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Adhyāyas / Mokṣa-Sannyāsa Yogaḥ / verse 49

Mūla — the verse

Gita Press numbering
असक्तबुद्धिः सर्वत्र जितात्मा विगतस्पृहः। नैष्कर्म्यसिद्धिं परमां संन्यासेनाधिगच्छति
asakta-buddhiḥ sarvatra jitātmā vigata-spṛihaḥ naiṣhkarmya-siddhiṁ paramāṁ sannyāsenādhigachchhati
Anuṣṭubh(!!) irregular in source

Translation

Swami Gambhīrānanda · follows Śaṅkara-bhāṣya

He 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 Vaamshii
असक्त बुद्धिस् सर्वत्र (!!)
जितात् मा विग तस्पृहः
नैष् कर्म्य सिद्धिम् पर माम् (!!)
सन् न्यासे नाधि गच् छति
॥ ४९ ॥
Read each split group as one breath-unit; hyphens join pādas kept whole for the meter or a compound word. Symbols: # upadhmānīya (visarga before p/ph), % jihvāmūlīya (visarga before k/kh), ऽ avagraha (an elided a). Full method →

Word by word

padārtha
asakta-buddhiḥthose whose intellect is unattached
sarvatraeverywhere
jita-ātmāwho have mastered their mind
vigata-spṛihaḥfree from desires
naiṣhkarmya-siddhimstate of actionlessness
paramāmhighest
sanyāsenaby the practice of renunciation
adhigachchhatiattain

Themes

from The Thematic Companion to the Bhagavad Gītā

Meaning — Questions & Solutions

from Q&A with KnA
18.49–18.57Can the whole ladder of Sādhana be summarised?

Yes — 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.