śubhāśubha-phalair evaḿ
mokṣyase karma-bandhanaiḥ
sannyāsa-yoga-yuktātmā
vimukto mām upaiṣyasi
Translation of Bhagavad Gita 9.28
In this way you will be freed from bondage to work and its auspicious and inauspicious results. With your mind fixed on Me in this principle of renunciation, you will be liberated and come to Me.
Commentary by Sri A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada of Gaudiya Sampradaya:
One who acts in Krishna consciousness under superior direction is called yukta. The technical term is yukta-vairagya. This is further explained by Rupa Gosvami as follows:
anasaktasya visayan
yatharham upayunjatah
nirbandhah krishna-sambandhe
yuktam vairagyam ucyate
(Bhakti-rasamrita-sindhu 2.255)
Rupa Gosvami says that as long as we are in this material world we have to act; we cannot cease acting. Therefore if actions are performed and the fruits are given to Krishna, then that is called yukta-vairagya. Actually situated in renunciation, such activities clear the mirror of the mind, and as the actor gradually makes progress in spiritual realization he becomes completely surrendered to the Supreme Personality of Godhead. Therefore at the end he becomes liberated, and this liberation is also specified. By this liberation he does not become one with the brahmajyoti, but rather enters into the planet of the Supreme Lord. It is clearly mentioned here: mam upaisyasi, “he comes to Me,” back home, back to Godhead. There are five different stages of liberation, and here it is specified that the devotee who has always lived his lifetime here under the direction of the Supreme Lord, as stated, has evolved to the point where he can, after quitting this body, go back to Godhead and engage directly in the association of the Supreme Lord.
Anyone who has no interest but to dedicate his life to the service of the Lord is actually a sannyasi. Such a person always thinks of himself as an eternal servant, dependent on the supreme will of the Lord. As such, whatever he does, he does it for the benefit of the Lord. Whatever action he performs, he performs it as service to the Lord. He does not give serious attention to the fruitive activities or prescribed duties mentioned in the Vedas. For ordinary persons it is obligatory to execute the prescribed duties mentioned in the Vedas, but although a pure devotee who is completely engaged in the service of the Lord may sometimes appear to go against the prescribed Vedic duties, actually it is not so.
It is said, therefore, by Vaishnava authorities that even the most intelligent person cannot understand the plans and activities of a pure devotee. The exact words are tanra vakya, kriya, mudra vijneha na bujhaya (Caitanya-caritamrita, Madhya 23.39). A person who is thus always engaged in the service of the Lord or is always thinking and planning how to serve the Lord is to be considered completely liberated at present, and in the future his going back home, back to Godhead, is guaranteed. He is above all materialistic criticism, just as Krishna is above all criticism.
Commentary by Sri Vishvanatha Chakravarthi Thakur of Gaudiya Sampradaya:
You will be liberated from the bondage of karma in the form of unlimited sinful and pious reactions. The sruti says,
bhaktir asya bhajanam
tad ihamutropadhi-nairasyenaivamusmin manah-kalpanam
etad eva ca naiskarmyam
Bhakti is worship of the Lord, concentrating the mind on him, renouncing all material desires for enjoyment in this world and the next. It destroys all karmas. Gopala Tapani Upanisad 1.15
You, with mind engaged in renunciation of the results of action (sannyasa yoga), will not only be liberated, but being preeminent among the liberated souls (vimuktah), will attain me. You will come near me to serve me directly.
Smrti says:
muktanam api siddhanam narayana-parayanah
sudurlabhah prasantatma kotisv api mahamune
O great sage, among many millions who are liberated and perfect in knowledge of liberation, one may be a devotee of Lord Narayana, or Krishna. Such devotees, who are fully peaceful, are extremely rare. SB 6.14.5
Sukadeva has also said:
muktim dadati karhicit sma na bhakti-yogam
Those engaged in getting the Lord’s favor attain liberation from the Lord very easily, but He does not very easily give the opportunity to render direct service unto Him. SB 5.6.18
This goal, with direct service to me, is far superior to liberation That is indicated in this verse.
