Bhagavad Gita 13.17 Meaning: Jyotishamapi tajjyotistamasah

Bhagavad Gita 13.17

ज्योतिषामपि तज्ज्योतिस्तमसः परमुच्यते ।ज्ञानं ज्ञेयं ज्ञानगम्यं हृदि सर्वस्य विष्ठितम् ॥

Jyotishamapi tajjyotistamasah paramuchyateJnanam jneyam jnanagamyam hridi sarvasya vishthitam

jyotiṣāmapi tajjyotistamasaḥ paramucyate |jñānaṃ jñeyaṃ jñānagamyaṃ hṛdi sarvasya viṣṭhitam ||

How to read these English letters (IAST)

Our explanation Krishna says it is the light even of all lights, and is said to be beyond darkness. It is knowledge, what is to be known, and what is reached through knowledge, and it is seated in the heart of everyone.

हिंदी अर्थ कृष्ण कहते हैं कि वह सब ज्योतियों की भी ज्योति है, और अंधकार से परे कहा जाता है। वही ज्ञान है, वही ज्ञेय है, और वही ज्ञान से पाया जाने वाला है; और वह सबके हृदय में स्थित है।

Word by word

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Word by word

ज्योतिषाम् jyotiṣām · of the lights (noun (neuter), genitive plural) Dictionary: jyotis, Monier-Williams 1899, p. 427, col. 3 “light (of the sun, dawn, fire, lightning, &c.; also pl.)”
अपि api · even (indeclinable) Dictionary: api, Monier-Williams 1899, p. 55, col. 1 “in the sense of even, also, very”
तत् tat · that (pronoun (neuter), nominative singular) Dictionary: tad, Monier-Williams 1899, p. 434, col. 1 “m. he, f. she, n. it, that, this”
ज्योतिः jyotiḥ · the light (noun (neuter), nominative singular) Dictionary: jyotis, Monier-Williams 1899, p. 427, col. 3 “light (of the sun, dawn, fire, lightning, &c.; also pl.)”
तमसः tamasaḥ · darkness (noun (neuter), ablative singular) Dictionary: tamas, Monier-Williams 1899, p. 438, col. 1 “darkness, gloom”
परम् param · beyond (indeclinable) Dictionary: 1. para, Monier-Williams 1899, p. 586, col. 1 “highest, supreme, chief”
उच्यते ucyate · is called (present passive, 3rd person singular) Dictionary: vac, Monier-Williams 1899, p. 912, col. 1 “to be called or accounted, be regarded as”
ज्ञानम् jñānam · knowledge (noun (neuter), nominative singular) Dictionary: jñāna, Monier-Williams 1899, p. 426, col. 1 “knowing, becoming acquainted with, knowledge”
ज्ञेयम् jñeyam · what is to be known (gerundive (to be done) (neuter), nominative singular) Dictionary: jñeya, Monier-Williams 1899, p. 426, col. 2 “to be known”
ज्ञानगम्यम् jñānagamyam · reached through knowledge (compound (neuter), nominative singular) Dictionary: jñāna, Monier-Williams 1899, p. 426, col. 1 “knowing, becoming acquainted with, knowledge”; gamya, Monier-Williams 1899, p. 348, col. 1 “to be gone or gone to, approachable, accessible, passable, attainable”
हृदि hṛdi · in the heart (noun (neuter), locative singular) Dictionary: hṛd, Monier-Williams 1899, p. 1302, col. 2 “the heart (as the seat of feelings and emotions)”
सर्वस्य sarvasya · of everyone (pronoun (masculine), genitive singular) Dictionary: sarva, Monier-Williams 1899, p. 1184, col. 3 “whole, entire, all, every”
विष्ठितम् viṣṭhitam · seated (past participle (neuter), nominative singular) Dictionary: vi-ṣṭhita, Monier-Williams 1899, p. 999, col. 1 “standing or being on or in (loc. or comp.)”; adhi-ṣṭhita, Monier-Williams 1899, p. 1310, col. 3 “in Bhag. xiii, 17, the text has dhi-shṭhita, with elision of a”

2 printings differ

Edition differences. Another printing or text reads this place differently.

The printed edition reads: ज्योतिषामपि तज्ज्योतिस्तमसः परमुच्यते ।
ज्ञानं ज्ञेयं ज्ञानगम्यं हृदि सर्वस्य धिष्ठितम् ॥
Word The 1922 Madras printing reads: ज्ञानं ज्ञेयं ज्ञानगम्यं हृदि सर्वस्य धिष्ठितम् The 1922 base printing (leaf n201, read at high zoom: the loop of ध, not the ring of व) reads धिष्ठितम्, adhiṣṭhitam without its first a; Monier-Williams (1899, p. 1310, col. 3) notes that 'in Bhag. xiii, 17, the text has dhi-shṭhita'. Under decision 14 the display follows the common wording विष्ठितम्, printed by Gita Press (p. 151) and read in sanskritdocuments.org, GRETIL and Sanskrit Wikisource. Both words mean 'seated, established'.

Bhagavad Gita 13.17: meaning and translation

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