📿 Shloka Collection

Bhogaishvaryaprasaktanam

Gita 2.44 Bhagavad Gita
📖 Bhagavad Gita, Chapter 2 — Sankhya Yoga
भोगैश्वर्यप्रसक्तानां तयापहृतचेतसाम् ।
व्यवसायात्मिका बुद्धिः समाधौ न विधीयते ॥
Bhogaishvaryaprasaktanam tayapahritachetasam
Vyavasayatmika buddhih samadhau na vidhiyate
भोगैश्वर्यप्रसक्तानाम्
of those attached to enjoyment and power
तया अपहृतचेतसाम्
whose minds are stolen away by that (flowery speech)
व्यवसायात्मिका बुद्धिः
resolute intellect
समाधौ
in samadhi (deep meditation)
न विधीयते
is not established, does not arise

Here is the conclusion of the passage that began at 2.42. For those whose hearts are captured by promises of enjoyment and power, and whose minds are swept away by flowery words — the resolute, single-pointed intellect that leads to samadhi simply does not arise in them.

This is cause and effect, stated without judgment. When the mind is scattered across a hundred desires — a bigger house, a more comfortable life, a higher position, the pleasures of heaven — it cannot settle into the kind of stillness that samadhi requires. Scattered water cannot reflect the moon clearly. Only still water can.

Krishna circles back to the idea from 2.41. There, he said the resolved mind is one and the scattered mind is many-branched. Now he shows what creates that scattering: attachment to pleasure and power. The diagnosis is complete. And the prescription is about to follow — in the shlokas on equanimity and selfless action that come next.

This shloka closes the 2.42-2.44 passage and connects directly back to 2.41's teaching on the single-pointed intellect. The logic is tight: resolution leads to samadhi (2.41), but attachment to pleasure destroys resolution (2.44), and desire-driven rituals feed that attachment (2.42-2.43).

The word 'samadhau' — in samadhi — indicates that Krishna is speaking about a very high level of spiritual attainment. Even sincere practitioners who are still chasing rewards cannot reach it. Only the truly selfless mind arrives there.

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