Commentary by Sri Ramanuja of Sri Sampradaya:
9.28 Thus, equipped with a mind which is firmly set in Yoga, called Sannyasa, considering yourself as one whose delight lies in being a subsidiary (Sesa) to Me and subject to My control and all acts to be My worship, and engaging yourself in secular and Vedic actions with such an attitude, you will free yourself from countless bonds, called ancient Karmas, productive of auspicious and inauspicious results which stands as a hindrance preventing you from attaining Me. Freed from them, you shall come to Me only. Listen now, to My supreme nature which transcends the world:
Commentary by Sri Sridhara Swami of Rudra Sampradaya:
Now Lord Krishna explains the benefits one will receive by offering everything as an act of devotion to Him as declared in the previous verse. By performing all Vedically authorised actions as an offering to the Supreme Lord one will no longer be bound by the bondage of karma or reactions to actions which results in both positive and negative consequences. By offering everything one thinks and does to the Supreme Lord, one’s ongoing connection to karma is permanently neutralised and severed by the Supreme Lord Himself and under His indomitable shelter with one’s mind endowed with the sublime state of renznciation one will undoubtedly attains Him.
Commentary by Sri Madhvacharya of Brahma Sampradaya:
The words evam moksyase means by performing all actions in this way one will by liberated refers to the devotees of the Supreme Lord who do everything exclusively for His pleasure and propitiate Him in the true sense of worship whether they are knowledgeable or not. One who is not knowledgeable of the Supreme Lord is deluded and on receiving material boons from pandering to lesser gods is deported back to the material worlds of unawareness after enjoying the fruits of their merits. These are deluded activities of the deluded who are not only unaware of the absolute position of the Supreme Lord Krishna but also are in the darkness of ignorance regarding the Him being the ultimate reality. Thus in conclusion without knowing the paramount supremacy of the Supreme Lord Krishna as the controller of all creation and all existence and all the demigods and every other god; all knowledge no matter how profound or esoteric is superfluous without any foundation because it is not understood in the correct context as being connected to Him.
Commentary by Sri Keshava Kashmiri of Kumara Sampradaya:
Behaving in this manner of offering everything in devotion to the Supreme Lord Krishna including the doership of all actions with one’s mind fully established in the renunciation of yoga or the individual consciousness attaining communion with the ultimate consciousness, one will be freed from the bonds of karma or reactions from actions both good and evil that the whole material creation is subjected to. This is because by surrendering and dedicating all actions to the Supreme Lord all karma is neutralised as has no longer any power to cause any effects whatsoever and thus released from the clutches of reactions one will achieve exemption from samsara the perpetual cycle o birth and death and attain the association of the Supreme Lord in the eternal spiritual worlds.
Commentary by Sri Adi Shankaracharya of Advaita Sampradaya:
9.28 By dedicating to Me evam, thus; maksyase, you will become free; karma-bandhanaih, from bondage in the form of actions-actions themselves being the bonds; subha-asubha-phalaih, which are productive of good and bad results-i.e. from actions that have desirable (subha) and undesireable (asubha) results (phala). Sannyasa, renunciation, is that which results from dedication (of actions) to Me, and that is also yoga since it involves actions. He who has his mind (atma) endowed (yukta) with that yoga of renunciation (sannyasa-yoga) is sannyasa-yoga-yukta-atma. You, being such, having your mind endowed with the yoga of renunciation, and vimuktah, becoming free from the bonds of actions evern while living; upaisyasi, will attain, come; mam, to Me, when this body falls. In that case the Lord is possessed of love and hatred inasmuch as He favours the devotees, and not others? That is not so:
Commentary by Sri Abhinavagupta of Kaula Tantra Sampradaya:
9.27-28 Yat karosi etc. Subhasubha – etc. Because the performers of sacrifices intending other deities have in their mind only limited purpose, and [hence] belitle the [principal] result [of the sacrifice etc.]; therefore all [actions] you should offer, by the method advised above, to Me i.e., consider them to be absorbed in Me (or to be born of Me). This is the renunciation-Yoga. Extensively it has already been made almost quite clear.
Sanskrit Shloka Without Transliteration Marks:
subhasubha-phalair evam
moksyase karma-bandhanaih
sannyasa-yoga-yuktatma
vimukto mam upaisyasi
Sanskrit to English Word for Word Meanings:
śubha — from auspicious; aśubha — and inauspicious; phalaiḥ — results; evam — thus; mokṣyase — you will become free; karma — of work; bandhanaiḥ — from the bondage; sannyāsa — of renunciation; yoga — the yoga; yukta-ātmā — having the mind firmly set on; vimuktaḥ — liberated; mām — to Me; upaiṣyasi — you will attain.
