Speaker: Śrī Kṛṣṇa
तद्बुद्धयस्तदात्मानस्तन्निष्ठास्तत्परायणाः ।
गच्छन्त्यपुनरावृत्तिं ज्ञाननिर्धूतकल्मषाः ॥१७॥
tad-buddhayas tad-ātmānas
tan-niṣṭhās tat-parāyaṇāḥ
gacchanty apunar-āvṛttiṁ
jñāna-nirdhūta-kalmaṣāḥ
Word for word (synonyms)
- tad-buddhayaḥ
- one whose intelligence is always in the Supreme
- tad-ātmānaḥ
- one whose mind is always in the Supreme
- tat-niṣṭhāḥ
- whose mind is only meant for the Supreme
- tat-parāyaṇāḥ
- who has completely taken shelter of Him
- gacchanti
- goes
- apunaḥ-āvṛttim
- liberation
- jñāna
- knowledge
- nirdhūta
- cleanses
- kalmaṣāḥ
- misgivings
Translation
When one's intelligence, mind, faith and refuge are all fixed in the Supreme, then one becomes fully cleansed of misgivings through complete knowledge and thus proceeds straight on the path of liberation.
Defined in the Gītā
Knowledge
What is knowledge?
Humility, pridelessness, nonviolence, tolerance, simplicity, approaching a bona fide spiritual master, cleanliness, steadiness and self-control; renunciation of the objects of sense gratification, absence of false ego, the perception of the evil of birth, death, old age and disease; nonattachment to children, wife, home and the rest, and evenmindedness amid pleasant and unpleasant events; constant and unalloyed devotion to Me, resorting to solitary places, detachment from the general mass of people; accepting the importance of self-realization, and philosophical search for the Absolute Truth—all these I thus declare to be knowledge, and what is contrary to these is ignorance.
Purport
The Supreme Transcendental Truth is Lord Kṛṣṇa. The whole Bhagavad-gītā centers around the declaration of Kṛṣṇa as the Supreme Personality of Godhead. That is the version of all Vedic literature. Paratattva means the Supreme Reality, who is understood by the knowers of the Supreme as Brahman, Paramātmā and Bhagavān. Bhagavān, or the Supreme Personality of Godhead, is the last word in the Absolute. There is nothing more than that.TheLord says, mattaḥ parataraṁ nānyat kiñcit asti dhanañjaya. Impersonal Brahman is also supported by Kṛṣṇa: brahmaṇo pratiṣṭhāham. Therefore in all ways Kṛṣṇa is the Supreme Reality. One whose mind, intelligence, faith and refuge are always in Kṛṣṇa, or, in other words, one who is fully in Kṛṣṇa consciousness, is undoubtedly washed clean of all misgivings and is in perfect knowledge in everything concerning transcendence. A Kṛṣṇa conscious person can thoroughly understand that there is duality (simultaneous identity and individuality) in Kṛṣṇa, and, equipped with such transcendental knowledge, one can make steady progress on the path of liberation.
What this verse teaches
The study note for this verse is in editorial review.
Śrīla Prabhupāda lectures 2
- Bhagavad-gītā 5.14-22 1966-08-29 · New York
- Bhagavad-gītā 5.17–25 1969-02-08 · Los Angeles
Bhagavad-gītā As It Is by His Divine Grace A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupāda © The Bhaktivedanta Book Trust International.