Bhagavad Gītā Chapter 15, Verse 20: Krishna to Arjuna — Puruṣottama-Yoga

Bhāṣyakāra purports

• Śaṅkaraadvaita

  This most secret shastra (scripture) — secret above all secrets — has now been fully spoken by Me, O sinless one (anagha): the whole meaning of the Gita, and indeed the whole purport of the Veda, is brought to completion in this single chapter. One who understands this teaching becomes truly wise (buddhiman), for all action (karma) culminates in knowledge (jnana), as declared in 4.33. That brahmana (one born into the requisite adhikara) who knows the supreme reality has thereby accomplished every obligatory duty; no further kartavya (what must be done) remains, for no duty is ever finally discharged except through this knowledge.

  divergence: Shankara: 'sarvah hi gitashastrarthah asmin adhyaye samasena uktah... sarva-karma-akhilam partha jnane parisamapyate' — all of the Gita's meaning is condensed here; all action terminates in knowledge.

• Rāmānujaviśiṣṭādvaita

  The teaching of My Purushottama-nature — the innermost of all secrets — has been spoken to you precisely because you, Arjuna, are sinless and therefore most qualified (yogyatama) to receive it. One who truly understands this becomes wise: every intellective capacity (buddhi) needed by one who seeks to attain Me is thereby fully acquired, and every duty he was to perform is thereby accomplished — not through mere ritualistic completion but through right knowledge of the Lord. Significantly, it is shastra-born knowledge alone, not direct unmediated vision (sakshatkara), that produces this total fruition.

  divergence: Ramanuja: 'mam prepsuna upadeyaa ya buddhih sa sarva upaatta syat... shastrajanyam eva etat sarvam karoti na tu sakshatkararupam' — scripture-born knowledge, not mystical vision, accomplishes everything.

• Madhvadvaita

  *iti guhyatamaṃ śāstram idam uktaṃ mayānagha* — Kṛṣṇa seals Chapter 15 by naming its teaching the most secret of all scriptures: that He, *Puruṣottama*, stands absolutely above *kṣara* (the perishable) and *akṣara* (the imperishable), and that this supremacy is not a speculative inference but a revealed *śāstra*-truth directly disclosed. *etad buddhvā buddhimān syāt* — to grasp this is itself the mark of true *buddhi*; the one who understands that the *jīva* is irrevocably *paratantra* (eternally dependent) on the *svatantra* (the independently real, self-sufficient) Hari, and that Lord–*jīva* *bheda* (real distinction) is not dissolved but confirmed at the chapter's summit, becomes *buddhimān*. *kṛta-kṛtyaś ca* — such a one is *kṛta-kṛtya*, all obligation fulfilled: because *bhakti* (devotion) as ontological subordination to Hari is the terminus of every prescribed duty. The *pañca-bheda* (the five-fold real distinction: Lord–*jīva*, Lord–matter, *jīva*–*jīva*, *jīva*–matter, matter–matter) persists even after liberation; knowing Hari's *sarvottamatva* does not dissolve the knower into the known but secures the *jīva*'s eternal dependence as its very perfection. The address *anagha* (O sinless one) is not ornamental: only the *jīva* purified of *doṣa* can receive and hold the weight of this most secret disclosure.

  divergence: Madhva and Jayatīrtha are silent on BG 15.20. The rendering draws the school's siddhānta from Madhva's bhāṣya on BG 15.16–18 (the three-fold *puruṣa* doctrine and *Puruṣottama-sarvottamatva*) and the consistent dvaita insistence that *kṛta-kṛtya* means completion-in-*bhakti*, not liberation-as-dissolution.

• Vallabhaśuddhādvaita

  The shastra of Purushottama-yoga — most secret of all because it is the very essence of all Vedanta — has been spoken by Me, the Purushottama who is the maker and the known end of all Vedanta, to you who are qualified by your sinlessness. Whoever understands this becomes wise in the true purport of this shastra and becomes krita-kritya (one who has accomplished all that was to be accomplished) — and you, Arjuna, O descendant of Bharata, are already such a one: what more need be said?

  divergence: Vallabha: 'purushottamayogakam shastram sarvavedantasaratvad guhyatamam... tadbuddhva buddhiman shastratparyajnanavaan kritakrityash ca syat' — understanding the purport of Purushottama-yoga confers total fulfillment.

• Śrīdharabhakti

  In this manner, the entire shastra — not merely this chapter of twenty verses — which is most secret and supremely profound, has been spoken by Me. O sinless one (anagha, free from all vice): whoever understands this, even any person whatsoever, becomes a true knower (samyag-jnani) and krita-kritya. As for you, O descendant of Bharata — you who are free from vice — you are already krita-kritya: this is the implication.

  divergence: Sridhara: 'ityanenaprakarena guhyatamam atirahasyam sampurnam shastraeva mayoktam na punar vimshatishlokam adhyayamatram' — the whole shastra is declared here, not merely the twenty-verse chapter.

• Madhusūdanaadvaita-bhakti

  Now, praising the chapter's meaning as he concludes: this entire shastra — most secret of secrets — has been briefly stated in this chapter by Me. O sinless one (avyasana, free from addiction), whoever understands this, any person, becomes a true knower of the Atman (atmajnanavant) and krita-kritya — one for whom no further duty remains. The Advaita logic holds: all duty for a brahmana born into proper station is fulfilled the moment the Lord's reality is known; no duty concludes any other way. You, O Bharata, born of great lineage and yourself free of vice, will certainly be krita-kritya upon understanding this — need it even be said?

  divergence: Madhusudana: 'kritam sarvam krityam yena na punah krityantaram yasyasti sa kritakrityah... vishishtajanmaprasutena brahmanena yat kartavyam tat sarvam bhagavatattve vidite kritam bhavet' — duty is fulfilled through knowing the divine reality, not through ritual completion.