Sanskrit
एषा तेऽभिहिता साङ्ख्ये बुद्धिर्योगे त्विमां शृणु । बुद्ध्या युक्तो यया पार्थ कर्मबन्धं प्रहास्यसि ॥
eṣā te'bhihitā sāṃkhye buddhir yoge tv imāṃ śṛṇu buddhyā yukto yayā pārtha karmabandhaṃ prahāsyasi
Translation
This teaching set forth to thee is in accordance with the Sâñkhya; hear it now according to the Yoga, imbued with which teaching, O Pârtha, thou shalt cast away the bonds of action.
Annie Besant · The Bhagavad-Gita, translated by Annie Besant (4th ed., 1922) — Wikisource · Public Domain
Explanation
The chapter’s clearest structural signpost: Krishna names what he has just finished (Sāṅkhya — the theoretical teaching on the immortal self, verses 11–30) and what he’s about to begin (Yoga — a practical teaching on right action). The two are presented as complementary tracks toward the same goal, not competing schools, and everything from here through verse 53 belongs to this second, practical track. The promised payoff is specific: karma-bandha-prahāṇa, shedding the bondage of action. That phrase sets the agenda for chapters 3–5, which are largely an extended answer to how action can be performed without binding — and the buddhi is named here as the instrument that does it.
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Word by word
- eṣā te'bhihitā sāṃkhyeएषा तेऽभिहिता सांख्ये
- this has been declared to you in Sāṅkhya (te + abhihitā + sāṃkhye)
- buddhirबुद्धिः
- the understanding
- yoge tv imāṃ śṛṇuयोगे त्व् इमां शृणु
- now hear it in yoga (yoge + tu + imām + śṛṇu)
- buddhyā yukto yayāबुद्ध्या युक्तो यया
- joined with which understanding (buddhyā + yuktaḥ + yayā)
- pārthaपार्थ
- O Pārtha
- karmabandhaṃकर्मबन्धं
- the bondage of action (karma-bandham)
- prahāsyasiप्रहास्यसि
- you will cast off
Commentary
Site Commentary
Notice the promise attached to each track is different, not just the label. Sāṅkhya has told Arjuna what’s permanently true regardless of what he does; Yoga is introduced with a claim about what doing well will accomplish — “cast away the bonds of action.” One track changes what you know, the other changes what your actions do to you. That’s a meaningfully different kind of teaching, not a restatement in new terms.
Original commentary written for this site · © Amit Singh — original commentary
Concepts
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Lessons
Personal
- When you're stuck, distinguish whether what you need is a change in understanding — seeing the situation differently — or a change in method — acting differently. They solve different problems, and applying only one when you need the other won't move you.
Professional
- When a team is stuck on a hard problem, diagnose whether the gap is conceptual (they don't understand the system) or procedural (they understand it but lack a working method) — the fix looks completely different depending on which one it actually is.
Family & Social
- When a recurring conflict isn't resolving, check whether you actually disagree on the facts of the situation or just haven't found a workable way to act on facts you both already agree on — those require very different conversations.
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