Bhagavad Gita 13.25
Spoken by Krishna · Verse 25 of 34
ध्यानेनात्मनि पश्यन्ति केचिद् आत्मानम् आत्मना / अन्ये सांख्येन योगेन कर्मयोगेन चापरे
dhyānenātmani paśyanti kecid ātmānam ātmanā / anye sāṃkhyena yogena karma-yogena cāpare
Four paths to see the Self: meditation / Sāṃkhya yoga / karma yoga / following tradition — all valid.
Word by word (3)
- dhyānena ātmani paśyanti kecit ātmānam ātmanā
- — Some (kecit) see (paśyanti) the Self (ātmānam) in the Self (ātmani) through the Self (ātmanā) by meditation (dhyānena) · Path 1: Dhyāna-yoga. The triple ātman construction (ātmānam...ātmani...ātmanā) is profound: the one who meditates (ātmanā = by/through the self), the place of meditation (ātmani = in the Self), and the object of meditation (ātmānam = the Self) are all the SAME ātman. Meditation resolves into Self-recognition: the seeker, the seeking, and the sought are one. This is Ch.6's dhyāna yoga in essence.
- anye sāṃkhyena yogena
- — Others (anye) by Sāṃkhya yoga — the yoga of discriminative knowledge, discerning puruṣa from prakṛti as taught in this very chapter · Path 2: Sāṃkhya-yoga. This is the path of jñāna through the kṣetra-kṣetrajña discrimination taught in Ch.13. By systematically understanding the 24 tattvas (kṣetra) and distinguishing them from the kṣetrajña (puruṣa), the practitioner arrives at Self-recognition. The entire content of Ch.13 V1-V24 IS this Sāṃkhya path in practice.
- karma-yogena ca apare
- — and others (apare) by karma yoga — the yoga of action without attachment to results · Path 3: Karma-yoga. The path of engaged action with non-attachment (Chs. 3, 5, 18). By offering all actions to the Lord, renouncing the fruits, and seeing the guṇas as the real doers, the karma yogī progressively dissolves guṇa-saṅga and arrives at the same recognition as the jñānī and the dhyānī. The Gita's radical democracy: you don't need to renounce the world to be liberated from it.
Some, by meditation, see the Self in the self by the self; others by the yoga of knowledge; and others by the yoga of action.
A modern analogy
Different people climb the same mountain by different routes: the mountaineer takes the technical rock face (dhyāna, meditation), the botanist follows the winding trail cataloguing every plant (Sāṃkhya, the path of analysis), the trail-runner takes the most direct active path (karma yoga, the way of selfless action), and the pilgrim simply follows the guide's instruction (śravaṇa, worshipping as they have heard it taught — and these too cross beyond death by their devotion to what they heard). All reach the same summit. None of the paths contradicts the others.
What it does NOT mean
Some read this as 'all religions are equally valid' in a vague syncretistic sense. But the Gita is more precise: these are three specific methods for the same specific goal — recognising the paramātmā as the witness in this body. The paths are distinct and the goal is specific; the inclusivity is about temperament-matching, not relativism.
Public-domain translations (4) compare all →
Some by meditation behold the Self in their own intelligence by the purified heart, others by the path of knowledge, others again by Karma-Yoga. [4]
[Arnold full chapter text; verse names the three paths: meditation, Sankhya-yoga, and karma-yoga] [7]
Some by meditation behold the self in the self by the self; others by the Sankhya method; and others by the method of action. [9]
Some behold the Self within themselves through meditation, others by Sankhya-yoga, and still others by Karma-yoga. [13]
This verse speaks to
Where this thread continues
Yogis act with body, mind, intellect, and bare senses — abandoning attachment — solely for self-purification.
Greed, restless activity, and longing surge — know that rajas is predominant and karma-saṅga is binding.
Seeing inaction in action, action in inaction — that one is wise, a yogi, a complete doer of all actions.
Instrument, offering, fire, act, destination — all Brahman. One absorbed in Brahman-action reaches Brahman alone.
Nothing in this world purifies like jñāna. The karma-yogi finds it within themselves in time.
Abandon all desires born of mental planning — without remainder — and restrain the senses completely, by the mind alone.
Verse 25 of 34 · back to Chapter 13