Cluster 0565 — BG-17.3 — *sattvānurūpā sarvasya śraddhā bhavati bhārata — śraddhāmayo'yaṃ puruṣo yo yacchraddhaḥ sa eva saḥ*
BG-17.3
सत्त्वानुरूपा सर्वस्य श्रद्धा भवति भारत । श्रद्धामयोऽयं पुरुषो यो यछ्रद्धः स एव सः ॥३॥
"The faith of each person, O Bhārata, conforms to their inner nature. This person is made of faith — as a person's faith is, so verily is that person."
This is the foundational thesis of adhyāya 17 (śraddhā-traya-vibhāga). Arjuna has just asked (BG-17.1) about those who worship with faith but set scripture aside — what is their standing? Kṛṣṇa's answer here does not sort them by external form at all; it relocates the whole question inward: a person's faith conforms to their inner constitution (sattvānurūpā), the person is constituted by faith (śraddhāmaya), and — the line that gives the chapter its teeth — yo yacchraddhaḥ sa eva saḥ: faith is not something a person has, it is what a person is. Jñāneśvar's ten ovis do two things in sequence: first (17.66-72) they ground the claim that all faith is guṇa-tinted, using his finest medium-images; then (17.73-75) they pivot to the diagnostic task — since faith is threefold, learn to read its type from outer signs — handing straight off to the catalogue that fills the rest of the chapter.
Ovi 17.66
Original (Marathi): एवं सत्त्वरजतमा । वेगळी श्रद्धा सुवर्मा । नाहीं गा जीवग्रामा । माजीं यया ॥६६॥ Voice: krishna-to-arjuna (the vocative गा addresses Arjuna; continues BG-17.3's भारत-frame)
Word-by-word gloss
| Marathi | Meaning |
|---|---|
| एवं सत्त्वरजतमा | thus, with sattva-rajas-tamas |
| वेगळी श्रद्धा सुवर्मा | a separate / distinct (well-armoured) faith |
| नाहीं गा जीवग्रामा माजीं | there is not, O [Arjuna], in the whole community-of-beings (jīva-grāma) |
| यया | of this / for this |
Literal translation
English: Thus — given sattva, rajas, tamas — there is no separate, self-standing faith apart from these, O Arjuna, in the whole community of living beings.
मराठी (आधुनिक): सत्त्व-रज-तम या तिन्ही गुणांपासून वेगळी, स्वतंत्र अशी श्रद्धा — संपूर्ण जीवसृष्टीत कुठेच नाही, अर्जुना.
Metaphor-unfold
No extended metaphor in this ovi. सुवर्मा ("well-armoured / distinct") is an epithet, not a developed image.
Nāth-yogic layer
No Nāth-yogic referent in this ovi. This is guṇa-doctrine grounding; no esoteric frame is active.
Cross-references
- Internal: Ring-companion to 17.75 — 17.66 denies any guṇa-free faith in any being; 17.75 announces that the resulting threefold-classification is to be read off the signs. The grounding-claim and the diagnostic-payoff bracket the cluster.
- Tukaram parallel: (none specific to this ovi — the substance-argument parallel lands at 17.68/17.72)
- Source citations:
- Bhagavad Gītā 17.3 — सत्त्वानुरूपा सर्वस्य श्रद्धा ("each person's faith conforms to inner-nature"); the Marathi reads sattva as the guṇa-triad and renders sarvasya as जीवग्राम, "the whole community-of-beings."
- Bhagavad Gītā 18.40 (echo, different śloka) — na tad asti pṛthivyāṃ vā divi deveṣu vā punaḥ — sattvaṃ prakṛti-jair muktaṃ yad ebhiḥ syāt tribhir guṇaiḥ ("no being on earth or among the gods is free of the three prakṛti-born guṇas"). 17.66's नाहीं गा जीवग्रामा माजीं applies precisely this universal-guṇa-pervasion to śraddhā.
Modern application
- When you imagine your conviction is pure, unconditioned, "just the truth." The claim here is that there is no faith floating free of your make-up — your trust in a person, a method, a cause is already coloured by your temperament before you ever examine its object.
