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Bhagavad-gītā 15.5

निर्मानमोहा जितसङ्गदोषा अध्यात्मनित्या विनिवृत्तकामा: । द्वन्द्वैर्विमुक्ता: सुखदु:खसंज्ञै- र्गच्छन्त्यमूढा: पदमव्ययं तत् ॥ ५ ॥
nirmāna-mohā jita-saṅga-doṣā
[nirmaana-mohaa jita-sanga-doshaa]
adhyātma-nityā vinivṛtta-kāmāḥ
[adhyaatma-nityaa vinivritta-kaamaah]
dvandvair vimuktāḥ sukha-duḥkha-saṁjñair
[dvandvair vimuktaah sukha-duhkha-samjnair]
gacchanty amūḍhāḥ padam avyayaṁ tat
[gachchanty amoodhaah padam avyayam tat]
Word-for-word
niḥ — without māna — false prestige mohāḥ — and illusion jita — having conquered saṅga — of association doṣāḥ — the faults adhyātma — in spiritual knowledge nityāḥ — in eternity vinivṛtta — disassociated kāmāḥ — from lust dvandvaiḥ — from the dualities vimuktāḥ — liberated sukha - duḥkha — happiness and distress saṁjñaiḥ — named gacchanti — attain amūḍhāḥ — unbewildered padam — situation avyayam — eternal tat — that .
Blended reading (Sanskrit + English inline)
nirmāna-mohā jita-saṅga-doṣā
niḥ
without
māna
false prestige
mohāḥ
and illusion
jita
having conquered
saṅga
of association
doṣāḥ
the faults
adhyātma-nityā vinivṛtta-kāmāḥ
adhyātma
in spiritual knowledge
nityāḥ
in eternity
vinivṛtta
disassociated
kāmāḥ
from lust
dvandvair vimuktāḥ sukha-duḥkha-saṁjñair
dvandvaiḥ
from the dualities
vimuktāḥ
liberated
sukha - duḥkha
happiness and distress
saṁjñaiḥ
named
gacchanty amūḍhāḥ padam avyayaṁ tat
gacchanti
attain
amūḍhāḥ
unbewildered
padam
situation
avyayam
eternal
tat
that .
Important Words
  • māna — false prestige
    The first thing the verse names — and the first thing renunciants underestimate. A sannyāsī can shed wealth and family and still bear the heavier load of being known as a sannyāsī. Māna outlives almost every other attachment.
  • saṅga — association
    The hinge word of the chapter's earlier verses returns here. Not all saṅga, but saṅga-doṣāḥ — the *fault* of company — must be conquered. The seeker is not asked to become inhuman, only to be done with the wrong companions.
  • kāmāḥ — from lust
    Vinivṛtta-kāmāḥ — 'with lusts turned all the way back.' Not suppressed, not redirected: turned around so completely they no longer face outward. The grammar describes a 180-degree rotation of the desiring faculty.
  • dvandvaiḥ — from the dualities
    The pairs — heat and cold, praise and blame, gain and loss. The seeker is liberated *from* them (vimuktāḥ), not equalized within them. The duality itself loses its grip on his nervous system.
  • amūḍhāḥ — unbewildered
    A-mūḍha — not stupefied. The list's climax: even after the four prior conditions are met, the soul must still see clearly. Many renunciants achieve detachment and then sit confused; this verse forbids that outcome.
  • padam — situation
    Padam avyayam — 'the imperishable abode.' The same word reappears from 15.3-4. Kṛṣṇa is now naming the destination he earlier asked Arjuna to search for, and listing exactly who walks in.
Those who are free from false prestige, illusion and false association, who understand the eternal, who are done with material lust, who are freed from the dualities of happiness and distress, and who, unbewildered, know how to surrender unto the Supreme Person attain to that eternal kingdom.
Classical Sanskrit analysis शास्त्रीय विश्लेषण
How Sanskrit scholars read this verse — split, rearranged, grammar-tagged. For the plain English distilled meaning, jump to Plain meaning below.
