Sanskrit
अन्ये त्वेवमजानन्तः श्रुत्वाऽन्येभ्य उपासते । तेऽपि चातितरन्त्येव मृत्युं श्रुतिपरायणाः ॥
anye tv evam ajānantaḥ śrutvānyebhya upāsate te 'pi cātitaranty eva mṛtyuṃ śrutiparāyaṇāḥ
Translation
Others also, ignorant of this, having heard of it from others, worship; and these also cross beyond death, adhering to what they had heard.
Annie Besant · The Bhagavad-Gita, translated by Annie Besant (4th ed., 1922) — Wikisource · Public Domain
Explanation
A concession verse: even people who lack the direct realization described in verses 20-25, but who worship on the strength of what they’ve heard from others, still “cross beyond death.” It’s the same accommodation chapter 12 makes explicitly for those who can’t fix their minds on the unmanifest (12.5) — faith transmitted secondhand is treated here as sufficient for the same result, not a lesser consolation prize. Even those without direct realisation, who worship “on the strength of what they have heard,” cross beyond death. The same accommodation as BG 12.5: faith transmitted secondhand is treated as sufficient for the same result, not a lesser consolation.
Study deeper
Word by word
- anye tv evam ajānantaḥअन्ये त्व् एवं अजानन्तः
- but others, not knowing thus (anye + tu + evam + ajānantaḥ)
- śrutvānyebhya upāsateश्रुत्वान्येभ्य उपासते
- worship, having heard from others (śrutvā + anyebhyaḥ + upāsate)
- te 'pi cātitaranty evaते ऽपि चातितरन्त्य् एव
- they too cross beyond (te + api + ca + atitaranti + eva)
- mṛtyuṃ śrutiparāyaṇāḥमृत्युं श्रुतिपरायणाः
- death, holding to what they have heard (mṛtyum + śruti-parāyaṇāḥ)
Commentary
Site Commentary
What’s notable is the equal footing: those who worship on secondhand faith “also cross beyond death” — the verse doesn’t grade this as a lesser outcome reached by a lesser route, just a different route to the identical destination as the direct knowers of verses 20-25. The chapter had room to rank these paths and pointedly declines to.
Original commentary written for this site · © Amit Singh — original commentary
Concepts
Apply this verse
Lessons
Personal
- Don't discount progress you've made on someone else's word rather than your own direct insight — trusting a mentor's account and acting on it is not a lesser version of understanding, it still gets you where direct realization would have.
Professional
- When a junior engineer follows a senior's documented judgment without having independently verified every underlying claim, don't treat that as second-class work — competent action on trusted secondhand knowledge is a legitimate way of reaching the outcome, not a consolation prize.
Family & Social
- If you've only ever heard about a value secondhand — from a parent, a mentor — and never worked it out for yourself, that doesn't make your holding of it any less real; inherited conviction still counts as conviction.
Ask yourself
A few ways to take this verse past reading. Ticks and the note stay in this browser.