Chapter2- Sloka 51
karmajaṃ buddhi-yuktā hi phalaṃ tyaktvā manīṣiṇaḥ |
janma bandha vinirmuktāḥ padaṃ gacchanty-anāmayam || 51 ||
(2.51)
manīṣiṇaḥ- The wise; buddhi-yuktāḥ- possessing the buddhi (discussed earlier); tyaktvā- by giving up; phalaṃ- the rewards (heaven, etc.); karmajaṃ- of karmas; janma bandha vinirmuktāḥ- (and) becoming free from the bondage of rebirth; gacchanti hi- certainly attain; padaṃ- Paramapadam (supreme abode); anāmayam- devoid of suffering;
Purport
In this śloka Kṛṣṇa declares to Arjuna that, "The wise men possessing this buddhi become free from puṇyas and pāpas by giving up the rewards of their actions, resulting in freedom from the bondage of this saṃsāra and attainment of Paramapada".
buddhi-yuktāḥ manīṣiṇaḥ (Those learned men enjoined with buddhi yoga talked about in the earlier ślokas)
(niṣkāma) karmajaṃ phalaṃ tyaktvā (by performing karmas without any desire for their material rewards like heaven, etc.) The word niṣkāma must be appended for understanding the meaning.
janma bandha vinirmuktāḥ (and becoming free from the bondage of saṃsāra caused due to birth)
anāmayam padaṃ gacchanti (They attain Viṣṇu's abode which is free from any ailment that causes grief) āmayam means ailment and anāmayam is its opposite. Ādi Śaṇkarācārya in his commentary also says, padaṃ paramaṃ viṣnoḥ mokṣākhyaṃ gacchanti (they attain Viṣṇu's supreme abode which is called mokṣa).
padaṃ The derivation of padaṃ is padyate- gamyate iti padaṃ. It states that the word 'padaṃ' refers to
the attainable result. The word padaṃ could mean the attainable nitya vibhuti (the divine eternal
abode of Viṣṇu beyond this material realm) or the supreme attainable nature of Paramātma. From śloka 2.53
onwards starting with the words yogam avāpsyasi, Kṛṣṇa is going to start talking about attaining a vision of
the soul. Therefore it can also be said that the word padaṃ here refers to the attainable soul whose inherent
nature is similar to that of Paramātma's, i.e like Paramātma, the soul too has jñāna(knowledge) and
ānanda(bliss) as its inherent nature. When Paramātma's nature is attained both nitya vibhūti and the soul's
own nature are also attained as a result. Hence the word padaṃ which refers to "the attainable result"
can mean all these three namely Paramātma, ātma and nitya vibhūti.
hi The 'hi' asserts that this is certainly the meaning stated in all the Upaniṣads.
Summary:
From this śloka, we understand that a practitioner of karma yoga attains the highest desirable supreme abode called Paramapada. From the previous śloka, we understood that practice of karma yoga eliminates all the obstacles in achieving the highest reward called mokṣa. Thus elimination of obstacles and attainment of Paramapada are the rewards of karma yoga. However, these are not the direct rewards of karma yoga. The sequence is that the practice of karma yoga clears the obstacles by eliminating puṇyas and pāpas and leads to bhakti yoga with or without the accompaniment of jñāna yoga, which in turn results in the attainment of the highest abode called Paramapada.