- When you assume sincerity settles the question. "But they really believe it." 17.66 says everyone really believes something; sincerity is universal and tells you nothing yet about the kind of faith at work.
- When you treat your own worldview as the neutral baseline against which others are biased. The verse levels the field: नाहीं गा जीवग्रामा माजीं — no one, in the whole community of beings, has the guṇa-free vantage point.
Sādhanā
Today, take one belief you hold with conviction and ask: which part of my temperament — my fear, my appetite, my calm — is this faith conforming to? Name the guṇa behind it once, without trying to fix it.
Arc
17.66 denies any guṇa-free faith; 17.67 states the positive corollary — faith is therefore naturally three-guṇa-constituted.
Ovi 17.67
Original (Marathi): म्हणौनि श्रद्धा स्वाभाविक । असे पैं त्रिगुणात्मक । रजतमसात्त्विक । भेदीं इहीं ॥६७॥ Voice: krishna-to-arjuna (continuing the BG-17.3 instruction)
Word-by-word gloss
| Marathi | Meaning |
|---|---|
| म्हणौनि श्रद्धा स्वाभाविक | therefore faith is, by its own nature |
| असे पैं त्रिगुणात्मक | indeed three-guṇa-constituted (tri-guṇa-ātmaka) |
| रजतमसात्त्विक | rājasa, tāmasa, sāttvika |
| भेदीं इहीं | by these divisions |
Literal translation
English: Therefore faith is, by its very nature, constituted of the three guṇas — divided into these: rājasa, tāmasa, sāttvika.
मराठी (आधुनिक): म्हणून श्रद्धा ही स्वभावतःच त्रिगुणात्मक आहे — रजस, तमस, सात्त्विक — या भेदांनी विभागलेली.
Metaphor-unfold
No extended metaphor in this ovi.
Nāth-yogic layer
No Nāth-yogic referent in this ovi.
Cross-references
- Internal: (linear chain — feeds the three-guṇa application of 17.69-71)
- Tukaram parallel: (none specific to this ovi)
- Source citations:
- Bhagavad Gītā 17.3 — सत्त्वानुरूपा ("conforming-to-inner-nature"), re-read as त्रिगुणात्मक; Jñāneśvar makes explicit that the verse's sattva is the guṇa-triad, not sattva-guṇa alone.
- Bhagavad Gītā 14.5 (echo, different śloka) — sattvaṃ rajas tama iti guṇāḥ prakṛti-sambhavāḥ — nibadhnanti mahā-bāho dehe dehinam avyayam (the three prakṛti-born guṇas bind the embodied self). This is the guṇa-typology 17.67 presupposes in grounding the threefold division of faith.
Modern application
- When you sort "kinds of believers" instead of "believers vs. non-believers." The useful axis here is not whether someone has faith but which guṇa their faith runs on — anxious-and-grasping (rajas), inert-and-fearful (tamas), or clear-and-steady (sattva).
- When the same religion, team, or ideal produces wildly different people. 17.67 explains it: identical outward faith, three different inner constitutions, three different fruits.
- When you want to upgrade your own commitment. The path is not "more faith" but changing the guṇa underneath it — moving a fear-driven loyalty toward a clear-eyed one.
Sādhanā
Today, pick one thing you have faith in and ask which of the three it runs on right now: is it anxious and acquisitive (rajas), dull and obligated (tamas), or quiet and clear (sattva)? Just label it.
Arc
17.67 asserts faith is three-guṇa-constituted; 17.68 supplies the first proof-image — one substance taking opposite characters from its medium.
Ovi 17.68
Original (Marathi): जैसें जीवनचि उदक । परी विषीं होय मारक । कां मिरयामाजीं तीख । उंसीं गोड ॥६८॥ Voice: krishna-to-arjuna
Word-by-word gloss
| Marathi | Meaning |
|---|---|
| जैसें जीवनचि उदक | just as water is life itself (जीवन also = "life") |
| परी विषीं होय मारक | yet in poison it becomes killing |
| कां मिरयामाजीं तीख | or in pepper, pungent |
| उंसीं गोड | in sugarcane, sweet |
Literal translation
English: Just as water is life itself — yet becomes lethal in poison, pungent in pepper, sweet in sugarcane.
