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Bhagavad-gītā As It Is · Text 2.52
यदा ते मोहकलिलं बुद्धिर्व्यतितरिष्यति ।
तदा गन्तासि निर्वेदं श्रोतव्यस्य श्रुतस्य च ॥ ५२ ॥
yadā te moha-kalilaṁ
buddhir vyatitariṣyati
tadā gantāsi nirvedaṁ
śrotavyasya śrutasya ca
When your intelligence has passed out of the dense forest of delusion, you shall become indifferent to all that has been heard and all that is to be heard.
Read Śrīla Prabhupāda's purport on Vedabase.ioWhat this verse is saying, and where it sits in the story.
3 study points
When your intelligence passes beyond delusion, you become indifferent to all that has been heard and is yet to be heard.
Understanding Kṛṣṇa and your relationship with Him through devotional service frees you from interest in rituals for material results.
Vedic rituals are necessary for beginners, but their purpose is to reach Kṛṣṇa. Those fully engaged in His loving service have already attained perfection.
Persons in full Krishna consciousness transcends the limit of Shabda-Brahman (Range of Vedas and Upanisads)
To engage in dutiful detached activities as explained in Texts 2.50 – 2.51, one must become disinterested in all hopes for sense gratification which are typically promoted in Vedic karma-kanda sections
This verse implies that Arjuna should rise above the calculation of happiness and misery and fight with buddhi (fixed intelligence)
Example of indifference to Vedic rituals on strength of devotional service — Sripad Madhevendra Puri (study purport)
Neophyte must follow the ritual, but one must know the goal — Otherwise it is a waste of time. This implies:
Vedic rites and rituals imperative for neophytes: All kinds of prayers three times a day, taking a bath early in the morning, offering respects to forefathers etc.
But one who is fully Krishna conscious becomes indifferent to all these regulative principles because he has already attained perfection
Analogy — Karma-kanda section is compared to the dense dark forest of illusion
Who becomes indifferent to karma-kanda, even though he is an experienced brahmana – one who understands Krishna and his relationship with Krishna
FIGHT! But without any reaction – Niskarma-karma-yoga
One works (karma) with knowledge (jnana)
Thus detached from the fruit of his work
Learn the Sanskrit words of the verse.
The spiritual concepts this verse connects to.
Key ideas: karma, sva-dharma.
Take one thing from this verse into your day.
What does BG 2.52 establish in Śrīla Prabhupāda's translation and purport, and how does it connect to duty & action?
Do one task today purely because it is right.
Keep going: verses that carry this teaching further.
Study notes are editorial summaries, not the translation. Confirm them in the original text and purport.