Bhagavad Gītā · Chapter 15, Verse 10
उत्क्रामन्तं स्थितं वापि भुञ्जानं वा गुणान्वितम्।विमूढा नानुपश्यन्ति पश्यन्ति ज्ञानचक्षुषः।।
utkrāmantaṁ sthitaṁ vāpi bhuñjānaṁ vā guṇānvitam
vimūḍhā nānupaśyanti paśyanti jñāna-cakṣuṣaḥ
also searched as "utkramantam sthitam vapi bhunjanam va gunanvitam"
Translation
The deluded do not perceive it conjoined with the Gunas when departing, staying, or experiencing. Those who have the eye of knowledge, however, see it.
Vāṇi's rendering
Leaving, staying, tasting life wrapped in nature's moods — the deluded never see the soul within. The eye of knowledge sees.
Word by word
| Sanskrit & transliteration | Meaning |
|---|---|
| उत्क्रामन्तम्utkrāmantam | departing, going out — leaving the body at death |
| स्थितम्sthitam | remaining, staying on in the body |
| वाvā | or |
| अपिapi | also, even (joined as vāpi) |
| भुञ्जानम्bhuñjānam | enjoying, tasting the objects of the senses |
| वाvā | or |
| गुणान्वितम्guṇa-anvitam | accompanied by the guṇas — wrapped in nature's moods |
| विमूढाःvimūḍhā | the deluded, the utterly confused (sandhi for vimūḍhāḥ) |
| नna | not |
| अनुपश्यन्तिanupaśyanti | do not perceive, do not look and see (joined as nānupaśyanti) |
| पश्यन्तिpaśyanti | they see |
| ज्ञानचक्षुषःjñāna-cakṣuṣaḥ | those whose eye is knowledge |
Frequently asked
What does Bhagavad Gita Chapter 15 Verse 10 mean?
It means the soul is present in every ordinary moment — as the body departs, as it stays, as it tastes what the senses bring — and yet the deluded never notice. Krishna is not hiding anything. He is saying the difference between confusion and clarity is not information but sight: the jñāna-cakṣus, the eye of knowledge.
What is the eye of knowledge in the Gita?
Not a vision, not a light in the head. Jñāna-cakṣus is the settled capacity to tell field from knower — to watch hunger, mood, and memory arise and not call them yourself. It sees nothing new. It sees the same life, correctly. That is why Krishna calls its absence delusion rather than ignorance.
What does utkramantam sthitam vapi bhunjanam va gunanvitam mean?
Leaving, staying, tasting — wrapped in nature's moods. Krishna lists the three plainest states of embodied living: dying, continuing, enjoying. In each of them the soul is right there, coloured over by the guṇas. The verse says the guṇas are what most people mistake for the person. Look past the colour.
Why do the deluded fail to see the soul?
Because they are looking at the objects, never at the one for whom objects appear. Attention runs outward all day and never turns. Krishna does not call this a fault of intelligence; the word is vimūḍhā, thoroughly bewildered. The remedy is not more thought about the soul. It is turning to notice who is looking.
Themes in this verse
Read every verse this way, held — inside Vāṇi.
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Commentary
Two people watch the same life. One sees a body being born, aging, eating, dying, pushed around by moods it did not choose. The other sees who is being carried through all of it. Nothing in the scene differs. Krishna is not describing a hidden event that the wise happen to witness; he is describing the ordinary business of leaving, staying, tasting — and saying that most of us look straight at it and miss the one it happens to. Delusion is not blindness. It is looking at the right place with the wrong eye. You already have the scene. Ask what you are seeing with.