna — Rāja-Vidyā-Rāja-Guhya-Yoga

Bhagavad Gītā 9.23Chapter 9 · Rāja-Vidyā-Rāja-Guhya-Yoga · Krishna → Arjuna · Kaunteya · anuṣṭubh
ये ऽप्यन्यदेवताभक्ता यजन्ते श्रद्धयान्विताः ।
ते ऽपि मामेव कौन्तेय यजन्त्यविधिपूर्वकम् ॥
ye← yad(218 verses)nominative masculine plural nounwhich, who (relative pronoun) 'py anya← anya(37 verses)compound (compound member)other, different-devatā← devatā(3 verses)compound (compound member)(deva + -tā: god)-bhaktā← bhakta(15 verses)nominative masculine plural noundevotee; one who is devoted yajante← √yaj(13 verses)present indicative 3rd person plural verbto sacrifice, worship (verbal root)attested in commentariesadvaitaपूजयन्ति श्रद्धया आस्तिक्यबुद्ध्या अन्विताः अनुगताः, तेऽपि मामेव कौन्तेय यजन्ति अविधिपूर्वकम् अविधिः अज्ञानं तत्पूर्वकंviśiṣṭādvaita, तेऽपि पूर्वोक्तेन न्यायेन सर्वस्य मच्छरीरतया मदात्मत्वेन इन्द्रादिशब्दानांśuddhādvaita। अपित्वविधिपूर्वकं तेषामात्मभूतमधिष्ठानताज्ञानपूर्वकं यजनं वेदे विहितम् इतरथा त्वविहितमित्यविधिपूर्वकं ते यजन्ते ततो गतbhaktiतेऽपि मामेव यजन्तीति सत्यम्, किंत्वविधिपूर्वकं मोक्षप्रापकं विधिं विना यजन्त्यतस्ते पुनरावर्तन्तेadvaita-bhaktiज्योतिष्टोमादिभिः श्रद्धया आस्तिक्यबुद्ध्या अन्विताः तेऽपि मद्भक्ता śraddhayā← śraddhā(13 verses)instrumental feminine singular nounfaith, trust, convictionattested in commentariesadvaitaआस्तिक्यबुद्ध्या अन्विताः अनुगताः, तेऽपि मामेव कौन्तेय यजन्ति अविधिपूर्वकम् अविधिः अज्ञानं तत्पूर्वकं यजन्ते इत्यर्थःviśiṣṭādvaitaअन्विताः इन्द्रादीन् यजन्ते, तेऽपि पूर्वोक्तेन न्यायेन सर्वस्य मच्छरीरतया मदात्मत्वेन इन्द्रादिशब्दानांśuddhādvaitaयुक्ताः सन्तः पूजयन्ति तेऽपि रव्यादिषु मामेव ब्रह्म ध्यात्वा यजन्तिadvaita-bhaktiआस्तिक्यबुद्ध्या अन्विताः तेऽपि मद्भक्ताnvitāḥ
te 'pi mām← mad(383 verses)accusative singular nounI, me (1st person pronoun stem); also: to rejoice (verbal root) eva← eva(174 verses)indeed, truly, only (emphatic particle) kaunteya← kaunteya(25 verses)vocative masculine singular nounson of Kuntī (epithet of Arjuna)attested in commentariesadvaitaयजन्ति अविधिपूर्वकम् अविधिः अज्ञानं तत्पूर्वकं यजन्ते इत्यर्थःadvaita-bhakti, तत्तद्देवतारूपेण स्थितं मामेव यजन्ति पूजयन्ति yaja← √yaj(13 verses)present indicative 3rd person plural verbto sacrifice, worship (verbal root)nty avidhi← avidhicompound (compound member)(a- + vidhi: rule)-pūrvakam← pūrvaka(3 verses)accusative neuter singular nounpreceded by, accompanied by (pūrva 'former' + -ka)
spokensingle-voice recital; rendered via IndicF5 conditioned on a Sanskrit reference clip
meaning

Those who worship other gods with sincere faith do worship Me, but without knowing it, and so the fruit they gain falls short.

