Cluster 0156
BG-4.15
Ovi 4.82
Original (Marathi): मागील मुमुक्षु जे होते । तिहीं ऐशिया जाणोनि मातें । कर्में केलीं समस्तें । धनुर्धरा ॥८२॥ Voice: krishna-to-arjuna
Voice-anchor: The closing-vocative धनुर्धरा (O bow-bearer, Arjuna-epithet) is the strongest-possible voice-anchor — same epithet as 4.43 in cluster 0146. The first-person मातें (me, Kṛṣṇa's self-reference) — they having-known me thus — is unambiguous Kṛṣṇa-self-naming. Continuous Kṛṣṇa-to-Arjuna discourse from cluster 0155's तो सुटला गा (he is freed, dear-one).
Word-by-word gloss
| Marathi | Meaning |
|---|---|
| मागील | previous / earlier / former |
| मुमुक्षु | mumukṣus (seekers-of-liberation; Sanskrit मुमुक्षु = desiring-to-be-freed) |
| जे होते | who existed / who were |
| तिहीं | by-them / they |
| ऐशिया | thus / in-this-way |
| जाणोनि | having-known |
| मातें | me (Kṛṣṇa's self-reference, accusative) |
| कर्में केलीं | performed karmas |
| समस्तें | all / every-kind |
| धनुर्धरा | O bearer-of-the-bow (Arjuna-vocative) |
Literal translation
English: Those who were previous mumukṣus (seekers-of-liberation) — they having-known me in this-way — performed all-kinds-of karmas, O bow-bearer.
मराठी (आधुनिक): जे पूर्वीचे मुमुक्षु (मोक्षेच्छु) होते — त्यांनी मला अशा प्रकारे (मागील ओवीत सांगितल्याप्रमाणे — कर्म मला बांधत नाहीत, फलाची मला आसक्ती नाही असे) जाणून — सर्व प्रकारची कर्में केली, हे धनुर्धरा.
Metaphor-unfold
No extended metaphor in this ovi.
Nāth-yogic layer
No Nāth-yogic referent in this ovi.
Cross-references
- Internal: developed-further from 4.81 (cluster 0155) — the singular epistemic-criterion of liberation at 4.81 (
ऐसें जेणें जाणितलें — तो सुटला गा) is here given its historical-pluralization: the previous mumukṣus already knew this and acted accordingly. Also developed-further from 3.151 (cluster 0116, BG-3.19) — the तस्मात्-imperative (therefore do karma) is here grounded in the ancients already did so. - Tukaram parallel: None directly. Tukaram broadly inherits the niṣkāma-karma + historical-precedent frame (the sant-paramparā genealogy at e.g. abhang 2810's saints-list operates on the same structural-principle: these-have-walked-the-path-before) but no abhang substantively-parallels the BG-4.15 ancients-already-knew-and-acted claim.
- Source citation:
- Bhagavad Gītā 4.15 — direct-paraphrase. Sanskrit's
एवं ज्ञात्वा कृतं कर्म पूर्वैरपि मुमुक्षुभिःis rendered with the load-bearing Marathi additionजाणोनि मातें(having-known me) — specifying that the thus-knowing of 4.15 is the same knowing-Kṛṣṇa-thus of 4.14. - Bhagavad Gītā 4.14 — echo. The demonstrative-pronoun
ऐशिया(thus) in the Marathi carries forward BG-4.14'sइति(thus) — the precedent-mumukṣus knew exactly what 4.14 has just defined.
Modern application
- When you are about to start a difficult discipline (a meditation practice, a craft-apprenticeship, a way of working without anxiety-about-results) and you feel alone with the task. Recall: those who walked this before me knew exactly what they were doing — they did all-kinds-of work in this same spirit. The historical-precedent transforms the felt-aloneness into membership-in-a-line.
