Sanskrit
ज्ञानं कर्म च कर्ता च त्रिधैव गुणभेदतः । प्रोच्यते गुणसङ्ख्याने यथावच्छृणु तान्यपि ॥ १९ ॥
jñānaṃ karma ca kartā ca tridhaiva guṇabhedataḥ procyate guṇasaṅkhyāne yathāvac chṛṇu tāny api
Translation
Knowledge, action and actor in the category of qualities are also said to be severally threefold, from the difference of qualities; hear thou duly these also.
Annie Besant · The Bhagavad-Gita, translated by Annie Besant (4th ed., 1922) — Wikisource · Public Domain
Explanation
Krishna explicitly names the method before applying it: knowledge, action, and the actor are each threefold by guna, and he asks Arjuna to listen carefully as each triad is unpacked in turn. This is the chapter functioning as a capstone — the same three-guna lens chapter 14 used for the whole of nature, and chapter 17 used for faith, food, sacrifice, austerity, and gift, is now run across the entire vocabulary of ethical action. Guṇa-saṅkhyāna — “the enumeration of the guṇas,” i.e. Sāṅkhya. Chapter 18 applies chapter 14’s three strands to knowledge, action, agent, intellect, firmness, and happiness in turn — the most systematic stretch in the poem.
Study deeper
Word by word
- jñānaṃ karma ca kartā caज्ञानं कर्म च कर्ता च
- knowledge, action, and agent (jñānam + karma + ca + kartā + ca)
- tridhaiva guṇabhedataḥत्रिधैव गुणभेदतः
- are threefold by difference of guṇa (tridhā + eva + guṇa-bhedataḥ)
- procyate guṇasaṅkhyāneप्रोच्यते गुणसङ्ख्याने
- so declared in the reckoning of the guṇas (procyate + guṇa-saṅkhyāne)
- yathāvac chṛṇu tāny apiयथावच् छृणु तान्य् अपि
- hear these too, accurately (yathāvat + śṛṇu + tāni + api)
Commentary
Site Commentary
“Hear thou duly these also” is Krishna flagging his own material as harder to follow than what came before — an explicit change of pedagogical gear, not unlike a technical speaker pausing to say “this next part needs your full attention” before wading into denser content. The chapter has earned the right to ask for this by having already walked Arjuna through tyaga’s threefold structure once, in verses 7-10, before scaling the same method up to six more categories.
Original commentary written for this site · © Amit Singh — original commentary
Apply this verse
Lessons
Personal
- When you hit a genuinely harder part of something you're learning, say so to yourself explicitly — 'this part needs more focus' — rather than plowing through it at the same pace as the easier material that came before. Naming the shift in difficulty is itself a study technique.
Professional
- When you're presenting and about to move into denser, more technical material, say so out loud — 'this next part needs closer attention' — rather than assuming your audience will automatically shift gears with you. An explicit flag does real work that tone of voice alone doesn't.
Family & Social
- When you're about to explain something to your partner or child that matters more than the conversation so far, say plainly 'this next part is important, I need you to really listen' — don't assume they'll sense the shift in stakes on their own.
Ask yourself
A few ways to take this verse past reading. Ticks and the note stay in this browser.