Shloka 21

Bondage and Liberation Under Māyā; Two Birds Analogy; Marks of the Saintly Devotee

Devanagari script

एवं जिज्ञासयापोह्य नानात्वभ्रममात्मनि । उपारमेत विरजं मनो मय्यर्प्य सर्वगे ॥ २१ ॥

Transliteration

evaṁ jijñāsayāpohya nānātva-bhramam ātmani upārameta virajaṁ mano mayy arpya sarva-ge

Translation

ဤသို့ စူးစမ်းမေးမြန်းသော ဉာဏ်ဖြင့် အတ္တမန်ပေါ်သို့ တင်ထားသော မျိုးစုံကွဲပြားမှု၏ မောဟကို ဖယ်ရှား၍ ရဇတ်ကင်းသည့် စိတ်ကို ငြိမ်သက်စေ; ငါသည် အလုံးစုံတွင် ပျံ့နှံ့နေသဖြင့် စိတ်ကို ငါ၌ အပ်နှံကာ တည်ကြည်စေ။

Synonyms

• एवम्: thus
• एवम्: Sambandha (सम्बन्ध/क्रियाविशेषण)
• Type: Indeclinable
• Root: एवम् (अव्यय)
• Form: अव्यय; प्रकारवाचक (adverb of manner)

• जिज्ञासया: by inquiry; through investigation
• जिज्ञासया: Karana (करण/तृतीया)
• Type: Noun
• Root: जिज्ञासा (प्रातिपदिक)
• Form: स्त्रीलिङ्ग, तृतीया (3rd/instrumental), एकवचन

• अपोह्य: having dispelled
• अपोह्य: Kriya (क्रिया; पूर्वक्रिया)
• Type: Verb
• Root: अपो-√हृ (धातु)
• Form: क्त्वान्त (absolutive/gerund), ‘अपोह्य’ = having removed/dispelled

• नानात्वभ्रमम्: the delusion of multiplicity
• नानात्वभ्रमम्: Karma (कर्म/द्वितीया)
• Type: Noun
• Root: नानात्व-भ्रम (प्रातिपदिक)
• Form: पुल्लिङ्ग, द्वितीया (2nd/accusative), एकवचन; ‘नानात्वस्य भ्रमः’

• आत्मनि: in the self
• आत्मनि: Adhikarana (अधिकरण/सप्तमी)
• Type: Noun
• Root: आत्मन् (प्रातिपदिक)
• Form: पुल्लिङ्ग, सप्तमी (7th/locative), एकवचन

• उपारमेत: should cease; should come to rest
• उपारमेत: Kriya (क्रिया)
• Type: Verb
• Root: उप-√रम् (धातु)
• Form: विधिलिङ् (optative), प्रथमपुरुष (3rd person), एकवचन; आत्मनेपद

• विरजम्: stainless; free from passion
• विरजम्: Karma (कर्म/द्वितीया)
• Type: Adjective
• Root: विरज (प्रातिपदिक)
• Form: नपुंसकलिङ्ग/पुल्लिङ्ग-सम्भव; द्वितीया (2nd/accusative), एकवचन; ‘रजः-रहित’

• मनः: the mind
• मनः: Karta (कर्ता/प्रथमा)
• Type: Noun
• Root: मनस् (प्रातिपदिक)
• Form: नपुंसकलिङ्ग, प्रथमा (1st/nominative), एकवचन

• मयि: in me
• मयि: Adhikarana (अधिकरण/सप्तमी)
• Type: Noun
• Root: अस्मद् (सर्वनाम-प्रातिपदिक)
• Form: सप्तमी (7th/locative), एकवचन; सर्वनाम

• अर्प्य: having offered; dedicating
• अर्प्य: Kriya (क्रिया; पूर्वक्रिया)
• Type: Verb
• Root: √अर्प् (धातु)
• Form: क्त्वान्त-लोप/ल्यप् (gerund) ‘अर्प्य’ = having offered/dedicated

• सर्वगे: O all-pervading one
• सर्वगे: Sambodhana (सम्बोधन)
• Type: Adjective
• Root: सर्व-ग (प्रातिपदिक)
• Form: सम्बोधन (vocative), एकवचन; पुल्लिङ्ग; ‘सर्वत्र गच्छति/व्याप्नोति’

Purport

Although in previous verses Lord Kṛṣṇa has described the lifestyle and approach of the impersonal philosophers who meditate on the distinction between matter and spirit, the Lord here rejects the path of jñāna, or speculation, and comes to the final conclusion, bhakti-yoga. The path of jñāna is interesting only to one who does not know that Lord Kṛṣṇa is the Supreme Personality of Godhead, as stated in Bhagavad-gītā (7.19) :

Characters & Entities

• Kṛṣṇa
• Uddhava

FAQs

What does Srimad Bhagavatam say about removing the illusion of duality (nānātva-bhrama)?

This verse says that through sincere spiritual inquiry one should dispel the inner भ्रम of separateness and see reality properly, no longer misled by perceived multiplicity.

Why did Krishna say this to Uddhava in the Uddhava Gita?

Kṛṣṇa is instructing Uddhava on liberation: first remove mistaken notions through inquiry, then steady a purified mind by fixing it on the all-pervading Lord—bringing the mind to peace.

How can I apply this teaching in modern life to calm the mind?

Practice regular inquiry (study, reflection, and guidance from sādhus), identify thoughts rooted in separateness and fear, and repeatedly place attention on God’s presence everywhere—this gradually purifies the mind and reduces agitation.