Sanskrit
शमो दमस्तपः शौचं क्षान्तिरार्जवमेव च । ज्ञानं विज्ञानमास्तिक्यं ब्रह्मकर्म स्वभावजम् ॥ ४२ ॥
śamo damas tapaḥ śaucaṃ kṣāntir ārjavam eva ca jñānaṃ vijñānam āstikyaṃ brahma-karma svabhāvajam
Translation
Serenity, self-restraint, austerity, purity, forgiveness and also uprightness, wisdom, knowledge, belief in God, are the Brâhmana duty, born of his own nature.
Annie Besant · The Bhagavad-Gita, translated by Annie Besant (4th ed., 1922) — Wikisource · Public Domain
Explanation
The Brahmana’s list — serenity, self-restraint, austerity, purity, forgiveness, uprightness, wisdom, knowledge, faith — reads less like a job description than a sattva-dominant temperament profile, echoing the sattvic catalogues already run in chapters 14, 16, and 17. If svabhava really means guna-composition rather than bloodline, this is the clearest evidence for it in the chapter; the text simply never settles whether that composition is fixed by birth or genuinely open to whoever cultivates these qualities. The brāhmaṇa svadharma: inward and contemplative — śama, dama, jñāna, āstikya (trust in the sacred). The list closely mirrors the divine endowment of BG 16.1–BG 16.3.
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Word by word
- śamo damas tapaḥ śaucaṃशमो दमस् तपः शौचं
- calm, restraint, austerity, purity (śamaḥ + damaḥ + tapaḥ + śaucam)
- kṣāntir ārjavam eva caक्षान्तिः आर्जवं एव च
- forbearance, and uprightness (kṣāntiḥ + ārjavam + eva + ca)
- jñānaṃ vijñānam āstikyaṃज्ञानं विज्ञानं आस्तिक्यं
- knowledge, realization, faith in the sacred (jñānam + vijñānam + āstikyam)
- brahma-karma svabhāvajamब्रह्म-कर्म स्वभावजं
- — the work of a brāhmaṇa, born of nature (brahma-karma + svabhāva-jam)
Commentary
Site Commentary
The nine qualities aren’t a flat list; they move. The first six, serenity, self-restraint, austerity, purity, forgiveness, uprightness, are entirely internal and could describe someone living alone. The final three, wisdom, knowledge, faith, only mean something in relation to others or to a shared truth being transmitted. The Brahmana profile is personal virtue oriented outward into something teachable, not virtue that stays private.
Original commentary written for this site · © Amit Singh — original commentary
Concepts
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Lessons
Personal
- Personal discipline that never turns into something you can share, clarity, a steadier presence, actual knowledge, with others is only half of what this list describes. Ask whether your inner work is becoming transmissible, not just private.
Professional
- The most valuable expertise on a team isn't quiet mastery alone, it's mastery converted into something teachable: documentation, mentoring, a repeatable framework. Skill that stays locked in one person's head is doing half the job this verse describes.
Family & Social
- Wisdom or steadiness you've built through your own discipline becomes fully useful to your family only once you've found a way to pass it on, in words or in example, rather than keeping it as a private accomplishment.
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