Chapter 18, Verse 55
भक्त्या मामभिजानाति यावान्यश्चास्मि तत्त्वतः | ततो मां तत्त्वतो ज्ञात्वा विशते तदनन्तरम् ||१८-५५||
bhaktyā māmabhijānāti yāvānyaścāsmi tattvataḥ . tato māṃ tattvato jñātvā viśate tadanantaram ||18-55||
Meaning
18.55 By devotion he knows Me in truth, what and who I am; then having known Me in truth, he forthwith enters into the Supreme.
Word-by-Word Meaning
Explanation & Commentary
Krishna now crowns his teaching: it is by bhakti, devotion, that one truly knows Him — what He is and who He is in His essence (tattvatah). And having known Him in truth, one enters into Him, merging with the Supreme.
This verse reveals devotion as the master-key. All the analysis of gunas, action, and renunciation finds its consummation here: knowledge ripens into love, and love alone grants the deepest knowing of God. The progression is exquisite — devotion leads to true knowledge of the Divine, and that knowledge leads to entry into the Divine. Loving the Lord is thus not a lesser path for the simple but the very summit, where the seeker and the Sought become one.
💡 Key Takeaway
It is through wholehearted devotion that one truly knows the Divine and finally enters into it.
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.