Cluster 0627 — BG-18.35 — *yayā svapnam bhayam śokam viṣādam madam eva ca — na vimuñcati durmedhā dhṛtiḥ sā pārtha tāmasī*
BG-18.35
Sanskrit
यया स्वप्नं भयं शोकं विषादं मदमेव च । न विमुञ्चति दुर्मेधा धृतिः सा पार्थ तामसी ॥३५॥
"That resolve by which the dull-witted person does not let go of sleep, fear, grief, despair, and intoxication — that, O Pārtha, is tamasic resolve."
This is the third and lowest member of the dhṛti-triad (BG-18.33 sāttvikī / 18.34 rājasī / 18.35 tāmasī), inside the guṇa-trichotomy of intellect-resolve-happiness (buddhi-dhṛti-sukha, BG-18.29-39) that closes the Gītā's threefold classification of all things by the guṇas. Tamasic resolve is defined not by what it achieves but by what it refuses to release — na vimuñcati. The firmness is real; it is simply spent on clinging to exactly the five things a person should drop. Jñāneśvar's genius here is to render that one Sanskrit verb, na vimuñcati, through a whole family of constitutional-inseparability images: blackness cannot be peeled off coal, heat off fire, venom off the snake, hardness off the stone, death's grip off the body — and just so these five faults cannot be peeled off the tamasic nature.
Ovi 18.749
Original (Marathi): तरी सर्वाधमें गुणें । जयाचें कां रूपा येणें । कोळसा काळेपणें । घडला जैसा ॥७४९॥ Voice: krishna-to-arjuna (the guṇa-classification continues Kṛṣṇa's chariot-frame teaching of BG-18.35)
Word-by-word gloss
| Marathi | Meaning |
|---|---|
| तरी सर्वाधमें गुणें | now, by the basest-of-all (sarva-adhama) guṇa |
| जयाचें कां रूपा येणें | by which his very form comes into being |
| कोळसा काळेपणें | as coal, by blackness |
| घडला जैसा | is fashioned / moulded, just so |
Literal translation
English: Now, [the tamasic man] whose very form comes into being by the basest of all guṇas — fashioned just as coal is fashioned of blackness.
मराठी (आधुनिक): ज्याचं रूपच मुळी सर्वांत हलक्या अशा (तामस) गुणानं घडलेलं असतं — जसा कोळसा काळेपणानंच घडलेला असतो, अगदी तसा.
Sanskrit-root note
sarva-adhama = sarva (all) + adhama (lowest) — "lowest of all"; renders the दुर्मेधा (dur-medhā, corrupt-intellected) qualifier of the Sanskrit by tracing the corruption to the basest guṇa itself.
Metaphor-unfold
| Literal image | Philosophical referent | Modern equivalent |
|---|---|---|
| Coal, fashioned of blackness — there is no coal "underneath" the blackness to be cleaned | The tamasic nature is not a good thing soiled by tamas; tamas is its constitutive substance (na vimuñcati — it cannot be released because there is nothing to release it from) | A material whose defect is not a coating but its composition — you cannot sand the rust off something that is rust all the way through |
Metaphor-family: constitutional-inseparability (coal/blackness — the same family as fire/heat and snake/venom at 759, stone/hardness at 754, death/body at 760). This is the cluster's master-image, and 749 opens it: the fault is the substance, not a stain.
Nāth-yogic layer
No Nāth-yogic referent in this ovi. This is guṇa-doctrine, not subtle-body esotericism.
Cross-references
- Internal: Opens the inseparability-image-family that 759 reprises in triple-form (fire/heat, snake/venom) and 754/760 extend (stone/hardness, death/body).
- Tukaram parallel: Abhang 1753 — न जिरे क्षीर श्वानासी भिक्षतां — याती तयाचा गुण ("milk does not digest in the dog though given as alms — it is the quality of its kind") and तें चि भुजंगें धरिलें कंठीं — मा विष जालें त्याची गरळ ("the snake held the wish-jewel at its throat — it became the poison of its venom-sac"). The same constitutional-inseparability logic: the base nature's fault is the nature, and even good is converted to its own defect.
- Source citation: Bhagavad Gītā 18.35 — दुर्मेधा / तामसी, rendered as सर्वाधमें गुणें... कोळसा काळेपणें घडला (the basest guṇa, coal-fashioned-of-blackness); the inseparability-image renders the verse's न विमुञ्चति.
Modern application
- When you treat a deep pattern as a removable stain and it keeps coming back. The procrastination, the defensiveness, the contempt — you keep trying to "clean it off," and the verse says: for now it is fashioned into you like blackness into coal. Naming it as constitutional (not incidental) is the first honest move — not despair, but accurate diagnosis.
- When someone's worst trait is clearly load-bearing to who they are. You wait for the colleague, the relative, the ex to "go back to normal," not seeing that the trait is the normal — the coal has no un-black core to revert to.
- When you mistake the heaviness of inertia for a mood that will pass. Tamas, the basest guṇa, does not feel like a choice from inside; it feels like the weather. The ovi insists it is the material you are presently made of — which is exactly why it can, with effort, be re-fashioned.
Sādhanā
Today, name one trait of yours you have been treating as a temporary stain ("I'm just tired," "I'm not usually like this"). Write it down and finish this sentence honestly: Lately this is not a stain on me; it is what I'm made of. Sit with the accuracy, not the shame, for one minute.
Arc
749 sets the master-thesis — the fault is the substance, coal-fashioned-of-blackness; 750 presses whether such a debased thing even deserves the dignifying word guṇa.
Ovi 18.750
Original (Marathi): अहो प्राकृत आणि हीनु । तयाही कीं गुणत्वाचा मानु । तरी न म्हणिजे पुण्यजनु । राक्षसु काई ? ॥७५०॥ Voice: krishna-to-arjuna
Word-by-word gloss
| Marathi | Meaning |
|---|---|
| अहो प्राकृत आणि हीनु | ah, [a thing] vulgar and low |
| तयाही कीं गुणत्वाचा मानु | even to that, the honour of being-a-guṇa (guṇatva) |
| तरी न म्हणिजे पुण्यजनु | yet one does not call [him] a meritorious person |
| राक्षसु काई ? | a rākṣasa, surely? (rhetorical) |
Literal translation
English: Ah — even a vulgar and low thing is granted the dignity of being called "a quality" (guṇa); yet one would not, surely, call a rākṣasa a meritorious person?
मराठी (आधुनिक): अहो, अगदी हलक्या-नीच गोष्टीलाही 'गुण' म्हणण्याचा मान दिला जातो खरा; पण म्हणून काही राक्षसाला 'पुण्यवान' म्हणता येतं का?
Metaphor-unfold
No extended metaphor in this ovi. The राक्षस-पुण्यजन contrast is a single rhetorical analogy, not a sustained image.
Nāth-yogic layer
No Nāth-yogic referent in this ovi.
Cross-references
- Internal: (linear cluster chain — develops the guṇa-naming paradox into 751's planet-misnomer)
- Tukaram parallel: (none specific to this ovi)
- Source citation: Bhagavad Gītā 18.35 — तामसी (the guṇa-naming), amplified into the राक्षस-पुण्यजन paradox that questions whether the dignifying word guṇa fits something so debased.
Modern application
- When a euphemism dignifies something that does not deserve it. "He's just direct" for cruelty, "she's passionate" for tyranny, "move fast and break things" for recklessness — the word "quality/strength" pasted onto a defect. The ovi names the move: a rākṣasa is not a puṇya-jana just because grammar lets you say "his qualities."
- When you flatter a flaw by classifying it. Putting your worst tendency on the "strengths" side of the ledger because the framework has a slot for it. Classification is not absolution.
- When low behavior borrows the prestige of a category. A scam called a "strategy," exploitation called a "culture" — the prestige of the noun laundering the thing.
Sādhanā
Today, catch one euphemism you (or your group) use to dignify a real fault — the word that makes a defect sound like a strength. Say the plain word under it once, to yourself: not "direct" but unkind; not "ambitious" but ruthless. Just restore the accurate noun.
Arc
750 questions whether the word guṇa even fits; 751 seals that with the planet-misnomer — calling the live-coal planet "the auspicious one."
Ovi 18.751
Original (Marathi): पैं ग्रहांमाजीं इंगळु । तयातें म्हणिजे मंगळु । तैसा तमीं धसाळु । गुणशब्दु हा ॥७५१॥ Voice: krishna-to-arjuna
Word-by-word gloss
| Marathi | Meaning |
|---|---|
| पैं ग्रहांमाजीं इंगळु | why, among the planets, the live-coal one (ingaḷu = burning ember = Mars/Angāraka) |
| तयातें म्हणिजे मंगळु | is yet called "Mangala" (the auspicious one) |
| तैसा तमीं धसाळु | just so, upon darkness (tamas), recklessly (dhasāḷu) |
| गुणशब्दु हा | [is flung] this word "guṇa" |
Literal translation
English: Why — among the planets, the burning-ember one is called "Mangala, the auspicious"; just so, recklessly, this word "quality" is flung upon darkness itself.
मराठी (आधुनिक): बघा ना — ग्रहांमध्ये जो धगधगता निखारा (मंगळ ग्रह), त्यालाच 'मंगळ' (शुभ) म्हणतात; अगदी तसाच हा 'गुण' शब्द अंधारावर (तमावर) घाईघाईनं भिरकावलेला आहे.
