A core teaching · expansive in mood · a little context helps
“The same realization opens through different disciplines.”
Some realize the true self within through meditation on the self. Others through clear discernment and yoga, and still others through the yoga of action.
The verse in reading order — each Sanskrit word with its meaning beneath. Tap a word to focus on it.
Read literallythrough meditation · in the self · they see · some · the true self · by the self · others · through discernment · through yoga · through the yoga of action · and · others
People realize the true self in different ways: through meditation, through clear discernment, or through the yoga of action.
Krishna speaks this verse, on the battlefield of Kurukshetra, in the chapter titled "Kshetra Kshetrajna Vibhaga" (Field and Knower of the Field).
Verse 25 sits in Chapter 13 of the Bhagavad Gita — Kshetra Kshetrajna Vibhaga, "Field and Knower of the Field". The chapter has 35 verses in total.
Three sisters handle their father's illness differently: one prays, one reads every medical report, one does the hospital runs. Krishna names three routes to the self in a similar spirit: meditation, discernment, and action done as yoga.
Did you like this verse?
Krishna names three ways people see the self within: meditation, discernment through Sankhya, and the yoga of action.
What this verse means
People realize the true self in different ways: through meditation, through clear discernment, or through the yoga of action.
Context & commentary
Krishna explains that the true self can be known in more than one way: through meditation, through discernment, or through action done as yoga. The teaching widens the path.
What it looks like today
Three sisters handle their father's illness differently: one prays, one reads every medical report, one does the hospital runs. Krishna names three routes to the self in a similar spirit: meditation, discernment, and action done as yoga.
“You do not need one perfect doorway. Different temperaments can reach the same realization.”
Explore related themes: dhyana (31 verses), kshetrajna (20 verses), atman (12 verses)