Bhagavad Gītā · Chapter 2, Verse 44
भोगैश्वर्यप्रसक्तानां तयापहृतचेतसाम्।
व्यवसायात्मिका बुद्धिः समाधौ न विधीयते।।
व्यवसायात्मिका बुद्धिः समाधौ न विधीयते।।
bhogaiśwvarya-prasaktānāṁ tayāpahṛta-cetasām
vyavasāyātmikā buddhiḥ samādhau na vidhīyate
also searched as "bhogaishwarya prasaktanam tayapahrita chetasam"
Translation
For those clinging to pleasure and power, whose minds are carried away by such words, no resolute understanding is established in meditation.
Vāṇi's rendering
Minds stolen by that talk, clinging to pleasure and power, never settle into single-pointed resolve.
Word by word
| Sanskrit & transliteration | Meaning |
|---|---|
| भोगैश्वर्यप्रसक्तानाम्bhoga-aiśvarya-prasaktānām | of those stuck fast to enjoyment and lordship (bhoga + aiśvarya joined by sandhi into bhogaiśvarya) |
| तयाtayā | by that — by the flowery talk just described |
| अपहृतचेतसाम्apahṛta-cetasām | of those whose minds have been carried off, stolen away |
| व्यवसायात्मिकाvyavasāya-ātmikā | made of resolve; single-pointed, decided |
| बुद्धिःbuddhiḥ | the understanding, the deciding faculty |
| समाधौsamādhau | in gathered stillness; in the settled state |
| नna | not |
| विधीयतेvidhīyate | is established, is set in place |
Frequently asked
What does Bhagavad Gita Chapter 2 Verse 44 mean?
It says that a mind captivated by promises of enjoyment and power cannot hold a single resolve. The talk itself does the damage — it carries the mind off before any choice is made. What remains is a buddhi spread thin across many wants, unable to settle into samādhi, unable to decide.
What does bhogaishwarya prasaktanam tayapahrita chetasam mean?
Bhoga is enjoyment, aiśvarya is lordship, and prasakta means stuck fast — glued. Apahṛta-cetas means the mind has been stolen. Krishna is describing people whose attention has already been spent by beautiful descriptions of reward, so nothing steady is left to act with.
Is the Gita saying pleasure and wealth are wrong?
No. Krishna faults the clinging, not the things. Enjoyment and position pass through a life the way weather does. The trouble begins when talk of them takes the mind hostage, so that every decision is quietly made in their service and you no longer notice who is choosing.
Why can't a distracted mind reach samadhi?
Samādhi is not a special experience; it is gatheredness. A mind pulled toward many rewards is already in several places, and what is in several places cannot be in one. Resolve is not built by effort alone. It is what remains when the attention stops leaking.
Themes in this verse
Read every verse this way, held — inside Vāṇi.
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Commentary
Krishna is diagnosing an attention problem, not a moral one. Talk of pleasure and power does something specific to a mind: it steals it — apahṛta, carried off — so the mind is elsewhere even while the body sits still. And a mind scattered across many wanted things cannot form one resolve. Arjuna wants to be told he is good; Krishna tells him he is divided. Notice this the next time you sit down to decide something and cannot. It is rarely that the will is weak. It is that the will has been spent in advance, on things that were merely described to you.