Bhagavad Gītā Chapter 5, Verse 21: Krishna to Arjuna — Karma-Sannyāsa-Yoga

Bhāṣyakāra purports

• Śaṅkaraadvaita

  The one whose inner organ (antahkarana) is unattached to external sense-objects — sound and the rest, the bāhya-sparśas (outer touches) — discovers through that very non-attachment the joy that belongs to the Self alone. Śaṅkara insists this ātma-sukha is not a new acquisition: it is the Self's own nature, veiled only by craving. United through brahma-yoga (samādhi on Brahman), the yogin tastes inexhaustible joy — not because Brahman gives something extra, but because the obstruction of sense-pleasure has been removed. Therefore, one who desires akṣaya-sukha (imperishable joy) must withdraw the senses from transient external delight and fix the antahkarana in the Self.

  divergence: Śaṅkara's bhāṣya: bāhya-sparśeṣu asaktaḥ ātmā antaḥkaraṇam yasya ... ātmani yat sukham tad vindati; brahma-yoga = samādhi on Brahman; transience of sense-pleasure explicitly named as the reason for withdrawal.

• Rāmānujaviśiṣṭādvaita

  One whose mind has withdrawn from the experience of objects other than the Self — the ātma-vyatirikta-viṣayas (realities separate from the self) — and who finds joy within the inner Self has already abandoned the habit-grooves of prakṛti-driven enjoyment. Rāmānuja reads brahma-yoga as brahma-abhyāsa-yukta-manā (a mind continuously practicing absorption in Brahman), not mere negation of the senses. The fruit, brahma-anubhava-rūpam akṣayam sukham (imperishable joy in the form of Brahman-experience), is a real relishing of the divine Person, not a void. The inner detachment is thus not ascetic evacuation but the clearing of a channel toward ever-deepening kainkarya.

  divergence: Rāmānuja: ātma-vyatirikta-viṣaya-anubhāveṣu asaktamanāḥ ... brahma-abhyāsa-yukta-manā brahma-anubhava-rūpam akṣayam sukham prāpnoti.

• Madhvadvaita

  Madhva reads the verse as proving the superiority (ādhikya) of yoga over mere mechanical action. The one free of desire (kāma-rahita) who finds ātma-sukha is precisely the one whose self is yoked through brahma-yoga — and only such a yogin attains inexhaustible joy. The qualifier 'only then, not otherwise' (anyathā na) is Madhva's pointed insert: ātma-sukha without brahma-dhyāna remains impermanent. Brahman here is distinct from the jīva; the yoga is dhyāna and related disciplines directed at Hari. The jīva never dissolves into Brahman — it enjoys akṣaya-sukha as a dependent, worshipping knower.

  divergence: Madhva: kāma-rahita ātmani yat sukham vindati sa eva brahma-yoga-yukta-ātmā cet tad eva akṣayam sukham vindati ... anyathā na iti arthaḥ.

• Vallabhaśuddhādvaita

  Vallabha reads 5.20–5.21 as a paired teaching: the yogin described here is sthira-buddhi (stable-minded), free of the demonic quality of saṃmoha (delusion), unattached to outer objects. In finding sāttvika-sukha within, he is a practitioner of upaśama-sukha (the joy of quietude). But Vallabha's distinctive move is that brahma-yoga-yukta-ātmā means the ātman who has attained aitkyam (union) with Brahman — the full prasāda of Kṛṣṇa's grace. The akṣaya brahma-sukha is not earned through striving alone; it is Kṛṣṇa's own bliss flowing into the purified vessel. Śuddhādvaita's rapturous note: the final joy is Kṛṣṇa's own svarūpa-ānanda, not something other than Him.

  divergence: Vallabha: sthira-buddhi saṃmoha-rahitaś ca ... brahmaṇi yogena yuktaḥ tad-aikyam prāpta ātmā ... akṣayam brahma-sukham anubhavati.

• Śrīdharabhakti

  Śrīdhara frames the verse as supplying the cause of buddhi-sthairya (steadiness of intellect) through the removal of moha (delusion). The senses touch outer objects — śabda and the rest — hence they are called sparśas (touches); one whose citta is unattached to these finds the sāttvika, upaśama-ātmaka (quietude-natured) joy already present within the antahkaraṇa. Having tasted that quietude-joy, such a person then advances: through samādhi (brahma-yoga), the ātman attains aitkyam with Brahman and wins akṣaya-sukha. Śrīdhara's bhakti inflection is subtle but present: the inner upaśama is the antechamber to divine absorption, not an end in itself.

  divergence: Śrīdhara: moha-nivṛttyā buddhi-sthairya-hetum āha ... upaśama-ātmakam sāttvikam sukham ... brahmaṇi yogena samādhinā yuktas tad-aikyam prāpta ātmā ... akṣayyam sukham aśnute.

• Madhusūdanaadvaita-bhakti

  Madhusūdana opens with a sharp pūrva-pakṣa (prior objection): given that sense-pleasure has been experienced across many births and is therefore extremely powerful, how can a mind still attached to it find stable footing in Brahman — which is imperceptible and appears, to ordinary experience, devoid of all pleasure? He cites the Vārtika: even if Brahman's ānanda is heard of, unless directly experienced it cannot weaken the craving for known pleasures. His answer: the one whose citta has become tṛṣṇā-śūnya (desire-void) through vairāgya finds, via a pure sāttvika vṛtti (mental mode), the upaśama-sukha already present within — and this is not merely negative quietude but the very svarūpa-sukha of the pratyag-ātman (the inner Self, the tvam-pada-artha). United with Brahman through brahma-yoga (mahāvākya-samādhi, identity of tvam-pada and tat-pada), the ātman tastes pūrṇa-sukha — infinite, imperishable, its own nature. The joy of Kṛṣṇa-bhakti and the joy of Advaita-jñāna converge here: both require desire's extinction, both yield the same akṣaya.

  divergence: Madhusūdana: tṛṣṇā-śūṇatayā viraktaḥ ... nirmalasattva-vṛttyā upaśama-sukham vindati ... tat-pada-artha-aikyānubhavena pūrṇa-sukham api ... brahma-yoga-yukta-ātmā sukham akṣayyam aśnute.