Bhagavad Gītā Chapter 5, Verse 26: Krishna to Arjuna — Karma-Sannyāsa-Yoga

Bhāṣyakāra purports

• Śaṅkaraadvaita

  Those wandering ascetics (yatīnāḥ) who have fully expelled desire and anger, whose inner organ (antaḥkaraṇa) is mastered, and who are established in true seeing (samyag-darśana) already possess liberation — Brahman-cessation (brahma-nirvāṇa) obtains for them on both sides, in life and in death. Śaṅkara is insistent: this is not a future attainment but a present fact, because the ātman was never un-known, only misapprehended. The verse serves as sūtra-stitching toward the inner support of right-seeing, namely dhyāna-yoga, which the following verses will elaborate.

  divergence: Śaṅkara: 'abhitaḥ ubhayataḥ jīvatāṃ mṛtānāṃ ca brahma-nirvāṇaṃ mokṣo vartate'; samyag-darśana-niṣṭhānāṃ sannyāsinām sadyaḥ muktiḥ — immediate liberation for the renunciant established in right-seeing.

• Rāmānujaviśiṣṭādvaita

  The disciplined striders (yatīnāḥ, those who strive) who have curbed desire and anger and held mind firmly in check hold brahma-nirvāṇa already in the palm of their hand — it is proximate (hasta-stham), not remote. Rāmānuja reads 'viditātmanāṃ' as 'vijitātmanāṃ' (those who have conquered the self), shifting emphasis from knowledge to disciplined conquest: liberation is the fruit of controlled striving rather than bare insight. The verse caps the karma-yoga section, showing that yoga with Bhagavān as its crown-goal naturally culminates in nearness to Brahman.

  divergence: Rāmānuja: 'evaṃbhūtānāṃ hasta-sthaṃ brahma-nirvāṇam' — for such persons brahma-nirvāṇa is as good as in-hand; reads viditātmanāṃ as vijitātmanāṃ.

• Madhvadvaita

  For those freed of desire and anger, brahma-nirvāṇa is easily accessible (sulabha) from all sides (sarvataḥ). Madhva's comment is deliberately spare: the verse simply confirms the accessibility of liberation for the properly qualified practitioner who worships Hari in complete dependence — the emphasis on 'from all sides' underlines that no gap separates the surrendered devotee from Hari's grace. Dvaita assumes the jīva remains eternally distinct; brahma-nirvāṇa here means proximity to, not identity with, Brahman.

  divergence: Madhva: 'sulabhaṃ ca teṣāṃ brahma — abhitaḥ sarvataḥ'; brevity signals that the verse confirms rather than introduces a Dvaita principle.

• Vallabhaśuddhādvaita

  The joy of Brahman (brahma-ānanda) is not reserved for after death — it flows to the living practitioner right now, on both sides of the boundary between embodied and unembodied existence. Vallabha reads the verse as underscoring the immanence of divine joy: whoever is freed from desire and anger participates in Kṛṣṇa's bliss while still in the body, because that bliss is the very nature of existence rather than a distant reward. This is characteristic of the Puṣṭi-mārga insistence that the graced devotee need not wait for liberation.

  divergence: Vallabha: 'abhitaḥ ubhayataḥ mṛtānāṃ jīvatāṃ na dehāntara eva teṣāṃ brahma-ānandaḥ, apitu jīvatām api vartate' — brahma-bliss obtains for the living, not only after another body.

• Śrīdharabhakti

  Those renunciants (sannyāsinī) who are free of desire and anger, whose consciousness is restrained, and who have come to know the truth of the ātman — for them, brahma-nirvāṇa (dissolution into Brahman) is present on both sides, whether living or dead, not deferred to a future body. Śrīdhara's reading closely tracks the verse's grammar and aligns with Vallabha on the 'both sides' point, but his framing remains philologically cautious rather than rapturous, treating the verse as a straightforward confirmation of the result awaiting the qualified aspirant.

  divergence: Śrīdhara: 'abhitaḥ ubhayataḥ mṛtānāṃ jīvatāṃ ca na dehāntara eva teṣāṃ brahmaṇi layaḥ, apitu jīvatām api vartate' — dissolution into Brahman for the living, not only after death.

• Madhusūdanaadvaita-bhakti

  The verse advances beyond 5.23's counsel to endure the arising of desire and anger: now Madhusūdana insists on the non-arising itself (tad-anutpatti) as the true goal. For those established in direct realization of the paramātman (sākṣātkṛta), brahma-nirvāṇa is already present — 'it does not come about in the future because it is not a thing to be accomplished.' The synthesis of Advaita insight with Kṛṣṇa-devotion appears in Madhusūdana's identification of 'viditātmanāṃ' with those who have directly perceived the Lord, not merely reasoned about non-duality.

  divergence: Madhusūdana: 'brahma-nirvāṇaṃ mokṣo vartate nityatvāt, na tu bhaviṣyati sādhyatvābhāvāt' — it is already present due to its eternal nature, it is not something to be achieved.