ॐ allbig.in
Adhyāyas / Mokṣa-Sannyāsa Yogaḥ / verse 21

Mūla — the verse

Gita Press numbering
पृथक्त्वेन तु यज्ज्ञानं नानाभावान्पृथग्विधान्। वेत्ति सर्वेषु भूतेषु तज्ज्ञानं विद्धि राजसम्
pṛithaktvena tu yaj jñānaṁ nānā-bhāvān pṛithag-vidhān vetti sarveṣhu bhūteṣhu taj jñānaṁ viddhi rājasam
Anuṣṭubh

Translation

Swami Gambhīrānanda · follows Śaṅkara-bhāṣya

But know that knowledge to originate from rajas, which amidst all things apprehends the different entities of various kinds as distinct [as possessing distinct selves].

हिन्दी अनुवाद — Swami Tejomayānanda

जिस ज्ञान के द्वारा मनुष्य समस्त भूतों में नाना भावों को पृथक्-पृथक् जानता है, उस ज्ञान को तुम राजस जानो।।

Pronunciation — Vaamshii

from Vaamshii
पृथक् त्वेन तु यज् ज्ञानम्
नाना भावान् पृथग् विधान्
वेत्ति सर्वेषु भूतेषु
तज् ज्ञानँव् विद् धि राजसम्
॥ २१ ॥
Read each split group as one breath-unit; hyphens join pādas kept whole for the meter or a compound word. Symbols: # upadhmānīya (visarga before p/ph), % jihvāmūlīya (visarga before k/kh), ऽ avagraha (an elided a). Full method →

Word by word

padārtha
pṛithaktvenaunconnected
tuhowever
yatwhich
jñānamknowledge
nānā-bhāvānmanifold entities
pṛithak-vidhānof diversity
vetticonsider
sarveṣhuin all
bhūteṣhuliving entities
tatthat
jñānamknowledge
viddhiknow
rājasamin the mode of passion

Themes

from The Thematic Companion to the Bhagavad Gītā
GuṇaJñāna

Meaning — Questions & Solutions

from Q&A with KnA
18.20–18.22Threefold knowledge: oneness, distinction, irrationality.

“That knowledge by which one sees the one imperishable Being in all beings, undivided in the divided, is sattvic (18.20). That which sees only the manifold, distinct existences in the various beings, is rajasic (18.21). And that which clings, irrationally and without grasp of truth, to a single effect as though it were the whole, is tamasic (18.22).” As you rightly note: oneness-in-diversity is the sattvic knowing (the vision of 13.16, 13.27); distinction-only — seeing the many and missing the One — is rajasic; and not using the intellect at all, latching onto one narrow thing as if it were everything, is tamasic. This is the Gītā’s epistemology in miniature: the quality of one’s seeing is itself graded by the guṇas, and only the sattvic sight sees the unity that liberates.