Sanskrit
दूरेण ह्यवरं कर्म बुद्धियोगाद्धनञ्जय । बुद्धौ शरणमन्विच्छ कृपणाः फलहेतवः ॥
dūreṇa hy avaraṃ karma buddhiyogād dhanañjaya buddhau śaraṇam anviccha kṛpaṇāḥ phalahetavaḥ
Translation
Far lower than the Yoga of Discrimination is action, O Dhananjaya. Take thou refuge in the Pure Reason; pitiable are they who work for fruit.
Annie Besant · The Bhagavad-Gita, translated by Annie Besant (4th ed., 1922) — Wikisource · Public Domain
Explanation
A blunt ranking: mere action, done for its results, sits far below action done from buddhi-yoga — the discriminating, resolved mind introduced back in verse 41. “Pitiable are they who work for fruit” restates verse 47’s instruction as a value judgment rather than just a rule, and sets up the next verse’s account of what the alternative actually looks like. The phrase buddhau śaraṇam anviccha — “take refuge in the buddhi” — is striking: the faculty of discernment is offered as a shelter, the way a deity is elsewhere. This is buddhi-yoga named as such, at its highest valuation in the chapter.
Study deeper
Word by word
- dūreṇa hy avaraṃ karmaदूरेण ह्य् अवरं कर्म
- action is far inferior (dūreṇa + hi + avaram + karma)
- buddhiyogādबुद्धियोगाद्
- to the yoga of understanding (buddhi-yogāt)
- dhanañjayaधनञ्जय
- O Dhanañjaya
- buddhau śaraṇam anvicchaबुद्धौ शरणं अन्विच्छ
- seek refuge in the understanding (buddhau + śaraṇam + anviccha)
- kṛpaṇāḥकृपणाः
- pitiable
- phalahetavaḥफलहेतवः
- those motivated by fruit (phala-hetavaḥ)
Commentary
Site Commentary
Verse 47 gave Arjuna a rule — you have a right to action, not to its fruits. This verse doesn’t add another argument for that rule; it adds a feeling about it, calling fruit-seekers pitiable. A rule asks for compliance; a verdict asks you to reconsider which kind of person you want to be counted among — a sharper kind of persuasion than repeating the instruction itself.
Original commentary written for this site · © Amit Singh — original commentary
Concepts
Apply this verse
Lessons
Personal
- Notice when you're following a rule out of obligation versus because you've actually reconsidered who you want to be — the second kind of motivation holds up under pressure in a way mere compliance rarely does.
Professional
- When a policy alone isn't changing behavior on your team, try naming what kind of engineer or leader ignoring it actually makes someone, rather than restating the rule again — identity often moves people further than repetition does.
Family & Social
- If reminding someone of a household rule keeps failing, try naming what kind of person the behavior reflects instead of restating the rule itself — people often respond to identity faster than to instruction.
Ask yourself
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