Auto-generated study layers — original analysis of the public-domain śloka. Review against a published edition for academic work.
Plain meaning (तात्पर्य · Tātparya)
A portrait of the qualified seeker. Five compounds list five disqualifying diseases overcome — pride, delusion, attachment, desire, the see-saw of pleasure and pain. Only the amūḍha, the unbewildered one, walks past these thresholds to the avyaya-pada.
Further notes (विवरण · Vivaraṇa)
Five bahuvrīhi compounds form a graded checklist matching earlier chapters: nirmāna-moha picks up 13.7-11's jñāna-list, jita-saṅga answers 2.62's saṅgāt-saṁjāyate-kāmaḥ, vinivṛtta-kāma echoes 2.55's prajahāti-kāmān, dvandva-vimukta returns to 5.3's vimukta-dvandva. The verse thus consolidates the chapter's prerequisites for entering the puruṣottama-dhāma described next in 15.6.
Prose order (अन्वय · Anvaya)
निर्-मान-मोहाः, जित-सङ्ग-दोषाः, अध्यात्म-नित्याः, विनिवृत्त-कामाः, सुख-दुःख-संज्ञैः द्वन्द्वैः विमुक्ताः, अमूढाः (जनाः) तत् अव्ययं पदं गच्छन्ति ।
nir-māna-mohāḥ, jita-saṅga-doṣāḥ, adhyātma-nityāḥ, vinivṛtta-kāmāḥ, sukha-duḥkha-saṃjñaiḥ dvandvaiḥ vimuktāḥ, amūḍhāḥ (janāḥ) tat avyayaṃ padaṃ gacchanti |
Those free from pride and delusion, who have conquered the fault of attachment, who are constantly fixed in the Self, whose desires have ceased, and who are liberated from the dualities known as pleasure and pain — those undeluded ones reach that imperishable abode.
Word split (पदच्छेद · Padaccheda)
निर्-मान-मोहाः जित-सङ्ग-दोषाः अध्यात्म-नित्याः विनिवृत्त-कामाः । द्वन्द्वैः विमुक्ताः सुख-दुःख-संज्ञैः गच्छन्ति अमूढाः पदम् अव्ययं तत् ॥
nir-māna-mohāḥ jita-saṅga-doṣāḥ adhyātma-nityāḥ vinivṛtta-kāmāḥ | dvandvaiḥ vimuktāḥ sukha-duḥkha-saṃjñaiḥ gacchanti amūḍhāḥ padam avyayaṃ tat ||
Grammar (व्याकरण · Vyākaraṇa)
SanskritIASTGrammarMeaning
निर्-मान-मोहाः nir-māna-mohāḥ निस् (ind. (indeclinable)) + मान (m.) + मोह (m.) nom.pl. (nominative plural)m., bahuvrīhi cpd. (compound) free from pride and delusion
जित-सङ्ग-दोषाः jita-saṅga-doṣāḥ जित (p.p.p. (past passive participle)) + सङ्ग (m.) + दोष (m.) nom.pl. (nominative plural)m., bahuvrīhi cpd. (compound) in whom the fault of attachment is conquered
अध्यात्म-नित्याः adhyātma-nityāḥ अध्यात्म (n.) + नित्य adj. nom.pl. (nominative plural)m., tatpuruṣa cpd. (compound) ever devoted to the Self / spiritual reality
विनिवृत्त-कामाः vinivṛtta-kāmāḥ वि + नि + √वृत् p.p.p. (past passive participle) + काम (m.) nom.pl. (nominative plural)m., bahuvrīhi cpd. (compound) whose desires have utterly ceased
द्वन्द्वैः dvandvaiḥ द्वन्द्व (n.) ins.pl. (instrumental plural) from the pairs (of opposites)
विमुक्ताः vimuktāḥ वि + √मुच् p.p.p. (past passive participle) nom.pl. (nominative plural)m. liberated
सुख-दुःख-संज्ञैः sukha-duḥkha-saṃjñaiḥ सुख (n.) + दुःख (n.) + संज्ञा (f.) ins.pl. (instrumental plural)n., bahuvrīhi cpd. (compound) known/named as pleasure and pain
गच्छन्ति gacchanti √गम् pres. (present) 3pl.par. (parasmaipada / active voice) they go, reach
अमूढाः amūḍhāḥ अ-मूढ (p.p.p. (past passive participle) with neg.) nom.pl. (nominative plural)m. undeluded
पदम् padam पद (n.) acc.sg. (accusative singular) abode
अव्ययम् avyayam अ-व्यय adj. acc.sg. (accusative singular)n. imperishable
तत् tat तद् dem. (demonstrative)pron. (pronoun) acc.sg. (accusative singular)n. that
Purport

