Verse 5.24

Sanskrit text, Unicode transliteration, Word-for-word and English translation of verse 5.24:

योऽन्तः-सुखोऽन्तर्-आरामस् तथान्तर्-ज्योतिर् एव यः स योगी ब्रह्म-निर्वाणं ब्रह्म-भूतोऽधिगच्छति ॥ २४ ॥

yo'ntaḥ-sukho'ntar-ārāmas tathāntar-jyotir eva yaḥ
sa yogī brahma-nirvāṇaṃ brahma-bhūto'dhigacchati || 24 ||

yaḥ–who; antaḥ-sukhaḥ–happy within the self; antaḥ-ārāmaḥ–who enjoys within the self; tathā–and; antaḥ-jyotiḥ–vision is directed within; eva–certainly;yaḥ–who; saḥ–that; yogī–yogī; brahma-nirvāṇam–through realization of brahmānanda (the bliss of the spirit soul), emancipation from material existence; brahma-bhūtaḥ–situated in transcendence; adhigacchati–he attains.

A yogī who derives happiness exclusively from within the self, who delights only within the self, and whose vision is solely directed within the self, is situated in transcendence (brahma). He attains the bliss of that transcendence in emancipation from material existence.

Commentary: Sārārtha-Varṣiṇī Ṭīkā

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

For those untouched by the conditions of the material world, direct experience of Absolute Spirit (brahma) is itself pleasurable. To explain this, Śrī Bhagavān speaks this verse beginning with yo’ntaḥ. Those who achieve bliss within their inner self take pleasure only in the self, and thus their vision is focused within.

Commentary: Sārārtha-Varṣiṇī Prakāśikā-vṛtti

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

How the previously men-tioned strong urges of lust and greed can be easily and naturally pacified is being explained here by Śrī Bhagavān. By having experience of the self, such urges can be easily controlled. Yogīs who experience happiness in their realization of the self, who take pleasure within the self, and whose vision is always focused on the nature of the self, take shelter of selflessly performing their prescribed duties. They attain the liberated platform (brahma-bhūta) and eventually become established in their own eternal form and nature. Such yogīs easily become indifferent to the mundane sensual activities of lust, greed and so forth, and the joy they experience within the self is known as brahma-nirvāṇa. In Śrīla Bhaktivinoda Ṭhākura’s commentary on the Gītā (5.26), he says, “A sannyāsī who is free from lust and greed, who has control over the mind, and who knows ātma-tattva (the science of the self), very quickly attains full realization of brahma-nirvāṇa (the bliss of spiritual emanicipation).”

After deliberating on real and unreal objects, one who worships Bhagavān by selflessly offering Him the results of one’s work, a niṣkāma-karma-yogī, situates himself in brahma, the Reality beyond material nature, even while living in the material world. Such a state, which is free from material miseries, is called brahma-nirvāṇa.