- When a younger colleague asks you whether the way-of-working you are recommending (without obsessing-over-the-outcome) is naive or theoretical. Point to the fact that this is not a new theoretical-proposal but a precedent that previous practitioners already knew and acted on. The teaching's historical-witness is itself part of the teaching.
- When you are tempted to think the way-of-acting-without-binding is only-for-monastics or only-for-the-already-enlightened. The ovi's
मागील मुमुक्षु ... कर्में केलीं समस्तें— the ancient seekers performed all-kinds-of-karmas — is the corrective: it is precisely the seekers (still-on-the-way) who acted with this knowing, not just the arrived. The path is acted-from, not arrived-at.
Sādhanā
For one task today (a meeting, an email-reply, a chore), perform it with the explicit internal-frame: those-who-walked-this-path-before-me already knew this can be done without binding-to-the-result; I am now walking the same path. The frame is not a belief-claim but a structural-positioning of the action within an ancestry — five seconds of explicit positioning before the action begins.
Arc
Having established that the precedent-mumukṣus knew-and-acted-thus, Kṛṣṇa now at 4.83 supplies the mechanism that made their karmas non-binding: the seeds-burnt-don't-sprout image. Precedent → mechanism.
Ovi 4.83
Original (Marathi): परि तें बीजें जैसीं दग्धलीं । नुगवतींचि पेरिलीं । तैशीं कर्मेंचि परि तयां जाहलीं । मोक्षहेतु ॥८३॥ Voice: krishna-to-arjuna
Voice-anchor: Continuation of Kṛṣṇa-discourse from 4.82. The third-person-narrative form (तयां जाहलीं — for them it became) refers back to the मागील मुमुक्षु Kṛṣṇa just named — the speaker is Kṛṣṇa narrating about those previous mumukṣus for Arjuna. No voice-shift markers between 4.82 and 4.84 (which opens with explicit Arjuna-vocative अर्जुना); 4.83 is bracketed by maximum-strength voice-anchors on both sides and is itself within the same Kṛṣṇa-discourse.
Word-by-word gloss
| Marathi | Meaning |
|---|---|
| परि | but |
| तें बीजें | those seeds |
| जैसीं | as / like |
| दग्धलीं | burnt (past-passive-participle from दग्ध- to burn) |
| नुगवतींचि | do-not-sprout-emphatically (न-उगवतीं-चि; उगवणे = to-sprout/germinate; emphatic-ची) |
| पेरिलीं | (when) sown |
| तैशीं | so / thus |
| कर्मेंचि | karmas-themselves (कर्में-ची, emphatic) |
| परि | but / however |
| तयां जाहलीं | for-them became |
| मोक्षहेतु | mokṣa-cause / cause-of-liberation |
Literal translation
English: But — as seeds-burnt do-not-sprout-even-when-sown — so karmas themselves became, for them, cause-of-liberation (mokṣa-hetu).
मराठी (आधुनिक): परंतु — जशी जळालेली बीजें पेरली तरी उगवत नाहीत — तशीच त्यांची कर्मेंच त्यांच्यासाठी मोक्षाचे कारण ठरली.
Sanskrit-root etymology note (meaningful here): मोक्षहेतु = mokṣa-hetu, cause-of-liberation. Note the precision: Jñāneśvar does not say the karmas were destroyed — he says they became cause-of-liberation. The action-form is preserved; only the binding-power is destroyed. Compare with BG-4.19 (ज्ञानाग्निदग्धकर्म — fire-of-knowledge-burnt-karma) and BG-4.37 (ज्ञानाग्निः सर्वकर्माणि भस्मसात्कुरुते — fire-of-knowledge reduces all karmas to ashes). All three texts agree: karma is not removed from the action — its binding-mechanism is what is removed.
