Sanskrit
यद्यदाचरति श्रेष्ठस्तत्तदेवेतरो जनः । स यत्प्रमाणं कुरुते लोकस्तदनुवर्तते ॥
yad yad ācarati śreṣṭhas tat tad evetaro janaḥ sa yat pramāṇaṃ kurute lokas tad anuvartate
Translation
Whatsoever a great man doeth, that other men also do; the standard he setteth up, by that the people go.
Annie Besant · The Bhagavad-Gita, translated by Annie Besant (4th ed., 1922) — Wikisource · Public Domain
Explanation
A general sociological observation that supplies the mechanism behind verse 20’s lokasangraha: the wise act as they do specifically because others imitate them. It’s a plain statement of what becomes, in the next four verses, Krishna’s justification for his own conduct — he’s about to apply this exact principle to himself. The word pramāṇa — “measure, standard, proof” — is the load-bearing one: the conduct of the respected person doesn’t just influence others, it defines the norm. That is why BG 3.22–BG 3.26 treat a wise person’s withdrawal from action as socially destructive, not merely private.
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Word by word
- yad yad ācarati śreṣṭhasयद् यद् आचरति श्रेष्ठस्
- whatever the best person does (yat + yat + ācarati + śreṣṭhaḥ)
- tat tad evetaro janaḥतत् तद् एवेतरो जनः
- just that, other people [do] (tat + tat + eva + itaraḥ + janaḥ)
- sa yat pramāṇaṃ kuruteस यत् प्रमाणं कुरुते
- whatever standard he sets (saḥ + yat + pramāṇam + kurute)
- lokas tad anuvartateलोकस् तद् अनुवर्तते
- the world follows it (lokaḥ + tat + anuvartate)
Commentary
Site Commentary
The verse makes no moral claim about whether this imitation dynamic is good — it’s pure description, people copy whoever sets the visible standard. It’s only in the verses immediately following, where Krishna applies this to his own conduct, that the description quietly turns into a prescription: because people imitate you, you are now obligated to act well.
Original commentary written for this site · © Amit Singh — original commentary
Concepts
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Lessons
Personal
- Recognize that people around you will copy your visible standard whether or not you intend to be setting one — that plain fact, once noticed, becomes a reason to hold yourself to a higher bar than you might otherwise bother with.
Professional
- Recognize that your team will calibrate their own effort and standards to whatever you visibly do, not what you say — that observation about how influence actually works is what should push you to model the behavior you want, not just announce it.
Family & Social
- Recognize that children and younger family members copy what you visibly do far more than what you tell them to do — noticing that dynamic honestly is what turns 'I should set a good example' from a platitude into an actual obligation.
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