Metaphor-unfold
| Literal image | Philosophical referent | Modern equivalent |
|---|---|---|
| The fiery malefic planet (ingaḷu, live-coal = Mars) bears the auspicious name "Mangala" | A thing is named for what we wish it were, not for what it is — so "guṇa" (quality) gets pinned on tamas (darkness) | The dreflexive positive label: calling the most volatile quarter "the opportunity," the dangerous hire "the wildcard" — the auspicious name over the malefic thing |
Metaphor-family: misnomer-by-euphemism (a one-off, paired with 750's rākṣasa-puṇyajana — not part of the inseparability-image-family). The point: tamasic steadfastness is called a "guṇa" only by the same courtesy that calls Mars "the auspicious."
Nāth-yogic layer
No Nāth-yogic referent in this ovi. The reference is to popular jyotiṣa planet-naming, not yogic esotericism.
Cross-references
- Internal: Closes the "is-it-even-a-guṇa" digression (750-751) before 752 turns to describe the tamasic man himself.
- Tukaram parallel: (none specific to this ovi)
- Source citation: Bhagavad Gītā 18.35 — तामसी, amplified into the इंगळु-मंगळु planet-misnomer: the word "guṇa" applied to darkness is an euphemism like calling the fiery malefic "the auspicious one."
Modern application
- When the scary thing is given a soothing name precisely so you'll stop fearing it. "Mangala" tames Mars; "restructuring" tames layoffs; "correction" tames a crash. The auspicious word as anesthetic.
- When you accept a label because it is comforting, not because it is true. The ovi asks you to notice the reflex of the upgrade-name and to look past it at the live coal underneath.
- When darkness is rebranded as a quality in yourself. "I'm just a realist" over chronic pessimism; the courtesy-name you grant your own tamas.
Sādhanā
Today, find one "Mangala" in your own vocabulary — one soothing name you give a thing that is actually fiery or dark. Name the live coal once: "This isn't [the soothing word]; it's [the real one]." Notice whether the soothing name was protecting you or blinding you.
Arc
751 ends the digression on whether tamas deserves the name "guṇa"; 752 turns to the man himself — his very body moulded out of tamas, the dwelling-house of all faults.
Ovi 18.752
Original (Marathi): जे सर्वदोषांचा वसौटा । तमचि कामऊनि सुभटा । उभारिला आंगवठा । जया नराचा ॥७५२॥ Voice: krishna-to-arjuna (the सुभटा "O brave one" vocative addresses Arjuna in the chariot-frame)
Word-by-word gloss
| Marathi | Meaning |
|---|---|
| जे सर्वदोषांचा वसौटा | who is the dwelling-house (vasauṭā) of all faults |
| तमचि कामऊनि सुभटा | by kneading/working tamas itself, O brave one (subhaṭā = Arjuna) |
| उभारिला आंगवठा | the bodily-frame (āngavaṭhā) was raised up |
| जया नराचा | of which man |
Literal translation
English: The man who is the dwelling-house of all faults — O brave one, his very bodily frame was raised up by kneading tamas itself.
मराठी (आधुनिक): हे वीरा (अर्जुना), जो सर्व दोषांचं घरच आहे — त्या माणसाचं अंगच मुळी तम मळून-मळून उभारलेलं असतं.
Metaphor-unfold
| Literal image | Philosophical referent | Modern equivalent |
|---|---|---|
| A bodily figure (āngavaṭhā) kneaded and raised up out of tamas, as a figure is moulded from dark clay | The tamasic person is not a self that has faults but a self built of the fault-substance — the body itself is the housing (vasauṭā) of every defect | A structure whose every load-bearing beam is rot — the defect is not in the building, the defect is the building |
Metaphor-family: constitutional-inseparability (the body-moulded-of-tamas — continuous with 749's coal-of-blackness; the fault is the constitutive material).
Nāth-yogic layer
No Nāth-yogic referent in this ovi. आंगवठा is the gross physical frame as a fault-housing, not the subtle body of yoga.
Cross-references
- Internal: Continues 749's coal-fashioned-of-blackness into the human figure moulded-of-tamas; sets up the one-by-one fault enumeration of 753-760.
- Tukaram parallel: (none specific to this ovi)
- Source citation: Bhagavad Gītā 18.35 — दुर्मेधा, rendered as सर्वदोषांचा वसौटा... तमचि कामऊनि उभारिला आंगवठा (the dwelling-house of all faults, his frame raised by kneading tamas). सुभटा is a chariot-frame Arjuna-vocative.
Modern application
- When a person's whole setup — schedule, space, habits — is built around the very thing harming them. The room arranged for the addiction, the calendar built around the avoidance: the आंगवठा kneaded out of the fault. The environment is the housing of the defect.
- When "fixing one thing" won't help because everything was built on the broken thing. You try to remove one fault and the structure sags, because all of it was moulded from the same tamas.
- When you realize you are the dwelling-house, not the guest. The faults are not visiting; you built the house around them. Uncomfortable — and the precondition of real rebuilding.
Sādhanā
Today, look at one corner of your physical setup — your phone's home screen, your desk, your evening routine — and ask: was this arranged around a fault? Move one object, or one app, that exists mainly to serve a tendency you'd rather not feed. One small re-kneading of the frame.
Arc
752 establishes the tamasic man as constitutionally built of darkness, the fault-housing; 753 begins the one-by-one accounting of the five faults his resolve holds fast, starting with sleep.
Ovi 18.753
Original (Marathi): तो आळसु सूनि असे कांखे । म्हणौनि निद्रे कहीं न मुके । पापें पोषितां दुःखें । न सांडिजे जेवीं ॥७५३॥ Voice: krishna-to-arjuna
Word-by-word gloss
| Marathi | Meaning |
|---|---|
| तो आळसु सूनि असे कांखे | he keeps sloth (āḷasu) tucked under his arm (kānkhe) |
| म्हणौनि निद्रे कहीं न मुके | therefore he is never released (na muke) from sleep |
| पापें पोषितां दुःखें | just as, by nourishing sin, from misery |
| न सांडिजे जेवीं | one is never let go, even so |
Literal translation
English: He keeps sloth tucked under his arm — therefore he is never released from sleep, just as one who keeps nourishing sin is never quit of misery.
मराठी (आधुनिक): तो आळस अगदी काखोटीला मारून ठेवतो — म्हणून झोप त्याला कधीच सोडत नाही; जसं पाप पोसत राहिलं की दुःख माणसाला सोडत नाही, अगदी तसं.
Metaphor-unfold
| Literal image | Philosophical referent | Modern equivalent |
|---|---|---|
| Sloth carried tucked under the arm — a constant, owned possession one will not set down | The first fault, svapna (sleep/torpor), is not endured but kept; the dhṛti's grip is on the sloth that produces it | The phone kept in hand on the pillow — the device of the torpor is held, not banished, so the torpor never lifts |
| Nourishing sin → never quit of misery | The self-feeding loop: feed the cause and the effect cannot leave | Feeding the resentment / the habit daily and wondering why the pain won't go |
Metaphor-family: inseparability via self-feeding (sloth-kept → sleep-never-released); the न मुके / न सांडिजे refrain renders na vimuñcati.
Nāth-yogic layer
No Nāth-yogic referent in this ovi. निद्रा here is the tamasic fault of torpor, not yoga-nidrā.
Cross-references
- Internal: First of the five-fault enumeration (753-760); the न मुके refrain recurs as न सांडी (754, 757), न विसंबे (760).
- Tukaram parallel: (none specific to this ovi)
- Source citations:
- Bhagavad Gītā 18.35 — स्वप्नं... न विमुञ्चति, rendered as निद्रे कहीं न मुके (never released from sleep); the कांखे-आळसु sloth-under-the-arm image is Jñāneśvar's.
- Bhagavad Gītā 14.8 — तमस्त्वज्ञानजं... प्रमादालस्यनिद्राभिस्तन्निबध्नाति (tamas binds through heedlessness, sloth, and sleep). This ovi's आळसु → निद्रा never-released chain directly echoes BG-14.8's ālasya→nidrā binding-sequence — a different chapter's śloka, used as a corroborating restatement of the guṇa-bondage doctrine.
Modern application
- When you keep the very instrument of your torpor within reach and then wonder why you can't get up. Sloth tucked under the arm = the snooze-set phone on the nightstand, the open tab, the "one more episode" remote. The fault is held, so it never releases you.
- When you feed a thing daily and are surprised it won't leave. "Nourishing sin, never quit of misery" — the daily small indulgence of the resentment, the doom-scroll, the grudge, kept alive by feeding, then blamed for not departing.
- When rest has curdled into avoidance. The line between restorative sleep and torpor-as-escape; the ovi marks the tamasic kind — sleep one will not be released from because one will not set down the sloth.
Sādhanā
Tonight, identify the one object that is the "sloth under your arm" — the single thing kept within reach that feeds your torpor (most often: the phone by the bed). Put it physically across the room before you lie down. One night. Notice whether setting the instrument down loosens the grip.
Arc
753 renders the first fault (sleep, via sloth that is never set down); 754 renders the second — fear, which clings because of attachment to body and wealth, like hardness to a stone.
Ovi 18.754
Original (Marathi): आणि देहधनाचिया आवडी । सदा भय तयातें न सांडी । विसंबूं न सके धोंडीं । काठिण्य जैसें ॥७५४॥ Voice: krishna-to-arjuna
Word-by-word gloss
| Marathi | Meaning |
|---|---|
| आणि देहधनाचिया आवडी | and by the craving (āvaḍī) for body-and-wealth (deha-dhana) |
| सदा भय तयातें न सांडी | fear never abandons (na sāṇḍī) him, always |
| विसंबूं न सके धोंडीं | cannot let go of the stone (dhoṇḍī) |
| काठिण्य जैसें | as hardness (kāṭhiṇya), even so |
Literal translation
English: And by his craving for body and wealth, fear never abandons him — as hardness can never let go of a stone, just so.
