Sanskrit
तस्माद्यस्य महाबाहो निगृहीतानि सर्वशः । इन्द्रियाणीन्द्रियार्थेभ्यस्तस्य प्रज्ञा प्रतिष्ठिता ॥
tasmād yasya mahābāho nigṛhītāni sarvaśaḥ indriyāṇīndriyārthebhyas tasya prajñā pratiṣṭhitā
Translation
Therefore, O mighty-armed, whose senses are all completely restrained from the objects of sense, of him the understanding is well poised.
Annie Besant · The Bhagavad-Gita, translated by Annie Besant (4th ed., 1922) — Wikisource · Public Domain
Explanation
The “therefore” closing the whole warning sequence that began at verse 60: given how easily one unguarded sense can capsize the mind, restraint has to be complete, not partial. This is the fourth time this exact refrain — “prajñā pratiṣṭhitā,” the understanding well poised — has closed a verse in this portrait, underscoring how central it is to the whole passage. The refrain has now marked verses 57, 58, 61, and 68 — bracketing the chain of ruin on both sides. Its return here signals the portrait is complete in its behavioural terms; verses 69–72 shift to what the state is like from inside.
Study deeper
Word by word
- tasmād yasya mahābāhoतस्माद् यस्य महाबाहो
- therefore, O mighty-armed, one whose (tasmāt + yasya + mahā-bāho)
- nigṛhītāni sarvaśaḥनिगृहीतानि सर्वशः
- [senses] are wholly restrained (nigṛhītāni + sarvaśaḥ)
- indriyāṇīndriyārthebhyasइन्द्रियाणीन्द्रियार्थेभ्यस्
- the senses from the sense-objects (indriyāṇi + indriya-arthebhyaḥ)
- tasya prajñā pratiṣṭhitāतस्य प्रज्ञा प्रतिष्ठिता
- his wisdom is well established (tasya + prajñā + pratiṣṭhitā)
Commentary
Site Commentary
The “therefore” here isn’t a fresh command — it’s a conclusion following from verses 60 and 67’s premises, argued rather than simply asserted: since partial control has already been shown unstable, restraint has to be complete. The logical form matters as much as the content; this verse is closing an argument, not opening a new one.
Original commentary written for this site · © Amit Singh — original commentary
Concepts
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Lessons
Personal
- If partial discipline — restraining most things, not all — has repeatedly failed you before, don't repeat the same partial approach expecting a different result this time; the argument built across these verses specifically concludes that partial control doesn't hold.
Professional
- Inconsistently enforcing a team standard tends to fail exactly where the exception lives, not despite it — if a boundary is worth holding, the case built here is for holding all of it, not most of it.
Family & Social
- A household rule enforced most of the time but not always tends to break precisely at the exception, not in spite of it — consistency matters more than the overall intent behind the rule.
Ask yourself
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