Chapter XVIII · Śloka 55
भक्त्या मामभिजानाति यावान्यश्चास्मि तत्त्वतः |
ततो मां तत्त्वतो ज्ञात्वा विशते तदनन्तरम् ||
ततो मां तत्त्वतो ज्ञात्वा विशते तदनन्तरम् ||
bhaktyā mām abhijānāti yāvān yaś cāsmi tattvataḥ |
tato māṃ tattvato jñātvā viśate tad anantaram ||
tato māṃ tattvato jñātvā viśate tad anantaram ||
Through devotion one truly knows Me — who and how great I am. And then, having truly known Me, one enters into Me forthwith.
The supreme statement of bhakti: not philosophy, not austerity, not ritual, but devotion alone grants the direct knowledge of the Divine in its full reality. And having known, one enters — the grammar of union, not merely proximity. This is the summit toward which the entire Gita has been ascending.