The wise ones, ever meditative and steadfastly persevering, alone experience Nibbana, the incomparable freedom from bondage.

The verse gives Nibbana a definition that is often missed: yogakkhema — security from bondage. The Buddha is not promising bliss in a romantic sense; he is offering release from the harnesses one has been wearing without noticing. The meditative wise, says the verse, "touch" — phusanti — Nibbana. The verb is tactile. There is no flying, no dissolving, no merging into light. There is contact with an unconstrained state, and that contact is what the practice was for.