Bhagavad Gita 10.5
Spoken by Krishna · Verse 5 of 42
अहिंसा समता तुष्टिस्तपो दानं यशोऽयशः | भवन्ति भावा भूतानां मत्त एव पृथग्विधाः ||५||
ahiṃsā samatā tuṣṭis tapo dānaṃ yaśo'yaśaḥ | bhavanti bhāvā bhūtānāṃ matta eva pṛthag-vidhāḥ || 5 ||
Non-injury, equanimity, contentment, austerity, charity, fame and infamy — these varied states arise from Me alone.
Word by word (3)
- ahiṃsā samatā tuṣṭi tapas dāna yaśas ayaśas
- — Non-injury, equanimity, contentment, austerity, charity, fame, infamy · ahiṃsā = non-injury, non-violence (a = not; hiṃsā = injury, harm — from √hiṃs = to injure; ahiṃsā = 'non-harming, non-violence' — the first yama in Patañjali's yoga, the foundational ethical principle of Indian philosophy). samatā = equanimity, evenness (sama = same, even; samatā = 'the quality of being even, equanimity, evenness toward all' — compare V6.9's sama-darśana and V2.48's samatvaṃ yoga ucyate). tuṣṭi = contentment, satisfaction (from √tuṣ = to be satisfied; tuṣṭi = 'contentment, satisfaction, the feeling of being enough' — compare V6.8's tuṣṭa and V12.14's santuṣṭa). tapas = austerity, spiritual practice, self-discipline (from √tap = to heat; tapas = 'heat, austerity, spiritual discipline' — the disciplined practice that purifies the practitioner). dāna = charity, giving (from √dā = to give; dāna = 'gift, charitable giving' — one of the three great practices: tapas + dāna + yajna). yaśas = fame, glory (from √yaś = to be celebrated; yaśas = 'fame, glory, good reputation'). ayaśas = infamy, disgrace (a = not; yaśas = fame; ayaśas = 'bad reputation, infamy, disgrace'). Note: V5 closes with the most socially mundane conditions (fame/infamy) in what begins as a spiritual list. This is deliberate: the divine is the source of everything from ahiṃsā (the highest ethical principle) to ayaśas (social disgrace). The list includes what is conventionally most valued (fame) AND most feared (infamy) — both arise from the divine.
- bhavanti bhāvā bhūtānāṃ matta eva pṛthag-vidhāḥ
- — The various conditions of beings arise from Me alone · bhavanti = they arise, they become (√bhū = to become; bhavanti = third person plural present — 'they arise, they come to be'). bhāvāḥ = conditions, states, dispositions (from √bhū; bhāva = 'being, state, condition, disposition, nature, intention'; plural bhāvāḥ = 'the various conditions, states'). bhūtānāṃ = of beings (bhūta = created being, living being; genitive plural = 'of beings'). matta eva = from Me alone (mat = from Me; eva = indeed/alone — emphatic; matta eva = 'from Me indeed, from Me alone'). pṛthag-vidhāḥ = of various kinds (pṛthak = separate, distinct, various; vidhā = kind, type; pṛthag-vidhāḥ = 'of various kinds, diverse, manifold'). V5's closing declaration: bhavanti bhāvā bhūtānāṃ matta eva pṛthag-vidhāḥ — 'the various conditions of beings arise from Me alone.' This closes the 20-condition list of V4-V5. The matta eva (from Me ALONE) is uncompromising: not 'mostly from Me' or 'partially from Me' — but 'from Me alone, and only from Me.' This is Ch.10's most totalizing claim about divine origination in the internal/experiential domain. Everything in the phenomenological spectrum of being — from the highest spiritual quality (buddhi, V4) to the lowest social condition (ayaśas = infamy, V5) — arises from the divine ground. This is the foundation for the vibhūti catalogue that will follow: if even the inner conditions of beings arise from the divine, how much more the manifest universe.