मराठी (आधुनिक): जसं पाणी हेच मुळी जीवन आहे — पण तेच विषात प्राणघातक होतं, मिरीत तिखट, उसात गोड बनतं.
Metaphor-unfold
| Literal image | Philosophical referent | Modern equivalent |
|---|---|---|
| One water — the same substance throughout — that is life-giving in itself | Śraddhā as a single underlying disposition, neutral until it takes a character | The same capacity (say, devotion or trust) present in everyone before it is shaped |
| The same water turns lethal in poison, pungent in pepper, sweet in cane | The one śraddhā taking sāttvika / rājasa / tāmasa character from the inner-constitution it inhabits | The same loyalty becoming generous in a clear person, grasping in an anxious one, sullen in a fearful one — the medium decides |
| The character belongs to the medium, not to a label stuck on from outside | yo yacchraddhaḥ sa eva saḥ — what a faith manifestly is is fixed by the constitution it saturates, not by its external name | You read what a commitment really is from how it actually behaves, not from what it calls itself |
Metaphor-family: one-substance-takes-its-medium's-nature (a same-substance-classified-by-medium image). This is the cluster's central proof-image. The jaisā (जैसें) simile-frame is explicit.
Nāth-yogic layer
No Nāth-yogic referent in this ovi. The water/pepper/cane image is guṇa-doctrine illustration, not yogic physiology.
Cross-references
- Internal: (feeds 17.69-71, the per-guṇa application of this image)
- Tukaram parallel:
- Abhang 337 — काळकुट पितळ सोनें शुद्ध रंग — अंगाचेंच अंग साक्ष देतें ("poison, brass, gold — pure-color — the body's very body gives witness"), with याति कुळ येथें असे अप्रमाण — गुणाचें कारण असे अंगीं ("caste-clan here is no-evidence — guṇa is the cause in the body"). Tukaram runs the identical substance-classification argument: inner guṇa-constitution, not an external label, fixes what a thing manifestly is — exactly the logic of Jñāneśvar's water/pepper/cane image and of श्रद्धामयोऽयं पुरुषः. (Lines verified against corpus/0337.md.)
- Source citation: Bhagavad Gītā 17.3 — सत्त्वानुरूपा, amplified into the medium-image (the single-substance-takes-its-medium's-character picture is wholly Jñāneśvar's).
Modern application
- When the same generous act curdles or blesses depending on the heart behind it. Money given in love nourishes; the identical sum given in contempt or to buy control humiliates. Same water — poison or sweetness — set by the medium.
- When you judge an action by its form and miss its real character. Two people perform the exact same ritual, donation, or apology; one is sweet cane-water, the other is poison. The outer form does not tell you which.
- When you want to know what a "neutral" capacity in you has become. Your intensity is water — life itself. Notice which medium it is currently running through, because that, not your intention, decides whether it heals or harms.
Sādhanā
Today, take one recent act of yours that "looked good" and ask honestly which medium it ran through — love, anxiety, or resentment. Don't rewrite the act; just taste the water.
Arc
17.68 gives the general medium-image; 17.69 applies it to the first case — faith steeped in tamas ripens into tamas itself.
Ovi 17.69
Original (Marathi): तैसा बहुवसें तमें । जो सदाचि होय निमे । तेथ श्रद्धा परीणमे । तेंचि होऊनि ॥६९॥ Voice: krishna-to-arjuna
Word-by-word gloss
| Marathi | Meaning |
|---|---|
| तैसा बहुवसें तमें | so, with abundant tamas |
| जो सदाचि होय निमे | one who is always steeped / immersed (nimagna) |
| तेथ श्रद्धा परीणमे | there faith ripens-into / transforms-into |
| तेंचि होऊनि | becoming that very thing |
Literal translation
English: In just that way, one who is always steeped in abundant tamas — there faith ripens into becoming that very tamas.
मराठी (आधुनिक): त्याचप्रमाणे जो माणूस सतत खूप तमोगुणात बुडालेला असतो — तिथे त्याची श्रद्धा तेच तम बनून परिणत होते.
Sanskrit-root note
pariṇamati (परीणमे) = pari- ("around, fully") + √nam ("bend, transform") — "ripens into, fully transforms into"; it precisely carries BG-17.3's bhavati of conformity — faith becomes its constitution's character.