मराठी (आधुनिक): आणि देह आणि धन यांच्या आसक्तीमुळे भय त्याला सदा सोडतच नाही — जसं दगडाचा कठीणपणा दगडाला कधी सोडू शकत नाही, अगदी तसं.
Metaphor-unfold
| Literal image | Philosophical referent | Modern equivalent |
|---|---|---|
| Hardness that cannot let go of the stone — it is not in the stone, it is the stone | The second fault, bhaya (fear), is inseparable because its cause (clinging to the perishable body and wealth) is built in | The anxiety that cannot be talked down because it is welded to what you've staked your identity on — net worth, body, status |
Metaphor-family: constitutional-inseparability (stone/hardness — same family as coal/blackness 749, fire/heat & snake/venom 759, death/body 760); renders na vimuñcati bhayam.
Nāth-yogic layer
No Nāth-yogic referent in this ovi.
Cross-references
- Internal: Ring-companion in the inseparability-image-family with 749, 759, 760; second of the five faults (753-760).
- Tukaram parallel: (none specific to this ovi)
- Source citation: Bhagavad Gītā 18.35 — भयं... न विमुञ्चति, rendered as देहधनाचिया आवडी सदा भय न सांडी (by body-wealth craving, fear never leaves); the धोंडीं-काठिण्य stone-hardness image renders न विमुञ्चति. The देहधन-attachment as the cause of fear is Jñāneśvar's doctrinal addition.
Modern application
- When a fear won't yield to reasoning because it's fused to what you've over-identified with. Fear for the body (health-anxiety pinned to mortality) or for wealth (the compulsive balance-check) — hardness welded to the stone. You can't argue it off because its cause is structural.
- When more security produces more fear, not less. The more you stake on body and wealth, the harder the fear sets — the bigger the stone, the more hardness. Accumulation does not dissolve the dread; it casts it.
- When "I just want to be safe" is the engine of chronic anxiety. The देहधन-आवडी craving wearing the mask of prudence; the ovi locates the fear in the attachment, not in the world.
Sādhanā
Today, when a spike of fear hits, ask one question: what am I clinging to that this fear is welded to? — usually a version of body (health, image) or wealth (money, status). Just name the stone the hardness belongs to. Don't try to remove the fear; locate its attachment.
Arc
754 renders the second fault (fear, welded to body-wealth attachment); 755 renders the third — grief, which abides because of affection for objects, like an ingrate's sin that cannot be sent away.
Ovi 18.755
Original (Marathi): आणि पदार्थजातीं स्नेहो । बांधे म्हणौनि तो शोकें ठावो । केला न शके पाप जावों । कृतघ्नौनि जैसें ॥७५५॥ Voice: krishna-to-arjuna
Word-by-word gloss
| Marathi | Meaning |
|---|---|
| आणि पदार्थजातीं स्नेहो | and affection (sneha) toward the whole class of objects (padārtha-jāti) |
| बांधे म्हणौनि तो शोकें ठावो | because it binds, grief makes its abode (ṭhāvo) [in him] |
| केला न शके पाप जावों | the sin cannot be made to depart |
| कृतघ्नौनि जैसें | as from an ingrate (kṛtaghna), just so |
Literal translation
English: And because affection for the class of objects binds him, grief makes its abode in him — a sin that cannot be made to depart, as from an ingrate.
मराठी (आधुनिक): आणि वस्तुमात्रावरची आसक्ती त्याला बांधून ठेवते, म्हणून शोक त्याच्यात ठाण मांडून बसतो — जसं कृतघ्न माणसाचं पाप त्याला सोडून जात नाही, अगदी तसं.
Metaphor-unfold
| Literal image | Philosophical referent | Modern equivalent |
|---|---|---|
| The ingrate's sin that cannot be made to leave him | The third fault, śoka (grief), abides because its root (affection-attachment to perishable objects) keeps replenishing it | The bereavement that won't lift because the love was poured wholly into a losable thing — the loss re-opens every time the attachment is touched |
Metaphor-family: inseparability via moral-bond (ingrate's-sin — the fault clings as a contracted moral consequence); renders na vimuñcati śokam.
Nāth-yogic layer
No Nāth-yogic referent in this ovi.
Cross-references
- Internal: Third of the five faults; parallels 754's structure (attachment → fault that won't leave).
- Tukaram parallel: (none specific to this ovi)
- Source citation: Bhagavad Gītā 18.35 — शोकं... न विमुञ्चति, rendered as पदार्थजातीं स्नेहो बांधे... तो शोकें ठावो (object-affection binds, grief makes its abode); the कृतघ्न-पाप ingrate's-sin image renders न विमुञ्चति. The object-affection as cause of grief is Jñāneśvar's addition.
Modern application
- When grief won't lift because the love had only one object. All the affection poured into a single perishable thing — a person, a possession, a role — so its loss has no remainder to stand on. The ovi locates the grief's permanence in the singularity of the attachment.
- When you grieve a thing you're still clutching. The breakup you re-grieve by re-reading the messages; the affection (स्नेह) kept alive, so the grief is kept alive — the sin that won't depart because it is still being fed.
- When mourning hardens into identity. "I am the person this happened to." The शोक that has taken ठावो — made its dwelling — because the attachment underneath was never loosened.
Sādhanā
Today, take one grief you keep returning to, and ask gently: what attachment am I still holding that keeps this grief fed? You are not asked to drop the love — only to notice the spot where holding-on and grieving are the same act. Name it once.
Arc
755 renders the third fault (grief, from object-affection); 756-757 render the fourth — viṣāda (despair), the chronic discontent he has befriended day and night and that clings to the very edge of death.
Ovi 18.756
Original (Marathi): आणि असंतोष जीवेंसीं । धरूनि ठेला अहर्निशीं । म्हणौनि मैत्री तेणेंसीं । विषादें केली ॥७५६॥ Voice: krishna-to-arjuna
Word-by-word gloss
| Marathi | Meaning |
|---|---|
| आणि असंतोष जीवेंसीं | and discontent (asantoṣa), with his very life |
| धरूनि ठेला अहर्निशीं | he stays clutching [it], day and night (ahar-niśī) |
| म्हणौनि मैत्री तेणेंसीं | therefore a friendship with it |
| विषादें केली | of despair (viṣāda), he has made |
Literal translation
English: And grasping discontent with his very life, he stays clutching it day and night — therefore he has struck up, with that discontent, a friendship of despair.
मराठी (आधुनिक): आणि असंतोष जिवापाड धरून तो रात्रंदिवस बसलेला असतो — म्हणून त्या असंतोषाशी त्यानं विषादाची मैत्रीच करून टाकलेली असते.
Metaphor-unfold
| Literal image | Philosophical referent | Modern equivalent |
|---|---|---|
| Striking up a friendship with despair — a chosen, contracted companionship, not a passing visitor | The fourth fault, viṣāda, is not an episode endured but a relationship maintained day and night | The low-grade dissatisfaction you've lived with so long it feels like a companion — you'd hardly know yourself without the complaint |
Metaphor-family: despair-as-befriended-companion (a one-off relational image, completed by 757's garlic/disease inseparability).
Nāth-yogic layer
No Nāth-yogic referent in this ovi.
Cross-references
- Internal: Opens the fourth fault (viṣāda), sealed by 757; structurally echoes the attachment→fault pattern of 754-755.
- Tukaram parallel: (none specific to this ovi)
- Source citation: Bhagavad Gītā 18.35 — विषादं... न विमुञ्चति, rendered as असंतोष... अहर्निशीं धरूनि... मैत्री विषादें केली (clutching discontent day-and-night, a friendship of despair); the friendship-framing and असंतोष-root are Jñāneśvar's.
Modern application
- When your dissatisfaction has become a companion you'd miss. The chronic complaint, the running grievance — befriended so long that despair feels like company. The ovi names it: you have made a friendship of it, day and night.
- When discontent is the lens, not the event. Nothing satisfies because असंतोष is held "with the very life" — it colours everything before everything arrives.
- When you'd rather keep the familiar despair than risk an unfamiliar contentment. The contracted companionship is known; letting it go feels like losing a friend.
Sādhanā
Today, notice the running complaint you carry — the low background dissatisfaction — and ask: if this discontent left, what would I have to feel or face instead? You are looking for why the friendship is kept. Just one honest answer, written in a line.
Arc
756 opens the fourth fault (viṣāda befriended); 757 seals it with the garlic-reek and chronic-disease images — despair clings to the very limit of death.
Ovi 18.757
Original (Marathi): लसणातें न सांडी गंधी । कां अपथ्यशीळातें व्याधी । तैसी केली मरणावधी । विषादें तया ॥७५७॥ Voice: krishna-to-arjuna
Word-by-word gloss
| Marathi | Meaning |
|---|---|
| लसणातें न सांडी गंधी | smell (gandhī) never abandons garlic (lasaṇa) |
| कां अपथ्यशीळातें व्याधी | or [as] disease (vyādhi) [never leaves] one habituated to forbidden food (apathya-śīla) |
| तैसी केली मरणावधी | so, to the very limit of death (maraṇa-avadhi), it has fixed itself |
| विषादें तया | despair (viṣāda), upon him |
Literal translation
English: As smell never abandons garlic, or as disease never leaves one habituated to forbidden food — just so despair has fixed itself upon him, to the very edge of death.
मराठी (आधुनिक): जसा वास लसणाला सोडत नाही, किंवा कुपथ्य करणाऱ्याला रोग सोडत नाही — तसा विषाद त्याला मरेपर्यंत चिकटून बसलेला असतो.
