Bhagavad Gītā Chapter 5, Verse 29: Krishna to Arjuna — Karma-Sannyāsa-Yoga

Bhāṣyakāra purports

• Śaṅkaraadvaita

  Knowing Me — Nārāyaṇa — as the one who enjoys all yajña (sacrifice) and tapas (austerity) in the dual role of doer and deity (kartṛ and devatā), as the supreme Īśvara over all worlds including Hiraṇyagarbha, as the unconditional benefactor (pratupakāra-nirapekṣa suhṛt) dwelling in the heart of all beings, the yogin whose mind has been thoroughly stilled (samāhita-citta) attains śānti — the complete cessation of all saṃsāra (sarva-saṃsāropārati). Śaṅkara stresses that this knowledge is the culminating fruit of niṣkāma-karma: renounced action purifies the antaḥkaraṇa (inner instrument) so that jñāna of the ātman-as-Nārāyaṇa arises and severs the root of bondage.

  divergence: Drawn from Śaṅkara's closing commentary on Ch. 5: karmakartṛ-devatārūpena ca sarvabhūtānāṃ hṛdayeśayaṃ sarvakarmaphalādhyakṣaṃ sarvapratyayasākṣiṇaṃ māṃ nārāyaṇaṃ jñātvā śāntiṃ sarvāsaṃsāroparatiṃ ṛcchati.

• Rāmānujaviśiṣṭādvaita

  Knowing Me as the great Īśvara even over all the lords of all worlds — as Śruti declares 'tam īśvarāṇāṃ paramaṃ maheśvaram' — the karma-yogin recognises that every act of yajña and tapas is in truth an act of aradhana (worship) to Me, and this understanding makes performance easy and joyful (sukham ṛcchati). Rāmānuja shifts the meaning of śānti from mere cessation of saṃsāra to the positive ease (sukha) of flowing action: knowing Me as the inner recipient of every ritual act turns karma-yoga into kainkarya (service), which is itself the ground of bhakti. The title suhṛt (friend) here grounds an ethics of service: all beings are to be served because their innermost suhṛt is the same Lord.

  divergence: Rāmānuja: 'mām ... sarvalokamaheśvaraṃ sarvasuhṛdaṃ jñātvā madārādhana-rūpaḥ karmayoga iti sukhenatatra pravartate ... suhṛdām ārādhanāya sarve pravartante.'

• Madhvadvaita

  *Jñātvā* (having known, here carrying the sense of *dhyātvā* — having meditated upon) *māṃ* — Hari, the *svatantra* (the independently real, self-sufficient) Lord — as *bhoktāraṃ yajña-tapasāṃ* (the sole Enjoyer of all sacrifices and austerities), as *sarva-loka-maheśvaram* (the supreme sovereign of all worlds), and as *suhṛdaṃ sarva-bhūtānāṃ* (the disinterested friend of all beings), the *jīva* (the individual self) *ṛcchati śāntim* — arrives at peace. The threefold qualification is not ornamental: *bhoktṛtva* (enjoyer-ship) names Hari as the one in whom all sacrificial and ascetic merit ultimately inheres; *maheśvaratva* names His *pañca-bheda*-sustaining (marking the five-fold real distinction: Lord–jīva, Lord–matter, jīva–jīva, jīva–matter, matter–matter) lordship over every order of existence; *suhṛdtva* names His unconditional grace toward the *paratantra* (eternally dependent) *jīva* without any expectation of return. Madhva's sūtra *dhyeyam āha bhoktāram iti* — 'He declares what is to be meditated upon: the Enjoyer' — concentrates the verse's force: the object of *dhyāna* (meditation) is precisely this triple-qualified Hari. Peace is not dissolution into Hari but real arrival — the *jīva* attains *śānti* while remaining irreducibly distinct (*bheda*), now properly ordered under the absolute *svatantra* Lord. *Bhakti* (devotion) as ontological subordination is the mode by which this meditative knowing is sustained.

  divergence: Jayatīrtha's *Nyāya-sudhā* gloss on Madhva's sūtra specifies that *jñātvā* carries the sense of *dhyātvā*: the śānti-producing cognition is itself a *dhyeya-viśeṣaṇa*, an attribute of the object of meditation, co-ordinate with *bhoktṛtva* and the rest — not a separate epistemological step. The rendering preserves this move.

