Sanskrit
ज्ञानं तेऽहं सविज्ञानमिदं वक्ष्याम्यशेषतः । यज्ज्ञात्वा नेह भूयोऽन्यज्ज्ञातव्यमवशिष्यते ॥ २ ॥
jñānaṃ te'haṃ savijñānam idaṃ vakṣyāmy aśeṣataḥ yaj jñātvā neha bhūyo'nyaj jñātavyam avaśiṣyate
Translation
I will declare to thee this knowledge and wisdom in its completeness, which, having known, there is nothing more here needeth to be known.
Annie Besant · The Bhagavad-Gita, translated by Annie Besant (4th ed., 1922) — Wikisource · Public Domain
Explanation
Krishna distinguishes jnana (knowledge) from vijnana (its applied, experiential counterpart) without pausing to define the difference — a distinction Chapter 7’s own structure demonstrates: verses 4-12 lay out doctrine, while verses 16-30 return repeatedly to how that doctrine is lived, misunderstood, or realized in practice. The claim of completeness here — nothing further remains to be known — is a strong opening bid that verse 3 immediately qualifies by conceding how few people actually arrive at it. Sa-vijñāna — “with [its] realisation” — is the pairing the Gita keeps making: jñāna is the map, vijñāna the terrain walked. The chapter is deliberately built to show both.
Study deeper
Word by word
- jñānaṃ te'haṃ savijñānamज्ञानं तेऽहं सविज्ञानं
- this knowledge, together with realization, [I shall tell] you (jñānam + te + aham + sa-vijñānam)
- idaṃ vakṣyāmy aśeṣataḥइदं वक्ष्यांय् अशेषतः
- this I shall declare in full (idam + vakṣyāmi + aśeṣataḥ)
- yaj jñātvā neha bhūyo'nyajयज् ज्ञात्वा नेह भूयोऽन्यज्
- knowing which, nothing more here (yat + jñātvā + na + iha + bhūyaḥ + anyat)
- jñātavyam avaśiṣyateज्ञातव्यं अवशिष्यते
- remains to be known (jñātavyam + avaśiṣyate)
Commentary
Site Commentary
Read in isolation, “nothing more here needs to be known” sounds like an unconditional guarantee. Read after verse 1, it isn’t one — the totality on offer was already fenced by two preconditions the previous verse set before a word of content arrived. Completeness, in other words, is being promised to a particular kind of listener, not to anyone who happens to be reading.
Original commentary written for this site · © Amit Singh — original commentary
Concepts
Apply this verse
Lessons
Personal
- When someone offers you a 'complete' answer — a diet, a framework, a plan — check what conditions it quietly assumes about you first. A promise of totality is only as honest as the fine print governing who it actually applies to.
Professional
- When a vendor or consultant promises a solution that 'covers everything,' ask what preconditions on your environment or team that claim assumes — completeness claims are rarely unconditional, and the unstated assumptions are where the gaps show up later.
Family & Social
- When you promise someone 'I'll always be there for you,' notice the unstated conditions riding along with it — capacity, circumstance — and be honest about them rather than letting the promise sound more unconditional than it actually is.
Ask yourself
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