Sanskrit
श्रुतिविप्रतिपन्ना ते यदा स्थास्यति निश्चला । समाधावचला बुद्धिस्तदा योगमवाप्स्यसि ॥
śrutivipratipannā te yadā sthāsyati niścalā samādhāv acalā buddhis tadā yogam avāpsyasi
Translation
When thy mind, bewildered by the Scriptures, shall stand immovable, fixed in contemplation, then shalt thou attain unto yoga.
Annie Besant · The Bhagavad-Gita, translated by Annie Besant (4th ed., 1922) — Wikisource · Public Domain
Explanation
The last verse of Krishna’s uninterrupted teaching in this chapter — once the mind stops being pulled in different directions by conflicting scriptural claims and settles, unmoving, in contemplation, that settling is itself yoga. It’s a deliberately open, almost anticlimactic definition, which is exactly what prompts Arjuna’s very concrete question in the verse immediately following: what does that actually look like in a person? The phrase samādhau acalā buddhiḥ completes the arc from BG 2.41’s many-branched mind: scattered → resolved → unmoving. Arjuna’s response is not “how?” but “what is such a person like?” — the question that generates the rest of the chapter.
Study deeper
Word by word
- śrutivipratipannāश्रुतिविप्रतिपन्ना
- bewildered by [conflicting] scripture (śruti-vipratipannā)
- teते
- your [mind]
- yadāयदा
- when
- sthāsyati niścalāस्थास्यति निश्चला
- stands unmoving (sthāsyati + niścalā)
- samādhāv acalā buddhisसमाधाव् अचला बुद्धिस्
- the understanding steady in samādhi (samādhau + acalā + buddhiḥ)
- tadāतदा
- then
- yogam avāpsyasiयोगं अवाप्स्यसि
- you will attain yoga (yogam + avāpsyasi)
Commentary
Site Commentary
Krishna’s definition of yoga here is deliberately open — the mind settling, unmoving, in contemplation — and it’s almost anticlimactic after everything that led up to it. That vagueness isn’t a flaw; it’s what provokes Arjuna’s very next question, which is exactly the kind of pointed follow-up an abstract answer should invite rather than avoid.
Original commentary written for this site · © Amit Singh — original commentary
Concepts
Apply this verse
Lessons
Personal
- When someone gives you an abstract answer that doesn't fully land — "just find balance," "trust the process" — it's fine to press for the concrete version rather than nod along as if you understood.
Professional
- When leadership hands down a vague directive, the useful response isn't silent compliance or private confusion — it's the direct follow-up question Arjuna asks here: what does this actually look like day to day?
Family & Social
- If a partner reassures you with something abstract — "I'll do better" — ask what that looks like concretely this week, the way Arjuna presses Krishna past the abstract answer into specifics.
Ask yourself
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