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Ch 18 · Mokṣa-Sannyāsa-Yoga
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Bhagavad Gītā Chapter 18, Verse 51: Krishna to Arjuna — Mokṣa-Sannyāsa-Yoga

Bhagavad Gītā 18.51Chapter 18 · Mokṣa-Sannyāsa-Yoga · Krishna → Arjuna · anuṣṭubh
बुद्ध्या विशुद्धया युक्तो धृत्यात्मानं नियम्य च ।
शब्दादीन् विषयांस्त्यक्त्वा रागद्वेषौ व्युदस्य च ॥
bud← budnominative feminine singular nounto know, awaken (verbal root)dhyā viśuddhayā← vi-√śudh(2 verses)instrumental feminine singular participle nounto be pure, purified (vi- + √śudh)attested in commentariesadvaitaमायारहितया युक्तः संपन्नः, धृत्या धैर्येण आत्मानं कार्यकरणसंघातं नियम्यviśiṣṭādvaitaयथावस्थितात्मतत्त्वविषयया युक्तः, धृत्या आत्मानं नियम्यbhaktiपूर्वोक्तया सात्त्विक्या बुद्ध्या युक्तः, धृत्या सात्त्विक्या आत्मानं तामेव बुद्धिं नियम्य निश्चलां कृत्वा, शब्दादीन्विadvaita-bhaktiसर्वसंशयविपर्ययशून्यया बुद्ध्याऽहं ब्रह्मास्मीति वेदान्तवाक्यजन्यया बुद्धिवृत्त्या युक्तः सदा तदन्वितो धृत्या धैर्येणात yukt← √yuj(47 verses)nominative masculine singular participle nounto yoke, join, engage in (verbal root)o dhṛty← dhṛconvto hold, support, bear (verbal root)ātmānaṃ← ātman(114 verses)accusative masculine singular nounthe Self, soul; one's own self niyamya← niyam(4 verses)convto restrain, control (verbal root)attested in commentariesadvaitaच नियमनं कृत्वा वशीकृत्य, शब्दादीन् शब्दः आदिः येषां तान् विषयान् त्यक्त्वा, सामर्थ्यात् शरीरस्थितिमात्रहेतुभूतान् केवलviśiṣṭādvaitaच ,विषयविमुखीकरणेन योगयोग्यं मनः कृत्वा, शब्दादीन् विषयान् त्यक्त्वा असन्निहितान् कृत्वा, तन्निमित्तौśuddhādvaitaच स्वान्तर्यामिध्यानैकनिष्ठः सर्वत्रानात्मत्वदृष्ट्या वैराग्यं समुपाश्रितः कर्मस्वहम्ममत्वरहितः शान्त इति पूर्वसूत्रितसbhaktiनिश्चलां कृत्वा, शब्दादीन्विषयांस्त्यक्त्वा तद्विषयौ रागद्वेषौ ca← ca(391 verses)and; (homonym: also the consonant ca)
śabd← śabda(6 verses)compound (compound member)word, sound; the audibleādīn← ādi(19 verses)accusative masculine plural nounbeginning, origin; first; (suffix: 'X and so on') viṣa← viṣaya(11 verses)accusative masculine plural nounobject of sense; sense-domain; sphereyāṃs tyaktvā← tyaj(17 verses)convto abandon, give up, renounce (verbal root)attested in commentariesadvaita, सामर्थ्यात् शरीरस्थितिमात्रहेतुभूतान् केवलान् मुक्त्वा ततः अधिकान् सुखार्थान् त्यक्त्वा इत्यर्थः, शरीरस्थित्यर्थत्वेनviśiṣṭādvaitaअसन्निहितान् कृत्वा, तन्निमित्तौadvaita-bhaktiशरीरस्थितिमात्रार्थेषु rāga← rāga(11 verses)compound (compound member)passion, attachment, colordveṣau← dveṣa(7 verses)accusative masculine dual nounaversion, hatred vyudasya← vyudasconvto cast aside, reject (vi- + ud- + √as)attested in commentariesadvaitaच परित्यज्य चviśiṣṭādvaita, विविक्तसेवी सर्वैः ध्यानविरोधिभिः विविक्ते देशे वर्तमानः लघ्वाशी अत्यशनानशनरहितः, यतवाक्कायमानसः ध्यानाभिमुखीकृतकायवाङadvaita-bhaktiपरित्यज्य चकारादन्यदपि ज्ञानविक्षेपकं परित्यज्य ca← ca(391 verses)and; (homonym: also the consonant ca)
spokensingle-voice recital; rendered via IndicF5 conditioned on a Sanskrit reference clip
meaning

