Sanskrit
न हि प्रपश्यामि ममापनुद्याद्यच्छोकमुच्छोषणमिन्द्रियाणाम् । अवाप्य भूमावसपत्नमृद्धं राज्यं सुराणामपि चाधिपत्यम् ॥
na hi prapaśyāmi mamāpanudyād yac chokam ucchoṣaṇam indriyāṇām avāpya bhūmāv asapatnam ṛddhaṃ rājyaṃ surāṇām api cādhipatyam
Translation
For I see not that it would drive away this anguish that withers up my senses, if I should attain unrivalled monarchy on earth, or even the sovereignty of the Shining Ones.
Annie Besant · The Bhagavad-Gita, translated by Annie Besant (4th ed., 1922) — Wikisource · Public Domain
Explanation
Arjuna names the scale of his own crisis: not even winning the whole earth, or ruling over the gods themselves, would dissolve the grief burning through him right now. It’s worth noticing what kind of problem this frames itself as — not a strategic or political one, solvable by winning, but something Arjuna already senses only a change of understanding could touch. “Ucchoṣaṇam indriyāṇām” — a grief that dries up the senses — is a bodily description of despair, not a mood. By ruling out every external prize as a remedy, Arjuna has, without meaning to, specified what kind of answer would count: the one Krishna starts giving at BG 2.11.
Study deeper
Word by word
- na hi prapaśyāmiन हि प्रपश्यामि
- for I do not see (na + hi + prapaśyāmi)
- mamāpanudyādममापनुद्याद्
- [what] would drive away my (mama + apanudyāt)
- yac chokamयच् छोकं
- which grief (yat + śokam)
- ucchoṣaṇam indriyāṇāmउच्छोषणं इन्द्रियाणां
- the drying-up of the senses (ucchoṣaṇam + indriyāṇām)
- avāpyaअवाप्य
- having obtained
- bhūmāvभूमाव्
- on earth
- asapatnamअसपत्नं
- unrivalled, without an enemy
- ṛddhaṃऋद्धं
- prosperous, flourishing
- rājyaṃराज्यं
- kingdom
- surāṇāmसुराणां
- of the gods
- apiअपि
- even
- cādhipatyamचाधिपत्यं
- and lordship (ca + ādhipatyam)
Commentary
Site Commentary
Arjuna doesn’t realize it yet, but this verse is a correct diagnosis, not just a complaint. By ruling out even total earthly and divine sovereignty as a cure, he’s already conceding that his problem isn’t strategic or material — it’s a problem of understanding. Krishna doesn’t have to argue Arjuna out of thinking a better outcome would fix this; Arjuna has already argued himself out of it.
Original commentary written for this site · © Amit Singh — original commentary
Concepts
Apply this verse
Lessons
Personal
- When no amount of external winning would actually resolve what's bothering you, take that seriously as information — it usually means the problem lives at the level of understanding or meaning, not circumstance, and no achievement is going to reach it.
Professional
- If a promotion, raise, or bigger scope wouldn't actually resolve what's eating at you about a role, don't keep chasing the next external win as the fix — name the real problem, because more of the same kind of success won't touch it.
Family & Social
- If you notice that no outcome you can arrange — moving, a bigger house, more money — would actually settle what's unsettled in a relationship, trust that signal: it's telling you the problem isn't circumstantial.
Ask yourself
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