Bhagavad Gita · 18.49 · Yoga through the Perfection of Renunciation and Surrender·49 of 78
असक्तबुद्धिः सर्वत्र जितात्मा विगतस्पृहः।नैष्कर्म्यसिद्धिं परमां संन्यासेनाधिगच्छति ॥
asakta-buddhiḥ sarvatra jitātmā vigata-spṛihaḥ
naiṣhkarmya-siddhiṁ paramāṁ sannyāsenādhigachchhati
Sanskrit recitation
Toward inner perfection · 18.49–18.55 · Teaching
Translation
He whose intellect is unattached everywhere, who has subdued his self, from whom desire has fled, he attains the supreme state of freedom from action through renunciation.
Meaning
The mind of one who is free from attachment to wife, son, body and property, who has controlled his senses and the mind, who has no desire for the body, for life and for sensual pleasure, turns inwards towards God or the immortal Self. It is not attracted by the sensual objects of the world. It is filled with dispassion and discrimination.He gradually gets himself established in his own Self which is of the nature of ExistenceKnowledgeBliss. Such a person who has knowledge of the Self attains to the highest perfection, to pefect freedom from action by renunciation.Ignorance is destroyed by the attainment of the knowledge of the Self. There is cessation of activity. One may perform actions for the solidarity of the world and yet he will not be bound by actions as he has attained absolute freedom from action through the knowledge of the Self. The fire of knowledge has burnt the fruitbearing effects of Karmas or actions. He has no idea of agency as he is absolutely free from egoism, as he has identified himself with the Supreme Being.Naishkarmya siddhi may also mean the attainment of the state of Naishkarmya. In this exalted, magnanimous, ineffable state of divine splendour and glory, one remains as the actionless Self. This is the state of immediate liberation of the Vedantins (Kaivalya Moksha or Sadyomukti)
After Swami Sivananda
Toward inner perfection· 18.49–18.55→
Teachers usually read this idea across several verses together, one shared reflection covers the whole unit.
18.49He whose intellect is unattached everywhere, who has subdued his self, from whom desire has fled, he attains the supreme state of freedom from action through renunciation.
- 18.50Learn from Me, O Arjuna, in brief how one who has attained perfection reaches Brahman—the Eternal, that supreme state of knowledge.
- 18.51Endowed with a pure intellect, controlling the self through firmness, relinquishing sound and other objects and abandoning attraction and hatred.
- 18.52Dwelling in solitude, eating sparingly, with speech, body, and mind subdued, always engaged in meditation and concentration, and resorting to dispassion.
- 18.53Having abandoned egoism, strength, arrogance, desire, anger, and covetousness, and being free from the notion of 'mine' and peaceful, he is fit for becoming Brahman.
- 18.54Becoming Brahman, serene in the Self, he neither grieves nor desires; he is the same to all beings, and obtains supreme devotion to Me.
- 18.55By devotion, he knows Me in truth, who and what I am; then, having known Me in truth, he immediately enters into the Supreme.
Word-by-word→
- paramām
- highest
- sarvatra
- everywhere
- sanyāsena
- by the practice of renunciation
- jita-ātmā
- who have mastered their mind
- adhigachchhati
- attain
- asakta-buddhiḥ
- those whose intellect is unattached
- vigata-spṛihaḥ
- free from desires
- naiṣhkarmya-siddhim
- state of actionlessness
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