Bhagavad Gītā Chapter 6, Verse 47: Krishna to Arjuna — Dhyāna-Yoga

Bhāṣyakāra purports

• Śaṅkaraadvaita

  Among all yogīs — those absorbed in upāsanā (meditation) of Rudra, Āditya, and the like — the one whose antaḥkaraṇa (inner organ) is wholly gathered into Me, Vāsudeva, and who, with śraddhā (faithful conviction), performs bhajana (worship) of Me, is held by Me to be supremely yukta (integrated). The qualifier 'mad-gata' (gone-into-Me) restricts the claim: it is not diffuse devotion to any deity but single-pointed dissolution of the citta into the nirguṇa substrate named Vāsudeva. Śaṅkara's gloss atišayena yukta ('integrated to excess') makes bhakti here not a sentimental sentiment but the penultimate stabilization of antaḥkaraṇa before jñāna supervenes.

• Rāmānujaviśiṣṭādvaita

  Rāmānuja reads the genitive sarvesām as a pañcamī (ablative of comparison): the forthcoming yogī is superior not merely among but utterly beyond all others — as Mount Meru dwarfs mustard seeds, so that any grading among the lesser yogīs becomes irrelevant. The antaḥkaraṇa described as 'mad-gata' is the manas (seat of all inner and outer vrtti, mental modifications) made mad-gata through mat-priyatva (supreme love for Me alone), such that a moment's separation becomes unbearable. Bhajana here is loving kainkarya (dedicated service) directed at Bhagavān who is the ocean of karuṇā (compassion), sauśīlya (gracious condescension), and vātsalya (parental tenderness) — attributes Rāmānuja catalogs in extraordinary detail, insisting that this Bhagavān is entirely self-manifesting, not a theological construct.

• Madhvadvaita

  *Yoginām api sarveṣāṃ* — even among all yogins — the one whose *antarātman* (inner self) has gone wholly toward Me (*mad-gatena*), who worships Me with *śraddhā* (steady, truth-grounded faith): that one is held by Me to be *yuktatama* (most yoked, supremely integrated in devotion). The *yuktatama* is not merely the best technician of concentration but the *paratantra* *jīva* whose entire dependent being is directed, without remainder, to *svatantra* Hari. *Bhajate* names the act of *bhakti* as ontological subordination — the *jīva* occupying its proper place within the *pañca-bheda* (the five-fold real distinction between Lord, souls, and matter) by orienting the *antarātman* exclusively toward the Lord. *Śraddhā* here is not credence alone; it is the faith that arises from *taratamya*-consonant knowledge — knowing Hari as the summit of the graded hierarchy and oneself as *paratantra* throughout. The yogin who merely stills the mind falls below this; the *bhakta* whose inner self has migrated wholly to Hari (*mad-gatena antarātmanā*) stands at the apex.

• Vallabhaśuddhādvaita

  Vallabha's ṭīkā (annotation) names the supreme yogī specifically as 'mat-puṣṭi-bhakti-parāyaṇa' (one wholly given over to My puṣṭi-bhakti, grace-nourished devotion): the superlative is not earned by austerity but bestowed by Kṛṣṇa's prasāda (grace). The 'antaḥkaraṇa' absorbed in Kṛṣṇa is one whose citta (mind-stuff) has been 'niruddha' (restrained) in Kṛṣṇa alone — not suppressed by yogic effort but drawn in by līlā (divine play). Śraddhā here specifically means āstikyabuddhi (convinced trust) in the ācārya's upadeśa-vākyas (teaching utterances), making the guru-paramparā (teacher lineage) structurally indispensable to this path.

• Śrīdharabhakti

  Śrīdhara, concise and traditional, identifies the supreme yogī as the mad-bhakta (My devotee), setting him above all practitioners of yama-niyama (restraint and observance) and similar disciplines. 'Mad-gata antaḥkaraṇa' means a manas (mind) that is mayi-āsakta (attached to Me) — Śrīdhara uses āsakti (attachment) deliberately, inverting the usual ascetic anxiety about attachment: here attachment to Parameśvara Vāsudeva is the highest attainment. The chapter closes with a quiet imperative: 'therefore be My devotee' — presented not as command but as the natural conclusion of all six chapters of karma-yoga and dhyāna-yoga instruction.

• Madhusūdanaadvaita-bhakti

  Madhusūdana explicitly names the lesser yogīs as worshippers of 'kṣudra-devatā' (minor deities — Vasus, Rudras, Ādityas) and identifies the supreme yogī as one whose antaḥkaraṇa has settled into Vāsudeva through 'puṇya-paripāka-viśeṣa' (a particular ripening of merit) and 'sādhu-saṅga' (company of the good) — acknowledging both karmic and social causation. Uniquely, he holds that this yogī worships Kṛṣṇa 'saguṇaṃ nirguṇaṃ vā' (with or without attributes), resolving the apparent Advaita-Bhakti tension: the distinction is irrelevant once the bhrama (error) of treating Kṛṣṇa as merely one īśvara among many is abandoned. He closes by announcing that this verse sūtrīta (seeds in brief summary form) the entire subsequent six-chapter bloc on bhakti-yoga.