Beyond virtue (dharma) and vice (adharma), beyond even liberation (mokṣa) — the sage transcends all categories. Neither heaven (svarga) nor liberation are “states” of his, because states imply change, and the Self is unchanging. Bondage exists nowhere for him. This verse pushes beyond chapter 1’s negation of dharma and adharma as mental constructs — here, liberation itself is denied as a category applicable to the Self. The realized one is not “liberated” in the sense of having achieved freedom; rather, freedom is the eternal nature that was never lost.