Metaphor-unfold
No extended metaphor in this ovi. It is the literal application of 17.68's image to the tamas-case, stated directly.
Nāth-yogic layer
No Nāth-yogic referent in this ovi.
Cross-references
- Internal: (applies 17.68; feeds 17.70's indistinguishability-image)
- Tukaram parallel: (none specific to this ovi)
- Source citation: Bhagavad Gītā 17.3 — सत्त्वानुरूपा श्रद्धा भवति, rendered for the tamas-case; परीणमे renders the bhavati of conformity.
Modern application
- When someone's faith has gone heavy and inert. The believer steeped in fatalism, grievance, or dread whose very devotion has thickened into the dullness it lives in — the worship is real and it is tamas.
- When low-grade despair starts to feel like piety. "It's God's will, nothing can change" — faith that has ripened into the tamas it was immersed in, indistinguishable from resignation.
- When you notice your own trust has curdled into stuckness. A commitment you keep out of inertia and fear of change, not conviction — श्रद्धा परीणमे तेंचि होऊनि, faith that has become the heaviness it sits in.
Sādhanā
Today, find one belief you hold mostly out of inertia or dread rather than clarity. Say plainly: this is a tamas-faith. Naming it accurately is the whole practice — no fix required yet.
Arc
17.69 says tamas-saturated faith becomes tamas itself; 17.70 supplies the proof — like lamp-black and ink, the two cannot be told apart.
Ovi 17.70
Original (Marathi): मग काजळा आणि मसी । न दिसे विवंचना जैसी । तेवीं श्रद्धा तामसी । सिनी नाहीं ॥७०॥ Voice: krishna-to-arjuna
Word-by-word gloss
| Marathi | Meaning |
|---|---|
| मग काजळा आणि मसी | then, between lamp-black (kājaḷ) and ink (masī) |
| न दिसे विवंचना जैसी | as no discrimination / distinction is seen |
| तेवीं श्रद्धा तामसी | so the tāmasa faith |
| सिनी नाहीं | has no separation / is not separate [from tamas] |
Literal translation
English: Then — just as no distinction can be seen between lamp-black and ink — so the tāmasa faith is not separable from tamas itself.
मराठी (आधुनिक): मग काजळ आणि शाई यांच्यात जसा काही फरक दिसत नाही — तसंच तामस श्रद्धा आणि तम यांच्यात वेगळेपणा उरत नाही.
Metaphor-unfold
| Literal image | Philosophical referent | Modern equivalent |
|---|---|---|
| Lamp-black and ink — two black substances no eye can tell apart | Tāmasa-śraddhā and tamas itself: faith so saturated by its guṇa that it is indistinguishable from it | A loyalty so fused with the dread or inertia driving it that you cannot separate the "devotion" from the heaviness |
| "No discrimination is seen" (न दिसे विवंचना) | The total identity-of-character at the bottom of the scale — no daylight between faith and its medium | The point where someone's "belief" and their depression, or their "principle" and their fear, are simply one black thing |
Metaphor-family: lamp-black-and-ink (an indistinguishability image — total identity-of-character). The तेवीं ("so / in that way") correlative marks the simile.
Nāth-yogic layer
No Nāth-yogic referent in this ovi.
Cross-references
- Internal: Pattern-companion to 17.71 — 17.70 fixes the identity-rule (faith = its guṇa) for tamas; 17.71 extends the same rule to rajas and sattva.
- Tukaram parallel: (none specific to this ovi)
- Source citation: Bhagavad Gītā 17.3 — सत्त्वानुरूपा, amplified for the tamas-case into the lamp-black/ink indistinguishability-image (wholly Jñāneśvar's).
Modern application
- When you cannot separate someone's "conviction" from their fear. The zealotry that is just dread wearing belief's clothes — काजळ and मसी, no daylight between them.
- When "I'm being principled" is indistinguishable from "I'm being rigid." At the tamas floor the two collapse into one black substance; the person themselves cannot tell which is operating.
- When apathy has fully colonized a commitment. The relationship, job, or faith kept going on pure inertia, where the "staying loyal" and the "being stuck" are no longer two things.