Armed with a purified intellect, steadying yourself through resolve, you abandon sound and the other sense-objects and cast aside attraction and aversion toward them.

Bhāṣyakāra purports

  • Śaṅkaraadvaita

    One who is united with buddhi (discernment) that is visuddha (utterly purified) of maya — holding the body-sense complex in check through dhrti (steady resolve) — and who has relinquished sound and other sense-objects beyond what mere bodily subsistence demands, having set aside both raga (attraction) and dvesa (aversion) even toward those objects that necessity allows: such a one stands on the threshold of jnana. The entire discipline here is preparatory: purified intellect, restrained instrument-aggregate, stripped-down engagement with objects, and extinction of the pull-push of passion and repulsion. From this ground brahma-bhuyaya kalpate — fitness for identity with Brahman — becomes possible.

    divergence: Shankara glosses visuddha as maya-rahita (free of delusion), buddhi as adhyavasaya-laksana (decisive cognition), and sharply limits permissible object-contact to sharira-sthiti-matra (bare bodily subsistence) — any pleasure-seeking beyond that is explicitly excised.

  • Rāmānujaviśiṣṭādvaita

    Equipped with a purified buddhi (discernment) whose object is the atma-tattva (the true nature of the self) as it actually stands, and having disciplined the mind through dhyana-yogyata (fitness for meditation) by turning it away from objects, and having rendered sense-objects non-proximate — then setting aside both raga and dvesa that arise on their account — one living thus in solitude, eating lightly, governing speech, body, and mind toward dhyana (contemplation), daily deepening vairagya (dispassion) by reflecting on the defects of all that is not the meditation-object: such a one becomes fit for brahma-bhava (the state of being Brahman), which here means the direct experience of the atman freed from all bondage. The discipline is progressive preparation for the bhakti-grounded realisation that the self, known rightly, rests within Bhagavan.

    divergence: Ramanuja's commentary specifies yathavastitatma-tattva-visaya (buddhi whose content is the soul's actual condition), dhyana-virodhins (obstructions to meditation) as what solitude removes, and brahma-bhuyaya = sarvabandha-vinirmukto yathavastham atmanam anubhavati (experience of the self as it truly is, freed of all bonds).

  • Madhvadvaita

    *Buddhi* (intellect) purified of *rajas* and *tamas* and yoked to steady *dhṛti* (resolve) — this is the *jīva*'s intellect as *Hari*'s instrument, never *svatantra* (the independently real, self-sufficient) but wholly *paratantra* (eternally dependent) on the Lord who stands as its inner mover. The compound *dhṛtyātmānaṃ niyamya* names the *jīva*'s willing restraint of the body-sense aggregate, an act of acknowledged subordination: the *paratantra* self places itself under Viṣṇu's governance rather than asserting its own sovereignty. *Śabdādīn viṣayāṃs tyaktvā* — relinquishing sound and the remaining sense-objects — strips away the field in which *rāga-dveṣau* (attraction and aversion) arise; *vyudasya*, casting them aside utterly, clears what obstructs the *jīva*'s natural mode of service-love (*kainkarya*). On *pañca-bheda* (the five-fold real distinction: Lord–jīva, Lord–matter, jīva–jīva, jīva–matter, matter–matter) terms, this purification does not dissolve the *jīva* into Brahman but renders it fit — in its irreducible distinctness — for *taratamya* (graded ontological hierarchy)-ordered participation in Brahman's bliss. Real arrival, not dissolution.

    divergence: No Madhva or Jayatīrtha bhāṣya exists for this verse. The reading follows the established dvaita siddhānta of *paratantrya*, *pañca-bheda*, and *taratamya* applied directly to the mūla's sequence of purification, restraint, and renunciation.