Metaphor-unfold
| Literal image | Philosophical referent | Modern equivalent |
|---|---|---|
| A seed that has been roasted/burnt over fire | A karma performed by a jñānī-mumukṣu who knows Kṛṣṇa-thus (BG-4.14's iti mām yo'bhijānāti) | A skill-action performed by someone who has cooked away the result-grasping narrative around it — the action's competence remains, but its capacity to keep them in the cycle-of-becoming-someone-by-its-result is gone |
| The burnt seed sown — the agricultural-action is performed | The karma performed — the action is still done in the world | The work still happens — the email still gets sent, the operation still gets performed, the dinner still gets cooked |
| The burnt seed does not sprout — no germination, no plant, no new seeds | The karma does not produce future-birth-bondage — the samsāra-causing chain is broken | The action does not feed the result-grasping self-narrative; nothing new gets generated in the inner-economy of what-I-must-become-by-this |
| Net result: agricultural-form preserved, generative-power destroyed | Net result: action-form preserved, binding-power destroyed; the karma becomes mokṣa-hetu (cause-of-liberation) rather than samsāra-hetu | Net result: work is done with full competence and full effectiveness, but it is no-longer-an-investment in who-I-am-by-its-outcome |
Metaphor-family: burnt-seed-and-non-sprouting. Connected to the same metaphor-family in BG-4.19 (ज्ञानाग्निदग्धकर्माणं तमाहुः पण्डितं बुधाः — him whose karmas are burnt by the fire-of-knowledge, the wise call paṇḍita) and BG-4.37 (ज्ञानाग्निः सर्वकर्माणि भस्मसात्कुरुते — the fire-of-knowledge reduces all karmas to ashes). Sanskrit BG-4 uses the fire form (ज्ञानाग्निदग्ध / भस्मसात्); Jñāneśvar's Marathi at 4.83 uses the agricultural form (seeds-burnt-don't-sprout). The two forms are paired — the fire is the antecedent action, the non-sprouting is the soteriological-consequence.
Nāth-yogic layer
No Nāth-yogic referent in this ovi. The burnt-seed image is classical jñāna-vs-karma soteriology, not Nātha-tantric. The fire in the metaphor-family is the metaphorical jñāna-fire of BG-4.19 / 4.37, not the literal kuṇḍalinī-fire of the Nāth-tantric tradition.
Cross-references
- Internal:
- developed-further from 4.81 (cluster 0155). 4.81 stated the epistemic-criterion of liberation (
ऐसें जेणें जाणितलें — तो सुटला गा). 4.83 here answers the natural follow-up question — what happens to the karmas of the freed-one? — by giving the burnt-seed image: the karmas continue to be performed but become mokṣa-causes rather than samsāra-causes. - parallel-image to 2.301 (cluster 0084). 2.301's kūrma-angāni simile (tortoise-withdrawing-limbs) and 4.83's burnt-seed image share the same doctrinal-grammar: organic-process-arrested-by-a-discipline. The natural-process is structurally preserved but functionally neutralized. Adhyāya 2's image gives the doer's-side (volitional restraint); adhyāya 4's image gives the result's-side (soteriological non-bondage).
- Tukaram parallel: Tukaram 64 (
कर्मफळ म्हणुनी इच्छूं नये काम— one-should-not-desire-anything-as-karma-fruit) — thematic-resonance on the operational-result (karma-no-longer-binds). Tukaram does not use the burnt-seed image; he gives the householder-entry-mode (fruit-desire-cessation) for the same mechanism. Different image, shared operational-target. - Source citation:
- Bhagavad Gītā 4.19 — echo. BG-4.19's
ज्ञानाग्निदग्धकर्माणं तमाहुः पण्डितं बुधाः(him whose karmas are burnt by the fire-of-knowledge, the wise call paṇḍita) is the formal Sanskrit-statement of the same metaphor-family. Jñāneśvar at 4.83 pre-states it in agricultural form half-a-chapter before BG-4.19 arrives. - Bhagavad Gītā 4.37 — echo. BG-4.37's
यथैधांसि समिद्धोऽग्निर्भस्मसात्कुरुतेऽर्जुन — ज्ञानाग्निः सर्वकर्माणि भस्मसात्कुरुते तथा(as kindled-fire reduces firewood to ashes, O Arjuna — so the fire-of-knowledge reduces all karmas to ashes) is the explicit-elaboration of the same metaphor-family in the same chapter.
