The Bhāṣya attributed to Śaṅkara grounds immutability in the absence of parts and activity. The Lord is peaceful, faultless, and stainless. As a bridge to immortality, he leads across Saṃsāra; the image of fire after its fuel has burnt away illustrates a state in which the cause of further bondage is extinguished.

Śaṅkarānanda denies parts, activity, and change, as well as any contact with Avidyā and its causes. The highest bridge forms the boundary beyond which liberation lies. Like fire after the fuel has been consumed, the peaceful, stainless Self remains without a new occasion for unfolding.

Nārāyaṇa relates the absence of parts to the absence of the sixteen Kalās. Because the Lord is immutable and complete, he does not act in the ordinary sense. The highest passage to immortality continues the preceding prayer for refuge.

Vijñānabhagavat defends each negation separately: partlessness excludes transformation, actionlessness change, peace every activity, faultlessness unconsciousness, and stainlessness any real connection with causal power. The decisive bridge is the knowledge ‘I am Brahman’, which consumes duality as fire consumes its fuel.

The Bhāṣya attributed to Śaṅkara makes wrapping the sky in a hide an image of the impossible. Saṃsāra likewise does not end without knowledge of the Self. Only knowledge of the Lord ends the three kinds of suffering and the cycle of repeated birth.

Śaṅkarānanda takes the impossible wrapping of the sky as a strict comparison. Without the direct knowledge ‘I am Brahman’, there is no end to the threefold suffering. External achievements cannot remedy the fundamental misidentification of the Self.

Nārāyaṇa examines three readings. The mere repose of the Jīvas at dissolution ends suffering but does not yet grant joy; a second interpretation joins complete renunciation with liberation. As his doctrinal conclusion, he favours the comparison with the impossible: as little as the formless sky can be wrapped in hide, so little can there be Mokṣa without knowledge of God.

Vijñānabhagavat understands wrapping the sky as plainly impossible. Liberation is equally impossible so long as the partless, actionless, and stainless Lord is not known as the Self. The commentary also considers the wording ‘without knowledge of Śiva’, but maintains the primacy of knowledge.

The Bhāṣya attributed to Śaṅkara understands Tapas as ascetic-ritual practice and one-pointedness of mind. Through divine grace, Śvetāśvatara realises Brahman and transmits the pure teaching to highly venerated Atyāśramins, especially Paramahaṃsa renunciants. Sages make this transmission an object of their veneration.

Śaṅkarānanda interprets the name Śvetāśvatara as one whose ‘white horses’, the senses, no longer run wild. After eight-limbed Yoga and the four qualifications, he becomes a direct knower through grace. The Atyāśramins are Paramahaṃsas who have gone beyond even the fourth stage of life.

Nārāyaṇa connects Tapas and divine grace with Śvetāśvatara's fulfilment. His text reads antyāśramibhyaḥ and understands this as renunciants in the final stage of life. To them, the seer transmits the highest teaching of Brahman.

Vijñānabhagavat includes bodily, verbal, and mental discipline, as well as the practice of knowledge, under Tapas. Through grace, Śvetāśvatara becomes an accomplished teacher whose words elicit direct knowledge. The Atyāśramins are Paramahaṃsas for whom the highest teaching is appropriate.

The Bhāṣya attributed to Śaṅkara restricts the secret teaching to a peaceful son or pupil found suitable after prolonged examination. Affection alone does not justify transmitting it to an unqualified person. The lineage of teacher and pupil thus safeguards the content and efficacy of the highest Vedānta.

Śaṅkarānanda requires a calm, devoted son or an equally qualified pupil. Neither kinship nor sympathy suffices without qualification. Purākalpa can be understood as ancient transmission, prescription, or praise and underscores the secrecy of the highest knowledge.

Nārāyaṇa mentions six possible channels of transmission but expressly admits only two for knowledge of the Self: a peaceful son and a qualified pupil, each sustained by devotion. Other recipients remain excluded. The highest Vedānta is thus transmitted within an examined tradition.

Vijñānabhagavat grounds the teaching in an ancient, continuous tradition. It may be given only to an inwardly peaceful son or a pupil prepared to the same degree. Qualification and trust are substantive conditions for the secret instruction genuinely to lead to knowledge.

The Bhāṣya attributed to Śaṅkara requires supreme, not merely figurative, devotion to God and equally to the Guru. Without the teacher's grace, Brahmavidyā is difficult to access. For the devoted Mahātman, the meanings of the Upaniṣad become personal experience; the repetition honours this statement and closes the work.

Śaṅkarānanda defines devotion to God as surrendering body, senses, and mind to the chosen deity. The same, indeed particularly careful, devotion is owed to the Guru: even the deity could not simply replace an offended teacher. The taught meanings therefore shine forth for the egoless Mahātman.

Nārāyaṇa calls devotion to the Guru a means as close and immediate as devotion to God. In his brief explanation, the repetition of the concluding statement serves to close the Upaniṣad.

Vijñānabhagavat understands equal, unconditional devotion to God and Guru through insight into their unity. Through it, the meanings of the teaching become manifest in the purified inner being; this Bhakti should therefore be consciously cultivated. The repetition honours its rank and marks the close.