Being purified by his intelligence and controlling the mind with determination, giving up the objects of sense gratification, being freed from attachment and hatred, one who lives in a secluded place, who eats little, who controls his body, mind and power of speech, who is always in trance and who is detached, free from false ego, false strength, false pride, lust, anger, and acceptance of material things, free from false proprietorship, and peaceful—such a person is certainly elevated to the position of self-realization.
Commentary by Srila Prabhupada
When one is purified by intelligence, he keeps himself in the mode of goodness. Thus one becomes the controller of the mind and is always in trance. He is not attached to the objects of sense gratification, and he is free from attachment and hatred in his activities. Such a detached person naturally prefers to live in a secluded place, he does not eat more than what he requires, and he controls the activities of his body and mind. He has no false ego because he does not accept the body as himself. Nor has he a desire to make the body fat and strong by accepting so many material things. Because he has no bodily concept of life, he is not falsely proud. He is satisfied with everything that is offered to him by the grace of the Lord, and he is never angry in the absence of sense gratification. Nor does he endeavor to acquire sense objects. Thus when he is completely free from false ego, he becomes nonattached to all material things, and that is the stage of self-realization of Brahman. That stage is called the brahma-bhuta stage. When one is free from the material conception of life, he becomes peaceful and cannot be agitated. This is described in Bhagavad-gita (2.70):
apuryamanam acala-pratishtham samudram apah pravishanti yadvat tadvat kama yam pravishanti sarve sa shantim apnoti na kama-kami
“A person who is not disturbed by the incessant flow of desires—that enter like rivers into the ocean, which is ever being filled but is always still—can alone achieve peace, and not the man who strives to satisfy such desires.”
Commentary by Sri Visvanatha Cakravarti Thakur
One should be endowed with sattvika intelligence (buddhya visuddhaya), controlling the mind (atmanam niyamya) with similar sattvika determination.
One should be completely devoted to thinking of bhagavan (dhyana yoga parah).
One should be devoid of strength (bala) related to material attachment and desire, rather than physical strength.
With the cessation of ignorance (avidya) characterized by freedom from ahankara, price, lust, anger and possessions, there is also the cessation of sattva guna (santah). This is the achievement of jnana samnyasa, giving up jnana itself. This is understood from the statement in the eleventh canto of Bhagavatam jndnam ca mayi sannyaset: one should renounce all jnana to attain me. This means that without the cessation of both ignorance and knowledge (ajnana and jnana), there can be no attainment of brahman realization. Being freed from all these, it is possible (kalpate) to realize (bhuyaya) brahman.
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