Sanskrit
किं पुनर्ब्राह्मणाः पुण्या भक्ता राजर्षयस्तथा । अनित्यमसुखं लोकमिमं प्राप्य भजस्व माम् ॥
kiṃ punar brāhmaṇāḥ puṇyā bhaktā rājarṣayas tathā anityam asukhaṃ lokam imaṃ prāpya bhajasva mām
Translation
How much rather then holy Brâhmanas and devoted royal saints; having obtained this transient joyless world, worship thou Me.
Annie Besant · The Bhagavad-Gita, translated by Annie Besant (4th ed., 1922) — Wikisource · Public Domain
Explanation
The a fortiori follow-through makes the calibration explicit: if devotion alone gets the excluded groups of verse 32 to the highest goal, then holy brahmins and royal sages (rājarṣayaḥ) — already positioned favorably within the system verse 32 quietly worked around — have even less excuse not to worship, especially given how the world itself is characterized here as transient and joyless (anityam asukham). Arguing from the harder case to the easier one is a recurring Gita move, used elsewhere in the text to universalize a claim by starting from where it’s least expected to hold. Anityam asukhaṃ lokam — “this impermanent, joyless world” — is the bleak premise the imperative rests on: since this is what you have arrived into, bhajasva mām, worship Me. Compare BG 8.15’s duḥkhālayam aśāśvatam.
Study deeper
Word by word
- kiṃ punar brāhmaṇāḥ puṇyāकिं पुनः ब्राह्मणाः पुण्या
- how much more the holy brāhmaṇas (kim + punaḥ + brāhmaṇāḥ + puṇyāḥ)
- bhaktā rājarṣayas tathāभक्ता राजर्षयस् तथा
- and devoted royal sages (bhaktāḥ + rāja-ṛṣayaḥ + tathā)
- anityam asukhaṃ lokam imaṃअनित्यं असुखं लोकं इमं
- this impermanent, joyless world (anityam + asukham + lokam + imam)
- prāpya bhajasva māmप्राप्य भजस्व मां
- having reached [it], worship Me (prāpya + bhajasva + mām)
Commentary
Site Commentary
The argument does two jobs in one breath: the a fortiori claim — if the excluded reach the goal, how much more the already-favored — carries the logical weight, while “having obtained this transient, joyless world” is almost tucked in as an aside. Yet the aside is doing real work too, supplying the urgency the logic alone doesn’t: the syllogism says the door is open, the aside says not to take your time walking through it.
Original commentary written for this site · © Amit Singh — original commentary
Concepts
Apply this verse
Lessons
Personal
- When you already hold real advantages that make a path easier for you than for most people, treat that as reason to act with more urgency, not less — having fewer excuses isn't license to delay.
Professional
- If you hold structural advantages that make a hard change easier for you than for others on your team, use that position to move first and move quickly, rather than treating your own comfort as license to wait.
Family & Social
- If circumstances have made something easier for you than for others in your family, let that ease convert into urgency to act, not into complacency about acting at all.
Ask yourself
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