Chapter 2Verse 56 of 72

Bhagavad Gita 2.56

दुःखेष्वनुद्विग्नमनाः सुखेषु विगतस्पृहः । वीतरागभयक्रोधः स्थितधीर्मुनिरुच्यते ॥

duḥkheṣv anudvigna-manāḥ sukheṣu vigata-spṛhaḥ | vīta-rāga-bhaya-krodhaḥ sthita-dhīr munir ucyate ||

Translation

Whose mind is unagitated in pains, who is without desire in pleasures, free from attachment, fear, and anger, that steady-minded one is called a sage.

A line you can keep on the wall. Anudvigna-manāḥ. Mind not stirred up. Vigata-spṛha. Without longing. Vīta-rāga-bhaya-krodha. Free of attachment, fear, and anger. The three internal weather systems most likely to break a person are named together; the sthita-dhīḥ, the steady-witted, is the one in whom they do not run the show. Notice the syntax: unagitated in pains, without longing in pleasures. The challenge is not to avoid pleasure or pain but to meet each without being captured by it. The challenge most readers will recognize as their actual day.

Reflection

Which pleasure or pain in your week has been running the show, while you thought you were?

Read this verse in its chapter: Chapter Two

Ask the Gita about this verse →