Sanskrit

ब्रह्मभूतः प्रसन्नात्मा न शोचति न काङ्क्षति ।

समः सर्वेषु भूतेषु मद्भक्तिं लभते पराम् ॥

18.54

Transliteration

brahmabhūtaḥ prasannātmā na śocati na kāṅkṣati |

samaḥ sarveṣu bhūteṣu madbhaktiṃ labhate parām ||

By Sanskrit System · Machine draft · @indic-transliteration/sanscript 1.3.3

Translation

Becoming Brahman, serene in the Self, he neither grieves nor desires, the same to all beings, he obtains supreme devotion to Me.

From the owner's sheet · +1 more

Word by word

By Sanskrit System · Machine draft · claude-opus-5-5 · 2026-11-08

Explanation

One who has become one with Brahman is serene, neither grieving over loss nor craving gain, and sees all beings with an equal eye. Such a person then attains supreme devotion (bhakti) to Krishna. The order is striking: devotion is described as coming after realisation, not only before it. Some traditions read this as showing that devotion is the highest fruit of knowledge, others that knowledge and devotion meet at the summit. Either way, the verse refuses to divide the paths sharply.

By Sanskrit System · Machine draft · claude-opus-5-5 · 2026-11-08