18.49
Chapter 18, Verse 49
असक्तबुद्धिः सर्वत्र जितात्मा विगतस्पृहः। नैष्कर्म्यसिद्धिं परमां संन्यासेनाधिगच्छति৷৷
asaktabuddhiḥ sarvatra jitātmā vigataspṛhaḥ. naiṣkarmyasiddhiṅ paramāṅ saṅnyāsēnādhigacchati৷৷
Translation
He whose mind is entirely detached, who has conquered himself, whose desires have vanished, by his renunciation reaches that stage of perfect freedom where action completes itself and leaves no seed.
Translation — Purohit Swami
Commentary
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 or the immortal Self. It is not attracted by the sensual objects of the world. It is filled with dispassion and discrimination.He gradually gets himself established in his own Self which is of the nature of ExistenceKnowledgeBliss. Such a person who has knowledge of the Self attains to the highest perfection, to pefect freedom from action by renunciation.Ignorance is destroyed by the attainment of the knowledge of the Self. There is cessation of activity. One may perform actions for the solidarity of the world and yet he will not be bound by actions as he has attained absolute freedom from action through the knowledge of the Self. The fire of knowledge has burnt the fruitbearing effects of Karmas or actions. He has no idea of agency as he is absolutely free from egoism, as he has identified himself with the Supreme Being.Naishkarmya siddhi may also mean the attainment of the state of Naishkarmya. In this exalted, magnanimous, ineffable state of divine splendour and glory, one remains as the actionless Self. This is the state of immediate liberation of the Vedantins (Kaivalya Moksha or Sadyomukti). This marvellous state is attained by renunciation or right knowledge or by the renunciation of all actions brought about by the attainment of the knowledge of the Self. Mentally renouncing all actions and selfcontrolled, the embodied one rests happily in the ninegated, city, neither acting nor causing others to act. (Cf.V.13)Now the Lord teaches in the next verse how a man who, having attained perfection as described above in verse 46, by doing his duty in the service of the Lord can attain perfect freedom from action. He gets discrimination, practises constant meditation and rests in the knowledge of the immutable Self.,(Cf.III.4and19)
Commentary — Swami Sivananda
Sanskrit and transliteration of the Bhagavad Gita. Corpus compiled from the vedabase and the IIT Kanpur Gita Supersite.