यस्त्वात्मरतिरेव स्यादात्मतृप्तश्च मानवःआत्मन्येव च सन्तुष्टस्तस्य कार्यं न विद्यते
In plain words
But for the person who delights in Ātma alone, is satisfied in Ātma, and is content in Ātma alone, there is nothing that must be done.
Word for word
But the man who would be delighting in the ātman alone, and satisfied in the ātman, and content in the ātman alone, for him there exists nothing to be done.
यस्त्वात्मरतिरेव स्यादात्मतृप्तश्च मानवःआत्मन्येव च सन्तुष्टस्तस्य कार्यं न विद्यते
Other commentaries
The commentators
▸Bhagavadgītābhāṣyam
एवं स्थिते किमेवं प्रवर्तितं चक्रं सर्वेणानुवर्तनीयम् , आहोस्वित् पूर्वोक्तकर्मयोगानुष्ठानोपायप्राप्याम् अनात्मविदः ज्ञानयोगेनैव निष्ठाम् आत्मविद्भिः साङ्ख्यैः अनुष्ठेयामप्राप्तेनैव, इत्येवमर्थम् अर्जुनस्य प्रश्नमाशङ्क्य स्वयमेव वा शास्त्रार्थस्य विवेकप्रतिपत्त्यर्थम् ‘एतं वै तमात्मानं विदित्वा निवृत्तमिथ्याज्ञानाः सन्तः ब्राह्मणाः मिथ्याज्ञानवद्भिः अवश्यं कर्तव्येभ्यः पुत्रैषणादिभ्यो व्युत्थायाथ भिक्षाचर्यं शरीरस्थितिमात्रप्रयुक्तं चरन्ति न तेषामात्मज्ञाननिष्ठाव्यतिरेकेण अन्यत् कार्यमस्ति’(बृ. उ. ३ । ५ । १) इत्येवं श्रुत्यर्थमिह गीताशास्त्रे प्रतिपिपादयिषितमाविष्कुर्वन् आह भगवान् —
यस्तु साङ्ख्यः आत्मज्ञाननिष्ठः आत्मरतिः आत्मन्येव रतिः न विषयेषु यस्य सः आत्मरतिरेव स्यात् भवेत् आत्मतृप्तश्च आत्मनैव तृप्तः न अन्नरसादिना सः मानवः मनुष्यः संन्यासी आत्मन्येव च सन्तुष्टः । सन्तोषो हि बाह्यार्थलाभे सर्वस्य भवति, तमनपेक्ष्य आत्मन्येव च सन्तुष्टः सर्वतो वीततृष्ण इत्येतत् । यः ईदृशः आत्मवित् तस्य कार्यं करणीयं न विद्यते नास्ति इत्यर्थः ॥ १७ ॥
In plain words
So, given everything said so far, a question remains: must everyone, without exception, keep this wheel turning once it has been set in motion? Or is there a discipline reached, for someone who doesn't yet know the Self, only through the karma-yoga just described — a discipline meant to be practiced directly, through the yoga of knowledge alone, by those who already know the Self, the Sāṅkhyas — and precisely not meant for someone who hasn't yet reached that knowledge? Sensing this very question forming in Arjuna's mind — or simply wanting, on his own, to make the scripture's meaning unmistakably clear — Kṛṣṇa recalls the Upaniṣad's own words: 'having truly known this Self, their false knowledge gone, brāhmaṇas turn away from the duties that are otherwise unavoidable for those still caught in false knowledge — duties like the desire for sons — and take up instead a wandering, mendicant life, kept going only to sustain the body; for them there is no other duty left but steadfastness in the knowledge of the Self' (Bṛhadāraṇyaka Upaniṣad 3.5.1). And now, bringing this very teaching out into the open here in the Gītā, Kṛṣṇa speaks —
But the one who has truly found his delight nowhere but in the Self, whose pleasure never once reaches out toward the world of objects — he alone deserves the name. He is satisfied by the Self alone, not by food or comfort or any of the things that fill an ordinary appetite. That man, that human being, a renunciate, rests content in nothing but the Self. Most people need to gain something outside themselves before they feel at peace. He needs nothing outside — his contentment doesn't wait on the world at all, and his craving, every last trace of it, has simply gone. And for someone who has come to know the Self this completely, there is nothing left that still needs doing.
Close to the Sanskrit
This being so, is it [the case] that this wheel, [thus] set in motion, is to be kept turning by everyone, or, is the discipline — attainable, by one who does not [yet] know the Self, through the means of the previously-described practice of karma-yoga — [and] to be practiced only by the yoga of knowledge, by the knowers of the Self, the Sāṅkhyas — precisely not [to be practiced] by one who has not attained [it]? With this in mind, anticipating Arjuna's question, or himself, for the purpose of a discriminating understanding of the meaning of scripture: 'having known this very Self indeed, [their] false knowledge having ceased, brāhmaṇas, having risen up from the duties necessarily [performed] by those possessed of false knowledge — [duties] such as the desire for sons and so on — then wander in the practice of mendicancy, employed merely for the maintenance of the body; for them there is no other duty apart from the discipline of Self-knowledge' (Bṛhadāraṇyaka Upaniṣad 3.5.1) — thus, revealing here, in the scripture of the Gītā, the meaning of this scriptural passage, which he intends to establish, the Lord speaks —
But he who would indeed be one delighting in the Self alone — delight in the Self alone, not in objects, whose it is, he alone would truly be 'delighting in the Self' — and self-satisfied, satisfied by the Self alone, not by food and its essence and so on — that man, that human being, a renunciate, is content in the Self alone. Now, contentment indeed comes to everyone upon gaining some external object; but without depending on that, being content in the Self alone, entirely free of craving — this is the meaning. He who is such a knower of the Self — for him no duty remains to be done; that is the meaning.