Chapter 18, Verse 49
Moksha Sanyaas Yoga — Sanskrit shloka, transliteration, word meanings, English translation, and commentary.
Original Sanskrit verse
Transliteration
Word meanings
asakta-buddhiḥ—those whose intellect is unattached; sarvatra—everywhere; jita-ātmā—who have mastered their mind; vigata-spṛihaḥ—free from desires; naiṣhkarmya-siddhim—state of actionlessness; paramām—highest; sanyāsena—by the practice of renunciation; adhigachchhati—attain
English translation
He whose intellect is unattached everywhere, who has subdued his self, from whom desire has fled, he attains the supreme state of freedom from action through renunciation.
— Swami Sivananda
Listen to Shloka 18.49
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 by Swami Sivananda
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