Metaphor-unfold
| Literal image | Philosophical referent | Modern equivalent |
|---|---|---|
| Smell inseparable from garlic | The fourth fault's permanence: a property that comes with the substance and cannot be aired out | The reek of bitterness that comes off a person regardless of what they say — it is in the substance, not the words |
| Disease inseparable from the one who keeps eating forbidden food | The fault is sustained by ongoing self-harming habit; it persists because the cause is repeated | The condition that won't heal because the patient keeps doing the one thing that feeds it |
Metaphor-family: constitutional-inseparability (garlic/reek, disease/intemperate — the same family as coal/blackness 749, stone/hardness 754); seals na vimuñcati viṣādam with मरणावधी "to the limit of death."
Nāth-yogic layer
No Nāth-yogic referent in this ovi.
Cross-references
- Internal: Seals the fourth fault opened at 756; joins the inseparability-image-family (749, 754, 759, 760).
- Tukaram parallel: (none specific to this ovi)
- Source citation: Bhagavad Gītā 18.35 — विषादं... न विमुञ्चति, rendered with twin images लसणातें न सांडी गंधी / अपथ्यशीळातें व्याधी (garlic's reek / the intemperate's disease) and मरणावधी (to death's limit), rendering न विमुञ्चति as lifelong inseparability.
Modern application
- When the bitterness comes off you no matter how you phrase things. Like garlic's reek, the despair is in the substance — colleagues feel it before you speak. The ovi says: airing the words won't help while the substance is unchanged.
- When a condition won't heal because you keep doing the one forbidden thing. The अपथ्य-व्याधी loop — the sleep that won't fix because of the late screen, the anxiety that won't settle because of the doom-feed. The disease is fed by the repeated cause.
- When despair has set in "to the edge of death" — felt as life-long. The conviction "this is just how I am, and will be until I die." The ovi names this as the tamasic form of despair precisely so it can be seen as a held fault, not a fixed fate.
Sādhanā
Today, identify your one अपथ्य — the single repeated thing that keeps a "disease" (of mood, sleep, or peace) alive. Name it plainly and skip it once, today only. Not a reform; a single experiment in withholding the food the fault lives on.
Arc
757 seals the fourth fault (despair, inseparable as garlic's reek, to death's edge); 758 renders the fifth and culminating fault — mada (intoxication), bred by youth, wealth, and desire, making the body an āśrama of pride.
Ovi 18.758
Original (Marathi): आणि वयसा वित्तकामु । ययांचा वाढवी संभ्रमु । म्हणौनि मदें आश्रमु । तोचि केला ॥७५८॥ Voice: krishna-to-arjuna
Word-by-word gloss
| Marathi | Meaning |
|---|---|
| आणि वयसा वित्तकामु | and youth (vayasā), wealth (vitta), desire (kāmu) |
| ययांचा वाढवी संभ्रमु | of these, [he] swells the giddy turmoil (sambhrama) |
| म्हणौनि मदें आश्रमु | therefore, of intoxication-pride (mada), a hermitage (āśrama) |
| तोचि केला | that very [body/self] he has made |
Literal translation
English: And youth, wealth, and desire swell his giddy turmoil — therefore he has made the very [body] into a hermitage of intoxicated pride (mada).
मराठी (आधुनिक): आणि तारुण्य, धन आणि वासना — हे त्याचा धुंद गोंधळ वाढवतात; म्हणून त्यानं त्या देहालाच मदाचं (धुंदीचं) आश्रमस्थान करून टाकलेलं असतं.
Metaphor-unfold
| Literal image | Philosophical referent | Modern equivalent |
|---|---|---|
| The body/self made an āśrama (hermitage, settled dwelling) of mada | The fifth fault, mada (intoxicated pride), is not a passing high but a residence — the self has taken up permanent abode in its own conceit | The person who lives inside their status — youth, money, and appetite as a house of self-importance they never step out of |
Metaphor-family: the body-as-dwelling (āśrama-of-mada — echoes 752's body-as-vasauṭā / dwelling-house of faults; the self as housing for the defect).
Nāth-yogic layer
No Nāth-yogic referent in this ovi. आश्रमु here is "settled dwelling / hermitage" as metaphor for permanent residence in pride, not a yogic stage.
Cross-references
- Internal: Fifth fault, opened here and sealed at 760 (death-body image); the body-as-dwelling echoes 752.
- Tukaram parallel: Abhang 1753 — तारुण्यदशे अधम मातला — दवडी हात पाय कान ("in the state of youth the base man becomes intoxicated [mātalā] — and forfeits hand, foot, ear"). The same youth-intoxication causation: youth-with-its-cravings breeds a mada that costs the man his faculties; Tukaram's मातला is cognate to the mada Jñāneśvar names here.
- Source citation: Bhagavad Gītā 18.35 — मदमेव च... न विमुञ्चति, rendered as वयसा वित्तकामु... वाढवी संभ्रमु... मदें आश्रमु तोचि केला (youth-wealth-desire swell turmoil, the body made a hermitage of pride). The youth-wealth-desire triad as mada's causes is Jñāneśvar's doctrinal naming.
Modern application
- When youth, money, and appetite combine into a permanent residence of self-importance. Not a moment of arrogance but a dwelling — the founder who lives inside the valuation, the young high-earner housed entirely in their own confidence. Mada as an address, not an episode.
- When the intoxication of being on top costs you basic faculties. Tukaram's मातला who "forfeits hand, foot, ear" — the mada that makes you stop listening, stop noticing, stop being able to act straight. Success-drunk and faculty-poor.
- When you have moved into your status and forgotten it's weather. The āśrama-of-mada is comfortable precisely because you never leave it to feel the cold air of an honest self-appraisal.
Sādhanā
Today, name the source of your current "high" — is it youth/energy, money/security, or desire/wanting? Pick the strongest. Then step out of the āśrama for sixty seconds: ask, who am I when this is gone? — and sit with the answer without rushing back indoors.
Arc
758 names the fifth fault (mada) and its causes (youth-wealth-desire); 759 stacks the triple inseparability-climax (fire/heat, snake/venom, fire-enmity) and 760 seals mada with the most absolute image — death's unrelenting grip on the body.
Ovi 18.759
Original (Marathi): आगीतें न सांडी तापु । सळातें जातीचा सापु । कां जगाचा वैरी वासिपु । अखंडु जैसा ॥७५९॥ Voice: krishna-to-arjuna
Word-by-word gloss
| Marathi | Meaning |
|---|---|
| आगीतें न सांडी तापु | heat (tāpu) never abandons fire (āgī) |
| सळातें जातीचा सापु | venom (saḷa) belongs to the snake (sāpu) by its very species (jātī) |
| कां जगाचा वैरी वासिपु | or [as] fire, the world's adversary (vairī), the burner (vāsipu) |
| अखंडु जैसा | unbroken (akhaṇḍu), just so |
Literal translation
English: Heat never abandons fire; venom belongs to the snake by its very species; or as fire is the world's unbroken adversary — just so [mada clings to the tamasic man].
मराठी (आधुनिक): जसा ताप अग्नीला सोडत नाही, जसं विष सापाच्या जातीतच असतं, किंवा जसा अग्नी हा जगाचा अखंड वैरी (जाळणारा) असतो — अगदी तसा.
Metaphor-unfold
| Literal image | Philosophical referent | Modern equivalent |
|---|---|---|
| Heat inseparable from fire | The fault is a property of the substance, not an addition to it | The warmth of a hot coal — you cannot have the coal "without" it |
| Venom belonging to the snake by species (jātī) | The defect is not personal but constitutional to the kind — born with the nature | The trait that came with the temperament, not chosen — and so never simply willed away |
| Fire as the world's unbroken (akhaṇḍa) adversary | The fault is not occasional but continuous — enmity without a pause | The chronic, always-on quality of a constitutional defect — no off-switch |
Metaphor-family: constitutional-inseparability — the triple climax (fire/heat + snake/venom + fire-enmity) that seals the master-image opened at 749 (coal/blackness) and extended at 754 (stone/hardness), 757 (garlic/reek). The most concentrated statement of na vimuñcati in the cluster.
Nāth-yogic layer
No Nāth-yogic referent in this ovi.
Cross-references
- Internal: Triple-climax of the inseparability-image-family (ring with 749, 754, 760); seals the mada-fault before 760's death-body image.
- Tukaram parallel: Abhang 1753 — तें चि भुजंगें धरिलें कंठीं — मा विष जालें त्याची गरळ ("the snake held the wish-jewel at its throat — it became the poison of its venom-sac"). The identical snake-venom inseparability-logic: venom is the snake's by very species, and the base nature converts even good (the cintāmaṇi) into its own poison and never releases its fault.
- Source citation: Bhagavad Gītā 18.35 — न विमुञ्चति, climaxed by the fire-heat / snake-venom / fire-enmity triad; wholly Jñāneśvar's amplification of the constitutional-inseparability thesis.
Modern application
- When you finally accept a trait is constitutional, not chosen — "venom by species." The temperament-deep tendency (the reactivity, the melancholy) that came with your kind, not your fault to have but yours to work with. The ovi's honesty: some faults are jātī-deep.
- When a defect is continuous, not occasional — "the world's unbroken adversary." Not "I lose my temper sometimes" but a low always-on enmity. Naming the akhaṇḍa (unbroken) quality is the start of taking it seriously.
- When you stop expecting the fire to be cold. You quit waiting for the hot thing to spontaneously cool — heat never abandons fire — and instead build around the constancy (distance, containment, transformation) rather than hoping it lapses.
Sādhanā
Today, take one tendency you've been waiting to "just go away," and say of it: heat never abandons fire. Then ask the practical question that follows acceptance: not "how do I make this vanish?" but "how do I live and act well given that it's constant?" Write one concrete containment.
