सर्वारम्भपरित्यागी गुणातीतः स उच्यते ॥ २५ ॥
mānāpamānayostulyastulyo mitrāripakṣayoḥ .
sarvārambhaparityāgī guṇātītaḥ sa ucyate .. 25 ..
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The same : unaffected. Though neutral from their own standpoint, some appear to others as if they were on the side of friends or on the side of foes; but this man appears to be same to friends and foes. He renounces all actions, productive of visible and invisible results, except those which are necessary for the bare maintenance of the body.
Devotion to the Lord leads to liberation.
The attributes described in xiv. 23, 24, 25. form a rule of conduct laid down for the samnyasin who seeks moksha, so long as they are to be achieved by effort; but when they are firmly ingrained in his nature, as may be perceived by himself, they form marks indicating that the devotee has risen above the gunas.*
These attributes, such as indifference to the various modifications and functions of the gunas, have to be acquired with special effort prior to the attainment of Self-knowledge (vidya) : and the aspirant for Self-knowledge should therefore cultivate these virtues, as they are the means of attaining it. But, on the rise of Self-knowledge, when the aspirant becomes a Jivanmukta (one who is liberated while still living in the body,) all the attributes mentioned here form part and parcel of his nature and serve as marks of liberation which he can perceive for himself.—A.
The Lord proceeds next to answer the question ‘How does one pass beyond these three gunas?’