Chapter 18, Verse 50
सिद्धिं प्राप्तो यथा ब्रह्म तथाप्नोति निबोध मे | समासेनैव कौन्तेय निष्ठा ज्ञानस्य या परा ||१८-५०||
siddhiṃ prāpto yathā brahma tathāpnoti nibodha me . samāsenaiva kaunteya niṣṭhā jñānasya yā parā ||18-50||
Meaning
18.50 Learn from Me in brief, O Arjuna, how he who has attained perfection reaches Brahman (the Eternal), that supreme state of knowledge.
Word-by-Word Meaning
Explanation & Commentary
Krishna promises to summarize how the one who has attained perfection then reaches Brahman, the Absolute — described as the para nishtha, the supreme culmination of knowledge. He offers to compress this loftiest teaching samasena, in brief.
The verse marks a transition from the path to its goal. Having shown how selfless duty leads to perfection, Krishna now points beyond perfection to its final flowering: the realization of Brahman itself. That this highest knowledge can be stated concisely reflects a beautiful truth — the deepest realities are often simple at their core. The following verses will trace, step by step, the inner discipline through which the perfected soul merges into the Eternal.
💡 Key Takeaway
Attaining perfection is not the end but the threshold to realizing the Absolute itself.
Related Verses
अनिष्टमिष्टं मिश्रं च त्रिविधं कर्मणः फलम् | भवत्यत्यागिनां प्रेत्य न तु संन्यासिनां क्वचित् ||१८-१२||
aniṣṭamiṣṭaṃ miśraṃ ca trividhaṃ karmaṇaḥ phalam . bhavatyatyāgināṃ pretya na tu saṃnyāsināṃ kvacit ||18-12||
18.12 The threefold fruit of action (evil, good and mixed) accrues after death to the non-abandoners, but never to the abandoners.
ज्ञानं ज्ञेयं परिज्ञाता त्रिविधा कर्मचोदना | करणं कर्म कर्तेति त्रिविधः कर्मसंग्रहः ||१८-१८||
jñānaṃ jñeyaṃ parijñātā trividhā karmacodanā . karaṇaṃ karma karteti trividhaḥ karmasaṃgrahaḥ ||18-18||
18.18 Knowledge, the knowable and the knower form the threefold impulse to action; the organ, the action and the agent form the threefold basis of action.
सर्वभूतेषु येनैकं भावमव्ययमीक्षते | अविभक्तं विभक्तेषु तज्ज्ञानं विद्धि सात्त्विकम् ||१८-२०||
sarvabhūteṣu yenaikaṃ bhāvamavyayamīkṣate . avibhaktaṃ vibhakteṣu tajjñānaṃ viddhi sāttvikam ||18-20||
18.20 That by which one sees the one indestructible Reality in all beings, not separate in all the separate beings know thou that knowledge to be Sattvic.