Arc
759 stacks three inseparable natures to seal mada's constancy; 760 adds the fourth and most absolute — death's unrelenting grip on the body — fixing mada as immovable, before 761 totals all five faults.
Ovi 18.760
Original (Marathi): नातरी शरीरातें काळु । न विसंबे कवणे वेळु । तैसा आथी अढळु । तामसीं मदु ॥७६०॥ Voice: krishna-to-arjuna
Word-by-word gloss
| Marathi | Meaning |
|---|---|
| नातरी शरीरातें काळु | or else, [as] death/Time (kāḷu) [holds] the body (śarīra) |
| न विसंबे कवणे वेळु | does not let go (na visambe) at any moment (kavaṇe veḷu) |
| तैसा आथी अढळु | so it is, immovable (aḍhaḷu) |
| तामसीं मदु | in the tamasic one, the mada (intoxication-pride) |
Literal translation
English: Or else — as death never for a single moment lets go of the body — just so, immovable, is the mada in the tamasic person.
मराठी (आधुनिक): किंवा जसा काळ (मृत्यू) शरीराला एक क्षणभरही सोडत नाही — अगदी तसाच तामस माणसातला मद अढळ (हलणार नाही असा) असतो.
Metaphor-unfold
| Literal image | Philosophical referent | Modern equivalent |
|---|---|---|
| Death/Time never for a single moment releasing the body it has marked | The most absolute inseparability: the fifth fault (mada) is fixed (aḍhaḷu, immovable) as mortality itself is fixed in the body | The thing welded to you as surely as your own death — the defect that is going nowhere because it is built into the same finitude you are |
Metaphor-family: constitutional-inseparability — the death/body image as the most absolute member (after coal/blackness 749, stone/hardness 754, garlic/reek 757, fire/snake 759). Seals na vimuñcati with अढळु "immovable."
Nāth-yogic layer
No Nāth-yogic referent in this ovi. काळ here is death/Time gripping the gross body — mortality, not the yogic conquest-of-time (kāla-vañcana) motif.
Cross-references
- Internal: Closes the inseparability-image-family (ring with 749, 754, 759); seals the fifth fault before 761's totaling.
- Tukaram parallel: (none specific to this ovi)
- Source citation: Bhagavad Gītā 18.35 — मदम्... न विमुञ्चति, rendered as शरीरातें काळु न विसंबे... तैसा अढळु तामसीं मदु (as death never lets go of the body, so immovable is mada); the death-body image renders न विमुञ्चति, अढळु marks permanence.
Modern application
- When a fault feels as fixed as mortality — and that's the point. The ovi's image is bracing, not despairing: it asks you to take the permanence seriously enough to plan around it, the way a wise person plans around the certainty of death rather than denying it.
- When you notice pride is the one thing that never sleeps. Even your worst day, even humbled, the mada is there, immovable as death's grip — running quietly under the apology. Seeing its constancy is the beginning of not being run by it.
- When acceptance of "immovable" frees you to act. Paradoxically, naming a fault as aḍhaḷu (not going away by wishing) ends the exhausting war of trying to erase it and starts the patient work of transformation — which in this chapter is the guṇa-ascent the Gītā next teaches.
Sādhanā
Today, name the one fault that is your "mada" — the immovable pride or self-regard that survives even your humblest moments. Don't fight it; just say, once, you are as fixed in me as my own mortality — so I will plan around you, not pretend you're gone. One sentence of clear-eyed planning beats an hour of wishing.
Arc
760 seals the fifth fault (mada, immovable as death's grip); 761 gathers all five — sleep, fear, grief, despair, intoxication — as the faults that the tamasic dhṛti holds fast.
Ovi 18.761
Original (Marathi): एवं पांचही हे निद्रादिक । तामसाच्या ठाईं दोख । जिया धृती देख । धरिलें आहाती ॥७६१॥ Voice: krishna-to-arjuna
Word-by-word gloss
| Marathi | Meaning |
|---|---|
| एवं पांचही हे निद्रादिक | thus these five, sleep-and-the-rest (nidrā-ādika) |
| तामसाच्या ठाईं दोख | are the defects (doṣa) in the tamasic one |
| जिया धृती देख | which dhṛti (resolve) — see! — |
| धरिलें आहाती | holds them fast (dharilen) |
Literal translation
English: Thus these five — sleep and the rest — are the defects in the tamasic person; and see, it is his very resolve (dhṛti) that holds them fast.
मराठी (आधुनिक): अशा या पाचही — निद्रा वगैरे — गोष्टी तामस माणसातले दोष आहेत; आणि पाहा, त्याची धृती (धारणाशक्ती) त्यांनाच घट्ट धरून बसलेली असते.
Metaphor-unfold
No extended metaphor in this ovi. It is the summary tally of the five faults (निद्रादिक "sleep-etc.") and the naming of the dhṛti's perverse grip.
Nāth-yogic layer
No Nāth-yogic referent in this ovi.
Cross-references
- Internal: Totals the five-fault enumeration of 753-760; sets up the verdict of 762.
- Tukaram parallel: (none specific to this ovi)
- Source citation: Bhagavad Gītā 18.35 — यया... न विमुञ्चति (the dhṛti by which the five are not released), rendered as पांचही हे निद्रादिक... जिया धृती धरिलें आहाती (these five, sleep-etc., which the dhṛti holds fast); धरिलें "holds-fast" renders the dhṛti's perverse grip.
Modern application
- When you see that your "willpower" is aimed at the wrong things. The tamasic dhṛti is not weak — it is firm, just clenched onto sleep, fear, grief, despair, pride. The unnerving recognition: your resolve is strong; it's the object of the grip that's the problem.
- When you finally see the pattern as a set, not five separate problems. Sleep-avoidance, anxiety, grief, discontent, and pride turn out to be five fingers of one hand — the tamasic grip. Seeing them together is more useful than fighting each alone.
- When firmness has become stubbornness. The same faculty (dhṛti) that could hold to the good is instead "holding fast" the faults — the held-on-to-ness is the issue, not a lack of grit.
Sādhanā
Today, list the five — sleep/torpor, fear, grief, discontent, pride — and circle the one your resolve is most clenched around right now. Just one. Identifying which finger of the grip is tightest is today's whole task.
Arc
761 totals the five faults the tamasic dhṛti holds fast; 762 pronounces the verdict — that resolve is to be known as tāmasī, so said the God of the world.
Ovi 18.762
Original (Marathi): तिये गा धृती नांवें । तामसी येथ हें जाणावें । म्हणितलें तेणें देवें । जगाचेनी ॥७६२॥ Voice: krishna-to-arjuna (the verdict attributed to "that God of the world," i.e., Kṛṣṇa, framed by Jñāneśvar)
Word-by-word gloss
| Marathi | Meaning |
|---|---|
| तिये गा धृती नांवें | that dhṛti, by name |
| तामसी येथ हें जाणावें | is to be known here (yetha) as tāmasī |
| म्हणितलें तेणें देवें | so it was said by that God (deva) |
| जगाचेनी | of the world (jagāca) |
Literal translation
English: That resolve is to be known here by the name "tamasic" — so it was said by that God of the world.
मराठी (आधुनिक): त्या धृतीला इथं 'तामसी' या नावानं ओळखावं — असं त्या जगन्नाथ देवानं (श्रीकृष्णानं) सांगितलं.
Metaphor-unfold
No extended metaphor in this ovi. It is the closing verdict with its speaker-attribution.
Nāth-yogic layer
No Nāth-yogic referent in this ovi.
Cross-references
- Internal: Closes the tāmasī-dhṛti definition and the whole dhṛti-triad (BG-18.33-35); 763 opens the META-bridge.
- Tukaram parallel: (none specific to this ovi)
- Source citation: Bhagavad Gītā 18.35 — धृतिः सा पार्थ तामसी (that resolve, O Pārtha, is tāmasī), rendered as तामसी येथ हें जाणावें... म्हणितलें तेणें देवें जगाचेनी (to be known as tāmasī — so said the God of the world); तेणें देवें जगाचेनी is Jñāneśvar's framing-attribution to Kṛṣṇa as Jagadīśa.
Modern application
- When naming a thing accurately is itself the turning point. The whole long diagnosis lands on a name: this is tamasic resolve. Precise classification is not pedantry — it is the moment a fog becomes a thing you can work on.
- When you want the authority of the diagnosis to be the highest one. Jñāneśvar grounds the verdict in "the God of the world," not opinion. The modern equivalent: anchoring a hard self-assessment in a source you actually trust, so it has weight enough to act on.
- When the verdict is meant to free, not condemn. Calling it tāmasī is the first rung of a ladder the next ślokas climb — sukha and its ascent. The name is a starting point, not a sentence.
Sādhanā
Today, give one honest name to a pattern you've been circling without naming. Write it as a verdict, plainly: This is ___. Notice that naming it precisely — not vaguely, not harshly — already changes your relationship to it.
Arc
762 closes the tāmasī-dhṛti definition (and the dhṛti-triad); 763 opens the META-bridge, summarizing that the three-fold resolve is what carries the three-fold karma-resolving intellect to completion.
Ovi 18.763
Original (Marathi): एवं त्रिविध जे बुद्धि । कीजे कर्मनिश्चयो आधि । तो धृती या सिद्धि । नेइजो येथ ॥७६३॥ Voice: krishna-to-arjuna
Word-by-word gloss
| Marathi | Meaning |
|---|---|
| एवं त्रिविध जे बुद्धि | thus the three-fold (tri-vidha) intellect (buddhi) |
| कीजे कर्मनिश्चयो आधि | which first (ādhi) makes the resolve-about-action (karma-niścaya) |
| तो धृती या सिद्धि | it is this dhṛti — to accomplishment (siddhi) |
| नेइजो येथ | must be carried (neijo), here |
Literal translation
English: Thus the three-fold intellect first makes the resolve about action — and it is this resolve (dhṛti) that must here carry [that] to accomplishment.
