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Adhyāyas / Sāṅkhya Yogaḥ / verse 29

Mūla — the verse

Gita Press numbering
आश्चर्यवत्पश्यति कश्चिदेन माश्चर्यवद्वदति तथैव चान्यः। आश्चर्यवच्चैनमन्यः श्रृणोति श्रुत्वाप्येनं वेद न चैव कश्चित्
āśhcharya-vat paśhyati kaśhchid enan āśhcharya-vad vadati tathaiva chānyaḥ āśhcharya-vach chainam anyaḥ śhṛiṇoti śhrutvāpyenaṁ veda na chaiva kaśhchit
Triṣṭubh (I, ?, I s)(!!) irregular in source

Translation

Swami Gambhīrānanda · follows Śaṅkara-bhāṣya

Someone visualizes it as a wonder; someone else talks of it as a wonder; someone else hears of it as a wonder; and yet someone else does not even realize it after hearing about it.

हिन्दी अनुवाद — Swami Tejomayānanda

कोई इसे आश्चर्य के समान देखता है; कोई इसके विषय में आश्चर्य के समान कहता है; और कोई अन्य पुरुष इसे आश्चर्य के समान सुनता है; और फिर कोई सुनकर भी नहीं जानता।।

Pronunciation — Vaamshii

from Vaamshii
आश् चर्य वत् पश्यति कश् चिदेनम्
आश् चर्य वद् वदति तथैव चान्यः
आश् चर्य वच् चैन मन्यश् शृणोति (!!)
श्रुत्वाप् येनँव् वेद नचैव कश्चित्
॥ २९ ॥
Pāda meters: I,, ?,, Indravajrā, Śālinī — I = Indravajrā, u = Upendravajrā, s = Śālinī pāda
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
āśhcharya-vatas amazing
paśhyatisee
kaśhchitsomeone
enamthis soul
āśhcharya-vatas amazing
vadatispeak of
tathāthus
evaindeed
chaand
anyaḥother
āśhcharya-vatsimilarly amazing
chaalso
enamthis soul
anyaḥothers
śhṛiṇotihear
śhrutvāhaving heard
apieven
enamthis soul
vedaunderstand
nanot
chaand
evaeven
kaśhchitsome

Themes

from The Thematic Companion to the Bhagavad Gītā

Meaning — Questions & Solutions

from Q&A with KnA
2.29The Amazement.

There is a change in the metre here; Kṛṣṇa seems either perplexed or inspired as he speaks. The verse points to the sheer unknowability of Brahman, the Vast. And yet he says that some have seen It — experienced It. So, like the Ṛṣis of old who stammer when trying to convey It to a student, Kṛṣṇa says that the only expression the mind can offer of that Vast Expanse is, inevitably, Wonder. Wonder is a wonderful feeling; it is born of the experience of something far greater than oneself — in stature, size, complexity, quality, or being. And Wonder has a twin sister: humility. One becomes humble automatically when wonderstruck; there is no other way. Those who speak of It in such amazement still cannot fully convey the extent of the Great One, and the student who hears their words can only take it to be some kind of wonder, with no direct perception of his own. Hence Kṛṣṇa goes one step further and declares that no one — not even the Ṛṣis themselves — has ever known It fully.