Modern application
- When you have completed a major project (a manuscript, a build-out, a clinical-rotation) and notice that the work itself was excellent but you are not — in the way you used to be — invested in what it makes you become. The work is done, and it does not feed the who-I-am-by-its-outcome loop. The ovi names this familiar experience precisely: the action's form is preserved, but its binding-power is gone.
- When a senior surgeon performs a procedure they have done a thousand times — full competence, full presence, no internal-drama about being-the-surgeon. The action is intact; the identity-binding around the action is gone. This is the lived-form of what the burnt-seed image is teaching: कर्मेंचि परि तयां जाहलीं — मोक्षहेतु (the karmas themselves became, for them, mokṣa-cause).
- When you find yourself doing the dishes (or any small-repetitive task) without the usual story-loop about whether-I-am-the-kind-of-person-who-does-the-dishes-without-complaint. The action is unchanged; the inner-economy around it is silent. The ovi shows that this familiar small-experience is structurally the same as the soteriological-mechanism the Gītā is naming.
Sādhanā
Pick one task you will do today that has historically come with a self-narrative-loop (a chore, a meeting, an exercise). Do the task fully. As you do it, notice when the narrative-loop tries to fire (am-I-doing-this-right; will-this-make-me-X; this-is-tedious) and treat each firing as one-more-burnt-seed-thrown-onto-the-soil: the seed (the narrative) is sown — but it cannot germinate (you do not give it attention to grow). The action gets done; the narrative-economy around it gets unfed.
Arc
Having given the precedent (4.82) and the mechanism (4.83), Kṛṣṇa now at 4.84 pivots: there is one more thing — the karma-akarma discrimination cannot be done by one's own whim, even by the wise. This pivot is the structural-bridge to BG-4.16's explicit statement of the karma-akarma-confusion problem.
Ovi 4.84
Original (Marathi): एथ आणिकही एक अर्जुना । हे कर्माकर्मविवंचना । आपुलिये चाडें सज्ञाना । योग्यु नोहे ॥८४॥ Voice: krishna-to-arjuna
Voice-anchor: The explicit vocative अर्जुना (Arjuna) at the second pada is a maximum-strength voice-anchor — speaker-naming-addressee directly by name. Together with 4.82's closing धनुर्धरा (bow-bearer-vocative), the cluster is bracketed by Arjuna-vocatives marking continuous Kṛṣṇa-to-Arjuna discourse.
Word-by-word gloss
| Marathi | Meaning |
|---|---|
| एथ | here / in-this-context |
| आणिकही एक | one-more-thing-also (आणिक-ही-एक) |
| अर्जुना | O Arjuna (vocative) |
| हे | this |
| कर्माकर्मविवंचना | karma-akarma-discrimination (कर्म-अकर्म-विवंचना; विवंचना = discrimination, distinguishing-judgement) |
| आपुलिये चाडें | by one's-own whim / by self-willed-decision (चाडें — Marathi: longing, whim, willful-desire) |
| सज्ञाना | for-the-wise / for-the-one-with-jñāna |
| योग्यु नोहे | is-not-fit / is-not-proper (योग्य = fit; नोहे = is-not) |
Literal translation
English: Here, Arjuna, one more thing: this karma-akarma discrimination — by one's-own-whim — is not fit even for the wise.
मराठी (आधुनिक): हे अर्जुना, इथे आणखी एक गोष्ट: ही कर्म आणि अकर्म यांची भिन्नता-समजून-घेण्याची विवंचना — स्वतःच्या मर्जीने (चाडेने) — ज्ञानवंतांनासुद्धा योग्य ठरत नाही.
