Sanskrit
सद्भावे साधुभावे च सदित्येतत्प्रयुज्यते । प्रशस्ते कर्मणि तथा सच्छब्दः पार्थ युज्यते ॥
sadbhāve sādhubhāve ca sad ity etat prayujyate praśaste karmaṇi tathā sacchabdaḥ pārtha yujyate
Translation
"Sat" is used in the sense of reality and goodness; likewise, O Pârtha, the word "Sat" is used in the sense of a good work.
Annie Besant · The Bhagavad-Gita, translated by Annie Besant (4th ed., 1922) — Wikisource · Public Domain
Explanation
Sat is doing double duty as a word — it names both what is metaphysically real (sad-bhāva, existence itself) and what is ethically good (sādhu-bhāva, virtuous action), and this verse says the two senses aren’t separate meanings so much as one continuous idea: genuine being and genuine goodness are the same kind of “real.” That collapsing of ontology and ethics into a single word is a distinctly Vedic move, one with no clean English equivalent, which is part of why the translator leaves the term untranslated. Sat — “the real, the good” — is applied wherever there is being, virtue, or a praiseworthy act. The syllable that names Brahman is also the ordinary Sanskrit word for what is genuine: reality and goodness share a name.
Study deeper
Word by word
- sadbhāve sādhubhāve caसद्भावे साधुभावे च
- in the sense of existence and of goodness (sat-bhāve + sādhu-bhāve + ca)
- sad ity etat prayujyateसद् इत्य् एतत् प्रयुज्यते
- the word 'Sat' is used (sat + iti + etat + prayujyate)
- praśaste karmaṇi tathāप्रशस्ते कर्मणि तथा
- likewise for a praiseworthy act (praśaste + karmaṇi + tathā)
- sacchabdaḥ pārtha yujyateसच्छब्दः पार्थ युज्यते
- the word 'Sat' is applied, O Pārtha (sat-śabdaḥ + pārtha + yujyate)
Commentary
Site Commentary
By the end of this three-verse sequence, “Sat” will have named an aspect of Brahman (v23), a state of being and a moral quality (this verse), steadfastness in practice (v27), and finally, negated, the total absence of value (v28). The word never settles into one part of speech or one fixed sense — and that refusal to specialize is exactly the point being made here: reality and goodness were never two separate categories requiring two separate words in the first place.
Original commentary written for this site · © Amit Singh — original commentary
Concepts
Apply this verse
Lessons
Personal
- When you notice yourself needing separate vocabularies for what's true and what's good, consider whether the split is real or just a habit of language — the most integrated people you know rarely experience their values and their sense of reality as two different registers.
Professional
- When technical correctness and ethical soundness in a decision seem to require entirely separate conversations on your team, check whether that separation is actually necessary — strong engineering cultures treat 'is this true and robust' and 'is this right' as one continuous evaluation, not two.
Family & Social
- If you find yourself telling a family member something is technically true but not really okay, notice the gap you're describing — the healthiest relationships tend to close that gap rather than learn to live inside it.
Ask yourself
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