Sādhanā
Today, take one stance you call "principled" or "devoted" and ask: if I subtract the fear or the inertia, is anything left? If nothing separates (सिनी नाहीं), you have found a काजळ-मसी spot. Just see it clearly.
Arc
17.70 fixes the identity-rule for tamas; 17.71 extends the same rule to the other two guṇas.
Ovi 17.71
Original (Marathi): तैसीच राजसीं जीवीं । रजोमय जाणावी । सात्त्विकीं आघवीं । सत्त्वाचीच ॥७१॥ Voice: krishna-to-arjuna
Word-by-word gloss
| Marathi | Meaning |
|---|---|
| तैसीच राजसीं जीवीं | likewise, in a rājasa being |
| रजोमय जाणावी | [faith] is to be known as rajo-maya (made-of-rajas) |
| सात्त्विकीं आघवीं | in sāttvika [beings], entirely |
| सत्त्वाचीच | of sattva alone |
Literal translation
English: Likewise, in a rājasa person, know the faith to be rajas-made; in sāttvika persons, it is wholly of sattva.
मराठी (आधुनिक): त्याचप्रमाणे राजस जीवात श्रद्धा रजोमय जाणावी; आणि सात्त्विक जीवांत ती संपूर्णपणे सत्त्वाचीच असते.
Metaphor-unfold
No extended metaphor in this ovi. It completes the threefold application begun at 17.69-70, stated directly.
Nāth-yogic layer
No Nāth-yogic referent in this ovi.
Cross-references
- Internal: Completes the identity-rule of 17.70 across rajas and sattva.
- Tukaram parallel: (none specific to this ovi)
- Source citation: Bhagavad Gītā 17.3 — सत्त्वानुरूपा सर्वस्य, rendered for the rajas and sattva cases (रजोमय / सत्त्वाचीच), completing the per-guṇa application.
Modern application
- When restless, status-driven faith is doing the work. The rajas-believer whose devotion is shot through with ambition and acquisition — рajo-maya through and through; useful to name without contempt.
- When a rare clear faith shows up and you mistake it for "no faith." The sāttvika person's quiet, unanxious trust can look like indifference to those running on rajas; 17.71 says it is faith too — wholly of sattva.
- When you want to locate yourself honestly on the scale. Not "do I believe?" but "is my believing restless (rajas), heavy (tamas), or clear (sattva)?" — the full three-point map this ovi closes.
Sādhanā
Today, run the three-point check on one of your real commitments: tamas (heavy/fearful), rajas (restless/grasping), or sattva (clear/quiet)? Place it on the scale once, out loud or on paper.
Arc
17.71 completes the per-guṇa application; 17.72 draws the cosmic conclusion — the whole world-spectacle is cast purely out of śraddhā.
Ovi 17.72
Original (Marathi): ऐसेनि हा सकळु । जगडंबरु निखिळु । श्रद्धेचाचि केवळु । वोतला असे ॥७२॥ Voice: krishna-to-arjuna
Word-by-word gloss
| Marathi | Meaning |
|---|---|
| ऐसेनि हा सकळु | thus this whole |
| जगडंबरु निखिळु | world-spectacle (jagaḍambara), entire / without remainder |
| श्रद्धेचाचि केवळु | of śraddhā alone, purely |
| वोतला असे | is cast / moulded (as in a mould) |
Literal translation
English: Thus this entire world-spectacle, without remainder, is cast purely out of śraddhā alone.
मराठी (आधुनिक): अशा रीतीने हा सगळा जगाचा पसारा, संपूर्णपणे, केवळ श्रद्धेपासूनच ओतून घडवलेला आहे.
Sanskrit-root note
The casting-verb वोतला (from ओतणे, "to pour/cast in a mould") renders the Sanskrit -maya ("made-of") suffix of śraddhā-maya — the world moulded out of faith as a metal image is poured from one material.
