Commentary

Commentary

This verse begins a three-verse passage (18.51-53) describing the qualities and practices of one who attains Brahman realization. Krishna lists them methodically, like a step-by-step guide to the highest spiritual attainment.

The first requirement is buddhyaa vishuddhyaa — a fully purified intellect. When the intelligence is purified, one is established in the mode of goodness (sattva guna). A purified intellect can discriminate between the real and the unreal, the eternal and the temporary, the self and the not-self.

Next comes dhriti — determination or firmness of will. The mind, which is usually restless and uncontrollable, must be brought under the command of the purified intellect. This is not suppression but a natural ordering where the higher faculty (intelligence) guides the lower (mind and senses).

Then shabdaadeen vishayaan tyaktvaa — renouncing the objects of the senses beginning with sound. This does not mean a person becomes deaf or blind, but that the senses are no longer enslaved to their objects. One hears, sees, and experiences the world without being dragged about by attraction and repulsion.

Finally, raaga-dveshau vyudasya — casting aside attachment and hatred. These two — attraction and aversion — are the twin forces that keep the soul bound to the wheel of samsara. When they are genuinely transcended, the person moves through life with equanimity, neither clinging to the pleasant nor fleeing from the unpleasant.