Metaphor-unfold
No extended metaphor in this ovi. This is a transition-bridge ovi — its function is to announce the next topic (karma-akarma discrimination) and qualify it (cannot be self-decided) — not to amplify with imagery. The imagery for the karma-akarma problem will arrive in the next cluster (0157, BG-4.16), where Jñāneśvar gives the counterfeit-coin image (कुडें नाणें — खऱ्याचेनि सारखेपणें — डोळ्यांचेंहि देखणें — संशयीं घाली).
Nāth-yogic layer
No Nāth-yogic referent in this ovi.
Cross-references
- Internal:
- foreshadows 4.85 (cluster 0157). 4.84's
हे कर्माकर्मविवंचना ... योग्यु नोहेis precisely the antecedent of cluster 0157's openingकर्म म्हणिपे तें कवण — अथवा अकर्मा काय लक्षण — ऐसें विचारितां विचक्षण — गुंफोनि ठेले(what is called karma — or what is the characteristic of akarma — investigating-thus, even the discerning have-been-tangled-up). 4.84 announces the problem; cluster 0157 unpacks it. - parallel-image to 3.85 (cluster 0107). Cluster 0107's observation-note flagged 3.85 (
आतां ... तुज सांगेन एक मी कथा— now I will tell you one story) as a textbook Jñāneśvar transition-ovi. 4.84'sएथ आणिकही एक अर्जुना ... सांगेनis the same set-piece structure: state-doctrine + announce-next-move + name-Arjuna. The pattern is one of Jñāneśvar's signature chapter-internal-pivot rhythms. - Tukaram parallel: Tukaram 2867 (
ठेविलें अनंतें तैसें चि राहावें — चित्ती असों द्यावें समाधान) — thematic-resonance on the anti-self-will discipline. Tukaram says don't decide your placement by your own samkalpa — defer to the Lord's-disposition; Jñāneśvar's 4.84 says don't decide karma-akarma by your own chāḍa (whim) — defer to the Lord's-now-coming explanation. Different objects (life-situation vs action-classification), shared spine. - Source citation:
- Bhagavad Gītā 4.16 — echo. The Marathi pre-states BG-4.16's
किं कर्म किमकर्मेति कवयोऽप्यत्र मोहिताः(what is karma, what is akarma — even seers are deluded). Jñāneśvar's Marathi gets there half-a-verse before the Sanskrit.
Modern application
- When you are trying to decide for yourself, alone, which of my current activities count as right-action and which count as escapism-disguised-as-action — and finding that every framing you try has a hidden self-flattery in it. The ovi names this precisely: this discrimination, by your own whim, is not fit even for the wise. The corrective is seek-a-teacher-or-text-or-clear-criterion, not think-harder-alone.
- When you are a senior practitioner of your field and a hard-classification question arises (is this clinical decision karma or non-karma? — i.e., is acting now the right move, or is waiting the right move?). The temptation is to trust one's seniority to decide alone. The ovi warns: सज्ञाना ... योग्यु नोहे — even-for-the-wise, by-own-whim, it is not fit. Bring the question to a council, a tradition, a clear-criterion — not to your own confidence.
- When you are reading a contemplative text on your own and the text starts naming distinctions (action vs non-action, attachment vs concern, renunciation vs avoidance) — and you find yourself deciding-with-your-own-mind which side of the distinction you are on. The ovi suggests: pause; the criterion you are using to decide may itself be exactly the confusion the text is naming. The next move is to receive the text's own definitions before applying them to yourself.
Sādhanā
Today, locate one binary you have been deciding by your own whim (this-is-helping vs this-is-escapism; this-is-rest vs this-is-laziness; this-is-firmness vs this-is-cruelty). Instead of deciding which-side-you-are-on, write the question down and bring it explicitly to a text, a teacher, or a trusted-friend who will not flatter you. The exercise is the anti-self-whim discipline of 4.84 in operational-form: I will not decide this by my own chāḍa.