Metaphor-unfold
| Literal image | Philosophical referent | Modern equivalent |
|---|---|---|
| The whole jagaḍambara (world-spectacle) poured/cast out of one material | The śraddhāmaya claim of BG-17.3 extended from the person to the entire human world: faith is the stuff the whole show is moulded from | The realization that every institution, allegiance, and project around you is, at bottom, somebody's faith given form |
| Cast "purely, without remainder" (केवळु निखिळु) | No part of the human world stands outside someone's trust-disposition — even cynicism is a faith cast in a darker guṇa | There is no faith-neutral zone in human life; the question is only which faith, in which guṇa, has been poured into a given form |
Metaphor-family: the-world-cast-out-of-one-material (a casting / moulding image). This is the cluster's cosmic-scope image, extending the per-person śraddhāmaya to the whole jagaḍambara.
Nāth-yogic layer
No Nāth-yogic referent in this ovi. वोतला is a metalworking/casting image, not a yogic-physiology referent.
Cross-references
- Internal: Closes the grounding-block (17.66-72); 17.73 pivots from it to the diagnostic programme.
- Tukaram parallel:
- Abhang 138 — तुका म्हणे जया चित्तीं जे वासना — तयाची भावना तयापरी ("whatever vāsanā lives in the heart, one's reading of the world is according to that"). This is the same move as BG-17.3's yo yacchraddhaḥ sa eva saḥ and Jñāneśvar's श्रद्धेचाचि केवळु वोतला: the person — and the whole world as it appears to them — is constituted by, and entirely expresses, their inner disposition. (Line verified against corpus/0138.md.)
- Source citation: Bhagavad Gītā 17.3 — श्रद्धामयोऽयं पुरुषः, amplified from the person to the whole world (वोतला renders the -maya "made-of" suffix).
Modern application
- When you see that every institution around you is someone's faith made solid. The company, the movement, the marriage — each is a jagaḍambara cast out of somebody's trust-disposition; reading the guṇa of that founding faith explains a lot.
- When you think you've found the one "objective," faith-free system. 17.72 closes that exit: even the most "rational" structure is poured from someone's śraddhā — including the faith that it is faith-free.
- When your own life feels like a set of given facts rather than chosen trusts. The unexamined arrangements of your days are cast out of old faiths you forgot you poured; naming the material lets you re-mould it.
Sādhanā
Today, look at one structure you live inside (a job, a routine, a belonging) and ask: whose faith, in which guṇa, was this cast from? Name the material once. You are not breaking the mould — just seeing what it's made of.
Arc
17.72 closes the grounding-block (all is faith, faith is guṇa-tinted); 17.73 pivots to the diagnostic — recognize the threefoldness that has arisen.
Ovi 17.73
Original (Marathi): परी गुणत्रयवशें । त्रिविधपणाचें लासें । श्रद्धे जें उठिलें असे । तें वोळख तूं ॥७३॥ Voice: krishna-to-arjuna (the imperative तें वोळख तूं, "recognize thou," directly addresses Arjuna)
Word-by-word gloss
| Marathi | Meaning |
|---|---|
| परी गुणत्रयवशें | but by the power of the three guṇas |
| त्रिविधपणाचें लासें | a sprouting / shoot of threefoldness (tri-vidha) |
| श्रद्धे जें उठिलें असे | that has arisen in faith |
| तें वोळख तूं | recognize thou it |
Literal translation
English: But by the force of the three guṇas, a threefoldness has sprouted up in faith — recognize thou it.
मराठी (आधुनिक): पण तीन गुणांच्या प्रभावाने श्रद्धेत जो त्रिविधपणाचा अंकुर उगवला आहे — तो तू ओळख.
Metaphor-unfold
No extended metaphor in this ovi. लासें ("sprout/shoot") is a single live-metaphor verb for "has arisen," not an unfolded image.
Nāth-yogic layer
No Nāth-yogic referent in this ovi.
Cross-references
- Internal: Opens the diagnostic-pivot it will close at 17.75; turns from the grounding-block of 17.66-72 to the reading-task.
- Tukaram parallel: (none specific to this ovi)
- Source citation: Bhagavad Gītā 17.3 — the pedagogical-pivot from the thesis to the threefold-application of BG-17.4 onward; तें वोळख तूं ("recognize thou") is the imperative to Arjuna that anchors the krishna-to-arjuna voice.
Modern application
- When understanding a principle is not enough and you must learn to spot it. Knowing faith is threefold is theory; 17.73 turns it into a skill — recognize which guṇa is operating, in yourself and others, in real time.
