Sanskrit
लभन्ते ब्रह्मनिर्वाणमृषयः क्षीणकल्मषाः । छिन्नद्वैधा यतात्मानः सर्वभूतहिते रताः ॥
labhante brahmanirvāṇam ṛṣayaḥ kṣīṇakalmaṣāḥ chinnadvaidhā yatātmānaḥ sarvabhūtahite ratāḥ
Translation
Rishis, their sins destroyed, their duality removed, their selves controlled, intent upon the welfare of all beings, obtain the Peace of the Eternal.
Annie Besant · The Bhagavad-Gita, translated by Annie Besant (4th ed., 1922) — Wikisource · Public Domain
Explanation
Three qualifications precede the attainment, and they read as sequential rather than simultaneous — sins worn away, duality severed (meaning the habit of perceiving in opposites: pleasant and unpleasant, mine and not mine), and the self restrained — before landing on delight in the welfare of all beings. That last phrase is worth pausing on: liberation here isn’t a private, self-enclosed state but comes bundled with an active orientation toward other beings’ good, which quietly sets up the chapter’s closing identification of Krishna himself as friend to all beings. Sarva-bhūta-hite ratāḥ — “delighting in the good of all beings” — pairs liberation with lokasaṅgraha: the freed person is not withdrawn but turned toward others’ welfare, exactly as BG 12.4 will require of the devotee.
Study deeper
Word by word
- labhante brahmanirvāṇamलभन्ते ब्रह्मनिर्वाणं
- they attain the peace of Brahman (labhante + brahma-nirvāṇam)
- ṛṣayaḥ kṣīṇakalmaṣāḥऋषयः क्षीणकल्मषाः
- the seers, their impurities worn away (ṛṣayaḥ + kṣīṇa-kalmaṣāḥ)
- chinnadvaidhā yatātmānaḥछिन्नद्वैधा यतात्मानः
- their duality cut, self-controlled (chinna-dvaidhāḥ + yata-ātmānaḥ)
- sarvabhūtahite ratāḥसर्वभूतहिते रताः
- delighting in the welfare of all beings (sarva-bhūta-hite + ratāḥ)
Commentary
Site Commentary
The outward-facing item — delight in the welfare of all beings — comes last in this verse’s sequence, after sins are worn away, duality severed, and the self restrained. That ordering matters: concern for others’ welfare isn’t presented as a starting discipline or a substitute for the inner work, it’s what shows up once the inner work is substantially done — an outcome of realization rather than a technique for reaching it.
Original commentary written for this site · © Amit Singh — original commentary
Apply this verse
Lessons
Personal
- Don't treat "focus on helping others" as a shortcut past your own inner work — this verse places genuine concern for others' welfare after significant internal clearing, as its natural result, not as a bypass around doing that clearing yourself.
Professional
- When someone on your team performs concern for "the mission" while their own reactivity and ego are clearly unresolved, notice the mismatch — authentic outward concern is usually downstream of real inner steadiness, not a substitute for it.
Family & Social
- If you find yourself trying to be generous and other-focused with family while personally unsettled and reactive, consider doing some of your own inner work first — sustainable care for others follows inner steadiness here, it doesn't precede or replace it.
Ask yourself
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