Chapter 5, Verse 26
कामक्रोधवियुक्तानां यतीनां यतचेतसाम् | अभितो ब्रह्मनिर्वाणं वर्तते विदितात्मनाम् ||५-२६||
kāmakrodhaviyuktānāṃ yatīnāṃ yatacetasām . abhito brahmanirvāṇaṃ vartate viditātmanām ||5-26||
Meaning
5.26 Absolute freedom (or Brahmic bliss) exists on all sides for those self-controlled ascetics who are free from desire and anger, who have controlled their thoughts and who have realised the Self.
Word-by-Word Meaning
Explanation & Commentary
Krishna offers a deeply encouraging assurance. For the striving seekers (yati) who have freed themselves from desire and anger (kama-krodha-viyukta), mastered their thoughts (yata-chetasam), and realized the Self (vidita-atmanam), brahma-nirvana exists abhitah — on all sides, everywhere around them.
The word abhitah is the heart of the verse. Liberation is not a far-off destination to be reached after death, nor a place to journey toward. For the one who has cleansed the heart and known the Self, the supreme freedom is already present in every direction, ever at hand. They are, as it were, immersed in it on all sides. This dissolves the seeker's anxiety about whether liberation will come. The conditions are clear and attainable: master desire and anger, still the mind, know your true Self — and you find the freedom you sought has been surrounding you all along.
💡 Key Takeaway
Free yourself from desire and anger and know your true Self, and you find liberation isn't distant — it surrounds you here and now.
Related Verses
श्रीभगवानुवाच | संन्यासः कर्मयोगश्च निःश्रेयसकरावुभौ | तयोस्तु कर्मसंन्यासात्कर्मयोगो विशिष्यते ||५-२||
śrībhagavānuvāca . saṃnyāsaḥ karmayogaśca niḥśreyasakarāvubhau . tayostu karmasaṃnyāsātkarmayogo viśiṣyate ||5-2||
5.2 The Blessed Lord said Renunciation and the Yoga of action both lead to the highest bliss; but of the two, the Yoga of action is superior to the renunciation of action.
युक्तः कर्मफलं त्यक्त्वा शान्तिमाप्नोति नैष्ठिकीम् | अयुक्तः कामकारेण फले सक्तो निबध्यते ||५-१२||
yuktaḥ karmaphalaṃ tyaktvā śāntimāpnoti naiṣṭhikīm . ayuktaḥ kāmakāreṇa phale sakto nibadhyate ||5-12||
5.12 The united one (the well poised or the harmonised) having abandoned the fruit of action attains to the eternal peace: the non-united only (the unsteady or the unbalanced) impelled by desire, attached to the fruit, is bound.
सर्वकर्माणि मनसा संन्यस्यास्ते सुखं वशी | नवद्वारे पुरे देही नैव कुर्वन्न कारयन् ||५-१३||
sarvakarmāṇi manasā saṃnyasyāste sukhaṃ vaśī . navadvāre pure dehī naiva kurvanna kārayan ||5-13||
5.13 Mentally renouncing all actions and self-controlled, the embodied one rests happily in the nine-gated city, neither acting nor causing others (body and senses) to act.