Bhagavad Gītā · Chapter 2, Verse 53
श्रुतिविप्रतिपन्ना ते यदा स्थास्यति निश्चला।
समाधावचला बुद्धिस्तदा योगमवाप्स्यसि।।
समाधावचला बुद्धिस्तदा योगमवाप्स्यसि।।
śruti-vipratipannā te yadā sthāsyati niścalā
samādhāv-acalā buddhis tadā yogam avāpsyasi
also searched as "shruti vipratipanna te yada sthasyati nishchala"
Translation
When your intellect, having been well enlightened by hearing from Me and firmly placed, stands unshaken in a concentrated mind, then you will attain the vision of the Self.
Vāṇi's rendering
When your mind, no longer tossed by conflicting teachings, stands still and steady — then you have arrived.
Word by word
| Sanskrit & transliteration | Meaning |
|---|---|
| श्रुतिविप्रतिपन्नाśruti-vipratipannā | bewildered by conflicting things heard — teachings pulling in different directions |
| तेte | your |
| यदाyadā | when |
| स्थास्यतिsthāsyati | will stand, will come to rest |
| निश्चलाniścalā | unmoving, no longer shifting |
| समाधौsamādhau | in stillness, in gathered absorption (sandhi: samādhau + acalā becomes samādhāv-acalā) |
| अचलाacalā | unshaken, immovable |
| बुद्धिःbuddhiḥ | the discerning mind (buddhis before the following t) |
| तदाtadā | then |
| योगम्yogam | yoga — the joining, the arrival |
| अवाप्स्यसिavāpsyasi | you will reach it |
Frequently asked
What does Bhagavad Gita Chapter 2 Verse 53 mean?
It marks the end of seeking as accumulation. Krishna says that when the buddhi, pulled apart by competing teachings, finally comes to rest — unmoving, gathered — that stillness is itself the arrival. Not a further teaching to be added, but the settling of everything already heard.
What does shruti vipratipanna te yada sthasyati nishchala mean?
Śruti here is everything you have heard — scripture, counsel, the many voices claiming the way. Vipratipannā is the mind torn between them. Krishna's promise is not that the voices will agree, but that yours will stop chasing them, and stand still.
Is this verse saying scripture is useless?
No. Krishna spends seventeen more chapters teaching. Scripture is not rejected here; its purpose is named. Words are meant to carry you to a stillness that words cannot enter. The one who keeps collecting teachings after arriving has mistaken the road for the house.
How do I know if my mind has become steady?
You will not need to check. Steadiness is not a feeling of certainty you can inspect — it is the absence of the swaying. When a new teaching arrives and you neither grasp at it nor argue with it, something in you has already stopped moving.
Themes in this verse
Read every verse this way, held — inside Vāṇi.
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Commentary
Arjuna has been listening. Chapter two has poured teaching after teaching into him — the deathless self, the duty of a warrior, the fruit that was never his — and Krishna knows what listening does. It multiplies. Every text offers a path; every voice promises a different arrival, and the mind that hears them all begins to sway between them. Krishna does not tell Arjuna to stop reading. He tells him what the end of reading looks like: a mind that has stopped being tossed. You will know you have understood not when you can argue every teaching, but when you no longer need to.