Sanskrit
बृहत्साम तथा साम्नां गायत्री छन्दसामहम् । मासानां मार्गशीर्षोऽहमृतूनां कुसुमाकरः ॥ ३५ ॥
bṛhatsāma tathā sāmnāṃ gāyatrī chandasām aham māsānāṃ mārgaśīrṣo'ham ṛtūnāṃ kusumākaraḥ
Translation
Of hymns also Brihatsâman; Gâyatrî of metres am I; of months I am Mârgasîrsha; of seasons the flowery.
Annie Besant · The Bhagavad-Gita, translated by Annie Besant (4th ed., 1922) — Wikisource · Public Domain
Explanation
Brihatsaman among hymns, Gayatri among meters, Margashirsha among months, spring among seasons — a verse of aesthetic and calendrical “bests” that follows the established pattern without needing much individual comment, one of the plainer list entries. A verse of calendrical and metrical “foremosts” — the list running on its established rhythm. The Gāyatrī is singled out as the metre of the most sacred Vedic verse.
Study deeper
Word by word
- bṛhatsāma tathā sāmnāṃबृहत्साम तथा सांनां
- among Sāma hymns, the Bṛhat-sāman (bṛhat-sāma + tathā + sāmnām)
- gāyatrī chandasām ahamगायत्री छन्दसां अहं
- among metres I am the Gāyatrī (gāyatrī + chandasām + aham)
- māsānāṃ mārgaśīrṣo'hamमासानां मार्गशीर्षोऽहं
- among months I am Mārgaśīrṣa (māsānām + mārga-śīrṣaḥ + aham)
- ṛtūnāṃ kusumākaraḥऋतूनां कुसुमाकरः
- among seasons, the flowering spring (ṛtūnām + kusuma-ākaraḥ)
Commentary
Site Commentary
This verse pairs a hymn and a meter — both instruments of sacred recitation — with a month and a season, categories anyone marks whether or not they ever chant a Veda. The same two-line unit that names Gāyatrī, the meter underlying the most famous mantra in the tradition, closes by naming which month feels best and which season looks best; sacred practice and ordinary calendar sense sit in the same breath, unranked against each other.
Original commentary written for this site · © Amit Singh — original commentary
Concepts
Apply this verse
Lessons
Personal
- Let meaningful, deliberate practice and ordinary calendar life sit side by side rather than treating one as higher than the other — a sacred routine and a plain seasonal pleasure can both be given real attention without one crowding out the other.
Professional
- Don't treat 'strategic' work as inherently more valuable than routine operational work — both deserve real attention, and a team that only rewards the strategic half starves the operational discipline that actually keeps things running.
Family & Social
- Give both special family rituals and ordinary calendar routines, like which month you visit relatives, the same real care — the ordinary scheduling decisions shape a relationship as much as the occasional big occasion does.
Ask yourself
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