Chapter 5Verse 26 of 29

Bhagavad Gita 5.26

कामक्रोधवियुक्तानां यतीनां यतचेतसाम् । अभितो ब्रह्मनिर्वाणं वर्तते विदितात्मनाम् ॥

kāma-krodha-viyuktānāṃ yatīnāṃ yata-cetasām | abhito brahma-nirvāṇaṃ vartate viditātmanām ||

Translation

To the ascetics who are freed from desire and anger, with controlled minds, who know the self, the brahmanirvana exists on every side.

Abhitaḥ vartate. Exists on every side. The verse is one of the chapter's most arresting images: the destination is not somewhere ahead. It is around them now. Kāma-krodha-viyuktānām, freed from desire and anger. Yata-cetasām, mind-held. Vidita-ātmanām, self-known. The verse names the conditions and then says the result is already in the room. Shankara reads abhitaḥ as both directional and temporal: surrounding them now, available immediately. The destination has been overtaken by the standing.

Reflection

What goal have you been pushing toward that the right standing today would put on every side of you?

Read this verse in its chapter: Chapter Five

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