निर्मानमोहा जितसङ्गदोषा अध्यात्मनित्या विनिवृत्तकामाः | द्वन्द्वैर्विमुक्ताः सुखदुःखसञ्ज्ञैर् गच्छन्त्यमूढाः पदमव्ययं तत् || ५ ||
nirmāna-mohā jita-saṅga-doṣā adhyātma-nityā vinivṛtta-kāmāḥ dvandvair vimuktāḥ sukha-duḥkha-saṁjñair gacchanty amūḍhāḥ padam avyayaṁ tat
nirmāna—free from false prestige; mohāḥ—free from illusion; jita—having conquered; saṅga—association; doṣāḥ—faults; adhyātma—in spiritual knowledge; nityāḥ—eternal; vinivṛtta—turned away; kāmāḥ—from desires; dvandvaiḥ—from dualities; vimuktāḥ—freed; sukha-duḥkha—happiness and distress; saṁjñaiḥ—named; gacchanti—they go; amūḍhāḥ—undeluded; padam—position; avyayam—eternal; tat—that.
“Those who are free from pride and delusion, who have conquered the evil of attachment, who are ever abiding in the Self, whose desires have ceased, who are freed from the pairs of opposites such as pleasure and pain—such undeluded ones reach that eternal goal.”
The qualifications for reaching the supreme goal are here enumerated: absence of pride (which creates distance from God), freedom from delusion (which mistakes the body for the Self), victory over attachment, steady abidance in the knowledge of the Self, freedom from desire, and equanimity in pleasure and pain. These are the fruits of sustained devotion and discipline.
Use this verse as a self-assessment checklist for your spiritual progress. Where do you still hold pride? Where do desires still strongly pull? Where do pleasures and pains still destabilize you? Not as a cause for guilt, but as a map showing where your sadhana needs deepening. Each of these qualities is cultivated gradually through practice, not forced overnight.