Commentary

Commentary

This verse completes the three-verse description (18.51-53) of the qualities needed to attain Brahman. Having described the positive qualities in the previous two verses, Krishna now lists what must be abandoned — the inner enemies that obstruct self-realization.

Ahankaaram — false ego, the mistaken identification with the body. This is the root of all bondage. The person who truly understands that they are not the body does not falsely identify with physical strength, beauty, or status.

Balam — false strength, the delusion of being the independent doer. Darpam — false pride or vanity that comes from bodily identification. Because one who has realized their spiritual nature does not identify with the body, they do not seek to make the body strong and beautiful for its own sake.

Kaamam — lust or material desire. Krodham — anger, which arises when desire is frustrated. Parigraham — the hoarding instinct, the need to accumulate and possess material things. By God’s grace, whatever comes to such a person is sufficient, and they feel no compulsion to acquire more.

When all these are released (vimuchya), the person becomes nirmamah — free from the sense of “mine.” Nothing belongs to them; everything belongs to God. And they become shaantah — truly peaceful, not the suppressed peace of one who is forcing themselves to be calm, but the natural peace of one who has no inner conflict remaining.

Such a person brahma-bhooyaaya kalpate — becomes fit for Brahman realization. This is the brahma-bhuta state, the state of oneness with the Absolute, which the next verse will describe further.