The yogi reborn recovers the understanding of his former life and strives once more toward perfection.
You may fear that an interrupted practice is lost when this body ends. The verse answers that the inner understanding you cultivated returns in the next birth as your own, and from there you take the path up again.
There he regains the discernment gained in his former body. And from there he strives even harder for perfection, Arjuna.
Having promised that the yogi who fell short is born again into good and favourable conditions, Krishna now tells what such a one finds waiting there: the discernment of his former body, and the call to strive further still.
Where they agreethe convergence
Across schools and centuries the commentators come to the same ground. These are the points they share, and the voices that hold each one.
In the new birth you do not begin from nothing. The inner bent, the understanding you had ripened in the body before, is given back to you as your own again.
Across Advaita, Viśiṣṭādvaita, Śuddhādvaita, Bhedābheda, Bhakti, and the modern voicesŚaṅkara · Ānandagiri · Madhusūdana · Nīlakaṇṭha · Dhanapati · Rāmānuja · Vedānta Deśika · Vallabha · Puruṣottama · Bhāskara · Śrīdhara · Viśvanātha · Baladeva · Sivananda · Tilak · RamsukhdasIn Śaṅkara, Ānandagiri, and 14 others’ words
This verse explains what happens to the yogi who died before reaching the goal and was reborn. The key Sanskrit phrase is buddhi-samyoga paurva-dehikam, the joining-again with the understanding (buddhi) that belonged to his former body (paurva-dehika). In the new birth he does not start over from zero. The mental orientation, the inner bent, the spiritual intelligence he had cultivated in the previous life is recovered and becomes his own again. Most commentators stress that nothing of the earlier practice (sadhana) is lost; the soil is already prepared, and the new life resumes at exactly the point where the old one broke off.
The thoughts and the practice of the past leave their quiet traces in the mind, and the traces of yoga are revived, so the recovered understanding comes with little fresh effort and carries you on.
Across Advaita, Śuddhādvaita, Bhakti, and the modern voicesĀnandagiri · Nīlakaṇṭha · Dhanapati · Puruṣottama · Śrīdhara · Baladeva · Sivananda · TilakIn Ānandagiri, Nīlakaṇṭha, and 6 others’ words
The mechanism by which this happens is the impression carried over from the past, what is called samskara. Our thoughts and actions leave subtle traces in the mind, and the traces formed by yoga and meditation are revived and re-energized in the next birth. Because of this stored momentum, the recovered understanding comes with little present effort; the prior practice picks up where it left off and carries the seeker forward almost on its own strength.
Recovering the old understanding is not yet the end. The conditions are furnished and the inner bent restored, and from there you strive still more, pressing toward the full perfection.
Across Advaita, Viśiṣṭādvaita, Śuddhādvaita, Bhakti, and the modern voicesŚaṅkara · Ānandagiri · Madhusūdana · Nīlakaṇṭha · Rāmānuja · Vedānta Deśika · Vallabha · Puruṣottama · Śrīdhara · Baladeva · Sivananda · TilakIn Śaṅkara, Ānandagiri, and 10 others’ words
Recovering the old understanding is not by itself the finish line; the verse adds yatate cha tato bhuyah, and from there he strives still more. Rebirth in the right family furnishes the conditions and the recovered inner bent, but liberation still asks for renewed effort. So the seeker, now equipped, presses forward toward samsiddhi, full perfection, and several commentators note that this new striving is more vigorous than before, pushing on to a higher stage than the one he had reached.
Like one who has slept and woken, you take up again the discipline you had once set down; and Krishna names Arjuna joy of the Kurus, so the path is never trusted to be wasted, however it was broken off.
Across Viśiṣṭādvaita, Śuddhādvaita, Bhakti, Advaita, and the modern voicesRāmānuja · Vallabha · Baladeva · Madhusūdana · Dhanapati · Puruṣottama · TilakIn Rāmānuja, Vallabha, and 5 others’ words
Several commentators draw out the image of awakening: the seeker strives again like one who, having slept, has woken, taking up the discipline he had once broken off. Krishna addresses Arjuna as Kuru-nandana, delight or joy of the Kurus, and a number of readers find a purpose in this address. It reassures Arjuna, lends him trust and confidence that the path is not wasted even if interrupted, and for some it points him toward his own family-suited duty.
This is the shared ground; it can be carried as it is. Below is where they differ.
