Bhagavad Gītā Chapter 18, Verse 55: Krishna to Arjuna — Mokṣa-Sannyāsa-Yoga

Bhāṣyakāra purports

• Śaṅkaraadvaita

  Through the supreme bhakti (bhakti) that is identical with jnana-nistha (jnana-nistha) — the unwavering abidance in the knowledge of kshetra-jna-paramatma-ekatva (kshetra-jna-paramatma-ekatva, oneness of knower-field and supreme self) — one knows Me tattvatah (tattvatah, as I truly am): both as the conditioned extent of My manifestation and as Uttama Purusa (Uttama Purusa), the Supreme, undivided pure awareness, without aging or fear, spacious as akasha (akasha). Having known Me thus, one enters Me immediately — not as a separate act after knowing, but as the very consummation of that knowledge itself, since no fruit distinct from knowledge remains.

• Rāmānujaviśiṣṭādvaita

  By bhakti of this supreme kind — bhakti that directly apprehends My svarupa (svarupa, essential nature), My svabhava (svabhava, intrinsic character), My infinite auspicious qualities, and My vibhuti (vibhuti, sovereign glories) — one knows Me tattvatah (tattvatah, in full reality). After such tattva-jnana (tattva-jnana, knowledge of truth) there arises a bhakti of boundless, ever-intensifying love — anavadhika-atisaya-bhakti (anavadhika-atisaya-bhakti) — and by that bhakti alone one enters Me, attaining supreme proximity. The tat (tat, 'from that') in vishate (vishate, 'enters') names bhakti itself as the direct cause of entry, confirming that bhakti (bhakti 11.54) alone accomplishes what no other path can.

• Madhvadvaita

  *Bhakti* (devotion) alone gives *abhijñāna* — full, direct cognition — of the Lord: *yāvān yaś cāsmi tattvataḥ*, 'how great and what I am in truth.' This knowing is not an absorption that dissolves the knower; it is the *paratantra* (eternally dependent) *jīva*'s clear apprehension of *Hari* as *svatantra* (the independently real, self-sufficient), the sole *sva-tantra-tattva* whose nature cannot be reached by inference or textual study unaided. *Tattvato jñātvā* — having known in truth — the *jīva* then *viśate*: enters into proximity with Hari, attaining *sāyujya* not as merger but as the highest grade of *taratamya* (graded ontological hierarchy), wherein distinction between Lord and *jīva* persists absolutely. *Pañca-bheda* (the five-fold real distinction: Lord–jīva, Lord–matter, jīva–jīva, jīva–matter, matter–matter) is not cancelled at liberation; it is confirmed and fulfilled in it. The *bhakti* that makes this cognition possible is itself Hari's gift: grace descends prior to the *jīva*'s knowing, since the dependent cannot of itself reach the independent. *Tadanantaram* — immediately thereafter — marks real arrival, not dissolution.

• Vallabhaśuddhādvaita

  By My own bhakti — nirguna-vishayaka (nirguna-vishayaka, directed at Me as beyond the three gunas) and para (para, supreme) — the devotee knows Me tattvatah (tattvatah, in truth): as Purushottama (Purushottama) of infinite aisvarya (aisvarya, sovereign power) and ananta-alaukika-guna (ananta-alaukika-guna, boundless supramundane qualities), surrounded by My lila-parikara (lila-parikara, companions of play), beyond all prakritic production. Having known Me thus, one enters (vishate) into Me — not mere sayujya-mukti (sayujya-mukti, formless liberation) but that saulabya (saulabya, intimate accessibility) of Vaikuntha wherein the devotee, avishta (avishta, pervaded) by Purushottama, becomes a participant in the lila (lila) itself — the fruit declared nirguna and unreachable by any other service.

• Śrīdharabhakti

  By para-bhakti (para-bhakti, supreme devotion) one knows Me tattvatah (tattvatah, as I truly am): as yavan (yavan, the all-pervading one) and as yah (yah, that dense mass of sat-cit-ananda — sat-cit-ananda). Then, knowing Me thus in truth, one enters Me — and even that knowledge subsides; one becomes of the nature of supreme ananda (ananda, bliss) itself. The movement is: bhakti produces tattva-jnana (tattva-jnana), tattva-jnana ripens into vishate (vishate, entry), and entry is the silence beyond even knowledge.

• Madhusūdanaadvaita-bhakti

  By bhakti that is nididhyasana-atmika (nididhyasana-atmika, of the nature of sustained meditative absorption) — which is itself jnana-nistha (jnana-nistha, abidance in knowledge) — one directly realizes (abhijanati, sakshatkurute) Me as the non-dual Self: vibhu (vibhu, omnipresent), nitya (nitya, eternal), paripurna-satya-jnana-ananda-ghana (paripurna-satya-jnana-ananda-ghana, dense with perfect being-knowledge-bliss), all upadhi (upadhi, limiting adjuncts) dissolved. Knowing Me thus one enters — becomes sat-rupa (sat-rupa, of the nature of pure being) with all ajnana (ajnana, ignorance) and its effects extinguished — though that entry is complete only after prarabdha-karma (prarabdha-karma, already-ripened karma) exhausts the body, as the shruti (shruti) confirms: 'only so long as he is not liberated, then he attains.' This is jivanmukti (jivanmukti, living liberation) awaiting deha-tyaga (deha-tyaga, release of the body).