मराठी (आधुनिक): अशा प्रकारे त्रिविध बुद्धी आधी कर्माचा निश्चय करते — आणि तो निश्चय इथं सिद्धीला (पूर्णत्वाला) नेण्याचं काम ही धृतीच करते.
Metaphor-unfold
No extended metaphor in this ovi. It is the doctrinal linkage of the buddhi-triad (BG-18.30-32) to the dhṛti-triad just completed.
Nāth-yogic layer
No Nāth-yogic referent in this ovi.
Cross-references
- Internal: META-summary linking buddhi-triad and dhṛti-triad; sets up the sun-and-walking illustration of 764-765.
- Tukaram parallel: (none specific to this ovi)
- Source citation: Bhagavad Gītā 18.33-35 — summary-bridge: एवं त्रिविध जे बुद्धि... कर्मनिश्चयो... तो धृती या सिद्धि नेइजो (the three-fold buddhi makes the karma-resolve; the dhṛti carries it to accomplishment). The buddhi-resolves / dhṛti-completes linkage is Jñāneśvar's precise joining of the two triads.
Modern application
- When you confuse deciding with doing. The buddhi makes the resolve; the dhṛti carries it through. Most failures live in this gap — clear decision, no follow-through faculty. The ovi separates the two so you can locate which one you're short on.
- When good judgment keeps not turning into finished work. You see clearly what to do (buddhi) but lack the carrying-faculty (dhṛti). Naming the missing piece as steadfastness, not more analysis, redirects the effort correctly.
- When a plan needs stamina, not more planning. The temptation to re-decide; the ovi says the decision was made — what's needed now is the dhṛti to bring it to siddhi.
Sādhanā
Today, take one decision you've already made clearly but not executed. Don't re-decide it. Ask only: what is the single act of follow-through (dhṛti) it's waiting on? Do that one act today.
Arc
763 states that the dhṛti carries the buddhi's resolve to completion; 764-765 illustrate this with the sun-shows-the-road / stamina-walks image.
Ovi 18.764
Original (Marathi): सूर्यें मार्गु गोचरु होये । आणि तो चालती कीर पाये । परी चालणें तें आहे । धैर्यें जेवीं ॥७६४॥ Voice: krishna-to-arjuna
Word-by-word gloss
| Marathi | Meaning |
|---|---|
| सूर्यें मार्गु गोचरु होये | by the sun (sūrya), the road (mārga) becomes visible (gocara) |
| आणि तो चालती कीर पाये | and the feet (pāye) do indeed (kīra) walk |
| परी चालणें तें आहे | yet the walking itself rests |
| धैर्यें जेवीं | on stamina (dhairya), just so |
Literal translation
English: By the sun the road is made visible, and the feet do indeed walk — yet the walking itself rests on stamina, just so.
मराठी (आधुनिक): सूर्यामुळे रस्ता दिसतो खरा, आणि पायही चालतात खरे — पण ते चालणं मात्र धैर्यावर (दमावर, टिकावावर) अवलंबून असतं.
Metaphor-unfold
| Literal image | Philosophical referent | Modern equivalent |
|---|---|---|
| The sun reveals the road; the feet walk; but the walking depends on stamina | The buddhi (sun) reveals the right action; the instruments are ready; but completion depends on the dhṛti (stamina/steadiness) | The map shows the route and your legs work, but finishing the hike depends on endurance — a different faculty from knowing the way |
Metaphor-family: sun-and-road / journey-and-stamina (the buddhi-illumines / dhṛti-sustains image; completed in 765). A fresh image, distinct from the inseparability-family.
Nāth-yogic layer
No Nāth-yogic referent in this ovi. सूर्य here is the literal sun as illumination-of-the-path, not the pingalā/sūrya-nāḍī of haṭha-yoga.
Cross-references
- Internal: First half of the buddhi-shows / dhṛti-sustains illustration; completed by 765.
- Tukaram parallel: (none specific to this ovi)
- Source citation: Bhagavad Gītā 18.33-35 — amplification: the dhṛti's function illustrated by सूर्यें मार्गु गोचरु... परी चालणें धैर्यें (the sun shows the road, but walking rests on stamina). Wholly Jñāneśvar's illustration.
Modern application
- When clarity is mistaken for completion. Seeing the road lit (the insight, the plan, the "aha") feels like progress, but the sun only shows; the walking still has to be walked. The ovi guards against confusing illumination with arrival.
- When you have the map and the legs but still stall. Knowledge present, capacity present — and yet no movement, because the third thing (stamina/dhṛti) is low. The ovi names the missing ingredient exactly.
- When motivation fades mid-journey. The sun is still up, the feet still work — what's flagging is the धैर्य. Recognizing it as stamina (replenishable) rather than as a failure of knowledge keeps you on the road.
Sādhanā
Today, for one task you've "seen clearly" but stalled on, take a single literal step forward — five minutes of walking, not more seeing. Notice that the road was already lit; what moved you was a small act of stamina, not a new insight.
Arc
764 gives the first half of the sun-and-walking image; 765 applies it — the buddhi shows the work and readies the instruments, but completion needs the dhṛti's firmness.
Ovi 18.765
Original (Marathi): तैसी बुद्धि कर्मातें दावी । ते करणसामग्री निफजवी । परी निफजावया होआवी । धीरता जे ॥७६५॥ Voice: krishna-to-arjuna
Word-by-word gloss
| Marathi | Meaning |
|---|---|
| तैसी बुद्धि कर्मातें दावी | just so, the intellect (buddhi) shows the action (karma) |
| ते करणसामग्री निफजवी | it produces the array of instruments/means (karaṇa-sāmagrī) |
| परी निफजावया होआवी | yet for the bringing-to-fruition there must be |
| धीरता जे | the firmness (dhīratā) that [is needed] |
Literal translation
English: Just so, the intellect shows the action and produces the array of instruments — yet for bringing it to fruition there must be firmness (dhīratā).
मराठी (आधुनिक): त्याचप्रमाणे बुद्धी कर्म दाखवते आणि साधनसामग्रीही उभी करते — पण ते कर्म तडीला नेण्यासाठी मात्र धीरता (स्थिरता) लागतेच.
Metaphor-unfold
No extended metaphor in this ovi itself — it is the explicit application of 764's sun-and-walking image to the buddhi-dhṛti pair, stated literally (buddhi shows + readies; dhīratā completes).
Nāth-yogic layer
No Nāth-yogic referent in this ovi.
Cross-references
- Internal: Completes the sun-and-walking illustration of 764; closes the buddhi-dhṛti linkage of 763.
- Tukaram parallel: (none specific to this ovi)
- Source citation: Bhagavad Gītā 18.33-35 — amplification: बुद्धि कर्मातें दावी... करणसामग्री निफजवी... परी निफजावया होआवी धीरता (the buddhi shows the action and readies the instruments, but fruition needs firmness). करणसामग्री "array of instruments" and the buddhi-shows / dhṛti-completes doctrine are Jñāneśvar's elaboration.
Modern application
- When everything is "set up" but nothing ships. The tools acquired, the plan drawn, the instruments readied (करणसामग्री) — and still no finished thing, because the completing faculty (धीरता) was never supplied. The ovi diagnoses the well-resourced non-finisher.
- When you over-invest in preparation as a substitute for endurance. Buying the gear, building the system, optimizing the setup — all buddhi-work — to avoid the unglamorous dhīratā of actually finishing.
- When "I have everything I need" is true and you still don't move. The honest recognition that the missing piece is not another resource but firmness — a different category of effort.
Sādhanā
Today, find one project that is fully "set up" but unfinished, and add no new resource to it. Instead, give it ten minutes of pure firmness — the unglamorous next increment of completion — and notice you needed dhīratā, not more sāmagrī.
Arc
765 completes the buddhi-shows / dhṛti-finishes illustration; 766 closes the META-bridge — the three-fold dhṛti has now been told to Arjuna, and once the three-fold karma is accomplished, its fruit (happiness) follows.
Ovi 18.766
Original (Marathi): ते हे गा तुजप्रती । सांगीतली त्रिविध धृती । यया कर्मत्रया निष्पत्ती । जालिया मग ॥७६६॥ Voice: krishna-to-arjuna (the तुजप्रती "to you" directly addresses Arjuna)
Word-by-word gloss
| Marathi | Meaning |
|---|---|
| ते हे गा तुजप्रती | this very [resolve], to you (tuja-prati) |
| सांगीतली त्रिविध धृती | the three-fold (tri-vidha) dhṛti has been told (sāngītalī) |
| यया कर्मत्रया निष्पत्ती | of this three-fold action (karma-traya), the fruition (niṣpatti) |
| जालिया मग | once it has come about, then (jāliyā maga) |
Literal translation
English: This three-fold resolve has now been told to you; and once the fruition of this three-fold action has come about, then —
मराठी (आधुनिक): अशी ही त्रिविध धृती मी तुला सांगितली; आणि या त्रिविध कर्माची सिद्धी एकदा झाली, की मग —
Metaphor-unfold
No extended metaphor in this ovi. It is the closing-and-pivot ("...has been told to you; once that fruits, then —").
Nāth-yogic layer
No Nāth-yogic referent in this ovi.
Cross-references
- Internal: Closes the dhṛti-teaching; the जालिया मग "once that, then" pivots to 767's sukha-opening.
