The consummation of Knowledge attained by Devotion.
In this way,
ब्रह्मभूतः प्रसन्नात्मा न शोचति न काङ्क्षति ।
समः सर्वेषु भूतेषु मद्भक्तिं लभते पराम् ॥ ५४ ॥
brahmabhūtaḥ prasannātmā na śocati na kāṅkṣati .
samaḥ sarveṣu bhūteṣu madbhaktiṃ labhate parām .. 54 ..
Becoming Brahman, of serene self, he neither grieves nor desires, treating all beings alike; he attains supreme devotion to Me.
Read the commentary
How who has reached Brahman and attained self-serenity does not grieve regarding his failure to accomplish an object or regarding his wants. It is not indeed possible to suppose that he who knows Brahman can have a longing for any object unattained; therefore the words “he neither grieves nor desires” is tantamount to saying that such is the nature of the man who has become Brahman.—Another reading makes the passage mean “he neither grieves nor exults.”—Treating all beings alike : he regards the pleasure and pain of all creatures equally with his own, i.e., that they would affect them just as they affect himself).—It is not meant here that he sees the identity of the Self in all, as this will be mentioned in the next verse.—Such a devotee to wisdom attains highest devotion to me, the Supreme Lord,—the fourth or the highest of the four kinds of devotion,—viz., the Devotion of Knowledge,—spoken of in vii. 16.