संस्कृत
कर्मणैव हि संसिद्धिमास्थिता जनकादयः । लोकसङ्ग्रहमेवापि सम्पश्यन्कर्तुमर्हसि ॥
karmaṇaiva hi saṃsiddhim āsthitā janakādayaḥ lokasaṅgraham evāpi sampaśyan kartum arhasi
अनुवाद
Janaka and others indeed attained to perfection by action: then having an eye to the welfare of the world also, thou shouldst perform action.
Annie Besant · The Bhagavad-Gita, translated by Annie Besant (4th ed., 1922) — Wikisource · Public Domain
व्याख्या
Krishna answers the question verse 17 implicitly raised — why act, if self-sufficiency makes action unnecessary — with two moves at once: a historical precedent (King Janaka reached perfection through action, not by abstaining) and a new motive, lokasangraha, the “holding-together” or welfare of the world. This term becomes the chapter’s real answer to Arjuna’s original verse-1 objection: act not for personal gain, and not even purely for liberation, but because the world needs people to keep acting rightly. Janaka is chosen deliberately — a king, not a forest hermit, who reached the goal without leaving his throne. Lokasaṅgraha is what remains as a reason to act once personal stake is gone, and it is what Krishna will next claim as his own only motive.
गहराई से अध्ययन करें
शब्द-दर-शब्द
- karmaṇaiva hiकर्मणैव हि
- by action alone indeed (karmaṇā + eva + hi)
- saṃsiddhimसंसिद्धिं
- perfection
- āsthitāआस्थिता
- attained, abided in
- janakādayaḥजनकादयः
- Janaka and others (janaka-ādayaḥ)
- lokasaṅgrahamलोकसङ्ग्रहं
- the holding-together of the world (loka-saṅgraham)
- evāpi sampaśyanएवापि संपश्यन्
- also, having regard for (eva + api)
- kartum arhasiकर्तुं अर्हसि
- you ought to act (kartum + arhasi)
टीका
Site Commentary
Krishna doesn’t tell Arjuna he must become enlightened before his action can count — he points to Janaka, who reached perfection through action itself. The order most people assume, wisdom first and then right action follows, gets quietly inverted: action can be the route to perfection, not only its downstream product.
Original commentary written for this site · © Amit Singh — original commentary
Site Commentary — Second Reading
Janaka’s example answers “do I need enlightenment first,” but it doesn’t fully explain why someone who no longer needs anything from acting would keep showing up — that’s what lokasaṅgraha is doing, and the verb attached to it, sampaśyan, “keeping in view,” locates the motive in sustained attention rather than in any personal stake. The pattern is recognizable in any senior person — a longtime engineer, a parent of grown children, a founder past needing the money — whose continued visible effort is what keeps everyone junior to them believing the standard is real. Take that person out of the room and the standard doesn’t collapse instantly, but it stops being demonstrated — which is precisely the gap this verse is asking Arjuna to fill.
Original commentary written for this site · © Amit Singh — original commentary
इस श्लोक को अपनाएँ
पाठ
व्यक्तिगत
- Don't wait until you feel fully ready or wise enough before acting on something that matters — treat the acting itself as a legitimate path to the clarity you're waiting for, not just something you're allowed to do once you already have it.
व्यावसायिक
- Don't wait for complete confidence or expertise before taking on a stretch assignment — competence is often built through the doing, not a prerequisite you need to satisfy before you're allowed to start. Janaka's example inverts the usual assumption about which comes first.
परिवार और समाज
- Don't wait until you feel like a fully patient, wise parent or partner before showing up for the people who need you — the capacity often gets built through the showing up itself, not established beforehand as a precondition for it.
स्वयं से पूछें
इस श्लोक को पढ़ने से आगे ले जाने के कुछ तरीके। टिक और नोट इसी ब्राउज़र में रहते हैं।
इस श्लोक पर चिंतन करें
खोज जारी रखें
अध्ययन-मार्ग