Where they differthe divergence
Advaita Vedānta, in their fuller words
These commentators read the recovered understanding as buddhi concerning the Self, the connection with the intellect whose object is the oneness of Brahman and the self. The means it carries over are the disciplines of knowledge: renunciation of all action, approaching the teacher, hearing, reflection, and profound meditation. One of them works this out in unusual detail through the seven grounds (bhumis) of the path described in the Vasishtha teaching, distinguishing those who die having reached the higher grounds, where liberation is assured, from those who die on the earlier means-grounds, where the doubt about their outcome arises and is answered here. The address Kuru-nandana is taken to hint that for Arjuna too, given his pure and prosperous line, knowledge will come without toil through the strength of prior impression.
Viśiṣṭādvaita, in their fuller words
These commentators read the recovered buddhi as the inner-bent bearing on the discipline (yoga) of the prior body, and they emphasize the structure of continuation. Mere birth in a yogi's family is not by itself the cause of release (moksha), because the prior yoga was only slackened, not completed. So three things together carry the candidate to the consummation: the rebirth that furnishes the conditions, the recovered inner bent, and the renewed striving. One stresses that he strives again so that he may not be one struck down by an obstacle.
Bhedābheda, in their fuller words
This commentator frames the verse within the discipline of action done for the Lord's sake. Because such action is not fruitless, it issues either in enjoyment of the meritorious worlds or in final release. He insists this answer holds for the followers of the path of action, not for those who, abandoning action, would seek liberation from knowledge alone, for whom he says there is only an evil end, since knowledge serves liberation by removing ignorance and cannot itself be a cause of enjoyment. On this base he reads the recovered union of understanding and the renewed striving toward perfection.
Śuddhādvaita, in their fuller words
These commentators read the recovered buddhi as knowledge made manifest for the sake of Bhagavan's service, gained immediately after entry into the embodied state by Bhagavan's grace, simply by being born in the household of those who belong to Bhagavan. The full success (siddhi) striven for is the gaining of Bhagavan himself. The address Kuru-nandana is read as given for the sake of trust, and the pause in the earlier life is called no wasted detour: the resumption begins where practice left off and proceeds quickly because the soil is already prepared.
Kashmir Śaiva, in their fuller words
This commentator stresses how the prior practice carries the seeker forward almost against his will: helpless, subject to another, he is led by sheer force toward the practice of yoga by that earlier momentum. He reads perfection as the state made of release, and the final goal as the state of Vasudeva. He adds that even the mere wish to know yoga carries one beyond the Brahman-that-is-sound, the muttered mantra and self-study, so that one no longer takes it as one's own; and he insists such a one is not perfected in a single body but through practice over many births.
Bhakti, in their fuller words
These commentators read the recovered buddhi as the understanding whose object was Brahman or steadfastness in the supreme Self, recovered in the new body as one's own inheritance. One calls this the very mechanism of the fallen yogi's arc: nothing of the earlier sadhana is lost, so the next birth begins not at a cold start but exactly where the earlier life left off, the new effort pressing forward with extra force. Another widens the goal to purity of heart and the seeing of both one's own self and the Supreme Self, and reads the renewed striving, like one awakened from sleep, as undertaken so that the seeker may not again be struck down by an obstacle.
A modern reading, in their fuller words
These commentators read the verse in terms of the psychology of stored impressions. One explains that thoughts and actions are deposited in the subconscious mind as samskaras, habits, and tendencies, which are revivified in the next birth; the yogic tendencies then compel the aspirant to strive with greater vigor than before, reaching toward higher planes of realization. Another simply says the spiritual impressions of previous births come again, and the seeker attempts a success in yoga that is even higher. A third opens the question of what becomes of the seeker, now full of dispassion, after birth in the line of self-realized liberated souls, treating the verse as the answer to that state.
A few questions to carry
These ask for understanding, not recall; each answer is settled by the commentary itself.
For a second sitting
Carry this with youwhat stays
Take this verse as quiet reassurance for the long road. Nothing you do in earnest on the spiritual path is wasted. Your thoughts and actions settle into the mind as subtle impressions, samskaras, and the impressions left by genuine practice and meditation are not erased by death; they are stored and revived. So the meditation that feels slow today, the patient effort that seems to bear little fruit, is being deposited as a tendency that will one day compel you to strive with greater vigor than you can summon now. Practice, then, without anxiety about finishing in this lifetime. Each sincere effort is an investment that hastens your evolution and pushes you, sooner or later, toward higher planes of realization.
Practice, then, without anxiety about finishing in this lifetime; no sincere effort is ever erased, and each one is quietly stored, to draw you on toward higher ground when its hour comes.
Read deeper
Everything a full study holds, folded below.
