Verse 2.544-545

Sanskrit text and transliteration:

अनेकजन्मसंसिद्धः स यः कश्चिद्भवेदिह ।
यथोदितार्थवित्साक्षादस्माद्रागेतरात्मकात् ॥ ५४४ ॥
लोकादाध्यात्मिकात्प्रेत्य यश्च स्यादाधिभौतिकः ।
तदुत्क्रान्तेर्भवेद्धेतुरन्नसृष्टिस्थितिक्षयः ॥ ५४५ ॥

anekajanmasaṃsiddhaḥ sa yaḥ kaścidbhavediha |
yathoditārthavitsākṣādasmādrāgetarātmakāt || 544 ||
lokādādhyātmikātpretya yaśca syādādhibhautikaḥ |
tadutkrānterbhaveddheturannasṛṣṭisthitikṣayaḥ || 545 ||

English translation of verse 2.544-545:

When in this world a person, who has perfected himself in the course of many (previous) births, directly perceives his identity with Brahman as stated above, then as a result of this (experience) he gives up attachment for his body which is full of passion and other evils and also for the external world, and attains Brahman which is the cause of the creation, maintenance, and dissolution of the physical universe.

Notes:

These two verses state the substance of the śruti passage sa ya evaṃvit asmāllokāt pretya, etc.

It is only one person in a thousand who, as a result of practising in several previous births the discipline necessary for attaining the true knowledge, realizes that he is no other than Brahman, the ultimate reality. Such a person is free from all attachment for everything—for his body as well as for the things of the world. Having overcome his. attachment for all the five sheaths, he thus remains one with Brahman.

The Lord says in the Gītā (VII, 19): “At the end of many births, the man of wisdom comes to me, (realizing) that Vāsudeva is the all: he is the noble-souled, very hard to find.” Commenting on this passage Śaṅkara observes: “At the end of many births occupied in spiritual regeneration as preparatory to the attainment of wisdom, the man of mature wisdom resorts to me, Vāsudeva, the innermost Self. How? Realizing that Vāsudeva is the all, he who thus comes to me, Nārāyaṇa, the Self of all, is a mahātman, a man of high soul; there is no other either equal to him or superior to him. Therefore such a man is very hard to find. It has been said that ‘among thousands of men, one perchance strives for perfection’ (Gītā, VII, 3).”

Pretya literally means after departing. Here it means giving up attachment, abhimānam parityajya.