Chapter 5 · Shloka 26— The Yoga of Renunciation of Action

kāma-krodha-viyuktānāṁ yatīnāṁ yata-chetasām abhito brahma-nirvāṇaṁ vartate viditātmanām

kāma

— desires

krodha

— anger

vimuktānām

— of those who are liberated

yatīnām

— of the saintly persons

yata-chetasām

— those self-realized persons who have subdued their mind

abhitaḥ

— from every side

brahma

— spiritual

nirvāṇam

— liberation from material existence

vartate

— exists

vidita-ātmanām

— of those who are self-realized

"Kamakrodha-vimuktanam yatinam yata-cetasam, abhito brahma-nirvanam vartate viditnatmanam." — For those ascetics who are free from desire and anger, who have subdued their minds, who are knowers of the Self — near on all sides is Brahman-nirvana. This verse pairs with 5.25 as a parallel description: those who are free from kama and krodha (desire and anger — the root pair of destructive impulses named in 3.37), who have disciplined their minds, and who know the Self directly — find Brahman-nirvana 'near on all sides' (abhitah). The phrase 'abhitah' — near, from all sides, all around — is striking. Brahman-nirvana is not a distant destination requiring a long journey. For the one who has the described qualities, it is present everywhere — they are already surrounded by it, already in it. What remains is the final dropping of the veil. Shankaracharya notes that 'viditnatmanam' — knowing the Self — is the decisive qualifier. Not all restraint of desire and anger leads immediately to liberation; the motivation and understanding matters. It is specifically those whose restraint arises from Self-knowledge — who have abandoned desire and anger because they have recognized the Atman, not because they have forcibly suppressed them — for whom liberation is imminent.

'Near on all sides' — liberation is not a destination approached linearly but a recognition of what is already present everywhere. For the one who has genuinely freed themselves from the compulsive grip of desire and anger through Self-knowledge, there is nothing left to cross. The separation was always imagined, not real. What spiritual practice does is not build a bridge to something far away; it dissolves the imagined separation from what was always here.

'Near on all sides' — Brahman-nirvana surrounds the one who is free from desire and anger and knows the Self. Not a distant goal to approach but something already present everywhere. The practice doesn't build a bridge to something far; it dissolves the imagined separation from what was always there. For the one who's genuinely freed themselves from compulsive desire and anger, there's nothing left to cross.

For those who are free from wanting and anger and know their true Self, Brahman-nirvana is right there — all around them, near on every side! It's not far away at all. It's like they're already inside the room of ultimate peace — they just need to finally look up and see it's been there all along!