Bhagavad Gita 2.15
Spoken by Krishna · Verse 15 of 72
यं हि न व्यथयन्त्येते पुरुषं पुरुषर्षभ। समदुःखसुखं धीरं सोऽमृतत्वाय कल्पते॥
yaṃ hi na vyathayantīte puruṣaṃ puruṣarṣabha / sama-duḥkha-sukhaṃ dhīraṃ so 'mṛtatvāya kalpate
The person unmoved by pleasure and pain is fit for liberation — equanimity is not coldness but freedom.
Word by word (4)
- yam hi na vyathayanti ete
- — the one who is not afflicted by these
- puruṣam puruṣa-ṛṣabha
- — O bull among men / O best of men · One of Krishna's most respectful epithets for Arjuna — 'puruṣarṣabha' — acknowledging his excellence even in the midst of challenging him. The teaching treats Arjuna as capable of receiving it.
- sama-duḥkha-sukham dhīram
- — the steady one who is equal in sorrow and joy · 'Sama-duḥkha-sukham' — same in pain and pleasure. Not that they feel nothing, but that their inner stability is not dependent on the outcome of experience. Equal not in feeling but in groundedness.
- saḥ amṛtatvāya kalpate
- — that one is fit for immortality / becomes worthy of liberation · 'Amṛtatva' — immortality, deathlessness. But in the Vedantic sense: liberation (moksha), not just longevity. The person who is equal in pleasure and pain has become fit for the deathless state.
'The person who is not afflicted by these — who remains balanced in pain and pleasure, O bull among men — that steady, wise person is fit for immortality.'
A modern analogy
A great surgeon who can operate with full precision regardless of whether the patient is a stranger or their own child — not because they don't feel, but because their competence doesn't depend on feeling. The equanimity (sama) this verse describes is not the absence of feeling but the absence of being controlled by feeling.
Take with you
- 'Sama-duḥkha-sukham' — equal in sorrow and joy. Not emotionless: equal. The practice is not suppression but stability.
- Amṛtatva (immortality) as liberation: the 'deathless state' is psychological freedom, not just lifespan.
- This verse gives a practical test: in your most difficult moments, are you fundamentally stable? That stability is the sign of approaching liberation.
Public-domain translations (4) compare all →
That firm man whom these afflict not, O chief among men, balanced in pleasure and pain, wise, is fit for immortality. [4]
That man who is not troubled by these, O chief of men, who is the same in pleasure and pain and is undisturbed, is fitted for immortality. [6]
He is not harmed who self-sufficing bears Heat, cold, pleasure, and pain — The brave, the wise — such is man worthy of eternal life. [7]
That man whom these do not trouble, O chief of men, who is the same in pain and pleasure and is brave, is fit for immortality. [9]
This verse speaks to
Where this thread continues
Heat and cold, pleasure and pain — they come and go. Learn to endure them without being swept away.
Unmoved in sorrow, ungreedy in joy, free from passion, fear, and anger — that is the steady sage.
Arjuna asks: what does the truly wise person look like? How do they speak, sit, and move?
Intellect, wisdom, patience, truth, calm, restraint, joy, pain, birth, death, fear, fearlessness — all arise from Me.
Those whose sin has ended — virtuous in deed, freed from dvandva-delusion — worship Me with firm resolve.
Those who know Me as Adhibhūta, Adhidaiva, and Adhiyajña — they know Me even at death, with unified minds.
Verse 15 of 72 · back to Chapter 2