Bhagavad Gītā Chapter 9, Verse 22: Krishna to Arjuna — Rāja-Vidyā-Rāja-Guhya-Yoga

Bhāṣyakāra purports

• Śaṅkaraadvaita

  Those who are ananyah (non-separate) — who have realized the Supreme Lord Nārāyaṇa as their very ātman and thus ceased to conceive any object of meditation apart from That — Śaṅkara distinguishes these from ordinary devotees: other bhaktas still strive for their own yogakṣema (acquisition and preservation of worldly needs), but the paramārthadarśins (seers of ultimate truth) do not seek even their own survival, being solely śaraṇāgata (surrendered) in Bhagavān. Because the jñānī is ātmaiva (verily the Self of the Lord), the Lord bears their yogakṣema without any effort on their part — not as a patron rewards a petitioner, but as one sustains one's own body.

  divergence: Śaṅkara: ananyā apṛthagbhūtāḥ — 'not other, not become separate'; and the contrast: anye bhaktāḥ ātmārthaṃ svayamapi yogakṣemam īhante — 'other devotees still seek their own welfare themselves,' whereas these do not.

• Rāmānujaviśiṣṭādvaita

  The ananyāḥ here are those for whom maccintana (meditation on Me) is not instrumental but constitutive of their very ātmadhāraṇā (self-sustenance): they cannot hold themselves together except through constant upāsanā of the Lord replete with all auspicious qualities and universal sovereignty. Rāmānuja reads paryupāsate as 'worship from all sides, without diminution' — the devotee surrounds the Lord with awareness as a garland surrounds a form. For these nityābhiyuktāḥ (perpetually yoked), the Lord personally bears both yoga (attainment of Himself as the supreme goal, apunarāvṛtti — non-return) and kṣema (the preservation of that attainment forever).

  divergence: Rāmānuja: ananyaprayojanāḥ maccintanena vinā ātmadhāraṇālābhāt — 'those for whom there is no other purpose, because self-sustenance cannot be obtained without meditation on Me'; mataprāptilakṣaṇaṃ yogam apunarāvṛttirūpaṃ kṣemaṃ ca vahāmi.

• Madhvadvaita

  Madhva anchors ananyatva in the strict sense of sarvam parityajya — having abandoned all other objects of mind, thinking of the pure, primordial Lord alone; he cites the Gautama-khila and the Mokṣadharma to establish that such concentration on Hari is achievable only by the ekāntin (the one-pointed devotee) who is samāhita (composed in mind). The Lord is visible, dṛśyamaṇḍala, to such a concentrated worshipper after long sādhana. Yogakṣema here is borne by Hari precisely because the jīva is inherently dependent (paratantra) and cannot achieve anything of ultimate worth independently — the Lord's bearing of yogakṣema is the ontological expression of that eternal asymmetry.

  divergence: Madhva cites: sarvam parityajya manogtam yad vinā devam kevalam śuddham ādyam / ye cintayantīha tam eva dhīrā ananyās te devam evāviśanti; and kāmaṃ kālena mahatā ekāntitvāt samāhitaiḥ śakyo draṣṭuṃ sa bhagavān.

• Vallabhaśuddhādvaita

  Vallabha reveals that Bhagavān has opened three paths — through mind, speech, and His own svarūpa — but within those, only two are accepted by jīvas: the maryādā-mārga (path of disciplined effort) and the puṣṭi-mārga (path of grace alone). The ananyāḥ of this verse are specifically those who receive Kṛṣṇa's grace without the necessity of sādhana: bhakti in the puṣṭi-mārga is a kalpataru (wish-granting tree) that produces all results others achieve through jñāna, vairāgya, yoga, and tapas. Yogakṣema here therefore means: in this world, the material provisions needed for sevā (dhana, dhānya, vastra — wealth, grain, clothing); and in the next, the ultimate kṣema of mokṣa — both borne solely by Bhagavān's sovereign icchā (will), not by the devotee's effort.

  divergence: Vallabha: puṣṭimārge tv aṅgīkṛtānām kevala-anugraheṇaiva na sādhanāpekṣayeti niścayaḥ; and the Bhāgavata citation: yat karmabhir yat tapasā jñānavairāgyataś ca yat / yogena dānadharmeṇa... sarvam madbhaktiyogena madbhakto labhate 'ñjasā.

• Śrīdharabhakti

  Śrīdhara reads ananyatva straightforwardly as 'those for whom there is no object of worship, desire, or meditation apart from Me': no anyat kāmyam (desired thing), no devatāntara (other deity). For these sarvadā madekamiṣṭhāḥ (always exclusively devoted to Me), Bhagavān carries both dhana-ādi-lābha (acquisition of wealth and necessities — yoga) and their preservation (kṣema), and beyond these, mokṣa itself — even though they have not prayed for it. The phrase tair aprārthitam api ('even though not requested by them') is Śrīdhara's distinctive note: pure bhakti receives the supreme gift unasked.

  divergence: Śrīdhara: nāsti madvyatirekeṇānyat kāmyaṃ bhajanīyaṃ devatāntaraṃ yeṣāṃ; yogaṃ dhanādilābhaṃ kṣemaṃ ca tatpālanaṃ mokṣaṃ vā taiḥ aprārthitam apy aham eva vahāmi.

• Madhusūdanaadvaita-bhakti

  Madhusūdana synthesizes: the ananyāḥ are the sarvādvaitadarśins — those for whom no object of 'difference-vision' exists anywhere, who have realized that Vāsudeva alone is the sarvātman (Self of all) and that nothing exists apart from Him. These are saṃnyāsins equipped with sādhanacatuṣṭaya (the fourfold qualification for Vedāntic inquiry), seeing the Lord pari, from all sides, without limitation. What distinguishes their yogakṣema from ordinary devotees: for others, the Lord produces the effort (prayatna) in them and through that effort bears their welfare; for the jñānins, the Lord bears their welfare directly, without producing effort in them at all — because they have entirely ceased to be agents distinct from Him.

  divergence: Madhusūdana: anye ananyatayā kṛtakṛtyā eva; and the key distinction: anyeṣāṃ prayatnam utpādya tadvārā vahati / jñānināṃ tu tadarthaṃ prayatnam anutpādya vahati iti viśeṣaḥ.