- When you want to stop being fooled by surface form. The diagnostic eye this ovi commands is exactly the protection against mistaking rajas-zeal or tamas-inertia for sattva-clarity.
- When "discernment" needs an actual object. वोळख तूं — recognize it — names the discipline: not vague mindfulness but the specific task of reading the guṇa-shoot that has come up in a given faith.
Sādhanā
Today, deliberately practice the recognition once: in a single conversation, silently tag the guṇa behind one thing the other person says they believe in. Just the tag — tamas, rajas, or sattva.
Arc
17.73 issues the "recognize it" imperative; 17.74 supplies the method — infer the hidden cause from its visible effect.
Ovi 17.74
Original (Marathi): तरी जाणिजे झाड फुलें । कां मानस जाणिजे बोलें । भोगें जाणिजे केलें । पूर्वजन्मींचें ॥७४॥ Voice: krishna-to-arjuna
Word-by-word gloss
| Marathi | Meaning |
|---|---|
| तरी जाणिजे झाड फुलें | then a tree is known by its flowers |
| कां मानस जाणिजे बोलें | or the mind is known by its speech |
| भोगें जाणिजे केलें | by [present] experience is known what was done |
| पूर्वजन्मींचें | of a former birth |
Literal translation
English: A tree is known by its flowers; the mind is known by its speech; what was done in a former birth is known by present experience.
मराठी (आधुनिक): झाड त्याच्या फुलांवरून ओळखावं; मन त्याच्या बोलण्यावरून ओळखावं; आणि पूर्वजन्मीचं कर्म आताच्या भोगावरून ओळखावं.
Metaphor-unfold
| Literal image | Philosophical referent | Modern equivalent |
|---|---|---|
| A tree known by its flowers | An unseen cause (the tree's species/health) inferred from its visible product | Reading the hidden guṇa-type of a faith off its visible expression |
| The mind known by its speech | The invisible inner state read off its overt utterance | Diagnosing someone's actual disposition from what comes out of their mouth, not their self-description |
| Past-life karma known by present experience | The unseen prior cause read backward from the present effect | Inferring an undisclosed history from its present consequences — effect as reliable index of cause |
Metaphor-family: infer-the-hidden-from-the-visible (an effect-reveals-its-cause / sign-inference image — three parallel cases). This is the cluster's epistemological image, supplying the how of the diagnostic commanded at 17.73.
Nāth-yogic layer
No Nāth-yogic referent in this ovi. The tree/flowers and karma/experience cases are sign-inference illustrations, not cakra/kuṇḍalinī referents.
Cross-references
- Internal: Supplies the method for 17.73's imperative; feeds 17.75's announcement of its application.
- Tukaram parallel:
- Abhang 138 — जया चित्तीं जे वासना — तयाची भावना तयापरी ("whatever vāsanā in the heart — one's reading is according to that"). Tukaram's projection-law is the converse of the same sign-inference logic: one reads the hidden inner-disposition off its visible expression — there, the suspicion betrays the suspector's own vāsanā; here, flowers/speech/experience betray tree/mind/past-karma. Both rest on outer-sign as a reliable index of inner-constitution. (Line verified against corpus/0138.md.)
- Source citation: Bhagavad Gītā 17.3 — amplifies the diagnostic-task with the triple sign-inference image (wholly Jñāneśvar's elaboration of the method BG-17.4 onward will use).
Modern application
- When someone's stated values and their actual speech diverge — trust the speech. मानस जाणिजे बोलें: the mind is known by what comes out of it. The throwaway remark reveals the guṇa the mission-statement hides.
- When you want to read a culture, not its brochure. A team, a family, a country is "known by its flowers" — by what it actually produces and celebrates, not by what it says about itself.
- When present difficulty is a clue, not just a burden. भोगें जाणिजे केलें — present experience as evidence of an unseen prior cause; reading your current situation as data about choices and patterns you'd forgotten you set in motion.
Sādhanā
Today, take one snap-judgement you made about a person and trace it back: which visible sign — a word, a flower — did I read it off? Then ask whether the sign was reliable. One inference, examined.