- Tukaram parallel: (none specific to this ovi)
- Source citation: Bhagavad Gītā 18.36 — preview: ते हे... त्रिविध धृती सांगीतली... कर्मत्रया निष्पत्ती जालिया मग (the three-fold dhṛti has been told; once the three-fold karma fruits, then...). The जालिया मग is the pivot-hinge from the dhṛti-teaching toward the three-fold sukha.
Modern application
- When a teaching segment closes and you sense the "and then —" of what it earns. The ovi models clean completion: this part is told; here is the threshold to the next. Knowing where one understanding ends and the next begins keeps learning from blurring.
- When you've put the resolve in place and now await the fruit. The dhṛti is set, the karma underway; the ovi's posture is patient expectancy — "once it fruits, then" — not anxious checking.
- When the reward for steadiness is the next level, not just relief. Completing the dhṛti-work doesn't end the journey; it unlocks the sukha-question. The ovi frames accomplishment as a doorway.
Sādhanā
Today, mark one thing you have genuinely completed — a resolve carried through — and instead of immediately grabbing the next task, pause and ask: what does finishing this make newly possible? Name the "and then —" it opens.
Arc
766 closes the dhṛti-teaching and pivots ("once that fruits, then —"); 767 names the fruit itself: what is called happiness (sukha), which is itself three-fold by the guṇas.
Ovi 18.767
Original (Marathi): येथ फळ जें एक निफजे । सुख जयातें म्हणिजे । तेंही त्रिविध जाणिजे । कर्मवशें ॥७६७॥ Voice: krishna-to-arjuna
Word-by-word gloss
| Marathi | Meaning |
|---|---|
| येथ फळ जें एक निफजे | the one fruit (phaḷa) that ripens (nifaje) here |
| सुख जयातें म्हणिजे | which is called happiness (sukha) |
| तेंही त्रिविध जाणिजे | that too is to be known as three-fold (tri-vidha) |
| कर्मवशें | according to the action (karma-vaśa) |
Literal translation
English: The one fruit that ripens here, which is called happiness — that too is to be known as three-fold, according to the action [that yields it].
मराठी (आधुनिक): इथं जे एक फळ पिकतं — ज्याला सुख म्हणतात — तेही कर्माच्या (गुण)भेदानुसार त्रिविध आहे, हे जाणून घ्यावं.
Metaphor-unfold
No extended metaphor in this ovi — फळ "fruit/result" is the standard karma-phala idiom, not an unfolded image.
Nāth-yogic layer
No Nāth-yogic referent in this ovi.
Cross-references
- Internal: Opens the three-fold-sukha preamble (767-771); ring with 771's प्रस्तावो.
- Tukaram parallel: (none specific to this ovi)
- Source citation: Bhagavad Gītā 18.36 — preview: फळ जें... सुख जयातें म्हणिजे... तेंही त्रिविध जाणिजे कर्मवशें (the fruit called happiness is itself three-fold by the action). Previews सुखं त्विदानीं त्रिविधं शृणु मे (BG-18.36).
Modern application
- When you assume "happiness" is one single thing. The ovi unsettles that: there are kinds of happiness, sorted by the kind of action that yields them — a sattvic happiness that costs effort but lasts, a rajasic one that thrills then fades, a tamasic one that is mere torpor. Not all "happy" is the same happy.
- When you choose by the feeling and ignore its source. Happiness "according to the karma" — the ovi says the origin of a pleasure tells you which of the three it is, and therefore what it will do to you.
- When you want a vocabulary finer than "good vibes." The three-fold sukha gives you one: ask not "is this nice?" but "which kind of nice — the one that builds, the one that spikes, or the one that dulls?"
Sādhanā
Today, take one thing that made you "happy" and ask which of three it was: did it cost effort and leave you steadier (sattvic), thrill you and then deflate you (rajasic), or merely numb you (tamasic)? Just classify one pleasure by its fruit.
Arc
767 announces the fruit-happiness is three-fold by the guṇas; 768 restates this and announces the intention to discriminate it now, with "clean speech."
Ovi 18.768
Original (Marathi): तरी फळरूप तें सुख । त्रिगुणीं भेदलें देख । विवंचूं आतां चोख । चोखीं बोलीं ॥७६८॥ Voice: krishna-to-arjuna
Word-by-word gloss
| Marathi | Meaning |
|---|---|
| तरी फळरूप तें सुख | so that fruit-form (phaḷa-rūpa) happiness |
| त्रिगुणीं भेदलें देख | is split (bhedalen) by the three guṇas — see! |
| विवंचूं आतां चोख | let us now discriminate (vivañcū) it clean (cokha) |
| चोखीं बोलीं | in clean / pure speech (cokhī bolī) |
Literal translation
English: So that fruit-form happiness is split by the three guṇas — see! — let us now discriminate it cleanly, in clean speech.
मराठी (आधुनिक): तर ते फळरूप सुख त्रिगुणांनी विभागलेलं आहे, हे पाहा — आता ते स्वच्छपणे, निर्मळ शब्दांत विवेचून (विश्लेषण करून) सांगू.
Metaphor-unfold
No extended metaphor in this ovi. The doubled चोख/चोखीं "clean/pure" foregrounds the fastidiousness of the analysis but is an intensifier, not an unfolded image (that arrives at 769).
Nāth-yogic layer
No Nāth-yogic referent in this ovi.
Cross-references
- Internal: Restates 767's sukha-triad; announces the discrimination that 769-770 dramatize for its delicacy.
- Tukaram parallel: (none specific to this ovi)
- Source citation: Bhagavad Gītā 18.36 — preview: फळरूप तें सुख त्रिगुणीं भेदलें... विवंचूं आतां चोख चोखीं बोलीं (the fruit-happiness is split three-ways; let us discriminate it cleanly). The doubled चोख previews the fastidious sattvic-rajasic-tamasic sukha-discrimination of BG-18.37-39.
Modern application
- When a distinction deserves careful, clean language. The ovi models intellectual hygiene: before discriminating a subtle thing (kinds of happiness), it commits to "clean speech." A worthwhile distinction earns precise words.
- When you're about to sort something that resists sorting. Happiness "split by the three guṇas" is a fine cut; the ovi's posture — slow down, speak cleanly — is the right one for any subtle classification you face today.
- When you catch yourself wanting to do a delicate analysis sloppily. The doubled "clean/clean" is a self-instruction. Some discriminations fail not for lack of insight but for sloppy language.
Sādhanā
Today, pick one distinction you tend to blur (rest vs. avoidance, confidence vs. arrogance, etc.) and write the cleanest one-sentence statement of the difference you can. Aim for चोखीं बोलीं — clean speech — not more words.
Arc
768 promises a "clean discrimination in clean speech"; 769 dramatizes how exacting such purity is — even the ear's hearing carries the hand's dirt.
Ovi 18.769
Original (Marathi): परी चोखी ते कैसी सांगे । पैं घेवों जातां बोलबगें । कानींचियेही लागे । हातींचा मळु ॥७६९॥ Voice: jnaneshvar-teacher (the poet's own aside on the delicacy of his exposition — परी चोखी ते कैसी सांगे "but how shall the purity be told")
Word-by-word gloss
| Marathi | Meaning |
|---|---|
| परी चोखी ते कैसी सांगे | but how shall the purity (cokhī) be told |
| पैं घेवों जातां बोलबगें | why, even as one goes to grasp it by the [spoken] words (bolabage) |
| कानींचियेही लागे | clings even to the ear (kānī) |
| हातींचा मळु | the dirt of the hand (hātīcā maḷu) |
Literal translation
English: But how shall that purity even be described? Why — in the very act of grasping the words by hearing, the dirt of the hand clings to the very ear.
मराठी (आधुनिक): पण ती शुद्धता (चोखी) तरी कशी सांगावी? कारण शब्दांच्या रूपानं ती ऐकून घ्यायला जावं, तर कानालाही हाताचा मळ लागतो (इतकी ती सूक्ष्म, निर्मळ आहे).
Metaphor-unfold
| Literal image | Philosophical referent | Modern equivalent |
|---|---|---|
| In grasping the words by hearing, the hand's dirt clings to the ear — a deliberate sense-crossing absurdity | The purity at stake is so fine that even the cleanest faculty (hearing) contaminates it — language and sense are too gross to carry it undefiled | A measurement so delicate that the act of measuring disturbs it; a truth so subtle that any words you wrap it in already coarsen it |
Metaphor-family: purity-too-fine-for-the-senses (a single vivid hyperbole; sets up 770's call to inner hearing). Distinct from both the inseparability-family and the sun-and-road image.
Nāth-yogic layer
No Nāth-yogic referent in this ovi — but it prepares 770's inner-hearing summons. Here it is a purity-hyperbole about language and the senses, with no subtle-body term.
Cross-references
- Internal: Dramatizes the delicacy promised at 768; sets up 770's soul's-ear call.
- Tukaram parallel: (none specific to this ovi)
- Source citation: Bhagavad Gītā 18.36 — preamble-amplification (no direct BG clause; a poet's aside on the purity of the coming sukha-discrimination): परी चोखी ते कैसी सांगे... कानींचियेही लागे हातींचा मळु (how shall the purity be told — even the ear takes the hand's dirt). Wholly Jñāneśvar's.
Modern application
- When the very act of explaining a subtle thing coarsens it. You try to put a fine experience into words and feel it thicken, cheapen — the hand's dirt on the ear. The ovi honors that frustration as real, not a failure of effort.
- When you need to receive something with more than ordinary attention. Some truths can't be caught by the usual faculties at the usual setting; the ovi is about to ask for a finer mode of listening.
- When purity is the point and even good tools smudge it. The reminder that for the most delicate discriminations, method itself must be refined, not just intentions.
