निर्मानमोहा जितसङ्गदोषा अध्यात्मनित्या विनिवृत्तकामाः । द्वन्द्वैर् विमुक्ताः सुखदुःखसंज्ञैर् गच्छन्त्य् अमूढाः पदम् अव्ययं तत् ॥
nirmāna-mohā jita-saṅga-doṣā adhyātma-nityā vinivṛtta-kāmāḥ | dvandvair vimuktāḥ sukha-duḥkha-saṃjñair gacchanty amūḍhāḥ padam avyayaṃ tat ||
Free from pride, moha, attachment and desire, the dvandva-unbound, undeluded ones reach the imperishable goal.
Word by word (3)
- nirmāna-mohā jita-saṅga-doṣāḥ
- — free from māna (pride/conceit) and moha (delusion); having conquered (jita) the fault/evil (doṣa) of attachment (saṅga) — two inner clearings required
- adhyātma-nityā vinivṛtta-kāmāḥ
- — ever established (nityāḥ) in the adhyātma (supreme self / Self-knowledge); with desires (kāma) completely withdrawn/turned back (vinivṛttāḥ) — constant inward orientation with desire extinguished
- dvandvair vimuktāḥ sukha-duḥkha-saṃjñair gacchanty amūḍhāḥ padam avyayam tat
- — liberated (vimuktāḥ) from the dvandvas named pleasure-pain (sukha-duḥkha); the undeluded (amūḍhāḥ) go (gacchanti) to that imperishable (avyaya) goal (padam tat)
Free from pride and delusion, with the fault of attachment conquered, ever dwelling in the Self with desires turned back, liberated from the pairs called pleasure and pain — those undeluded ones reach that imperishable goal.
A modern analogy
A river doesn't reach the ocean by pushing harder — it reaches it by dropping all resistance to the current. These seven qualities are the acts of 'dropping': dropping pride, delusion, attachment, desire, the turbulence of pleasure-pain. The undeluded (amūḍhāḥ) are those who have stopped fighting the current.
V5 completes the instruction-arc of V3-5: V3 says cut the tree with asaṅga, V4 says seek the goal, V5 describes WHO reaches that goal — by listing seven inter-linked qualities. These are not prerequisites to be acquired sequentially but a unified inner posture. The verse ends with the same 'tat padam avyayam' as V4, forming a clean bracket around the practice-verses.
The seven qualities here parallel the 'qualities of knowledge' list in Ch.13 V8-12. Notably, 'amūḍhāḥ' (undeluded) is the positive framing of nir-moha — it is both a quality required AND the state of one who is already liberated. This suggests these are simultaneously causes and descriptions: the person with these qualities IS already in the goal-state while 'reaching' it — the journey and destination converge.
Public-domain translations (4) compare all →
MISSING — SH Ch.15 V5 not indexed; Ganguli and Telang used as primary. [1]
Free from pride and delusion, with the evil of attachment conquered, ever dwelling in the Self, with desires completely receded, liberated from the pairs of opposites known as pleasure and pain, the undeluded reach that imperishable Goal. [4]
Those who are free from pride and delusion, who have overcome the evils of attachment, who are constant in contemplating the relation of the supreme and individual self, from whom desire has departed, who are free from the pairs of opposites called pleasure and pain, go undeluded to that imperishable seat. [9]
Those that are free from pride and delusion, that have subdued the evil of attachment, that are steady in the contemplation of the relation of the Supreme to the individual self, from whose desires have departed, liberated from the pairs of opposites known as pleasure and pain — the undeluded reach that goal. [13]
This verse speaks to
Where this thread continues
Once that joy is found, no other gain seems greater — established in it, even the heaviest sorrow cannot shake you.
The yogi abandons fruit and attains lasting peace. The non-yogi, bound to fruit by desire, is fettered.
Rajas — passion, thirst, attachment — binds the embodied one specifically through attachment to action.
Rājasic yajña: performed targeting fruit and for ostentation — know this, O best of Bharatas.
Uttering 'Tat,' without fruit-desire, mokṣa-seekers perform yajña, tapas, and various acts of dāna.
Rājasic karma: done desiring pleasures or with ego-pride, involving great effort.