Bhagavad Gītā Chapter 14, Verse 26: Krishna to Arjuna — Guṇatraya-Vibhāga-Yoga

Bhāṣyakāra purports

• Śaṅkaraadvaita

  Shankara opens with a terse identification: 'mam' (me) here names Ishvara-Narayana, the inner witness seated in all hearts — not a personal beloved but the unqualified ground. Avyabhicharena (without deviation) modifies bhakti-yoga, meaning one-pointed practice that never slips into object-worship; the yati (renunciant) or karmakanda practitioner who so serves transcends (samatitya) these three gunas already described. The fruit — brahma-bhuyaya kalpate — means 'becomes fit for brahma-bhavana,' which Shankara glosses directly as moksha: not a new state entered but the recognition of what already is, achieved through the instrument of steady devotion sublimated into jnana.

  divergence: samartho bhavati — 'becomes capable' read as adhikara for jnana-nishtha, not as a separate devotional attainment

• Rāmānujaviśiṣṭādvaita

  Ramanuja makes a pointed transition: mere intellectual discrimination of prakriti from atman (as taught in 14.19) is insufficient, because beginningless opposing samskaras can overwhelm it. The true means is bhakti-yoga of the ekantika (exclusively dedicated) kind directed at Bhagavan, who is satya-sankalpa (of true resolve) and paramakaru?ika (supremely compassionate), the ocean of affection toward those who take refuge. One who so serves crosses these duraaataya (hard-to-cross) gunas and becomes fit for brahma-tvaya — Ramanuja specifies this as recovering the jiva's own authentic immortal self (amritam avyayam), distinct from but inseparable from Bhagavan.

  divergence: brahma-bhuyaya read as brahmatvaya — the jiva's own constitutional purity restored, not merger with nirguna Brahman

• Madhvadvaita

  Madhva compresses his commentary with characteristic polemical precision: 'brahma-bhuya' means attaining priyatva (dearness) to Bhagavan comparable to that of Brahma and Prakriti — an honorific proximity, not ontological identity. He guards the eternal distinction with a Padma Purana citation: 'neither bound nor liberated souls are as dear to Hari as Rama,' which anchors even the highest bhakta's attainment within a hierarchy of dearest ones. The jiva who serves with avyabhichara (undeviating) bhakti-yoga achieves the supreme closeness to Hari that befits its category, no more and no less.

  divergence: brahma-bhuyaya glossed as bhagavat-priyatvam — dearness to Bhagavan, not brahma-sameness; jiva-brahma distinction never collapses

• Vallabhaśuddhādvaita

  Vallabha frames the verse as the crowning statement of the bhakti-margiya path: the Purushottama (highest Person, beyond even aksara-Brahman) is served through sneha-yoga — bhakti as pure affection, not technique. Avyabhicharena here means sarvatmana (with one's entire being) and aikantika (singularly directed); such service transcends the gunas and yields brahma-bhuyaya glossed as aksara-brahma-bhava — the state of imperishable Brahman. A Mundaka Upanishad citation seals the argument: this and this alone is the bridge to immortality. For Vallabha, Pushtimarga is not a ladder to Brahman but the direct living-in of Krsna's lila-prasada.

  divergence: sneha-yoga as the operative term; aksara-brahma-bhava as the fruit, subordinated to relationship with Purushottama

• Śrīdharabhakti

  Sridhara treats this verse as the direct answer to the third question of Chapter 14 — 'how does one cross the gunas?' The 'ca' (and) particle functions as avadharana (emphasis/restriction): it is precisely and only through ekanta-bhakti-yoga directed at Parameshvara Sri Narayana that crossing occurs. Sridhara's gloss is philologically balanced: samatitya means 'having fully crossed over' (samyag-atikramya), and brahma-bhuyaya is parsed as brahma-bhavaya mokshaya — fit for liberation understood as the state of Brahman. The rendering is the most straightforwardly integrative: devotion to the personal Lord and liberation as Brahman are held without tension.

  divergence: samyag-atikramya and brahma-bhavaya mokshaya — complete crossing, moksha as goal, no polemical edge

• Madhusūdanaadvaita-bhakti

  Madhusudana names the verse as the answer to the third of three sequential questions, and his synthesis is explicit: 'mam' identifies Ishvara-Narayana, the antaryamin (inner controller), who entered apparent jiva-hood through maya — and simultaneously the paramananda-ghana Bhagavan Vasudeva. Avyabhicharena bhakti-yoga here is precisely the bhakti of Chapter 12 (dvadashaadhyayokta) — paramaprem-alaksana, defined by supreme love. Such a devotee crosses the gunas samatitya — Madhusudana glosses this as 'having contradicted the dvaitadarsana (appearance of duality) by its sublation.' Brahma-bhuyaya is liberation. The signature line: 'constant meditation on Bhagavan alone is the means to transcend the gunas' — holding bhakti and Advaita in a single breath.

  divergence: dvaitadarsana baadhitvaa — sublating duality as the mode of guna-crossing; bhakti of Ch.12 as the operative definition