📿 Shloka Collection

Durena Hyavaram Karma

Gita 2.49 Bhagavad Gita
📖 Bhagavad Gita, Chapter 2 — Sankhya Yoga
दूरेण ह्यवरं कर्म बुद्धियोगाद्धनञ्जय ।
बुद्धौ शरणमन्विच्छ कृपणाः फलहेतवः ॥
Durena hyavaram karma buddhiyogad Dhananjaya
Buddhau sharanam anvichha kripanah phalahetavah
दूरेण
by far
अवरम्
inferior
कर्म
action (desire-driven action)
बुद्धियोगात्
compared to the yoga of wisdom
धनञ्जय
O Dhananjaya (Arjuna)
बुद्धौ
in wisdom
शरणम्
refuge
अन्विच्छ
seek
कृपणाः
pitiable, wretched
फलहेतवः
those motivated by results

A sharp word lands here. Krishna tells Arjuna: desire-driven action is far inferior to the yoga of wisdom. Take refuge in buddhi — in clear, discerning intelligence. Those who act only for results are kripanah, pitiable.

The word kripanah deserves attention. It usually means miser. A miser hoards coins and misses out on life. Krishna uses the same word for someone who hoards expectations about results — and misses out on the deeper possibility of action itself. Both are poor in the truest sense.

Think of two students. One studies only for marks. The other studies because the subject fascinates her. Both study, both may score well. But the second student's journey is richer, freer, and unshackled from anxiety about the report card. Krishna asks Arjuna to be the second kind.

Buddhi Yoga in the Gita means action guided by discernment — where intelligence serves dharma, not the craving for outcomes. This shloka extends the principle of 2.47 ('never let the fruit be your motive').

The word kripanah carries weight in the Upanishadic tradition as well. The Brihadaranyaka Upanishad (3.8.10) calls the person who departs this world without knowing the imperishable as kripanah — one who squanders life's greatest possibility.

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