Sanskrit
उदाराः सर्व एवैते ज्ञानी त्वात्मैव मे मतम् । आस्थितः स हि युक्तात्मा मामेवानुत्तमां गतिम् ॥ १८ ॥
udārāḥ sarva evaite jñānī tv ātmaiva me matam āsthitaḥ sa hi yuktātmā mām evānuttamāṃ gatim
Translation
Noble are all these, but I hold the wise as verily Myself; he, Self united, is fixed on Me, the highest Path.
Annie Besant · The Bhagavad-Gita, translated by Annie Besant (4th ed., 1922) — Wikisource · Public Domain
Explanation
Krishna’s claim escalates past verse 17’s mutual affection: the wise devotee isn’t just dear to him, he “hold[s] the wise as verily Myself” — a near-identification, softening the subject-object gap the other three types named in verse 16 still operate within. The distressed, the knowledge-seeker, and the wealth-seeker approach Krishna as a separate goal to reach, while the wise devotee’s own self is already, per this verse, indistinguishable from that goal. Jñānī tv ātmaiva me matam — “the wise one is, in My view, My very self” — is the closest the Gita comes to collapsing devotee into deity, and it is reserved for the jñānī of the four types.
Study deeper
Word by word
- udārāḥ sarva evaiteउदाराः सर्व एवैते
- noble are all these (udārāḥ + sarve + eva + ete)
- jñānī tv ātmaiva me matamज्ञानी त्व् आत्मैव मे मतं
- but the wise one is My very self, in My view (jñānī + tu + ātmā + eva + me + matam)
- āsthitaḥ sa hi yuktātmāआस्थितः स हि युक्तात्मा
- for he, steadfast, of yoked self (āsthitaḥ + saḥ + hi + yukta-ātmā)
- mām evānuttamāṃ gatimमां एवानुत्तमां गतिं
- [abides in] Me as the supreme goal (mām + eva + anuttamām + gatim)
Commentary
Site Commentary
Krishna calls all four types “noble” in the very sentence where he ranks one above the rest — he doesn’t buy the elevation of the wise by first demoting the other three. That’s harder to do in practice than it sounds: naming a best case usually implies the others fall short, but this verse manages to hold a hierarchy and a refusal to diminish anyone below it in the same breath.
Original commentary written for this site · © Amit Singh — original commentary
Concepts
Apply this verse
Lessons
Personal
- When you recognize someone as further along a path than you are, you don't have to diminish your own current stage to honor theirs — hold the admiration and your own legitimate starting point in the same breath, the way this verse ranks without demoting.
Professional
- When you recognize a standout performer on the team, praise them without implying the rest of the team's contribution was lesser or illegitimate — it's possible to name a best case and still refuse to diminish everyone else in the same sentence.
Family & Social
- When one child or family member reaches a milestone the others haven't, celebrate it without letting the others feel demoted by comparison — naming someone's achievement and honoring everyone else's standing are not actually in tension, even though they can feel that way.
Ask yourself
A few ways to take this verse past reading. Ticks and the note stay in this browser.