Sanskrit · Devanagari
चतुर्विधा भजन्ते मां जनाः सुकृतिनोऽर्जुन। आर्तो जिज्ञासुरर्थार्थी ज्ञानी च भरतर्षभ ॥
Sanskrit · IAST
caturvidhā bhajante māṃ janāḥ sukṛtino.arjuna ārto jijñāsurarthārthī jñānī ca bharatarṣabha
English witness
Kashinath Trimbak Telang, 1882and who incline to the demoniac state of mind do not resort to me. But O Arjuna ! doers of good (acts) of four classes worship me: one who is distressed one who is seeking after knowledge one who wants wealth and one O chief of the descendants of Bharata! who is possessed of knowledge. Of these he who is possessed of knowledge
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29 translations and commentaries are aligned to this verse. Choose up to three; the root verse and Telang witness stay above them.
Śaṅkarācārya
।।7.16।। चतुर्विधाः चतुःप्रकाराः भजन्ते सेवन्ते मां जनाः सुकृतिनः पुण्यकर्माणः हे अर्जुन। आर्तः आर्तिपरिगृहीतः तस्करव्याघ्ररोगादिना अभिभूतः आपन्नः जिज्ञासुः भगवत्तत्त्वं ज्ञातुमिच्छति यः अर्थार्थी धनकामः ज्ञानी विष्णोः तत्त्वविच्च हे भरतर्षभ।।
42b5602cffe3…Rāmānuja
7.16 'Men of good deeds,' i.e., those who have meritorious Karmas to their credit, and who resort to Me and worship Me alone - they too are divided into four types according to the degrees of their good deeds, each subseent type being better than the preceding, because of the greatness of their good deeds and gradation in respect of their knowledge. (i) The 'distressed' is one who has lost his position in life and his wealth, and who wishes to regain them (ii) He who 'aspires for wealth' is one who desires for wealth which he has not till then attained. Between them the difference is very little, as both of them seek wealth. (iii) He 'who seeks after knowledge' is one who wishes to realise the real nature of the self (in Its pure state) as an entity different from the Prakrti. He is called 'one who seeks to secure knowledge,' because knowledge alone is the essential nature of the self. (iv) And the 'man of knowledge' is he who knows that, it is the essential nature of the self to find happiness only as the Sesa (subsidiary or liege) of the Lord, as taught in the text beginning with, 'But know that which is other than this (lower nature) to be the higher Prakrti' (7.5). Without stopping with the knowledge of the self as different from the Prakrti, he desires to attain the Lord. He thinks that the Lord alone is the highest aim to reach.
75954d5c1f21…Swami Sivananda
7.16 चतुर्विधाः four kinds? भजन्ते worship? माम् Me? जनाः people? सुकृतिनः virtuous? अर्जुन O Arjuna? आर्तः the distressed? जिज्ञासुः the seeker of knowledge? अर्थार्थी the seeker of wealth? ज्ञानी the wise? च and? भरतर्षभ O lord of the Bharatas.Commentary The distressed is he who is suffering from a chronic and incurable disease? he whose life is in jeopardy on account of earthake? volcanic eruption? thunder? attack by a dacoit or enemy or tiger? etc. When Draupadi and Gajendra were in great distress they worshipped the Lord. These are the instances of Aarta Bhakti.Jijnasu is the enirer. He is dissatisfied with this world. There is a void in his life. He always feels that sensual pleasure is not the highest form of happiness and there is yet pure eternal bliss unmixed with grief and pain? which is to be found within. Janaka and Uddhava were devotees of this type.Seeker of wealth is he who craves for money? wife? children? position? name and fame. Sugriva? Vibhishana? Upamanyu and Dhruva were all devotees of this type.The wise are the men of knowledge who have attained to Selfillumination. Sukadeva was a JnaniBhakta.Kamsa? Sishupala and Ravana thought of the Lord constantly on account of fear and hatred (VairaBhakti). Hence they are also regarded as devotees.Be devoted to God? whatever be your motive. Devotion will purify the motive in due course.
ac15b4f96317…These supplied texts come from the pinned VedicScriptures dataset under GPL-3.0 and await independent alignment review.