Bhagavad Gita 2.11
Spoken by Krishna ★ Essential verse · Verse 11 of 72
श्री भगवानुवाच अशोच्यानन्वशोचस्त्वं प्रज्ञावादांश्च भाषसे। गतासूनगतासूंश्च नानुशोचन्ति पण्डिताः॥
śrī bhagavān uvāca / aśocyān anvaśocas tvaṃ prajñā-vādāṃś ca bhāṣase / gatāsūn agatāsūṃś ca nānuśocanti paṇḍitāḥ
You grieve for those who should not be grieved for — and call it wisdom.
Word by word (4)
- aśocyān anvaśocaḥ tvam
- — you grieve for those who should not be grieved for · The opening is devastating in its precision: 'aśocyān' — those who do not deserve to be mourned. Krishna does not say 'stop grieving.' He says: your grief is directed at the wrong objects.
- prajñā-vādān ca bhāṣase
- — and you speak words of wisdom · 'Prajñā-vādān' — wise-sounding words. The compound is cutting: Arjuna has been making eloquent arguments, citing tradition, identifying consequences — but from a position of fundamental confusion about what the self is. Wise-sounding words, not wisdom.
- gatāsūn agatāsūn ca
- — for those who have died and those who have not died · 'Gatāsū' — gone-life (the dead); 'agatāsū' — not-yet-gone-life (the living). A crisp opposition. Neither category deserves grief — and Krishna is about to explain why.
- na anuśocanti paṇḍitāḥ
- — the wise do not grieve · 'Paṇḍita' — the learned, the wise, those with genuine knowledge. Their defining characteristic here is precisely the absence of grief — not callousness but understanding.
The Blessed Lord said: 'You are grieving for those who should not be grieved for. And yet you speak words that sound like wisdom. The truly wise grieve neither for the living nor for the dead.'
A modern analogy
A therapist who, after listening to all the arguments, says: 'You have been reasoning eloquently about the wrong question.' Not dismissing the pain — addressing its source. Krishna's opening move is to separate the symptom (grief) from its cause (misunderstanding of the nature of the self). The whole treatment follows.
Take with you
- The first step in addressing any crisis is identifying its actual source — not the symptoms, but the root misunderstanding.
- 'Prajñā-vādān' — wise-sounding words. Arguments can sound wise while being based on a false premise. The wisdom is in the premise, not the argument.
- 'Na anuśocanti paṇḍitāḥ' — the wise don't grieve for the living or dead. This is not callousness — it is the result of understanding what life and death actually are.
Public-domain translations (5) compare all →
The Blessed Lord said: You grieve for those who should not be mourned, and yet you utter what would seem to be wise words. The wise do not grieve for the dead or for the living. [1]
The Blessed Lord said: Thou hast grieved for those that should not be grieved for, yet thou speakest words of wisdom. The wise grieve neither for the living nor for the dead. [4]
The Holy One said: You grieve for those who need no grief, and yet make use of words of wisdom. The wise grieve neither for the dead nor for the living. [6]
Krishna: Thou sorrowest where no sorrow should be! Thou speakest words lacking wisdom! For the living and the dead there is no cause for grief Amongst the wise. [7]
The Blessed Lord said: Thou mournest for those whom thou shouldst not mourn for, and yet thou speakest words about wisdom. Wise men mourn neither for the living nor for the dead. [9]
This verse speaks to
Where this thread continues
You have always existed. You will always exist. There was no time before you, and there will be no time without you.
The soul does not slay, and cannot be slain — both the slayer and the slain have mistaken the soul for the body.
This body is called kṣetra (the field); the one who knows it is called kṣetrajña — the field-knower!
Unmanifest, inconceivable, unchangeable — knowing this, you should not grieve.
Tāmasic karma: begun from delusion, ignoring consequences, waste, injury to beings, and one's own capacity.
Knowing this you will not fall into delusion again — you will see all beings in the Self, and thus in Me.
Verse 11 of 72 · back to Chapter 2