Bhagavad Gita 5.25

labhante brahma-nirvāṇam
ṛṣayaḥ kṣīṇa-kalmaṣāḥ
chinna-dvaidhā yatātmānaḥ
sarva-bhūta-hite ratāḥ

Translation of Bhagavad Gita 5.25

Those who are beyond the dualities that arise from doubts, whose minds are engaged within, who are always busy working for the welfare of all living beings, and who are free from all sins achieve liberation in the Supreme.

Commentary by Sri A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada of Gaudiya Sampradaya:

Only a person who is fully in Krishna consciousness can be said to be engaged in welfare work for all living entities. When a person is actually in the knowledge that Krishna is the fountainhead of everything, then when he acts in that spirit he acts for everyone. The sufferings of humanity are due to forgetfulness of Krishna as the supreme enjoyer, the supreme proprietor, and the supreme friend. Therefore, to act to revive this consciousness within the entire human society is the highest welfare work. One cannot be engaged in such first-class welfare work without being liberated in the Supreme. A Krishna conscious person has no doubt about the supremacy of Krishna. He has no doubt because he is completely freed from all sins. This is the state of divine love.

A person engaged only in ministering to the physical welfare of human society cannot factually help anyone. Temporary relief of the external body and the mind is not satisfactory. The real cause of one’s difficulties in the hard struggle for life may be found in one’s forgetfulness of his relationship with the Supreme Lord. When a man is fully conscious of his relationship with Krishna, he is actually a liberated soul, although he may be in the material tabernacle.

Commentary by Sri Vishvanatha Chakravarthi Thakur of Gaudiya Sampradaya:

This verse shows how many persons attain perfection through this practice.

Commentary by Sri Ramanuja of Sri Sampradaya:

5.25 The sages are seers who are devoted to the vision of the self. For them the pairs of opposites are annulled; i.e., they are freed from pairs of opposites like cold and heat, etc. ‘They have their minds well subdued,’ i.e., their minds are directed to the self. ‘They are devoted to the welfare of all beings,’ i.e., they are interested in the welfare of all beings like their own selves. Those persons who are like this have all their impurities, which are incompatible with the attainment of the self, annulled, and they attain to the bliss of the Brahman. For those possessing the characteristics mentioned above, Sri Krsna now teaches that the Brahman is easy to attain.

Commentary by Sri Sridhara Swami of Rudra Sampradaya:

Sages or saintly and holy men of purified minds who have true vision are known to be devoted to the welfare of all living entities. This has been seen to be a characteristic of compassion in them and becoming immersed in the Brahman or spiritual substratum pervading all existence they attain moksa or liberation from the material existence.

Commentary by Sri Madhvacharya of Brahma Sampradaya:

Once a person sins have been eradicated then these are the things which transpire. As such demerits diminish the feeling of alienation from the atma or soul also diminishes. Lord Krishna uses the words chinna-dvaitha meaning uprooting concepts of dualism such as pleasure and pain, joy and sorrow, success and failure etc. which give rise to doubts and delusions. How are they to be uprooted? By the sword of knowledge in the form of renouncing all desires for sense gratification and perceiving the atmas distinctive nature along with the Brahman or spiritual substratum pervading all existence. The eternal atma which evaporates all alienation is omniscient, knowing past, present and future. Therefore by atma tattva or realisation of the soul one is able to enact their individual consciousness attain communion with the ultimate consciousness and with all doubts removed realise that the destruction of the alienation from the individual atma and the distinctive nature of paramatma or the Supreme Soul reveal two completely different realities.

Commentary by Sri Keshava Kashmiri of Kumara Sampradaya:

The spiritually intelligent saintly beings who perform the before stated instructions, who perceive things with discrimination and chant Vedic authorised mantras, who have refrained from all sinful actions leading to inevitable reactions by the practice of selfless actions without desire or attachment, whose doubts have been vanquished by the sword of spiritual knowledge and who mercifully are active for the benefit of all living entities. Lord Krishna reveals that such beings attain freedom from samsara or the perpetual cycle of birth and death by realisation of the Brahman or spiritual substratum pervading all existence.

Commentary by Sri Adi Shankaracharya of Advaita Sampradaya:

5.25 Rsayah, the seers, those who have full realization, the monks; ksina-kalmasah, whose sins, defects like sin etc., have been attenuated; chinna-dvaidhah, who are freed from doubt; yata-atmanah, whose organs are under control; ratah, who are engaged; sarvabhutahite, in doing good to all beings-favourably disposed towards all, i.e. harmless; labhante, attain; brahma-nirvanam, absorption in Brahman, Liberation. Further,

Commentary by Sri Abhinavagupta of Kaula Tantra Sampradaya:

5.25 Labhante etc. This [goal] is however possible to attain for those in whom the double knots in the form of dualism and doubt have been cut off.

Sanskrit Shloka Without Transliteration Marks:

labhante brahma-nirvanam
rsayah ksina-kalmasah
chinna-dvaidha yatatmanah
sarva-bhuta-hite ratah

Sanskrit to English Word for Word Meanings:

labhante — achieve; brahma-nirvāṇam — liberation in the Supreme; ṛṣayaḥ — those who are active within; kṣīṇa-kalmaṣāḥ — who are devoid of all sins; chinna — having torn off; dvaidhāḥ — duality; yata-ātmānaḥ — engaged in self-realization; sarva-bhūta — for all living entities; hite — in welfare work; ratāḥ — engaged.