Free from desire, fear and anger, absorbed in me and taking refuge in me, many people, purified by the austerity of knowledge, have come to my own state of being.
Explanation
Krishna continues from the previous verse, where he said that knowing his divine birth and action truly frees one from rebirth. Here he points out that many have already reached him, by dropping desire or attachment (rāga), fear (bhaya) and anger (krodha), and by being purified through the austerity of knowledge (jñāna-tapas), a compound some also read as "knowledge and austerity". "My state of being" (madbhāva) is read by some traditions as likeness or union with the Lord, and by others as loving nearness to him.