The surrendering process is described here very nicely. The first qualification is that one should not be deluded by pride. Because the conditioned soul is puffed up, thinking himself the lord of material nature, it is very difficult for him to surrender unto the Supreme Personality of Godhead. One should know by the cultivation of real knowledge that he is not lord of material nature; the Supreme Personality of Godhead is the Lord. When one is free from delusion caused by pride, he can begin the process of surrender. For one who is always expecting some honor in this material world, it is not possible to surrender to the Supreme Person. Pride is due to illusion, for although one comes here, stays for a brief time and then goes away, he has the foolish notion that he is the lord of the world. He thus makes all things complicated, and he is always in trouble. The whole world moves under this impression. People are considering the land, this earth, to belong to human society, and they have divided the land under the false impression that they are the proprietors. One has to get out of this false notion that human society is the proprietor of this world. When one is freed from such a false notion, he becomes free from all the false associations caused by familial, social and national affections. These faulty associations bind one to this material world. After this stage, one has to develop spiritual knowledge. One has to cultivate knowledge of what is actually his own and what is actually not his own. And when one has an understanding of things as they are, he becomes free from all dual conceptions such as happiness and distress, pleasure and pain. He becomes full in knowledge; then it is possible for him to surrender to the Supreme Personality of Godhead.

— A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupāda
Gauḍīya Ācāryas
Viśvanātha Cakravartī Ṭhākura Gauḍīya
Translation
5. Those who are free from the delusion of pride, who are devoid of attachment, who are absorbed in reflecting on Paramātmā, who have renounced material desire, who are free of dualities of happiness and distress, and who are without bewilderment, attain that indestructible goal.
Commentary

Performing bhakti, what qualities do the people attain, so they can attain that goal? This verse explains. Adhyātma-nitya means “those who make a rule of constantly considering about adhyātma; those who are absorbed in reflecting on Paramātmā.”

Baladeva Vidyābhūṣaṇa Gauḍīya
Translation
5. Those who are free from the delusion of pride, devoid of attachment, who are absorbed in reflecting on paramātmā, who have renounced material desire, who are free of dualities of happiness and distress, and who are without bewilderment, attain that indestructible goal.
Commentary

What type of people attain the goal, having surrendered to the Lord? They should be without pride (nirmāna) which is generated from respectful treatment. They should be free of absorption in what is false (nirmoha). They should be free of affection for wife and others (jita saṅga doṣā). They should daily consider the nature of their own ātmā and paramātmā (adhyātma nityā). (They should be free of material desires.) They should be tolerant of or free of disturbance (vimuktāḥ) from opposites such as heat and cold which are the cause of the dualities of happiness and distress. They should be knowledgeable of the process of surrender (amūḍhāḥ).

Bhūrijana Dāsa Gauḍīya
Commentary

There is the material world, the banyan tree ‑ we have to get out. This is almost an introduction of this Chapter and a continuation from the previous chapters. Now Krsna explains further, the goal of this Yoga, because the living entity is eternal, although he is on this temporary tree, and he should be...

PURUSOTTAMA‑YOGA (6‑20)

[B. TRANSMIGRATIONS (15. 6‑11) 1. The goal is to return to the spiritual world, and those who achieve it, never return to this material world. (6) ]

Study Notes — Gauranga Priya Dāsa
Gauranga Priya Dāsa Study
Bhakti-śāstrī Notes, ISKCON Chowpatty (2009)
Theme

The surrendering process is explained here

Classical Ācāryas
Śrī Śaṅkarācārya Classical
Translation
15.5 Amudhah, the wise ones, who are devoid of delusion; who are nirmana-mohah, free from (nir) pride (mana) and non-discrimination (moha); jita-sanga-dosah, who have conered (jita) the evil (dosa) of association (sanga)-association itself being the evil; those who have conered that; adhyatma-nityah, who are ever devoted to spirituality, ever engaged in reflecting on the nature of the supreme Self; engrossed in that; [Engrossed in hearing, reflecting and meditating on the Self.] vinivrtta-kamah, who are completely (vi) free from (nivrtta) desires (kamah), whose desires have completely gone away without trace (ni), the men of self-control, the monks; vimuktah, who are free from, have got rid of; dvandvaih, the dualities-likes, dislikes, etc.; sukha-duhkha-sanjnaih, called happiness and sorrow; gacchanti, reach; tat, that; avyayam, undecaying; padam, State, as has been described above. The very State is being elaborated again:
Śrī Rāmānujācārya Classical
Translation
15.5 Thus, when they have taken refute in Me, become free from 'perverse notions conerning the self', namely, become free from the delusion in the form of misconceiving the non-self (body) as the self; 'victorious over the evil of attachment', namely, victorious over the evil known as attachment to sense-objects consisting of the Gunas; 'ever devoted to self', namely completely absorbed in the knowledge of the self which is called Adhyatma or knowledge about the self; when they have 'turned away from desires' other than this self-knowledge; when they are liberated from 'dualities called pleasure and pain' - such 'undeluded souls', namely, those who are able to discern the natures of self and non-self, attain to that 'imperishable status'. They attain the self as It is, in the form of infinite knowledge. Conseently for those who seek refuge in Me, all actions become easy of performance till perfection is attained by My grace.
Śrī Abhinavagupta Classical
Translation
15.3-5 Na rupam., upto avyayam tat. Cutting this [tree] etc. Here the action [of cutting] mentioned with regard to the alified one [viz৷৷ the tree] appropriates for itself, the place (or word) of alification [viz. the root below], just as in the case of the injunction : 'Let the man-with-stick recite the Praisa hymns. By this way [we get the meaning] : 'Let him cut off the roots tha are grown below. That Abode : The absolutely Tranil One. The changeless Abode is nothing but That.
Swami Sivananda Classical
Translation
15.5 Free from pride and delusion, victorious over the evil of attachment, dwelling constantly in the Self, their desires having completely turned away, freed from the pairs of opposites known as pleasure and pain, the undeluded reach the eternal goal.
Commentary

