Bhagavad Gita 12.18
Spoken by Krishna · Verse 18 of 20
समः शत्रौ च मित्रे च तथा मानापमानयोः।शीतोष्णसुखदुःखेषु समः सङ्गविवर्जितः ॥
samaḥ śatrau ca mitre ca tathā mānāpamānayoḥ|śītoṣṇasukhaduḥkheṣu samaḥ saṅgavivarjitaḥ ||
Equal to enemy and friend, honor and dishonor, cold and heat, pleasure and pain — free from all attachment!
Word by word (3)
- samaḥ śatrau ca mitre ca tathā mānāpamānayoḥ
- — equal toward enemy and friend, and also in honor and dishonor · samaḥ = equal, same, balanced (from √sam = to be even; sama = the unbroken equipoise that doesn't tilt toward or away). śatrau = toward/regarding the enemy (locative of śatru = enemy, rival, adversary; śatru = one who undermines/destroys). ca = and (connective). mitre = toward/regarding the friend (locative of mitra = friend, ally; mitra = the Vedic deity of friendship; mitra = the one who holds the covenant). ca = and. tathā = also, in the same way. mānāpamānayoḥ = in honor and dishonor (locative dual; māna = honor, respect, esteem; apamāna = dis-honor, disrespect, insult; mānāpamānayoḥ = the dual 'in honor-and-dishonor together'). The equanimity is social: same toward those who like you (mitra) and those who oppose you (śatru); same when honored (māna) and when dishonored (apamāna). This is the social-relational dimension of sama — not indifference to people but freedom from preferential treatment of those who favor you over those who don't.
- śītoṣṇa-sukha-duḥkheṣu samaḥ saṅga-vivarjitaḥ
- — equal in cold and heat, pleasure and pain — free from attachment · śīta = cold (from √śī = to be cold; śīta = the cold sensation; the physical dimension of duality). uṣṇa = heat (from √uṣ = to burn; uṣṇa = hot, warm; śītoṣṇa = the cold-heat polarity = the physical conditions of discomfort and comfort). sukha = pleasure, ease. duḥkha = pain, suffering. śītoṣṇa-sukha-duḥkheṣu = in cold-heat-pleasure-pain (locative plural; the field in which equanimity is practiced: physical sensations of comfort/discomfort AND psychological states of ease/suffering). samaḥ = equal (the same person is sama in ALL these domains: social AND physical AND psychological). saṅga-vivarjitaḥ = freed from attachment (saṅga = sticking, clinging, attachment, association; from √sañj = to cling; vivarjita = freed from, separated from; saṅga-vivarjita = one who has been freed of sticking-attachment). The two qualities together: equal in experience (sama in conditions) AND free in inner grip (saṅga-vivarjita). Being sama doesn't mean no sensation; it means no grasping at sensations.
- sama (repeated as theme)
- — equanimity — the thread running through all polarities · The word sama appears multiple times in V18-V19. In Sanskrit, when a teacher repeatedly uses the same word across a verse, it creates a leitmotif — a sonic-semantic thread. Sama in the Gita is not 'sameness' (things are obviously different) but the quality of inner response that doesn't discriminate between the poles: the practitioner doesn't favor śatru over mitra, doesn't chase sukha or flee duḥkha. The same awareness meets all of it without favoritism. This is different from apathy or numbness — the dear devotee is fully present (dakṣa = capable, alert) but the RESPONSE is unconditioned. Sama is perhaps the Gita's most important ethical-yogic term after ahiṃsā.
Alike toward foe and friend, alike in honour and dishonour, alike in cold and heat, in pleasure and pain, free from attachment —
A modern analogy
Like a judge who applies the same standard to cases whether they like the defendant or not, whether the verdict will be praised or criticized, whether the courtroom is hot or cold. The quality of attention and fairness doesn't change based on conditions. That same-ness of inner standard across all externals is sama.
Sit with this: This verse places 'equal toward enemy and friend' alongside 'equal in cold and heat' — treating social relationship-equanimity and physical sensation-equanimity as the same quality. Do you think they share a root? What does it mean to be 'sama' toward someone who has genuinely harmed you?
Public-domain translations (5) compare all →
[V18 missing from SH indexed] [1]
[V18 missing from SW indexed — combined with V19 in SW translation] [4]
Who keeps the middle road / Between what pleaseth and what paineth him; / Steadfast; self-satisfying; furnished full / With them he loveth [7]
He who is alike to friend and foe, as also in honour and dishonour, who is alike in cold and heat, pleasure and pain, who is free from attachments [9]
He who is alike to friend and foe, as also in honor and dishonor, who is alike in cold and heat, (and pleasure and pain), who is free from attachment [13]
This verse speaks to
Where this thread continues
Treat pleasure and pain, gain and loss, victory and defeat as equal — then engage. No sin follows from this.
Who measures others' joy and pain by the standard of their own — seeing the same everywhere — is the supreme yogi.
Equal in pleasure-pain, clod-stone-gold, agreeable-disagreeable, censure-praise — the guṇātīta abides in self.
Rājasic food: bitter, sour, salty, hot, pungent, dry, burning — loved by the rājasic; yields pain, grief, disease.
The self-conquered yogi finds the Supreme Self equally present through cold, heat, joy, pain, honour and dishonour.
Once that joy is found, no other gain seems greater — established in it, even the heaviest sorrow cannot shake you.
Verse 18 of 20 · back to Chapter 12