Shloka 37

Chapter 19

Devanagari script

दण्ड-न्यासः परं दानं काम-त्यागस् तपः स्मृतम् ।

स्वभाव-विजयः शौर्यं सत्यं च सम-दर्शनम् ॥

Transliteration

daṇḍa-nyāsaḥ paraṃ dānaṃ kāma-tyāgas tapaḥ smṛtam / svabhāva-vijayaḥ śauryaṃ satyaṃ ca sama-darśanam //

Translation

အပြစ်ပေးလိုသော စိတ်ကို ချထားခြင်းသည် အမြင့်ဆုံး ဒါန ဖြစ်သည်။ ကာမကို စွန့်ခြင်းကို စစ်မှန်သော တပစ်ဟု ဆိုသည်။ ကိုယ့်သဘာဝကို အနိုင်ယူခြင်းသည် ရဲရင့်မှု၊ သစ္စာဆိုသည်မှာ သတ္တဝါအားလုံးကို တန်းတူမြင်ခြင်း ဖြစ်သည်။

Synonyms

• daṇḍa-nyāsaḥ: non-violence/laying aside the rod
• daṇḍa-nyāsaḥ: Karta-nirūpaka (कर्तृनिर्देशक)
• Type: Noun
• Root: daṇḍa (प्रातिपदिक) + nyāsa (प्रातिपदिक)
• Form: Masculine, Nominative, Singular; षष्ठी-तत्पुरुषः: ‘laying down of the rod/punishment’

• param: supreme
• param: Viśeṣaṇa (विशेषण)
• Type: Adjective
• Root: para (प्रातिपदिक)
• Form: Neuter, Nominative, Singular; adjective qualifying ‘dānam’

• dānam: charity
• dānam: Karta-nirūpaka (कर्तृनिर्देशक)
• Type: Noun
• Root: dāna (प्रातिपदिक)
• Form: Neuter, Nominative, Singular; predicate-noun in list

• kāma-tyāgaḥ: abandoning lust/desire
• kāma-tyāgaḥ: Karta-nirūpaka (कर्तृनिर्देशक)
• Type: Noun
• Root: kāma (प्रातिपदिक) + tyāga (प्रातिपदिक)
• Form: Masculine, Nominative, Singular; षष्ठी-तत्पुरुषः: ‘renunciation of desire’

• tapaḥ: austerity
• tapaḥ: Karta-nirūpaka (कर्तृनिर्देशक)
• Type: Noun
• Root: tapas (प्रातिपदिक)
• Form: Neuter, Nominative, Singular

• smṛtam: is declared
• smṛtam: Kriya (क्रिया; predicate)
• Type: Verb
• Root: smṛta (कृदन्त; √smṛ (स्मृ) धातु)
• Form: Past passive participle (क्त), Neuter, Nominative, Singular; used predicatively: ‘is said/considered’ (impersonal passive)

• svabhāva-vijayaḥ: mastery over one’s nature
• svabhāva-vijayaḥ: Karta-nirūpaka (कर्तृनिर्देशक)
• Type: Noun
• Root: svabhāva (प्रातिपदिक) + vijaya (प्रातिपदिक)
• Form: Masculine, Nominative, Singular; षष्ठी-तत्पुरुषः: ‘conquest of one’s nature’

• śauryam: valor
• śauryam: Karta-nirūpaka (कर्तृनिर्देशक)
• Type: Noun
• Root: śaurya (प्रातिपदिक)
• Form: Neuter, Nominative, Singular

• satyam: truthfulness
• satyam: Karta-nirūpaka (कर्तृनिर्देशक)
• Type: Noun
• Root: satya (प्रातिपदिक)
• Form: Neuter, Nominative, Singular

• ca: and
• ca: Sambandha (सम्बन्ध)
• Type: Indeclinable
• Root: ca (अव्यय)
• Form: Conjunction (समुच्चय-बोधक अव्यय)

• sama-darśanam: equal vision
• sama-darśanam: Karta-nirūpaka (कर्तृनिर्देशक)
• Type: Noun
• Root: sama (प्रातिपदिक) + darśana (प्रातिपदिक)
• Form: Neuter, Nominative, Singular; कर्मधारयः: ‘equal (sama) vision (darśana)’

Purport

In this verse, Śrī Kṛṣṇa redefines celebrated virtues by taking them from the external plane to the inner, devotional plane. Charity is not only giving wealth; the greatest gift is to restrain one’s tendency to harm—especially when one has power, authority, or the “right” to punish. Such restraint protects life, dignity, and spiritual progress, and reflects the Lord’s own forbearance. Austerity (tapas) is likewise not merely bodily hardship; it is the disciplined withdrawal of the mind from kāma—self-centered desire that agitates the heart and binds one to repeated suffering. By giving up lust, one becomes fit for remembrance of the Supreme. Heroism (śaurya) is commonly praised as victory over others, but Kṛṣṇa calls it victory over one’s svabhāva—ingrained habits, impulses, and material conditioning. The bravest battle is fought within, where anger, greed, pride, envy, and illusion seek to rule the mind. Finally, truth (satya) is not only factual speech; it culminates in sama-darśanam—equal vision: recognizing the same spiritual essence (ātmā) within all beings and thus behaving without exploitation, cruelty, or sectarian hatred. This equal vision supports bhakti, because a heart that sees God’s presence everywhere naturally becomes humble, compassionate, and steady in devotion.

Characters & Entities

• Śrī Kṛṣṇa
• Uddhava

FAQs

What is the highest charity according to Srimad Bhagavatam?

This verse says the highest charity is daṇḍa-nyāsa—restraining the impulse to punish or harm others, especially when one has power to do so.

Why does Krishna call renouncing lust a real austerity (tapas)?

Because lust powerfully binds the mind and senses; giving it up purifies consciousness and makes one steady for spiritual life and devotion.

How can I practice equal vision (sama-darśanam) in modern life?

See every being as a soul, avoid exploitation and harshness, and act with fairness and compassion while keeping devotion to God at the center.