Word by word
All the commentary, woven together
The commentary, woven together
machine-assisted draft, pending review
Convergence
his verse explains what happens to the yogi who died before reaching the goal and was reborn. The key Sanskrit phrase is buddhi-samyoga paurva-dehikam, the joining-again with the understanding (buddhi) that belonged to his former body (paurva-dehika). In the new birth he does not start over from zero. The mental orientation, the inner bent, the spiritual intelligence he had cultivated in the previous life is recovered and becomes his own again. Most commentators stress that nothing of the earlier practice (sadhana) is lost; the soil is already prepared, and the new life resumes at exactly the point where the old one broke off.
Braided from 16 commentators
Śaṅkarācārya · Śrī Ānandagiri · Madhusūdana Sarasvatī · Śrī Nīlakaṇṭha · Dhanapati Sūri · Rāmānujācārya · Vedānta Deśika · Vallabhācārya · Śrī Puruṣottama · Śrī Bhāskara · Śrīdhara Svāmī · Śrīla Viśvanātha · Śrīla Baladeva · Swami Sivananda · Lokmanya Tilak · Swami Ramsukhdas
The mechanism by which this happens is the impression carried over from the past, what is called samskara. Our thoughts and actions leave subtle traces in the mind, and the traces formed by yoga and meditation are revived and re-energized in the next birth. Because of this stored momentum, the recovered understanding comes with little present effort; the prior practice picks up where it left off and carries the seeker forward almost on its own strength.
Braided from 8 commentators
Śrī Ānandagiri · Śrī Nīlakaṇṭha · Dhanapati Sūri · Śrī Puruṣottama · Śrīdhara Svāmī · Śrīla Baladeva · Swami Sivananda · Lokmanya Tilak
Recovering the old understanding is not by itself the finish line; the verse adds yatate cha tato bhuyah, and from there he strives still more. Rebirth in the right family furnishes the conditions and the recovered inner bent, but liberation still asks for renewed effort. So the seeker, now equipped, presses forward toward samsiddhi, full perfection, and several commentators note that this new striving is more vigorous than before, pushing on to a higher stage than the one he had reached.
Braided from 12 commentators
Śaṅkarācārya · Śrī Ānandagiri · Madhusūdana Sarasvatī · Śrī Nīlakaṇṭha · Rāmānujācārya · Vedānta Deśika · Vallabhācārya · Śrī Puruṣottama · Śrīdhara Svāmī · Śrīla Baladeva · Swami Sivananda · Lokmanya Tilak
Several commentators draw out the image of awakening: the seeker strives again like one who, having slept, has woken, taking up the discipline he had once broken off. Krishna addresses Arjuna as Kuru-nandana, delight or joy of the Kurus, and a number of readers find a purpose in this address. It reassures Arjuna, lends him trust and confidence that the path is not wasted even if interrupted, and for some it points him toward his own family-suited duty.
Braided from 7 commentators
Rāmānujācārya · Vallabhācārya · Śrīla Baladeva · Madhusūdana Sarasvatī · Dhanapati Sūri · Śrī Puruṣottama · Lokmanya Tilak
Divergence
Advaita Vedānta
These commentators read the recovered understanding as buddhi concerning the Self, the connection with the intellect whose object is the oneness of Brahman and the self. The means it carries over are the disciplines of knowledge: renunciation of all action, approaching the teacher, hearing, reflection, and profound meditation. One of them works this out in unusual detail through the seven grounds (bhumis) of the path described in the Vasishtha teaching, distinguishing those who die having reached the higher grounds, where liberation is assured, from those who die on the earlier means-grounds, where the doubt about their outcome arises and is answered here. The address Kuru-nandana is taken to hint that for Arjuna too, given his pure and prosperous line, knowledge will come without toil through the strength of prior impression.
Śaṅkarācārya · Śrī Ānandagiri · Madhusūdana Sarasvatī · Śrī Nīlakaṇṭha · Dhanapati Sūri
Viśiṣṭādvaita
These commentators read the recovered buddhi as the inner-bent bearing on the discipline (yoga) of the prior body, and they emphasize the structure of continuation. Mere birth in a yogi's family is not by itself the cause of release (moksha), because the prior yoga was only slackened, not completed. So three things together carry the candidate to the consummation: the rebirth that furnishes the conditions, the recovered inner bent, and the renewed striving. One stresses that he strives again so that he may not be one struck down by an obstacle.
