viviktasevī - he is the one who lives in a quiet place, free from the needs of company. Since he is doing only contemplation, there is not much use of energy, therefore he is a person whose food intake is light - laghvāśī. yatavākkāyamānasaḥ - one whose speech, body, and mind are mastered. With reference to organs of action, there is no wasted activity. Similarly, with reference to talking, there is certain mastery. And his mind also is taken care of. Such a person is totally committed to contemplation - dhyānayogaparaḥ. When I commit my mind to the śruti’s vision, that is called dhyāna. And he does it all the time - nityaṁ. All this is possible only when he is samupāśritaḥ - completely resort to freedom from longing and vairāgyaṁ where he has seen through the limitation of all other pursuits.
Further, things which inhibit his capacity to contemplate, should be given up - vimucya. First to be given up is ahaṅkāraṁ - the misplacement of his sense of “I” in the body-mind-sense complex, and in the sense of doership. To be correctly put it in place which is the oneness of everything here, first we need to see that things can be done because of the grace of Īśvara, and I am only an instrument. Even the body, mind and variety of other things all given to me. Then it is possible for me to understand that in reality I have no doer-ship on any action.
balaṁ - strength in term of capacity, power, skills, etc. which is backed by kāma and rāga. Even he has certain gifts but does not flaunt them or misuse them. And when one accomplished something then looking for recognition is called darpaṁ. This approval and recognition is necessary for a child to develop a healthy self-image. In the beginning, he must have that to develop self-respect and dignity. If the child does not get adequate approval, he will continue to seek this kind of acknowledgement as an adult. It is not helpful for spiritual pursuit, because it will be hard for him to have the sameness. A sannyāsī, however, has no need for this kind of recognition. He has given up any ownership and any accomplishment that may lead to darpa. He is awake to the nature of himself and finds his fulfilment in his own fullness - pūrnatvam. Thus naturally he has given up desire - kāmaṁ, in the sense that any desire that he may have is non-binding. In its fulfilment he is happy, and in its non-fulfilment also he is happy. When it is so, a frustrated desire is not going to cause anger - krodhaṁ.
There are two types of possession - parigraham, internal and external. By giving up desire and anger, a sannyāsī has already taken care of the problem of parigrahaḥ internally which is the need to possess or own things. Now we come to the possession of external objects where he has given up his house, job, and all his possessions, what else can he keep? Even with few clothes, japamālā, begging bowl he has, there can be a tendency to accumulate and hoard. Śankarācārya says that even though a person has given up everything else, he can still have a sense of ownership with reference to his own body. A sannyāsī has no agenda for how long the body should last because he has no ownership even his own body - nirmamaḥ. He only keeps the minimum maintenance of his body, then the rest leave it to the prarabdha to unfold. Therefore he is naturally tranquil - śāntaḥ when there is no worry even for his own physical body.
Such a person can immediately appreciate the fact “I am Brahman”. He is fit to gain abidance in the knowledge of Brahman being oneself - brahmabhūyāya kalpate.
brahmabhūtaḥ prasannātmā na śocati na kāṅkṣati । samaḥ sarveṣu bhūteṣu madbhaktiṁ labhate parām ॥18.54॥
The one who has “become” Brahman (has recognised oneself as Brahman), whose mind is cheerful, does not grieve or long for anything. That person for whom all beings are the same (as himself) gains the highest devotion to me.
brahmabhūtaḥ - one who has “become” Brahman, means he has owned up his nature of sat-chit-ānanda. prasannātmā - one who has a cheerful mind. Such a person does not grieve - na śocati, either because lack of resources or because of the limitations of the body, mind, or senses. The person under discussion here has no regrets. He has no sense of deficiency, but rather is content with what he has. When this is so, naturally, he does not have any longing - na kāṅkṣati for things he doesn’t have, because he has gone through the life of karma-yoga.
That person, Lord Krsna says, gains the highest devotion to me - madbhaktiṁ labhate parām. In Gītā 7-16, bhakti was defined in four fold ways, the devotion of a distressed person ārta, an arthārthī who turns to God to get what he wants, a jijñāsu who wants to know Īśvara, and the last one jñānī who sees the oneness. The jñānī is the devotee mentioned here in this verse. For him, the knowledge of the identity between himself and Īśvara is a certainty.
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