Arc
17.74 gives the inference-method; 17.75 closes the cluster by announcing its application and handing off to BG-17.4's threefold catalogue.
Ovi 17.75
Original (Marathi): तैसीं जिहीं चिन्हीं । श्रद्धेचीं रूपें तीन्हीं । देखिजती ते वानी । अवधारीं पां ॥७५॥ Voice: krishna-to-arjuna (the attention-imperative अवधारीं पां, "attend thou," addresses Arjuna)
Word-by-word gloss
| Marathi | Meaning |
|---|---|
| तैसीं जिहीं चिन्हीं | so, by which signs (cihna) |
| श्रद्धेचीं रूपें तीन्हीं | the three forms of faith |
| देखिजती ते वानी | are seen — that classification / account (vānī) |
| अवधारीं पां | attend thou / listen well |
Literal translation
English: So — by which signs the three forms of faith are seen: that classification, attend thou to it.
मराठी (आधुनिक): तर ज्या चिन्हांवरून श्रद्धेची तिन्ही रूपं ओळखता येतात — ती मांडणी आता तू नीट ऐक.
Metaphor-unfold
No extended metaphor in this ovi. चिन्ह ("sign") is the literal term carried over from 17.74's image, not a new figure.
Nāth-yogic layer
No Nāth-yogic referent in this ovi.
Cross-references
- Internal: Ring-companion to 17.66 — 17.66 denied any guṇa-free faith in any being; 17.75 announces that the resulting threefold-classification is now to be read off the signs. Grounding-claim and diagnostic-payoff bracket the cluster.
- Tukaram parallel: (none specific to this ovi)
- Source citation: Bhagavad Gītā 17.3 — the transition-ovi to BG-17.4; अवधारीं पां ("attend thou") is the attention-imperative to Arjuna that opens the chapter's threefold catalogue.
Modern application
- When the diagnostic is settled and it's time to actually use it. 17.75 is the "here is the field-guide" moment — having established that faith is readable, it turns to the actual signs of each type.
- When you commit to listening rather than reacting. अवधारीं पां — attend — is the discipline of staying long enough with someone's "signs" to classify the faith accurately before you respond to it.
- When you build your own three-column field-guide. Knowing that sattva/rajas/tamas faith each show distinct signs, you can start keeping your own list — what generosity, what worship, what anger looks like in each.
Sādhanā
Today, start a three-line note: one observed sign each for a clear (sattva), a restless (rajas), and a heavy (tamas) faith you actually saw this week. One concrete sign per line — the beginning of your own field-guide.
Arc
17.75 closes the diagnostic-pivot and hands off directly to BG-17.4 (yajante sāttvikā devān...), which begins applying the threefold classification to worship — the first concrete deployment of the sign-reading method this cluster establishes.
Cluster summary
Core teaching: A person's faith conforms to their inner constitution, so a person is their faith — yo yacchraddhaḥ sa eva saḥ. Because that constitution is always one of the three guṇas, all śraddhā is threefold (sāttvika, rājasa, tāmasa), and its type must be read off its outer signs. Jñāneśvar grounds this with his finest medium-images — one water that is life, poison, pepper-pungency, and cane-sweetness by its medium (17.68); lamp-black and ink that no eye can tell apart (17.70) — concluding that the whole world-spectacle is "cast purely out of faith alone" (17.72), before pivoting to the diagnostic method: a tree known by its flowers, the mind by its speech, past karma by present experience (17.74).
Chapter arc position: BG-17.3 is the foundational thesis of adhyāya 17 (śraddhā-traya-vibhāga), Kṛṣṇa's answer to Arjuna's BG-17.1 question about those who worship with faith but outside scriptural prescription. The answer relocates the whole question from external form to inner constitution. Jñāneśvar's ten ovis fall into two movements: the grounding of universal guṇa-pervasion (17.66-72) and the pivot to sign-reading diagnostics (17.73-75) that the rest of the chapter executes.
Connects to BG-17.4: yajante sāttvikā devān... begins the concrete application announced at 17.75, sorting worship by guṇa-type — sāttvikas worship the gods, rājasas the yakṣas and rākṣasas, tāmasas the ghosts and spirits — the first deployment of the sign-reading method this cluster establishes.