Mūla — the verse
Gita Press numberingTranslation
Swami Gambhīrānanda · follows Śaṅkara-bhāṣyaHe whose intellect remains unattached to everything, who has conquered his internal organs and is desireless, attains through monasticism the supreme perfection consisting of the state of one free from duties.
हिन्दी अनुवाद — Swami Tejomayānanda
सर्वत्र आसक्ति रहित बुद्धि वाला वह पुरुष जो स्पृहारहित तथा जितात्मा है, संन्यास के द्वारा परम नैर्ष्कम्य सिद्धि को प्राप्त होता है।।
Pronunciation — Vaamshii
from VaamshiiWord by word
padārthaThemes
from The Thematic Companion to the Bhagavad GītāMeaning — Questions & Solutions
from Q&A with KnAYes — and K does so here, gathering the entire path into one sweeping passage. First (18.49): with intellect unattached everywhere, self conquered, desire gone, one reaches by renunciation the supreme perfection of actionlessness (naiṣkarmya-siddhi) — freedom within action. Then (18.50–53) he sketches the ascent to Brahman: endowed with a pure intellect, restraining the self with firmness, turning from sense-objects, casting off attraction and aversion; resorting to solitude, eating lightly, controlling speech, body and mind; ever in meditation and dispassion; abandoning egoism, force, arrogance, desire, anger and possessiveness, peaceful and free of “mine” — such a one is fit for becoming Brahman (brahma-bhūyāya kalpate). Then (18.54) the flowering: “brahma-bhūtaḥ — become Brahman, serene in the Self, he neither grieves nor craves; the same to all beings, he attains supreme devotion to Me (mad-bhaktiṃ labhate parām).” Then (18.55) the fruit of that devotion: “by devotion he knows Me truly, what and who I am; and having known Me in truth, he enters into Me forthwith.” Finally (18.56–57) the seal: doing all actions, ever taking refuge in Me, by My grace he reaches the eternal, imperishable abode; therefore surrender every action to Me in thought, and, fixed in buddhi-yoga, be ever mindful of Me. Read as a whole, this is the entire Gītā compressed into one ascent: karma (offered action) → jñāna (discrimination and the rise to Brahman) → bhakti (the supreme devotion that crowns knowledge) → entering Him by grace. Notice the astonishing sequence at 18.54: becoming Brahman does not end in a cold absolute but blossoms into love — the highest knowledge yields the highest devotion. Jñāna and bhakti, argued as one throughout the book (6.30, 7.18), here embrace at the summit.