Lord Krishna
Divine TeacherThe Supreme Lord, the charioteer and divine guide of Arjuna. Krishna delivers the eternal wisdom of the Gita, revealing the nature of the soul, duty, and the path to liberation.
Speaking: Chapter 2, Verse 11
Verse 11
Hard VerseSānkhya Yoga — The Yoga of Discernment
The Supreme Lord said: You are grieving for those who are not worthy of grief, and yet you speak words of wisdom. The wise grieve neither for the living nor for the dead.
Context & Meaning
Krishna tells Arjuna that the wise do not grieve for the living or the dead.
Scholar Commentaries
2 commentaries · Public domainAdi Shankaracharya
Advaita VedantaKrishna begins the spiritual instruction here. The "wise" (paṇḍitāḥ) are those who have discriminative knowledge of the eternal self. They do not grieve for the living or dead because they perceive the changeless Atman underlying all bodies. Grief arises only from identification with what is temporary.
Ramanujacharya
VishishtadvaitaKrishna rebukes Arjuna for lamenting over what is not a fit object of grief. Those who possess true wisdom understand that the self (ātman) is distinct from the body. The body is subject to change and destruction, but the self is eternal and hence not an object for sorrow.