- matta eva — from Me alone: the totalizing claim of V4-V5
- — V5's matta eva (from Me alone) makes the strongest possible claim: not 'I am one source among others' but 'I am the sole source of all these conditions' · The matta eva construction is grammatically emphatic: mat (ablative of ahaṃ = I/Me) + eva (emphatic particle = indeed/alone/only). 'From Me indeed, from Me alone, from Me and nothing else.' This is Ch.10's most uncompromising divine-source claim in the inner domain. It is matched by V10.39's na tad asti vinā yat syān mayā (nothing whatever would exist without Me) in the outer domain. Together V4-V5's matta eva + V10.39's na tad asti = Ch.10's complete divine-source theology: I am the source of all internal conditions (V4-V5) AND all external manifestations (V10.20-V39). The list structure of V4-V5 is designed to include deliberately heterogeneous items: the highest virtue (buddhi/jñāna) alongside the most painful experience (duḥkha/bhaya) alongside the most socially ambivalent conditions (yaśas/ayaśas). This heterogeneity is the point: not just the virtuous and pleasant arise from the divine, but the COMPLETE spectrum. The matta eva is thus not a theological simplification but a radical ontological claim: the divine is the ground of ALL being-states, without exception.
non-violence, evenness of mind, contentment, austerity, charity, fame and disgrace — these varied states of beings arise from Me alone.
A modern analogy
A musician's skill arises from practice, but the capacity for music — the very architecture of the human ear, the neurological structures that process pitch and rhythm, the emotional response to harmony — these arise from a ground that the musician didn't create. This verse's matta eva (from Me alone) says the same: your capacity for non-violence, equanimity, and contentment arises from a divine ground. Your cultivation cooperates with that ground; it doesn't produce it.
What it does NOT mean
This verse's matta eva (from Me alone) does not mean human agency doesn't exist or that beings have no role in cultivating virtues like ahiṃsā or contentment. It means the GROUND from which these qualities arise, the capacity for them, and the power that sustains them are divine. Human effort cooperates with and channels the divine's own qualities — it doesn't produce them from nothing. This is why the verse's virtues are called bhāvāḥ (conditions, states) rather than karma (acts): they are states of being that arise, not performances that a separate agent produces.
Take with you
- This verse's ahiṃsā (non-violence) is the first-listed virtue for a reason: of the seven conditions named here, ahiṃsā leads. In the Indian ethical tradition, ahiṃsā is the root from which other virtues grow. The verse places it first in the second half of the divine-conditions list, following the inner cognitive virtues of the previous verse — intellect through calm. The sequence: cognitive clarity (the previous verse) → ethical non-harm (this verse's ahiṃsā) → equanimity and contentment → austerity and charity → social conditions. This is a complete virtue map.
- This verse's yaśas-ayaśas (fame and infamy) at the end of the list is deliberate: Krishna ends the long list of conditions with the most socially contingent pair — fame and infamy. Both arise from the divine. This is the teaching for social anxiety: whether you are currently experiencing recognition and success or disgrace and failure, BOTH arise from the same divine ground. Neither your fame nor your infamy defines your ultimate reality — both are conditions from the divine.
- This verse and the previous one together form a gratitude practice over all the conditions they name: once a week, go through them all — the previous verse's thirteen and this verse's seven. For each one currently strong in you: recognize it as a divine manifestation and express gratitude. For each one currently absent: recognize it as a divine condition not yet manifesting and invite it. This practice shifts the relationship to virtues from 'my achievements' to 'divine manifestations flowing through me when conditions are right.'
Public-domain translations (3) compare all →
[SW V5 missing from index] — Non-injury, equanimity, contentment, austerity, charity, fame and infamy — these are the various conditions of beings which arise from Me alone. [4]
satisfaction, restraint of body and mind, alms-giving, inoffensiveness, zeal and glory and ignominy, all these the various dispositions of creatures come from me. [6]
And sweet harmlessness, and peace which is the same / Whate'er befalls, and mirth, and tears, and piety, and thrift / And wish to give, and will to help — all cometh of My gift! [7]
This verse speaks to
Where this thread continues
Intellect, wisdom, patience, truth, calm, restraint, joy, pain, birth, death, fear, fearlessness — all arise from Me.
I am the seed of all beings, O Arjuna — there is no being, moving or unmoving, that can exist without Me.
Do the work rooted in yoga, unattached. Equanimity in success and failure — that IS yoga.
Knowing Me as the enjoyer of all sacrifice and austerity, Great Lord of all worlds, Friend of all beings — peace comes.
OṀ Tat Sat: triple name of Brahman — by which brāhmaṇas, Vedas, and yajñas were ordained in the beginning.
Like a tortoise draws in its limbs, the wise one withdraws senses from objects. Wisdom stands firm.
Verse 5 of 42 · back to Chapter 10