Sādhanā
Today, notice one moment when explaining something subtle to someone made it sound cruder than you meant. Don't fix it with more words. Just register: some things the ordinary channel can't carry clean — and let that humility shape how you listen next.
Arc
769 dramatizes the impossible fineness of the required purity; 770 draws the consequence — since outward attention misses it, hear with the inmost life-of-the-life, the soul's own ear.
Ovi 18.770
Original (Marathi): म्हणौनि जयाचेनि अव्हेरें । अवधानही होय बाहिरें । तेणें आइक हो आंतरें । जीवाचेनि जीवें ॥७७०॥ Voice: jnaneshvar-teacher (the listener-summons आइक हो "do hear!" is the teacher addressing his audience)
Word-by-word gloss
| Marathi | Meaning |
|---|---|
| म्हणौनि जयाचेनि अव्हेरें | therefore, by whose neglect (avhera) |
| अवधानही होय बाहिरें | even attention (avadhāna) becomes outward / external (bāhira) |
| तेणें आइक हो आंतरें | for that reason, do hear — inwardly (āntara) |
| जीवाचेनि जीवें | with the life of the life (jīvācenī jīvē) |
Literal translation
English: Therefore — since by mere neglect even attention itself turns outward [and misses this] — for that very reason, hear inwardly, with the very life of your life.
मराठी (आधुनिक): म्हणून — ज्याच्या दुर्लक्षानं नुसतं लक्षही बाहेरच राहतं (आणि हे सूक्ष्म तत्त्व निसटतं) — म्हणून हे ऐका, अगदी आतून, जिवाच्या जिवानं (अंतरात्म्यानं).
Metaphor-unfold
| Literal image | Philosophical referent | Modern equivalent |
|---|---|---|
| Hearing not with the outer ear but "with the life of the life" (jīvācenī jīvē) — the soul's innermost ear | True reception of the subtle requires turning attention inward, from the outward sense to the inmost faculty | Listening with your whole being, not just registering sound — the difference between hearing words and receiving meaning at depth |
Metaphor-family: the soul's-own-ear / inner-hearing (completes 769's purity-too-fine-for-senses; the move from outer to inner faculty).
Nāth-yogic layer
Referent: antaḥkaraṇa / the inner-listening "soul's-ear" (आंतरें... जीवाचेनि जीवें — hearing with the life-of-the-life rather than the outward sense). Confidence: LOW. Note: The जीवाचेनि जीवें "with-the-life-of-the-life" inner-hearing summons is, at the literal level, a rhetorical call for total inward attention rather than an overt Nāth-yogic technique; but the move from the outward (बाहिरें) sense-ear to an inmost soul-ear is consonant with the pratyāhāra / antar-mukha (sense-withdrawal, inward-turning) frame Jñāneśvar deploys yogically elsewhere. Marked LOW because no cakra/suṣumnā/kuṇḍalinī term is present — it is interiorized attention, not an explicit subtle-body referent.
Cross-references
- Internal: Draws the consequence of 769's purity-image; sets up 771's prelude-closing.
- Tukaram parallel: (none specific to this ovi)
- Source citation: Bhagavad Gītā 18.36 — preamble-amplification (a teacher's call to inward attention, no direct BG-18.36 clause): अवधानही होय बाहिरें... आइक हो आंतरें जीवाचेनि जीवें (attention turns outward — hear inwardly, with the life-of-the-life). Wholly Jñāneśvar's.
Modern application
- When something matters enough to need your whole attention, not the surface kind. "Even attention becomes outward" — the half-present nodding-along. The ovi asks for a rarer mode: hearing "with the life of the life." Reserve it for what deserves it.
- When distraction isn't busyness but a quality of shallow attention. You're "paying attention" and still missing it, because attention itself has gone outward. The fix is depth, not effort.
- When you want to receive a teaching, not just file it. The difference between recording information and letting it reach the inmost faculty — the ovi names the second as the only way the subtle thing lands.
Sādhanā
Today, for one conversation or one passage you read, drop "outward attention" and listen "from the inside" for sixty seconds — not planning your reply, not filing it, just receiving it with your whole presence. Notice how different that quality of attention feels from ordinary listening.
Arc
770 bids the listener to hear with the soul's inmost ear; 771 closes the cluster by naming that this is the prelude (प्रस्ताव) the God has set up for the three-fold happiness, whose exposition now proceeds.
Ovi 18.771
Original (Marathi): ऐसें म्हणौनि देवो । त्रिविधा सुखाचा प्रस्तावो । मांडला तो निर्वाहो । निरूपित असें ॥७७१॥ Voice: jnaneshvar-teacher (third-person narration of "the God" — देवो... मांडला — framing the transition)
Word-by-word gloss
| Marathi | Meaning |
|---|---|
| ऐसें म्हणौनि देवो | having said this, the God (deva) |
| त्रिविधा सुखाचा प्रस्तावो | of the three-fold (tri-vidha) happiness (sukha), the prelude (prastāva) |
| मांडला तो निर्वाहो | that undertaking (nirvāha), once laid out (māṇḍalā) |
| निरूपित असें | is now being expounded (nirūpita) |
Literal translation
English: Having said this, the God set out the prelude of the three-fold happiness; and that undertaking, once laid out, is now being expounded.
मराठी (आधुनिक): असं म्हणून देवानं (श्रीकृष्णानं) त्रिविध सुखाचा प्रस्ताव (प्रारंभ) मांडला; आणि तो मांडलेला विषय आता विवरून सांगितला जात आहे.
Metaphor-unfold
No extended metaphor in this ovi. It is the cluster-closing narrative hinge into the sukha-exposition.
Nāth-yogic layer
No Nāth-yogic referent in this ovi.
Cross-references
- Internal: Ring-completes 767's त्रिविध-sukha announcement; the 767↔771 bracket frames the 5-ovi preamble (767-771).
- Tukaram parallel: (none specific to this ovi)
- Source citation: Bhagavad Gītā 18.36 — preamble-pivot: ऐसें म्हणौनि देवो त्रिविधा सुखाचा प्रस्तावो मांडला... निरूपित असें (the God set up the prelude of three-fold happiness, now expounded). The cluster-closing hinge into सुखं त्विदानीं त्रिविधं शृणु मे (BG-18.36).
Modern application
- When a preamble has done its work and the real exposition begins. The ovi marks a clean handoff — the ground is prepared, now the thing itself unfolds. Knowing when setup is done and substance begins is its own discipline.
- When you've framed something well enough to finally deliver it. All the care of 767-770 (announce, restate, dramatize the delicacy, ask for deep attention) was to earn the exposition. The ovi shows that good delivery is prepared-for, not blurted.
- When the threshold itself is worth naming. "The undertaking, once laid out, is now expounded" — a small bell marking we are now crossing over. Marking thresholds keeps long teachings (and long projects) legible.
Sādhanā
Today, take one thing you keep "setting up" and have not yet delivered, and explicitly cross the threshold: say "the prelude is done; now I begin," and do the first real increment of the thing itself. Name the handoff out loud, then act.
Arc
771 closes the cluster by naming the prelude of the three-fold happiness now under exposition; the next śloka, BG-18.36 (सुखं त्विदानीं त्रिविधं शृणु मे भरतर्षभ — "now hear from me the threefold happiness"), delivers exactly that exposition — carrying the guṇa-trichotomy from resolve (dhṛti) into happiness (sukha).
Cluster summary
Core teaching: The tamasic resolve (tāmasī dhṛti) of BG-18.35 is a steadfastness defined entirely by what it will not let go — na vimuñcati. The dull-witted (durmedhā) person's firmness is exercised in clinging to the five binding-faults — sleep, fear, grief, despair, and intoxication — and Jñāneśvar renders that single Sanskrit verb through a whole family of constitutional-inseparability images: blackness cannot be peeled from coal (749), hardness from a stone (754), reek from garlic (757), heat from fire and venom from the snake (759), death's grip from the body (760). The fault is not a stain on the nature but its very substance, and so the resolve "holds fast" (761) precisely what should be dropped — a verdict pronounced "by that God of the world" (762). Jñāneśvar then bridges to the larger argument: this three-fold resolve is what carries the three-fold karma-resolving intellect to completion, as the sun shows the road but the walking needs stamina (763-765), and pivots into the next teaching — the fruit called happiness is itself three-fold by the guṇas (767-771).
Chapter arc position: BG-18.35 is the third and lowest member of the dhṛti-triad (sāttvikī 18.33 / rājasī 18.34 / tāmasī 18.35) within the guṇa-trichotomy of buddhi-dhṛti-sukha (BG-18.29-39) that closes the Gītā's gauṇa-vibhāga in adhyāya 18 (mokṣa-sannyāsa-yoga). The 23 ovis fall into three movements: the verse-treatment proper (749-762) building the tāmasī-dhṛti almost entirely on the inseparability-image-family and ending in the verdict; a META-bridge (763-766) linking the dhṛti-triad back to the buddhi-triad via the sun-and-walking image; and a preamble (767-771) opening the three-fold sukha of BG-18.36ff with an extended meditation on the purity of attention the discrimination requires.
Connects to BG-18.36: सुखं त्विदानीं त्रिविधं शृणु मे भरतर्षभ ("now hear from me, O best of Bharatas, the threefold happiness") is directly set up by the cluster's closing 5-ovi preamble (767-771): the fruit of accomplished karma, called happiness, is itself three-fold by the guṇas; the God has laid out the prelude (प्रस्तावो) of that three-fold sukha, which the exposition now proceeds to give — moving the guṇa-trichotomy from resolve to happiness, the last term of the gauṇa-vibhāga.