Sanskrit
पूर्वाभ्यासेन तेनैव ह्रियते ह्यवशोऽपि सः । जिज्ञासुरपि योगस्य शब्दब्रह्मातिवर्तते ॥
pūrvābhyāsena tenaiva hriyate hy avaśo'pi saḥ jijñāsur api yogasya śabdabrahmātivartate
Translation
By that former practice he is irresistibly swept away. Only wishing to know yoga, even the seeker after yoga goeth beyond the Brahmic world;
Annie Besant · The Bhagavad-Gita, translated by Annie Besant (4th ed., 1922) — Wikisource · Public Domain
Explanation
The claim here is unusually strong: even the mere desire to understand yoga, carried forward by prior practice, is powerful enough to carry someone past the Vedic world of ritual and text. Effort compounds across lifetimes in a way that outruns even formal religious learning. Avaśo ‘pi — “even against his will” — makes the momentum of prior abhyāsa almost gravitational: it pulls the person back toward yoga whether they resolve to or not. Śabda-brahma, the “Brahman of words,” is the ritual Veda BG 2.42–BG 2.46 relativised.
Study deeper
Word by word
- pūrvābhyāsena tenaivaपूर्वाभ्यासेन तेनैव
- by that very former practice (pūrva-abhyāsena + tena + eva)
- hriyate hy avaśo'pi saḥह्रियते ह्य् अवशोऽपि सः
- he is carried on, even helplessly (hriyate + hi + avaśaḥ + api + saḥ)
- jijñāsur api yogasyaजिज्ञासुः अपि योगस्य
- even the mere seeker of yoga (jijñāsuḥ + api + yogasya)
- śabdabrahmātivartateशब्दब्रह्मातिवर्तते
- passes beyond the Brahman of the word — Vedic ritual (śabda-brahma + ativartate)
Commentary
Site Commentary
The pairing here is worth sitting with: the current effort described is minimal — merely wishing to know — yet the verb describing its effect is almost involuntary, being swept away irresistibly. The power isn’t coming from the strength of present intention at all; it’s accumulated momentum from earlier practice doing work the current, modest effort couldn’t do alone.
Original commentary written for this site · © Amit Singh — original commentary
Concepts
Apply this verse
Lessons
Personal
- Don't judge your current motivation by how strong it feels today — a modest, even halfhearted return to a practice you've built real history with often carries more force than its present intensity suggests, because it's riding on accumulated momentum, not just today's willpower.
Professional
- When restarting a skill or project you've invested in before, don't wait to feel strongly motivated before beginning — even a lukewarm re-engagement tends to pull you back in faster than starting something genuinely new, because prior effort is doing work your current mood can't measure.
Family & Social
- If you're hesitant to reach back out to someone after a long gap, don't wait until you feel a strong pull to reconnect — even a small, modest gesture tends to carry more weight than it feels like it should, because it's drawing on history, not just today's motivation.
Ask yourself
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