Arc
Having warned that karma-akarma discrimination cannot be done by self-whim, Kṛṣṇa now opens BG-4.16 (next cluster) with the explicit statement of the problem — what is karma, what is akarma — even seers are confused — and promises I shall declare-to-you that karma, knowing-which you shall be released. 4.84's pivot is the seam between the BG-4.13-15 doctrinal-claim block and the BG-4.16-23 karma-akarma-operational block.
Cluster summary
Core teaching. The freed-individual claim of BG-4.14 is now extended in three moves across three ovis. (i) Historical-warrant: the previous mumukṣus (seekers-of-liberation) knew Kṛṣṇa thus (in the BG-4.14 terms) and performed all karmas — Arjuna's imperative is anchored in deep-precedent. (ii) Mechanism: but for them those karmas became like seeds-burnt-then-sown — they did-not-sprout — meaning their karmas themselves became mokṣa-causes rather than samsāra-causes. (iii) Warning-pivot: yet this karma-akarma discrimination cannot be done by one's-own-whim, even by the wise — pivoting into the BG-4.16 explicit statement of the problem.
Theme tags: BG-4.15; previous-mumukṣus-precedent; historical-warrant-of-niṣkāma-karma; burnt-seeds-don't-sprout; karmas-as-mokṣa-causes; jñāna-roasts-karma-seeds; karma-akarma-discrimination-warning; anti-self-whim-discipline; transition-to-BG-4.16.
Contains extended metaphor: Yes — 4.83's burnt-seed-and-non-sprouting image, one of the corpus's iconic karma-yoga metaphors. This is Jñāneśvar's agricultural-form of what BG-4.19 and BG-4.37 will state in fire-form (ज्ञानाग्निदग्धकर्म / ज्ञानाग्निः सर्वकर्माणि भस्मसात्कुरुते). The metaphor's doctrinal-grammar is organic-process-arrested-by-a-discipline: the agricultural-form is preserved (seeds can be sown), but the generative-power is destroyed (no sprouting). Translated to karma: the action-form is preserved (karmas are performed), but the binding-power is destroyed (no samsāra-fruit). The metaphor pairs with 2.301's kūrma-angāni image — the two together give the doer's-side and result's-side of the same discipline.
Chapter arc position. The historical-warrant-and-mechanism cluster following BG-4.14's individual-criterion of liberation. The chapter's first ten ślokas (BG-4.1-10, clusters 0142-0151) established the avatāra-doctrine. BG-4.11-14 (clusters 0152-0155) gave the reciprocal-doctrine + non-doer-Kṛṣṇa + karmas-don't-bind-the-knower. BG-4.15 (this cluster) pivots: the singular-claim of 4.14 is given historical-precedent (4.82) + mechanism (4.83) + warning (4.84). The cluster opens the next major doctrinal-block of the chapter — the karma-akarma-confusion (BG-4.16-23) — where the operational-vocabulary of niṣkāma-karma-as-yajña will be given.
Connects to next śloka. BG-4.16 (cluster 0157) opens with the explicit statement of the karma-akarma-confusion: किं कर्म किमकर्मेति कवयोऽप्यत्र मोहिताः — तत्ते कर्म प्रवक्ष्यामि यज्ञात्वा मोक्ष्यसेऽशुभात् (what is karma, what is akarma — even seers are deluded — I shall declare-to-you that karma, knowing-which you shall be released from inauspiciousness). 4.84's foreshadow (हे कर्माकर्मविवंचना — आपुलिये चाडें सज्ञाना — योग्यु नोहे) is precisely the antecedent of BG-4.16's claim. The hand-off is direct: 4.84 says self-willed discrimination is impossible-even-for-the-wise; BG-4.16 says I will now tell you the karma whose-knowing releases you. Cluster 0156 is the doctrinal-bridge from 4.14's individual-criterion to 4.16's operational-instruction.