Bhagavad Gītā Chapter 18, Verse 20: Krishna to Arjuna — Mokṣa-Sannyāsa-Yoga

Bhāṣyakāra purports

• Śaṅkaraadvaita

  That knowledge is sattvic by which one sees, in all beings from the unmanifest down to the immovable, a single imperishable reality (bhava, meaning 'substance') — the one Atman-substance that neither perishes in itself nor in its own nature, standing immutable like a pillar. That same substance is seen as undivided (avibhakta) in the divided bodies, just as space (vyoma) is uninterrupted though apparently partitioned. This is direct, correct vision (samyag-darshanam) of the non-dual Atman; all dualistic visions are imperfect, rajasic or tamasic, and cannot uproot samsara.

  divergence: Shankara: 'ekam atma-vastu... kutastham ity-arthah... vyomavat nirantaram ity-arthah... saksat samyag-darshanam advaitAtma-vishayam sattvikam viddhi'

• Rāmānujaviśiṣṭādvaita

  That knowledge is sattvic by which, even among all beings differentiated as brahmin, kshatriya, brahmacharin, householder and so on — all eligible for action (karmAdhikarin) — one perceives a single-formed reality called Atman that is nonetheless undivided: just as white and long are attributes that vary, yet the Atman-form remains one, not fragmented by those distinctions. The Atman is imperishable and unchanged even in bodies that are by nature subject to change, and it is unfit to be bound by fruits of action. Seeing thus is sattvic knowledge.

  divergence: Ramanuja: 'ekakaram atma-akhyam bhavam tatra api avibhaktam... sita-dirgha-adi-vibhaga-vat... jnana-ekakaram atmanam vibhaga-rahitam... avyayam avikritam phala-adi-sanga-anarhham'

• Madhvadvaita

  That knowledge is sattvic by which one sees the one bhava — Vishnu (Vishnum) — in all beings. For Madhva, the 'one undivided reality' seen across all divided entities is explicitly Lord Vishnu himself, not a generic Atman or impersonal Brahman. The jiva is eternally distinct; what is undivided and imperishable across all differentiated forms is Hari alone, who indwells all while remaining utterly independent.

  divergence: Madhva: 'ekam bhavam vishnum' — the entire commentary is this terse identification; the one reality is Vishnu, not an impersonal absolute

• Vallabhaśuddhādvaita

  That knowledge is sattvic by which one sees, even among beings differentiated as brahmin, kshatriya and so on who are eligible for action, a single Atman-substance (atma-akhyam bhavam) with a single form — yet imperishable and unchanged (avikritam) in bodies that are by nature subject to change, unfit to be bound by fruits of action even during the time of eligibility for action. This is confirmed by the Bhagavatam (6.16.9): 'He is eternal, imperishable, subtle, the support of all, self-luminous.' Here the one Atman, atomic jiva, is imperishable — this is sattvic knowledge.

  divergence: Vallabha cites Bhagavatam 6.16.9: 'esha nityo avyayah sukshmah esha sarva-ashrayah svadrik' — grounding the verse in Pushti-marga's scriptural corpus

• Śrīdharabhakti

  Sridhara introduces the threefold division of knowledge (jnana's sattvic etc. triplicity) with this verse. That knowledge is sattvic by which one perceives, in all beings from Brahma down to the immovable, though mutually differentiated and distinct from one another, a single undivided (anusyutam, meaning 'threaded through'), imperishable, unchanging (nirvikaram) bhava — the reality of the supreme Atman (paramatma-tattva). This is sattvic knowledge: to perceive the paramatma-tattva as the thread running through all apparent divisions.

  divergence: Sridhara: 'avibhaktam anusyutam ekam avyayam nirvikaram bhavam paramatma-tattvam yena jnanena ikshate alochayati tat jnanam sattvikam viddhi'

• Madhusūdanaadvaita-bhakti

  Madhusudana, introducing the triplicity of jnana first as promised, marks this as the sattvic knowledge of Advaitavadins. In all beings — whether in the aggregate-subtle-gross forms named unmanifest (avyakrita), Hiranyagarbha, or Virat — what is undivided (avyavrittam), imperishable, free of all modification (sarva-vikriya-shunyam), unseen, threaded through everywhere as the substratum, and one-without-a-second (advitiyam), is the bhava of highest reality (paramArtha-satta-rupam), the self-luminous Atman of bliss. The knowledge that directly apprehends this through Vedanta-vakya-vichara (inquiry into Vedantic sentences) — that non-dual vision which negates all false plurality — is sattvic, the cause of the complete destruction of all samsara.

  divergence: Madhusudana: 'tad advaitAtma-darshanam sattvikam sarva-samsara-uchchhitti-karanam jnanam viddhi... dvaitadarshanam tu rajasam tamasam cha samsara-karanam na sattvikam'