2.58 Like a tortoise Krishna speaks
यदा संहरते चायं कूर्मोऽङ्गानीव सर्वशः
इन्द्रियाणीन्द्रियार्थेभ्यस्तस्य प्रज्ञा प्रतिष्ठिता
yadā sanharate chāyaṁ kūrmo ’ṅgānīva sarvaśhaḥ
indriyāṇīndriyārthebhyas tasya prajñā pratiṣhṭhitā
And when, like a tortoise drawing in its limbs, one withdraws the senses entirely from their objects — in that person wisdom is firmly established.
Explanation
Like a tortoise drawing in its limbs.
The Gita's images are almost always domestic like this — laundry, a lamp, a boat, an animal in a garden.
And the tortoise is doing something specific: the limbs come back out again. Nothing about the image suggests permanent withdrawal, which is the reading 3.6 will call hypocrisy.
Going further
Word by word
- yadā
- when
- sanharate
- withdraw
- cha
- and
- ayam
- this
- kūrmaḥ
- tortoise
- aṅgāni
- limbs
- iva
- as
- sarvaśhaḥ
- fully
- indriyāṇi
- senses
- indriya-arthebhyaḥ
- from the sense objects
- tasya
- his
- prajñā
- divine wisdom
- pratiṣhṭhitā
- fixed in
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A tortoise pulling in its limbs. The Gita's images are almost always domestic like this — laundry, a lamp, a boat, an animal in a garden.
Notice what the simile does and does not claim. The tortoise withdraws and can extend again; nothing is amputated. The verse is about a capacity, not a permanent retreat.