Bhagavad Gita — Raja Vidya Raja Guhya Yoga, Shloka 33
Raja Vidya Raja Guhya Yoga
किं पुनर्ब्राह्मणाः पुण्या भक्ता राजर्षयस्तथा । अनित्यमसुखं लोकमिमं प्राप्य भजस्व माम् ॥ ९.३३ ॥
kiṁ punar brāhmaṇāḥ puṇyā bhaktā rājarṣayas tathā | anityam asukhaṁ lokam imaṁ prāpya bhajasva mām || 9.33 ||
Maka apalagi para Brāhmaṇa yang suci dan para raja-ṛṣi yang berbhakti! Setelah memperoleh dunia ini yang tidak kekal dan tanpa sukha, berbhaktilah kepada-Ku.
Then what to speak of holy Brāhmaṇas and devoted royal sages? Having attained this transient and joyless world, worship Me.
How much more (is this true) for meritorious Brāhmaṇas and for devoted royal seers likewise. Having come to this impermanent and unsatisfactory world, devote yourself to Me.
The verse continues the inclusivist argument from the prior verse: if devotion is accessible to those seen as socially marginalized, it is ‘all the more’ accessible to those regarded as ‘puṇya’ (meritorious). ‘Asukha’ is often rendered ‘joyless’ or ‘unsatisfactory’; academically it can denote the pervasive inadequacy of worldly conditions rather than an absolute denial of ordinary pleasures. No major variant is typically noted for this line in standard critical presentations; translation differences are mainly interpretive.
FAQs
The verse frames ordinary life as unstable and not fully satisfying, encouraging a shift from short-term validation toward a stable, value-centered focus (devotion), which can reduce anxiety driven by change and loss.
It contrasts the impermanent character of worldly existence (saṁsāra) with devotion as a path oriented toward the ultimate (Krishna as the highest principle), implying liberation is grounded in that orientation rather than social status.
It concludes a sequence emphasizing that devotion is not restricted by birth or social category; the rhetorical ‘how much more’ reinforces that all can adopt bhakti within the narrative’s broader soteriological teaching.
It can be read as advocating ethical-spiritual egalitarianism and as a reminder to invest attention in enduring aims (practice, service, contemplation) rather than only in unstable external outcomes.
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