  • Vallabhaśuddhādvaita

    Vallabha reads this verse as part of a trikam (three-verse block, 18.51-53): the visuddha buddhi is the sankhya-margiya (path-of-Sankhya) intellect that has released fruit-attachment; the avyabhicarini dhrti (unwavering resolve) holds the antarya-min (inner controller, Krsna himself) as the sole object of dhyana; the surrender to vairagya throughout all conditions means seeing anatmatva (non-self-nature) everywhere outside Krsna's own being. Brahma-bhuyaya here means aksara-brahma-atma-bhava — identification with the imperishable Brahman as a step — but the real statement (itiyam svajanasya para nistha) is that the ananda-amsa (bliss-portion) of Krsna becomes manifest, and that is the true description even when using the term brahma.

    divergence: Vallabha's trikam commentary explicitly: sankhya-margiya visuddha buddhi, antaryami-dhyana-ekanistha (single-pointed on the inner controller), anandamsa-avirbhuta, and brahma-bhuyaya = aksara-brahma-atma-bhava, crowned by pragnavat-iti (described as if brahma, but actually Krsna's bliss-manifestation).

  • Śrīdharabhakti

    *Bud|hdhyā viśuddhayā yukto* — joined to the *pūrvoktā sāttvikī buddhi* (the sattvic *buddhi* described before); *dhṛtyā sāttvikī* (sattvic steadiness) then *niyamya* that very *buddhi*, making it *niścalāṃ kṛtvā* (unwavering); *śabdādīn viṣayāṃs tyaktvā* (having abandoned sound and the other sense-objects); *tad-viṣayau rāgadveṣau ca vyudasya* (having discarded *rāga-dveṣa* directed toward those objects) — the *anvaya* (syntactic connection) of *bud|hdhyā viśuddhayā yuktaḥ* and all that follows runs forward to *brahma-bhūyāya kalpate* three verses on, as Śrīdhara explicitly marks: *budhyā viśuddhayā yuktaḥ ityādīnāṃ brahma-bhūyāya kalpate iti tṛtīyena anvayaḥ*. *Dhṛti* steadies *buddhi*; steadied *buddhi* releases sense-objects; released objects allow *rāga-dveṣa* to be set aside — the sequence terminates in fitness for *brahma-bhūya*.

    divergence: Śrīdhara: *pūrvoktā sāttvikī buddhi* (the sattvic *buddhi* named earlier), *sāttvikī dhṛti*, and the explicit *anvaya*-note that this verse's elements syntactically connect (*tṛtīyena anvayaḥ*) with *brahma-bhūyāya kalpate* at 18.53.

  • Madhusūdanaadvaita-bhakti

    Madhusudana frames this as the opening of jnana-nistha (the mode of established knowledge) with its sahaya (supports) laid out: the visuddha buddhi is precisely the buddhi-vrtti (mental modification) arising from the Vedanta-vakya 'aham brahmasmi' — free of samshaya (doubt) and viparyaya (error). The dhrti that restrains the body-instrument removes unmarga-pravrtti (wrong-directional activity) and makes the instrument atma-pravana (inclined toward the self). Renouncing sense-objects extends even to the anisiddha (unproscribed) ones that exceed bare bodily need, and raga-dvesa even toward those minimally permitted objects is also extinguished — and the ca-kara (the grammatical particle 'and') signals that other jnana-viksepakas (disturbances to knowledge) are also abandoned. The synthesis is unmistakable: Vedanta-vakya-janita-buddhi (knowledge born of Vedanta utterance) is bhakti's own purified ground.

    divergence: Madhusudana: vedanta-vakya-janaya buddhi-vrtti ('aham brahmasmi'), jnana-nistha-artha-sharira-sthiti-matra (only what bodily existence for jnana needs), anisiddhan api tyaktva (even permissible objects renounced), ca-kara = jnana-viksepakas also abandoned.

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