Shloka 69
कर्मयोग–ज्ञानयज्ञ–अवतारोपदेश
Karma-Yoga, Jñāna-Yajña, and Avatāra Instruction
या निशा सर्वभूतानां तस्यां जागर्ति संयमी । यस्यां जाग्रति भूतानि सा निशा पश्यतो मुने:
yā niśā sarvabhūtānāṁ tasyāṁ jāgarti saṁyamī | yasyāṁ jāgrati bhūtāni sā niśā paśyato muneḥ ||
凡众生所同谓如“夜”者，于彼处，自制之瑜伽行者反而常觉；而众生所同起而追逐、求取易坏世乐者，于真实见道之牟尼而言，乃如“夜”。
अजुन उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse teaches a reversal of values: what the spiritually undisciplined regard as ‘life’ and ‘wakefulness’—the chase for transient pleasures—appears as darkness to the true seer, while the inner realization and steady awareness that seem ‘dark’ or irrelevant to most beings are precisely where the disciplined yogin is awake. It urges discernment (viveka) and self-mastery (saṁyama) as the basis for ethical clarity.
In the battlefield dialogue, Arjuna is being instructed about the nature of wisdom and steadiness. This verse frames the contrast between ordinary worldly orientation and the perspective of the sage, reinforcing why one established in insight remains unshaken even amid the turmoil and moral tension of the Kurukṣetra war.