Seated udasinavat — like a bystander; not vichalyate — not displaced — by the gunas. Holding 'gunah vartante' — the gunas are moving — and from that recognition, avatishthati, abides; na ingate, does not stir. The gunatita's posture is bystander-stillness — not because he is detached from life but because the recognition that the gunas operate among themselves has settled the inner stirring.
Shankara reads the one who abides as a mere witness, sakshi, seated like an indifferent bystander, udasinavat, as the atmavit who has attained the vantage of viveka-darshana. From that station no guna-produced fluctuation of pleasure, pain, or agitation dislodges him. He does not side with any party — na kasyachit paksham bhajati. The gunas are recognized as moving in their own field; the witness is not in their field, so cannot be moved by their movement.
Madhusudana synthesizes Shankara's metaphysics with devotional interiority: the atma-vit is free from raga and dvesha and therefore seated in svarupa itself. The gunas — transformed into the forms of body, senses, objects — move only among each other, parasparasmin vartante. Just as for the self-luminous, the illuminated world has no binding relation — like a dream, this is the bhakta's recognition. The gunatita's stillness is the natural posture when the dream has been recognized as dream.
Ramanuja reads the bhakta satisfied by the direct vision of the Self as categorically distinct from the gunas — guna-vyatirikta-atma-avalokana-tripti. From that satisfaction the bhakta dwells in equanimity toward all else, like one utterly indifferent — udasinavat.
Ramanuja specifies that dvesha and akanksha are the two channels through which the gunas try to dislodge the bhakta; the gunatita is moved by neither. The chapter's release is operative; the bhakta's posture proves it.
Madhva reads udasinavat asinah as the paratantra-jiva's natural posture when established in its real relation to svatantra Hari. The jiva is not vichalyate by tamas, rajas, or sattva because bheda — real distinction — between the jiva and prakriti's gunas is permanent and ontologically fixed. The jiva cannot be identical with the gunas; once the bhakta sees this, the gunas' fluctuations cannot reach the jiva's structural mode. The bystander-posture is the bheda recognized in conduct.
Vallabha's commentary closely parallels Ramanuja's language here: fullness from the vision of the Self beyond the gunas — gunatirikta-atma-avalokana-triptatvat — produces natural udasinata toward non-Self objects. But in pushti-marga the deeper resonance is prasada: the bhakta is not striving to be unmoved — Krishna's grace itself holds him still. The gunas may roll past; pushti is the anchor.
Shridhara frames this verse as the answer to the second question — kim-achara — how does the gunatita conduct himself outwardly? Seated as pure witness-consciousness, sakshitaya asina, he is not displaced from his svarupa by any guna-product — by sukha, duhkha, or any form of sukha-duhkha. The decisive inner knowledge is: 'the gunas move in their own affairs — there is simply no me being moved.'