This shloka continues the mokṣa-sādhanāni section that began in the second half of 15.3. The first part of Chapter 15 described samsāra as the vast aśvattha tree. Then Bhagavān taught that this tree must be cut with the firm weapon of asaṅga, detachment. In 15.4, after that detachment, the seeker was told to seek tat padam, Brahman, through Vedānta-vicāra, and to surrender to the original Puruṣa. Now 15.5 adds the fourth discipline: sadguṇāḥ, the healthy virtues that make the mind fit for Vedānta.

These virtues are not random moral decorations. They are Vedānta-friendly virtues. They make the mind refined, steady, humble, and available for Brahma-jñānam. In the larger flow, four disciplines are being collected: vairāgyam, śaraṇāgati, sadguṇāḥ, and Vedānta-vicāraḥ. Of these, Vedānta-vicāra is the primary means because ignorance is removed only by knowledge. The other three prepare the mind, just as the conditions for a surgery must be prepared before the surgery itself can remove the disease.

The first virtue is nirmāna — freedom from māna, pride, vanity, and arrogance. A few achievements, a little wealth, a little learning, or a few words of praise can easily enter the head and disturb balance. Therefore humility is essential. One way to cultivate humility is to remember that there are always people greater than me in some field. Another is to remember that whatever capacity, intelligence, health, wealth, opportunity, or talent I have is Bhagavān’s gift and can be lost at any time. Any praise that comes can be mentally offered back to Bhagavān.

The second virtue is nirmoha — freedom from delusion. The nir in nirmāna-mohāḥ applies to both māna and moha. We should not read it as “free from pride and possessing delusion.” Moha is already plentiful; it is not something to acquire. Nirmoha means proper thinking, discrimination. The specific delusion addressed here is the belief that material pursuit alone will give fulfillment. Money, food, comfort, and security have their place; artha and kāma are part of life. But they must be balanced with dharma and mokṣa. The mistake is not earning or enjoying. The mistake is thinking that what I have alone determines my happiness, while neglecting what I am.

The third virtue is jita-saṅga-doṣāḥ — those who have conquered the defect of attachment. Saṅga here is emotional slavery, emotional leaning upon external people, objects, and situations. To use the world is fine; to lean on the changing world as the source of security is risky. The world is changing. People change. Situations change. Bodies change. Therefore, leaning on them completely creates fear and instability. The teaching is: use everything, but do not become emotionally enslaved by anything. If one must lean, lean on what is more stable: move from world-dependence to Bhagavān-dependence, and ultimately to Self-dependence.

The fourth virtue is vinivṛtta-kāmāḥ — those whose binding desires have withdrawn. This means not creating new dependence. A person may give up one habit but replace it with another habit of equal or greater bondage. The earlier discipline was giving up present dependence; this one is guarding against fresh dependence. A sādhaka must watch the mind carefully: “Am I truly becoming free, or am I only changing the object of addiction?”

The fifth virtue is dvandvair vimuktāḥ sukha-duḥkha-saṃjñaiḥ — freedom from violent reactions to the pairs of opposites, especially pleasure and pain. Life inevitably brings pairs: gain and loss, health and illness, praise and blame, success and failure, comfort and discomfort, honor and insult. Even great emperors, great bhaktas, and avatāras faced opposites. Rāma faced palace and forest. Yudhiṣṭhira faced kingdom and exile. Nala lost everything. Therefore the question is not whether opposites will come; they will. The question is whether the mind has a shock absorber. Viveka and bhakti give that shock absorber. They may not remove all reaction, but they reduce violent reaction and make the situation manageable.

The sixth expression is adhyātma-nityāḥ — those who are constantly committed to spiritual pursuit. This does not mean neglecting food, work, family, or material duties. Balanced life is necessary. But spirituality must have a committed place. A person should not spend the entire life only earning, consuming, and entertaining. Some time must be given to śāstra, reflection, prayer, values, and mokṣa. Nirmoha includes this balance: money is required, but money alone is not Bhagavān. Artha and kāma must be included, but dharma and mokṣa cannot be ignored.

Those who cultivate these virtues are called amūḍhāḥ — not deluded, wise people. Moha means ignorance or delusion; mūḍha is the deluded person; amūḍha is the one who has become a jñānī. What do such wise seekers attain? tad avyayaṃ padam gacchanti — they attain that imperishable padam, Brahman. Avyayam means undecaying, not affected by time, kālātītam. Earlier, Brahman was presented as the root and support of the world. Now Brahman is presented as the destination of the seeker. Brahman is both the substratum of the world and the final goal of the seeker. This attainment of Brahman alone is mokṣa-prāpti.