• Vallabhaśuddhādvaita

  Vallabha answers an objection: can mere restraint of the senses (indriya-saṃyama) alone bring liberation? No — only through jñāna of Bhagavān's māhātmya (greatness) does peace come. Knowing Me in three ascending registers — as bhoktā (Enjoyer) of yajña and tapas, which is the intent of the karma-kāṇḍa; as mahā-Īśvara of all worlds, which is the intent of the upāsanā-kāṇḍa; and as ātmā (inner self) of all beings, which is the intent of the jñāna-kāṇḍa — one attains that śānti described by Śruti as viveka from the fruits of action (karmaphala-nirveda). The closing maṅgala-śloka praises Hari who revealed to Arjuna that Sāṅkhya and Yoga point to a single artha (meaning).

  divergence: Vallabha: 'yajñatapasāṃ bhoktṛtvena ... karmakāṇḍatātparyabhūtaḥ ... sarvalokamaheśvara ity upāsanātātparyabhūtaḥ ... sarvabhūtānām ātmā ceti jñānakāṇḍatātparyabhūta iti māṃ jñātvā śāntim ... karmaphalān nirveda-rūpāṃ prāpnoti.'

• Śrīdharabhakti

  Śrīdhara answers the same objection as Vallabha: liberation does not come from restraint alone but through jñāna as the doorway. He reads bhoktāram in two ways — as the direct Enjoyer of yajña and tapas offered by My devotees (mad-bhaktaiḥ samarpitānāṃ), and as their pālaka (protector, guardian). Knowing Me as the unconditional inner benefactor (nirapekṣa-upakāriṇam antaryāmiṇam) — the indweller who befriends without any expectation of return — the bhakta, through My own grace (mat-prasādena), attains śānti in the form of mokṣa. The phrase mat-prasādena marks Śrīdhara's devotional inflection: peace is not merely earned but graciously given.

  divergence: Śrīdhara: 'yajñānāṃ tapasāṃ ca mad-bhaktaiḥ samarpitānāṃ yad-ṛcchayā bhoktāraṃ pālakam iti vā ... sarvabhūtānāṃ suhṛdaṃ nirapekṣopakāriṇam antaryāmiṇaṃ māṃ jñātvā mat-prasādena śāntiṃ mokṣam ṛcchati.'

• Madhusūdanaadvaita-bhakti

  Madhusūdana synthesizes both streams: he preserves Śaṅkara's definition of śānti as sarva-saṃsāra-uparati (total cessation of transmigration) yet describes the Lord as pūrṇa-saccidānanda-ekarasa — absolute Being-Consciousness-Bliss of undivided flavour — and as sarvātmā (the Self of all). He parses bhoktṛ with the dual root bhuj (enjoyment and protection), aligns the epithets with cosmological hierarchy (even Hiraṇyagarbha is under His governance), and insists that the qualifying epithets guard against a misreading: peace comes only from knowing Me as pūrṇa-Nārāyaṇa (ātmatvena sākṣātkṛtya), not from some partial cognition. The synthesis: Kṛṣṇa-bhakti and Advaita-jñāna are not rivals — both converge on this single knowing.

  divergence: Madhusūdana: 'pariprūṇa-saccidānanda-ekarasaṃ paramārthasatyaṃ sarvātmānaṃ nārāyaṇaṃ māṃ jñātvā ātmatvena sākṣātkṛtya śāntiṃ sarvāsaṃsāroparatiṃ muktiṃ ṛcchati.'