Bhagavad Gita 2.72
Spoken by Krishna · Verse 72 of 72
एषा ब्राह्मी स्थितिः पार्थ नैनां प्राप्य विमुह्यति । स्थित्वास्यामन्तकालेऽपि ब्रह्मनिर्वाणमृच्छति ॥
eṣā brāhmī sthitiḥ pārtha naināṃ prāpya vimuhyati | sthitvāsyām anta-kāle 'pi brahma-nirvāṇam ṛcchati ||
This is the Brahmic state. Attain it and you are never again deluded. Even at death — liberation.
Word by word (3)
- brāhmī sthitiḥ
- — the Brahmic state / the state of Brahman · Brāhmī = of or belonging to Brahman (the ultimate reality). Sthiti = state, position, standing. Brahmi sthiti is the culminating term for the entire sthitaprajña portrait — the state of being whose orientation is Brahman rather than the ego-sense. It is not achieved after death but lived now.
- naināṃ prāpya vimuhyati
- — having attained this, one is never again deluded · Prāpya = having attained, having reached. Vimuhyati from vi+muh (to be deluded, bewildered). Na (not) + vimuhyati = never again deluded. The brahmi sthiti is permanent: once genuinely attained, the confusion about one's nature and the nature of reality does not return. This is the Gita's description of irreversible liberation.
- anta-kāle 'pi brahma-nirvāṇam
- — even at the time of death, one attains brahma-nirvana · Anta-kāla = the end-time, the moment of death. Api = even. Brahma-nirvāṇa = the extinction in Brahman — nirvāṇa (from nir+vā, the blowing-out of the flame of ego) + Brahman (the ultimate ground). The Gita borrows the Buddhist nirvāṇa concept and integrates it: it is not mere extinction but extinction-in-Brahman — the individual flame merging with the infinite light.
This is the Brahmic state, O Arjuna. Having attained it, one is never again deluded. Being established in this state — even at the very moment of death — one reaches brahma-nirvāṇa: the peace of Brahman.
A modern analogy
Imagine someone who has genuinely found their center — not a belief or a technique, but a direct knowing of their own deepest nature. They are no longer confused about who they are, what matters, or where they stand. Even in the face of loss, illness, or death — they are not destabilized. That unshakeable orientation is brahmi sthiti: the Brahmic state. Chapter 2 has spent 72 verses describing how to arrive here.
Take with you
- Brahmi sthiti (being established in Brahman) is not reserved for saints — it is the logical endpoint of the discipline the Gita has been describing across Chapter 2.
- The promise 'never again deluded' (na vimuhyati) is the Gita's strongest assurance: genuine liberation is irreversible.
- Brahma-nirvāṇa — peace in Brahman — is not death as ending but death as the final proof of liberation. The established sage meets death as an ocean meets one more river.
- The entire Chapter 2 is one arc: it opens with Arjuna weeping and overwhelmed, moves through Krishna's teaching, and arrives here at the state of being established in Brahman. The chapter ends with the destination named.
Public-domain translations (5) compare all →
This is the Brahmic state, O Partha. Having attained to this, one is no more deluded. Established in this, even at the time of death, one attains to Brahman-Nirvana. [1]
This is the Brahmic state, O son of Pritha. Having attained to this, one is not deluded. Being established in it at the last moment too, one reaches the Nirvana of Brahman. [4]
This is the condition of the man who has become one with Brahman, O Partha. Having obtained it he is no longer bewildered. Remaining in this state even at the time of death, he obtains absorption in Brahman. [6]
This is to be as God! And he who dwells In this last fixed high seat — casting away The bondage of the senses — lives in God, Even at his dying hour. [7]
This, O son of Pritha, is the divine state; having obtained it, one is not deluded. And being established in it even at the last moment of life, one attains to the happiness of Brahman. [9]
This verse speaks to
Where this thread continues
Steady wisdom begins here: when all desires fall away and the Self finds fullness in itself alone.
For those freed from desire and anger, with controlled minds, knowing the Self — brahma-nirvāṇa exists on all sides.
Practising thus always, with a controlled mind — the yogi reaches the supreme peace of nirvāṇa, abiding in the Supreme.
Abandon all dharmas, take refuge in Me alone — I will liberate you from all sins; do not grieve.
Arjuna asks: what does the truly wise person look like? How do they speak, sit, and move?
The person unmoved by pleasure and pain is fit for liberation — equanimity is not coldness but freedom.
Verse 72 of 72 · back to Chapter 2