Verse 2.52

Sanskrit text, Unicode transliteration, Word-for-word and English translation of verse 2.52:

यदा ते मोह-कलिलं बुद्धिर् व्यतितरिष्यति ।
तदा गन्तासि निर्वेदं श्रोतव्यस्य श्रुतस्य च ॥ ५२ ॥

yadā te moha-kalilaṃ buddhir vyatitariṣyati |
tadā gantāsi nirvedaṃ śrotavyasya śrutasya ca || 52 ||

yadā–when; te–your; moha–illusion; kalilam–the dense forest; buddhiḥ–intelligence; vyatitariṣyati–has completely crossed beyond; tadā–at that time; gantāsi–you shall become; nirvedam–indifferent; śrotavyasya–to that which is to be heard; śrutasya–to all that is already heard;ca–and.

When your intelligence has completely crossed beyond the dense forest of illusion, you will become indifferent to all that has been heard and all that is to be heard.

Commentary: Sārārtha-Varṣiṇī Ṭīkā

(By Śrīla Viśvanātha Cakravartī Ṭhākura; the innermost intention of the commentary named ‘the shower of essential meanings’)

Śrī Bhagavān is speaking this verse beginning with yadā to explain that one becomes situated in yoga by the practice of selflessly offering the fruits of one’s action to the Supreme Lord. This is called niṣkāma-karma-yoga. “When your heart completely transcends the deep forest of delusion, you will become indifferent to all the topics that have already been heard and the various topics that are fit to be heard.”

A person may raise the question, “I have already become free from doubt, and I no longer am faulty of an adverse attitude, so what need is there for me to hear the instructions of the scriptures?” Bhagavān would then respond, “Even so, at present it is appropriate for you to practise at every moment the process I have explained.”

Commentary: Sārārtha-Varṣiṇī Prakāśikā-vṛtti

(By Śrīla Bhaktivedānta Nārāyaṇa Gosvāmī Mahārāja; the explanation that illuminates the commentary named Sārārtha-varṣiṇī)

The jīvas are attached to this world because of their identification with the body. This is the root cause of material existence. As long as this material attachment remains, the jīvātmā cannot attain knowledge of the Absolute Truth, nor can he become detached from the material world. Nirveda means ‘detachment from the material world’. It is not an easy achievement. Through the practice of selflessly offering the fruits of one’s work to Bhagavān, one gradually becomes free from the false conception that the body is the self. One then achieves nirveda (detachment) from all the types of activities one has heard about or will hear about, and which originate from material desires described in the scriptures. Eventually, he engages in exclusive devotion to the Lord.

This instruction is also in the Vedas:

parīkṣya lokān karma-cittān brāhmaṇo
nirvedam āyān nāsty akṛtaḥ kṛtena

Muṇḍaka Upaniṣad (1.2.12)

A brāhmaṇa who knows the Absolute Truth attains detachment upon understanding that the happiness and pleasure one attains by karma in this world or the next are temporary and distressful.

Prahlāda Mahārāja has given a similar instruction:

ādy-antavanta urugāya vidanti hi tvām
evaṃ vimṛśya sudhiyo viramanti śabdāt

Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam (7.9.49)

O Urukrama (one who performs wondrous activities), those who by discrimination realize that all objects have a beginning and an end give up the study of the Vedas and exclusively engage in bhajana to You.