Bhagavad Gītā Chapter 18, Verse 50: Krishna to Arjuna — Mokṣa-Sannyāsa-Yoga

Bhāṣyakāra purports

• Śaṅkaraadvaita

  One who has attained siddhi (fitness for jnana-nistha) through dedicated action and worship of Isvara now stands ready to hear the brief path by which Brahman — the paramatman — is realized. That path is not the acquisition of something foreign but the removal of superimposed name and form; for Atman is never unknown, only concealed by avidya. The 'para nistha of jnana' names exactly this: the termination of all outward-turning modifications of buddhi, leaving pure caitanya self-luminous as it always already was.

  divergence: Shankara: 'siddhim praptah — having attained the siddhi characterized by fitness for jnana-nistha'; nistha = paryavasanam, the complete termination of outward-object-grasping buddhi.

• Rāmānujaviśiṣṭādvaita

  One who has attained dhyana-siddhi through karma-yoga practiced without break until the moment of departure — such a one realizes Brahman in the manner I shall now briefly indicate. That Brahman is not impersonal void but the supreme Person who is the para prapya (ultimate object of attainment) of dhyana-atmaka jnana. Karma-yoga ripens into dhyana, and dhyana culminates in direct vision of the Lord who is its own highest nistha.

  divergence: Ramanuja: 'aharahan anusthiyamana-karma-yoga-nispady-adhyana-siddhim praptah' — fitness achieved through karma-yoga practiced daily; 'jnanasya ya para nistha param prapyam' — the highest nistha of jnana is the supreme to be attained.

• Madhvadvaita

  Learn from Me, briefly, the upaya (means) by which one who has reached siddhi attains Brahman. The siddhi here is the 'para nistha of jnana' — the highest station of knowledge, which is nothing other than Hari's grace enabling the eternally distinct jiva to abide in his Lord. The jiva does not become Brahman; the jiva reaches Brahman, as a servant reaches the presence of his master — proximity, not identity.

  divergence: Madhva: 'yena upayena siddhim prapto Brahmaapnoti' — the upaya by which the achieved one attains Brahman; 'ya siddhih jnanasya para nistha' — that siddhi is the highest station of knowledge, implying distinct jiva-Brahman relation.

• Vallabhaśuddhādvaita

  Even one who has attained siddhi continues living — and even here, in this very life, through Krsna's own self (atman), one becomes the possessor of aksara-Brahman. Learn this from Me alone, not from inference or text: the living release that Krsna grants through His own overflowing prasada is not a cold liberation but a joyous embodied dwelling in the aksara-domain while tasting the sweetness of the divine. Siddhi is not the end of the road but the beginning of Krsna's own play through the purified soul.

  divergence: Vallabha: 'jivann eva iha yatha atmanakshara-Brahma-prapto bhavati tatha mat-to nibodha' — even while living in this body one becomes the possessor of aksara-Brahman through Krsna's own self; learn this from Me.

• Śrīdharabhakti

  The paramahansa who has attained naiskarma-siddhi (the perfection of action-free action) realizes Brahman through jnana-nistha in the manner Krishna will now briefly describe. The verse is addressed to that liberated wanderer who has gone beyond all prescribed duties, and what follows is the condensed statement of how even such a one moves into the Brahman-state — the brahma-bhava — through the culmination of jnana. Brief teaching suffices for one already ripe.

  divergence: Sridhara: 'naiskarma-siddhim praptah san yatha yena prakarena Brahma prapnoti tatha tam prakaram sankshepenaiva me vacanat nibodha' — having attained naiskarma-siddhi, the manner of reaching Brahman is briefly taught from Krishna's own word.

• Madhusūdanaadvaita-bhakti

  Having worshipped Isvara through one's own svadharma and received the grace-born purification of antahkarana that constitutes siddhi, the seeker now stands at the threshold of direct realization (sakshatkara). What follows is the complete path in condensed form: jnana arising in a purified inner instrument, culminating in a para nistha after which no further sadhana need be performed — the final, supreme cause of liberation. In Madhusudana's synthesis, this purification is itself devotion's fruit and jnana's doorway; bhakti and jnana are not rivals but stages of one arc.

  divergence: Madhusudana: 'svakarmana isvaram aradhya tat-prasadajam sarvakarmattya-gaparyantam jnanotpatti-yogyatamupam siddhi... antahkarana-suddhim praptah yatha Brahma prapnoti... nishtha parisam aptih yadanantaram sadhanantaram nanustheya-masti para sresththa sarvantya va sakshanmoksha-hetut-vat.'