Bhagavad Gītā Chapter 15, Verse 4: Krishna to Arjuna — Puruṣottama-Yoga
Then seek that place from which none return, and take refuge in the primordial Purusha from whom this ancient current of existence first poured forth.
Bhāṣyakāra purports
- Śaṅkaraadvaita
After cutting the ashvattha with the sword of non-attachment, one must seek that supreme pada (abode) — the Vaishnava state — by understanding it, not by mere ritual approach. Shankara is explicit: the verse means 'know it' (jnatavyam iti arthah), and the seeking itself is accomplished by taking refuge in that primordial Purusha who is the source from which the maya-web of samsara has streamed forth like an illusionist's conjuration. Those who enter that pada do not return to samsara (samsaraya) — liberation is final, not cyclical.
- Rāmānujaviśiṣṭādvaita
Ramanuja reads the verse as prescribing prapatti (surrender) to the adi-Purusha as the direct antidote to the guna-entanglement described in 15.2-3: only by taking shelter of Him whose maya is declared in Gita 7.14 ('mameva ye prapadyante mayam etam taranti te') can the anaadi (beginningless) conditioning of guna-sanga be undone. The 'ancient stream of pravritti' is the eternal flow of guna-driven activity from the Creator; surrender re-routes that flow into kainkarya (service). Ancient seekers of liberation (mumukshavah puraatanah) pursued precisely this path and were freed.
- Madhvadvaita
Madhva cites the Moksha-dharma: 'surrender to Him upon surrendering to whom one neither grieves nor exults, who neither is born nor dies — that Brahman is the root.' There is no other refuge (na cha bhagavato anyah sharanyo asti). The jiiva's distinctness from Hari is permanent; the cutting of the tree and the search for the pada are not exercises in self-inquiry but acts of dependent worship — the seeker is always the servant, never the identical ground.
- Vallabhaśuddhādvaita
Vallabha foregrounds bhakti as the 'primary means' (mukhyam sadhanam) for reaching the pada where the jnaanis do not return. The adi-Purusha is Shri Krishna himself, and the entire ancient pravrttti (beginningless activity) of the world flows from Him as lila-prasada. To 'seek the pada' is not philosophical inquiry but an act of love-surrender; the world-tree is His own play, and crossing it is accomplished by falling at His feet.
- Śrīdharabhakti
Shridhara reads the verse straightforwardly as devotional quest: after recognising samsara, seek the Vaishnava pada — the ground of Vishnu — as the real root that underlies even the inverted tree. The method of seeking is ekanta-bhakti (undivided devotion): 'I take refuge in that primordial Purusha' as a first-person vow of the seeker, not a third-person prescription. The 'ancient stream of samsara-pravrttti' identifies the Purusha as its source, making refuge in Him the only logically adequate response.
- Madhusūdanaadvaita-bhakti
Madhusudana synthesises the two currents: the pada must be sought first through the guru and then through Vedanta-vakya-vicharena (inquiry into Vedanta sentences), following the shruti directive 'he is to be sought, he is to be known' (so anveshhtavyah sa vijijnaasitavyah). Yet the Purusha into whom one takes refuge is none other than Krishna — 'He by whom all this is filled' (yenaedam sarvam purnam). The 'ancient maya-caused samsara-vrkksha-pravrttti' flows from Him exactly as an illusionist's elephant — recognising this identity of ground and Liberator is itself the liberation.