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BG 18.49 — 18.49 He whose intellect is unattached everywhere, who has subdued his self, from whom desire has fled, he by renunciation, attains the supreme state of f
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असक्तबुद्धिः सर्वत्र जितात्मा विगतस्पृहः |
नैष्कर्म्यसिद्धिं परमां संन्यासेनाधिगच्छति ||१८-४९||

asaktabuddhiḥ sarvatra jitātmā vigataspṛhaḥ . naiṣkarmyasiddhiṃ paramāṃ saṃnyāsenādhigacchati ||18-49||


18.49 He whose intellect is unattached everywhere, who has subdued his self, from whom desire has fled, he by renunciation, attains the supreme state of freedom from action.

Word-by-word meanings

18.49 असक्तबुद्धिः whose intellect is unattached? सर्वत्र eveywhere? जितात्मा who has subdued his self? विगतस्पृहः whose desire has fled? नैष्कर्म्यसिद्धिम् the perfection consisting in freedom from action? परमाम् the supreme? संन्यासेन by renunciaion? अधिगच्छति (he) attains.Commentary The mind of one who is free from attachment to wife? son? body and property? who has controlled his senses and the mind? who has no desire for the body? for life and for sensual pleasure? turns inwards towards God

Commentaries

Non-dualism. The individual self and Brahman are one. The world is appearance (maya). Liberation through knowledge.

Sri Shankaracharya

18.49 Asakta-buddhih, he whose intellect, the internal organ, remains unattached; sarvatra, to everything, with regard to son, wife and others who are the cuases of attachment; jitatma, who has conered his internal organs; and vigata-sprhah, who is desireless, whose thirst for his body, life and objects of enjoyment have been eradicated;-he who is such a knower of the Self, adhigaccahti, attains; sannyasena, through monasticism, through perfect knowledge or through renunciation of all actions preceded by this knowledge; the paramam, supreme, most excellent; naiskarmya-siddhim, perfection consisting in the state of one free from duties. One is said to be free from duties from whom duties have daparted as a result of realizing that the actionless Brahman is his Self; his state is naiskarmyam. That siddhi (perfection) which is this naiskarmya is naiskarmya-siddhi. Or, this phrase means 'achievement of naiskarmya', i.e., achievement of the state of remaining established in one's own real nature as the actionless Self-which is different from the success arising from Karma (-yoga), and is of the form of being established in the state of immediate Liberation. Accordingly has it been said, '৷৷.having given up all actions mentally,৷৷.without doing or causing (others) to do anything at all' (5.13). The stages through which one who has attained success-which has the aforesaid characteristics and which arises from the performance of one's own duties mentioned earlier as worship of God-, and in whom has arisen discriminative knowledge, achieves perfection-in the form of exclusive adherence to Knowledge of the Self and consisting in the state of one free from duties-have to be stated. With this is view the Lord says:

(Showing excerpt)

Swami Gambirananda

18.49 He whose intellect remains unattached to everything, who has conered his internal organs and is desireless, attains through monasticism the supreme perfection consisting in the state of one free from duties.

This interpretation draws on the Advaita tradition and may not represent the view of any single school. For authoritative guidance within a specific tradition, seek a qualified teacher.

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