BG 2.44
व्यवसायात्मिका बुद्धिः समाधौ न विधीयते ॥
vyavasāyātmikā buddhiḥ samādhau na vidhīyate
Word-for-word meanings
apahṛta-cetasām — for those whose minds are carried away; tayā — by such [flowery words]; prasaktānām — [and] for those who are firmly attached; bhoga — [to] pleasure; aiśvarya — [and] worldly powers; buddhiḥ — the intellect; na vidhīyate — does not become established; vyavasāya-ātmikā — resolutely; samādhau — in samādhi [transcognitive awareness of Parameśvara].
Translation
For those whose minds are carried away by such flowery words and who are firmly attached to pleasure and worldly powers, the intellect cannot become resolutely established in transcognitive awareness* [of Parameśvara].
Notes
* Ordinarily, we gather valid knowledge about ourselves and the world around us either through the medium of the senses (i.e., perception) or through the mind (i.e., inference and rationality). The word samādhi, however, which is a technical term in the classical Yoga system of Patañjali, refers to a mode of knowing, cognition, or awareness that transcends the conventional range of valid knowledge acquisition available through perception and inference. Samādhi is not mere “trance,” which implies the suspension of the ordinary functions of waking-state consciousness. The term “transcognitive awareness” as a translation of samādhi is meant in the precise sense of a mode of awareness that transcends ordinary cognition. The word “cognition” here is used in a generic sense to refer to all conventional means of knowing (pramāṇa), of which perception and inference are primary. So, the term “transcognitive awareness” informs us that samādhi is not an unconscious state, but a supra-conscious state that actualizes the possibility of immediate intuition of the Supreme Reality (Parameśvara).