51. buddhyd visuddhaya yukto
dhrtya 'tmanam niyamya ca
sabddin visaydms tyaktva
ragadvesau vyudasya ca
(51) Endowed with a pure understanding, firmly restraining oneself, turning away from sound and other objects of sense and casting aside attraction and aversion.
52. viviktasevi laghvasi
yatavãkkãyamanasai
dhyanayogaparo nityam
vairagyam samupasritah
(52) Dwelling in solitude, eating but little, controlling speech, body and mind, and ever engaged in meditation and concentration and taking refuge in dispassion
Dhyanayoga is taken as a dvandva compound meaning "meditation on the nature of the self and mental concentration thereon." S.
53. ahamkaram balam darpam
kãman krodham parigraham
vimucya nirmamah santo
brahmabhuyaya kalpate
(53) And casting aside self-sense, force, arrogance, desire, anger, possession, egoless and tranquil in mind, he becomes worthy of becoming one with Brahman.
Attar quotes a saying of Ibrahim Adham: "Three veils must be removed from before the pilgrim's heart ere the door of Happiness is opened to him. First, that, should the dominion of both worlds be offered to him as an eternal gift, he should not rejoice, since whosoever rejoiceth on account of any created thing is still covetous, and the covetous man is debarred from the knowledge of God. The second veil is this, that, should he possess the dominion of both worlds, and should it be taken from him, he should not sorrow for his Impoverishment, for this is the sign of wrath and he who is in wrath is tormented. The third is that he should not be beguiled by any praise or favour, for whosoever is so beguiled is of mean spirit, and such a one is veiled (from the Truth) : the pilgrim must be high-minded." Browne : A Literary History of Persia, Vol. I (1902), p. 425.
The Highest Devotion
54. brahmabhÜtah prasannatma
na socati na kanksati
samah sarvesu bhutesu
madbhaktim labhate par h
(54) Having become one with Brahman, and being tranquil in spirit, he neither grieves nor desires. Regarding all beings as alike he attains supreme devotion to Me.
This verse is another indication that, for the Gita, disappearance of the individual in a featureless Absolute is not the highest state but devotion to the Supreme Lord who combines in Himself the immobile and the mobile
55. bhaktya mam abhijanati
yavan yas ca 'smi tattvatah
taco mam tattvato jñãtvã
visate tadanantaram
(55) Through devotion he comes to know Me, what My measure is and who I am in truth ; then, having known Me in truth, he forthwith enters into Me. The knower, the devotee, becomes one with the Supreme Lord, the Perfect Person, in self-knowledge and self-experience, Juana, 0 supreme wisdom and bhakti, supreme devotion have the same goal. To become Brahman is to love God, to know Him fully and to enter into His being.
Application of the Teaching to Arjuna's Case
56. sarvakarmdni apt sada
kurvdno madvyapasrayah
matprasadad avapnoti
sdvatam madam avyayam
(56) Doing continually all actions whatsoever, taking refuge in Me, he reaches by My grace the eternal, undying abode. It is also the goal of karmamarga. In these three verses, the author indicates that wisdom, devotion and work go together. Only the work is done with the knowledge that nature or prakrti is the power of the Divine and the individual is only an instrument of God. With his heart fixed on the Eternal and through His grace, whatever he does, he dwells eternally within the Great Abode.