Bhāṣyakāra purports

  • Śaṅkaraadvaita

    Those who worship other deities (anya-devatā) with faith (śraddhā) do in fact worship Me alone — yet they do so through ignorance (avidyā), not through correct understanding (vidhi). Śaṅkara reads 'avidhipūrvakam' as 'avidhi = ajñāna': the worshipper does not know that the deity he approaches is non-different from the one Brahman. Because the knowledge-gate (jñāna-dvāra) has not been entered, the fruit is limited and subject to return.

    divergence: Śaṅkara: 'avidhi ajñānaṃ tatpūrvakaṃ yajante ity arthaḥ' — they worship preceded by ignorance.

  • Rāmānujaviśiṣṭādvaita

    All deities (Indra and the rest) exist as the body (śarīra) of the Supreme Person (Paramapuruṣa); their names therefore denote (vacitva) Him. Worshippers of Indra etc. do worship Me in truth — but 'avidhipūrvakam' means they do not know through Vedānta-vākyas that these deities are His body and He is their inner Self (ātman). The Taittirīya Āraṇyaka passage 'catuhotāro yatra sampadaṃ gacchanti devaiḥ' confirms that ritual action reaches the Paramātman through the devas as His limbs; those ignorant of this śarīra-śarīrin (body-soul) relation obtain only limited, lapsing (cyavana-svabhāva) fruit.

    divergence: Rāmānuja: 'sarvasyā maccharīratayā madātmatvena indrādīśabdānāṃ ca madvācitāt vastuto mām eva yajante, api tu avidhipūrvakam.'

  • Madhvadvaita

    The Dvaita reading defends the integrity of Kṛṣṇa's earlier claim ('ahaṃ kratuh,' 9.16) against the objection that it renders all worship equivalent. Even those who worship other deities do reach Hari — but indirectly and in a degraded mode, without recognising His absolute supremacy (svatantra-paratva). The dependent (paratantra) jīva's failure to direct worship explicitly to Hari means the fruit is proportionally inferior; this is not equivalence but a hierarchy of access.

    divergence: Madhva's sūcī: 'tarhi ahaṃ kratuḥ ity ādi asatyam ity ata āha — ye api iti' — the verse defends the truth of 9.16 against flattening.

  • Vallabhaśuddhādvaita

    Even pañcāyatana-pūjā worshippers (of Ravi, Vināyaka, Caṇḍī, Īśa, Viṣṇu) do worship Me, for all those forms are Kṛṣṇa's own expressive body (madaṅgabhūta). 'Avidhipūrvakam' means they worship without knowing the adhiṣṭhāna-tattva — the foundational truth that Viṣṇu is the mūla (root) of all devas, so worshipping branches while neglecting the root is like pouring water on leaves instead of the root. The Bhāgavata vākya ('mūlaṃ viṣṇur hi devānām') seals the point: Kṛṣṇa's prasāda (grace) is not obtained through secondary channels when the primary is available.

    divergence: Vallabha: 'mūlabhūtaṃ parityajya śākhāpatrādau secanavad yajanaṃ avidhitam' — watering branches not roots.

  • Śrīdharabhakti

    Śrīdhara grants the theological fact: since other deities have no real existence apart from Kṛṣṇa, their worshippers do technically worship Him. The problem is procedural: they worship 'without the means that leads to liberation' (mokṣa-prāpaka-vidhiṃ vinā). Faith (śraddhā) is present, but the orientation is toward limited ends — hence they return (punar āvartante) rather than reaching the final good.

    divergence: Śrīdhara: 'kiṃtv avidhipūrvakam mokṣaprāpakaṃ vidhiṃ vinā yajanti ataḥ te punar āvartante.'

  • Madhusūdanaadvaita-bhakti

    Madhusūdana addresses the dialectical pressure directly: if all deities are Kṛṣṇa, why does Kṛṣṇa distinguish His own bhaktas from others? The answer is in the quality of knowing, not the object of worship. Worshippers of Vasu, Rudra, Āditya etc. do reach Kṛṣṇa through those forms — but 'avidhipūrvakam' means they do so without knowing His sarvātmatva (all-Self nature): they posit Vasu etc. as genuinely distinct (madvinnata-kalpanā). The ananyā-bhakta knows there is no other; the anya-devatā-bhakta posits another. Same object, entirely different epistemic relationship — and therefore entirely different fruit.

    divergence: Madhusūdana: 'sarvātmatvena mām ajñātvā madbhinnatvena vasvādīn kalpayitvā yajanti ity arthaḥ.'

Sūtrakṛt-Gītā · v1.0 · gita.ekrasworks.com