15.5 निर्मानमोहाः free from pride and delusion? जितसङ्गदोषाः victorious over the evil of attachment? अध्यात्मनित्याः dwelling constantly in the Self? विनिवृत्तकामाः (their) desires having completely turned away? द्वन्द्वैः from the pairs of opposites? विमुक्ताः freed? सुखदुःखसंज्ञैः known as pleasure and pain? गच्छन्ति reach? अमूढाः the undeluded? पदम् goal? अव्ययम् eternal? तत् That.Commentary Wherever there is pride there is stiff egoism. Absence of discrimination between the Real and the unreal is Moha. Perversion is Moha. Infatuation is Moha. Those who are free from likes and dislikes even when they attain pleasant or unpleasant objects have triumphed over the,evil of attachment. Kartritva Abhimana or the idea I am the doer is Sanga. Likes and dislikes are the Doshas or the evils. Heat and cold? pleasure and pain? honour and dishonour? censure and praise? etc.? are the pairs of opposites. Only those who have destroyed ignorance and who have attained the knowledge of the Self reach the eternal goal.Adhyatmanityah Ever engaged in the contemplation of the nature of Brahman or the Supreme Being.Vinivrittakamah All the desires vanish in toto without leaving any trace or taint behind. They who have reached this stage become Yatis or Sannyasins. In the fire of wisdom all desires are burnt. As the birds fly away from a tree which has caught fire? so do desires go away from him.Tat That (the goal) described above.

Swami Gambhīrānanda Classical
Translation
15.5 The wise ones who are free from pride and non-discrimination, who have conered the evil of association, [Hatred and love arising from association with foes and friends.] who are ever devoted to spirituality, completely free from desires, free from the dualities called happiness and sorrow, reach that undecaying State.
Shri Purohit Swami Classical
Translation
15.5 The wise attain Eternity when, freed from pride and delusion, they have conquered their love for the things of sense; when, renouncing desire and fixing their gaze on the Self, they have ceased to be tossed to and fro by the opposing sensations, like pleasure and pain.
Related values & verses
Related values
Tyaga (Renunciation / Letting Go)Guru Bhakti (Reverence for Teacher)Atma Nigraha (Self-control)Daksya (Resourcefulness / Skill)Maitri (Friendship / Goodwill)Abhaya (Fearlessness)
Related verses
BG 2.71 BG 12.13 BG 13.8 SB 11.19.33 SB 3.25.21 SB 7.11.8 CC Madhya 22.78 CC Madhya 19.149 CC Antya 20.21 Īśa Upaniṣad 1 BRS 1.2.255
Related lectures
Personal Guidance
Free from pride and illusion, conquered the evil of association, established in eternal Self, free from desire, equal in dualities — such persons attain the eternal abode.
Practical Applications
  • Audit five conditions: no false prestige, no illusion, conquered bad association, no lust, equal in dualities.
  • Address the weakest condition.
  • Treat the list as cumulative, not optional.
Reflection Questions
  • Which condition is weakest in me?
  • What single discipline addresses it?
Analogy

A weary traveler, finally arrived at the gates of an eternal city, is asked to set down what he carries before entering. He empties his pockets — pride, illusion, the friends who pulled him aside, the cravings he could not name, the chronic ledger of pleasure and pain. Each thing put down is a clasp loosened. The gate opens only to those whose hands are empty enough to fold them.

Stories
Dhruva at the moment of departure

When the Lord's airplane came to take Dhruva to Vaikuṇṭha, his old fixations had no further grip. The boy who once climbed onto his stepmother's lap and was pushed off, who once wanted a kingdom greater than his father's, stood by the chariot of Viṣṇu purified of every one of those demands.

He placed his foot on his deceased mother's body in remembrance, then stepped into the airplane that goes to the place of no return — māna, moha, saṅga, kāma all set down at the threshold.

The Bhāgavatam's report of his ascent is a direct illustration of this verse: the eternal abode is entered, in literal procession, by one in whom the conditions Kṛṣṇa lists here had been met.

📝 My note

Source: vedabase.io

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