In plain words
The wise, endowed with buddhi, relinquish the fruits born of action and, freed from the bondage of birth, reach the state beyond affliction.
Word for word
For the wise, endowed with buddhi, abandoning the fruit born of action, freed from the bondage of birth, go to the state free of affliction.
कर्मजं बुद्धियुक्ता हि फलं त्यक्त्वा मनीषिणःजन्मबन्धविनिर्मुक्ताः पदं गच्छन्त्यनामयम्
Other commentaries
The commentators
▸Bhagavadgītābhāṣyam
यस्मात् —
कर्मजं फलं त्यक्त्वा इति व्यवहितेन सम्बन्धः । इष्टानिष्टदेहप्राप्तिः कर्मजं फलं कर्मभ्यो जातं बुद्धियुक्ताः समत्वबुद्धियुक्ताः सन्तः हि यस्मात् फलं त्यक्त्वा परित्यज्य मनीषिणः ज्ञानिनो भूत्वा, जन्मबन्धविनिर्मुक्ताः जन्मैव बन्धः जन्मबन्धः तेन विनिर्मुक्ताः जीवन्त एव जन्मबन्धात् विनिर्मुक्ताः सन्तः, पदं परमं विष्णोः मोक्षाख्यं गच्छन्ति अनामयं सर्वोपद्रवरहितमित्यर्थः । अथवा ‘बुद्धियोगाद्धनञ्जय’(भ. गी. २ । ४९) इत्यारभ्य परमार्थदर्शनलक्षणैव सर्वतःसम्प्लुतोदकस्थानीया कर्मयोगजसत्त्वशुद्धिजनिता बुद्धिर्दर्शिता, साक्षात्सुकृतदुष्कृतप्रहाणादिहेतुत्वश्रवणात् ॥ ५१ ॥
In plain words
Because —
'Having let go of the fruit born of action' — the sentence connects across a word placed between the two, so let me untangle it. 'The fruit born of action' simply means getting the bodies you wanted or didn't want, produced by your own past actions. 'Endowed with understanding' means holding the understanding of equanimity. Because such people have let that fruit go, have truly relinquished it, they become wise, become knowers — and that is why they are called 'freed from the bondage of birth.' Birth itself is the bondage. Freed from that, even while still alive, they walk to Viṣṇu's supreme state, the one called liberation, entirely untroubled, free of every disturbance. That is the meaning. Or, read another way: starting from 'through the yoga of understanding, Dhanañjaya' (2.49), what is being pointed to is the understanding born from the purification that comes through karma-yoga — an understanding that is nothing but the direct vision of ultimate reality, vast and steady like a great flood covering everything on every side. We know this because scripture openly says this understanding is what causes the shedding of both good deeds and bad.
Close to the Sanskrit
Since —
'Having abandoned the fruit born of action' — thus [is stated]; the syntactic connection is with a word interposed [between them in the verse]. 'The fruit born of action' [means] the attainment of desired and undesired bodies, born from actions. 'Endowed with understanding' [means] being endowed with the understanding of equanimity. For, because they, having abandoned, having relinquished the fruit, become the wise, the knowers, [they are called] 'freed from the bondage of birth' — birth itself is bondage, birth-bondage; freed from that, even while living, freed from birth-bondage, being so — they go to the supreme state of Viṣṇu, called liberation, free of affliction, devoid of all disturbances: such is the meaning. Or alternatively: from 'through the yoga of understanding, O Dhanañjaya' (Gītā 2.49) onward, the understanding produced by the purification of being born from the yoga of action, characterized precisely by the vision of ultimate reality, comparable to a great flood of water on every side, is what is shown — because scripture explicitly states its being the cause of the casting off of good and bad deeds, and so on. [End of commentary on verse 51.]