Bhagavad Gītā Chapter 9, Verse 3: Krishna to Arjuna — Rāja-Vidyā-Rāja-Guhya-Yoga

Bhāṣyakāra purports

• Śaṅkaraadvaita

  Those who lack śraddhā (faith) in this dharma — the knowledge of the ātman — are nāstikas (non-believers) who cling to the view that the body alone is the self, the very doctrine of the asuras. Without grasping even the means of reaching Me — bhakti toward the path itself — they do not attain Me, the Parameśvara (Supreme Lord). They revolve inevitably on the mṛtyu-saṃsāra-vartman (the road of death-bound rebirth), cycling through hells, animal births, and lower existences.

  divergence: Śaṅkara: 'asurāṇām upaniṣadaṃ dehamātrātmadaśanam eva pratipannāḥ' — they have adopted the secret doctrine of the demons, seeing only body as self. 'Mātpprāptimārgasādhanabhedabhaktimātram api aprāpya' — they fail to attain even the bhakti that is a means to the path of reaching Me.

• Rāmānujaviśiṣṭādvaita

  This dharma is upāsana (meditative worship) — itself of the nature of the supreme good, the sādhana (means) for attaining Me who am of surpassingly beloved form. Those who, having reached the eligibility to take up this path, nonetheless remain without viśvāsa (trusting faith), do not attain Me and revolve in the saṃsāra-vartman characterized by mṛtyu (death). How extraordinary is this wonder (āścarya), says Bhagavān — that what is supremely loveable and supremely liberating is still rejected.

  divergence: Rāmānuja: 'niratiśayapriyamadvijayatayā svayaṃ niratiśayapriyarūpasya paramanihśreyasasvarūpamtprāptisādhanasya avyayasya upādānayogyadaśāṃ prāpya aśraddadhānāḥ' — having reached the fit condition for taking up this eternal sādhana, they remain without faith.

• Madhvadvaita

  *Aśraddadhānāḥ puruṣāḥ* — those who lack *śraddhā* (faith) in *dharmasya asya*, this *dharma* of direct *bhakti* to the *svatantra* (independently real, self-sufficient) Lord Hari — *aprāpya māṃ nivartante*: without reaching Him, they turn back. They return to *mṛtyu-saṃsāra-vartmani*, the path of death and rebirth. The *paratantra* (eternally dependent) *jīva* who does not recognize its own utter dependence (*pāratantryā*) on Hari, and who therefore does not take up *bhakti* as ontological subordination to Him, cannot attain His *prāpti* (arrival at Him). Arrival is real, not dissolution — the *jīva* remains distinct from the Lord even in liberation, and *bheda* (real distinction) between Lord and *jīva* is never annulled. Without *śraddhā* grounded in that recognition of *pañca-bheda* (the five-fold real distinction: Lord–*jīva*, Lord–matter, *jīva*–*jīva*, *jīva*–matter, matter–matter), the *jīva* gains nothing and revolves in *saṃsāra* by its own accumulated *karma*.

  divergence: No Madhva or Jayatīrtha bhāṣya is extant on this verse. The reading is voiced directly from Dvaita *siddhānta* as applied to the mūla.

• Vallabhaśuddhādvaita

  Vallabha reads dharma here as bhajana (devotional service) — or, per the variant reading, as the knowledge that is joined with bhajana. Those persons without śraddhā (faith) in this dharma fail to reach Me, Puruṣottama (the Supreme Person), and remain deeply enmired in the saṃsāra characterized by mṛtyu. In Puṣṭi-mārga terms, śraddhā is not mere assent but the receptive openness to Kṛṣṇa's prasāda (grace-gift); without it, no amount of effort reaches the Lord of līlā.

  divergence: Vallabha: 'dharmasya bhajanalakṣaṇasya, pāṭhāntare tu dharmasya tatsahitajñānasya vā śraddhārahitāḥ' — faith-less toward the dharma defined as bhajana, or toward knowledge united with bhajana. 'Mṛtyurūpe saṃsāre nitarāṃ vartante' — they truly abide in the saṃsāra of the form of death.

• Śrīdharabhakti

  Śrīdhara poses a direct question: if this path is easy to practice (svasukara), who then remains in saṃsāra? The answer: those who refuse this dharma defined as bhakti joined with jñāna — who will not accept it with āstikya (the conviction of its validity) — even if they strain toward liberation by other means (upāyāntara), they fail to reach Me and wander on the saṃsāra-vartman pervaded by mṛtyu.

  divergence: Śrīdhara: 'imaṃ dharmam aśraddadhānā āstikyenāsvīkurvantaḥ upāyāntareṇa matprāptaye kṛtaprayatnā api mām aprāpya mṛtyuyukte saṃsāravartmani nivartante' — even those who strive hard by other means, if they lack āstikya toward this dharma, do not reach Me.

• Madhusūdanaadvaita-bhakti

  Madhusūdana presses the logical puzzle: if this dharma is both easy and supremely excellent, why does anyone remain in saṃsāra? The answer is that some — their antaḥkaraṇa (inner instrument) corrupted by heterodox reasoning opposed to the Veda — regard the scriptural means as invalid. Though they exert effort by their self-devised methods (svamati-kalpita-upāya), the absence of the śāstra-prescribed means ensures they never attain Me, and fail to attain even the sādhana for reaching Me. They revolve without end through janana-maraṇa cycles — hells, animal births, and low wombs.

  divergence: Madhusūdana: 'vedavirodhikuhetudaśanadūṣitāntaḥkaraṇatayā prāmāṇyam amanyamānāḥ pāpakāriṇo asurasaṃpadam ārūḍhāḥ svamatikaipitena upāyena kathaṃcid yatamānā api śāstravidhitopāyabhāvāt aprāpya māṃ' — corrupted inner organs, trusting heterodox counter-reasons, despite effort, lacking the śāstra-means, never reach Me.