Rāmānujācārya · Vedānta Deśika
Bhedabheda
This commentator frames the verse within the discipline of action done for the Lord's sake. Because such action is not fruitless, it issues either in enjoyment of the meritorious worlds or in final release. He insists this answer holds for the followers of the path of action, not for those who, abandoning action, would seek liberation from knowledge alone, for whom he says there is only an evil end, since knowledge serves liberation by removing ignorance and cannot itself be a cause of enjoyment. On this base he reads the recovered union of understanding and the renewed striving toward perfection.
Śrī Bhāskara
Śuddhādvaita
These commentators read the recovered buddhi as knowledge made manifest for the sake of Bhagavan's service, gained immediately after entry into the embodied state by Bhagavan's grace, simply by being born in the household of those who belong to Bhagavan. The full success (siddhi) striven for is the gaining of Bhagavan himself. The address Kuru-nandana is read as given for the sake of trust, and the pause in the earlier life is called no wasted detour: the resumption begins where practice left off and proceeds quickly because the soil is already prepared.
Vallabhācārya · Śrī Puruṣottama
Kashmir Shaivism
This commentator stresses how the prior practice carries the seeker forward almost against his will: helpless, subject to another, he is led by sheer force toward the practice of yoga by that earlier momentum. He reads perfection as the state made of release, and the final goal as the state of Vasudeva. He adds that even the mere wish to know yoga carries one beyond the Brahman-that-is-sound, the muttered mantra and self-study, so that one no longer takes it as one's own; and he insists such a one is not perfected in a single body but through practice over many births.
Ācārya Abhinavagupta
Bhakti
These commentators read the recovered buddhi as the understanding whose object was Brahman or steadfastness in the supreme Self, recovered in the new body as one's own inheritance. One calls this the very mechanism of the fallen yogi's arc: nothing of the earlier sadhana is lost, so the next birth begins not at a cold start but exactly where the earlier life left off, the new effort pressing forward with extra force. Another widens the goal to purity of heart and the seeing of both one's own self and the Supreme Self, and reads the renewed striving, like one awakened from sleep, as undertaken so that the seeker may not again be struck down by an obstacle.
Śrīdhara Svāmī · Śrīla Viśvanātha · Śrīla Baladeva
Modern
These commentators read the verse in terms of the psychology of stored impressions. One explains that thoughts and actions are deposited in the subconscious mind as samskaras, habits, and tendencies, which are revivified in the next birth; the yogic tendencies then compel the aspirant to strive with greater vigor than before, reaching toward higher planes of realization. Another simply says the spiritual impressions of previous births come again, and the seeker attempts a success in yoga that is even higher. A third opens the question of what becomes of the seeker, now full of dispassion, after birth in the line of self-realized liberated souls, treating the verse as the answer to that state.
Swami Sivananda · Lokmanya Tilak · Swami Ramsukhdas
A Seeker Asks
If my spiritual effort can be picked up again in a future life, why does the verse still insist that I must strive once more, and what exactly is it that carries over?
What carries over is not the outer circumstances but the inner orientation: the buddhi-samyoga paurva-dehika, the joining-again with the understanding that belonged to your former body. The mind whose object had become the Self or the Lord is recovered in the new birth as your own inheritance, so you begin not at a cold start but exactly where you left off.
Śaṅkarācārya · Rāmānujācārya · Śrīdhara Svāmī · Śrīla Viśvanātha · Śrī Puruṣottama
The reason this happens is the law of stored impressions, samskara. Practice and meditation leave subtle traces in the mind that are revived and re-energized in the next life, which is why the recovered understanding comes with little fresh effort and why the new striving tends to be more vigorous than before.
Śrī Nīlakaṇṭha · Dhanapati Sūri · Swami Sivananda · Lokmanya Tilak
Striving is still required because rebirth and the recovered inner bent only furnish the conditions; they are not themselves liberation. The prior yoga was slackened, not completed, so the seeker must take it up again and press on toward perfection. Several readers picture this as waking from sleep and resuming, and one notes the seeker strives precisely so that he may not again be struck down by an obstacle.
Vedānta Deśika · Rāmānujācārya · Śrīla Baladeva · Vallabhācārya
Contemplation
Take this verse as quiet reassurance for the long road. Nothing you do in earnest on the spiritual path is wasted. Your thoughts and actions settle into the mind as subtle impressions, samskaras, and the impressions left by genuine practice and meditation are not erased by death; they are stored and revived. So the meditation that feels slow today, the patient effort that seems to bear little fruit, is being deposited as a tendency that will one day compel you to strive with greater vigor than you can summon now. Practice, then, without anxiety about finishing in this lifetime. Each sincere effort is an investment that hastens your evolution and pushes you, sooner or later, toward higher planes of realization.
Sit with this · Swami Sivananda
All the translations and commentary
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