Bhagavad Gita BG 2.69
Chapter 2, Verse 69 — Meaning, Translation & Explanation
या निशा सर्वभूतानां तस्यां जागर्ति संयमी । यस्यां जाग्रति भूतानि सा निशा पश्यतो मुनेः ॥ ६९ ॥
yā niśā sarva-bhūtānāṃ tasyāṃ jāgarti saṃyamī yasyāṃ jāgrati bhūtāni sā niśā paśyato muneḥ
Meaning
What is night for all beings is the time of awakening for the self-controlled; and the time of awakening for all beings is night for the introspective sage.
Understanding
One of the most poetic and profound verses of the Gita. The 'night' of all ordinary beings — the realm of the spirit, the self, the eternal — is where the sage is awake ('saṃyamī jāgarti'). The 'daytime' of all ordinary beings — the world of sense pleasures, status, and material life — is night (darkness, ignorance) for the seeing sage ('paśyato muneḥ'). The two worlds are inverted: what the world prizes, the sage sees as darkness; what the world ignores (the inner life), the sage inhabits as wakefulness.
Word by Word
| Word | IAST | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| निशा | niśā | night / darkness |
| सर्वभूतानाम् | sarva-bhūtānām | of all beings |
| जागर्ति | jāgarti | is awake / stays awake |
| संयमी | saṃyamī | the self-controlled one / the disciplined one |
| जाग्रति | jāgrati | are awake |
| भूतानि | bhūtāni | beings / creatures |
| पश्यतः मुनेः | paśyataḥ muneḥ | of the seeing sage / of the sage who perceives reality |
| या | yā | which / that which (is night for all beings) |
| तस्याम् | tasyām | in that (which is night for all) |
| यस्याम् | yasyām | in which (time all beings are awake) |
| सा | sā | that (is night for the sage) |