2.41 The resolute mind is single Krishna speaks
व्यवसायात्मिका बुद्धिरेकेह कुरुनन्दन
बहुशाखा ह्यनन्ताश्च बुद्धयोऽव्यवसायिनाम्
vyavasāyātmikā buddhir ekeha kuru-nandana
bahu-śhākhā hyanantāśh cha buddhayo ’vyavasāyinām
On this path, son of Kuru, the resolute mind is single. The minds of the irresolute are many-branched and endless.
Explanation
The resolute mind is single.
And the minds of the irresolute are bahu-śākhāḥ — many-branched, endless.
The image is a tree of alternatives. It is the same diagnosis 16.16 gives of the other nature — bewildered by many thoughts — and the same virtue every later chapter names as a mind turned nowhere else.
Word by word
- vyavasāya-ātmikā
- resolute
- buddhiḥ
- intellect
- ekā
- single
- iha
- on this path
- kuru-nandana
- descendent of the Kurus
- bahu-śhākhāḥ
- many-branched
- hi
- indeed
- anantāḥ
- endless
- cha
- also
- buddhayaḥ
- intellect
- avyavasāyinām
- of the irresolute
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