Bhagavad Gita 2.64
Spoken by Krishna · Verse 64 of 72
रागद्वेषवियुक्तैस्तु विषयानिन्द्रियैश्चरन् । आत्मवश्यैर्विधेयात्मा प्रसादमधिगच्छति ॥
rāga-dveṣa-viyuktais tu viṣayān indriyaiś caran | ātma-vaśyair vidheyātmā prasādam adhigacchati ||
Move through the world with senses free from attraction and aversion — that clarity is the natural reward.
Word by word (3)
- rāga-dveṣa-viyuktaiḥ
- — free from attraction and aversion · Rāga (attraction, passion) + dveṣa (aversion, repulsion) — the two fundamental reactive pulls of the ego-mind. Viyukta = separated from, freed from. The sthitaprajña does not eliminate sense contact but moves through sense experience without rāga-dveṣa coloring the engagement.
- ātma-vaśyaiḥ indriyaiḥ
- — with senses under the Self's control · Ātma-vaśya = under the Self's governance. The senses serve, not rule. This is the positive description of what V58-61 prescribed as practice.
- prasādam adhigacchati
- — attains prasāda / inner clarity and grace · Prasāda from pra+sad (to sit in front of, to be clear, to be gracious). Prasāda means both 'clarity' (of the mind) and 'grace' (divine favor). In this context: the mind's natural luminosity, its natural settled clarity, that emerges when rāga-dveṣa are removed. Not a gift from outside but the uncovering of what was always there.
But the self-disciplined person who moves through the world of sense-objects — with senses freed from attraction and aversion and under their own control — such a person attains prasāda: inner clarity and peace.
A modern analogy
Walking through a market without being pulled toward every pleasure or pushed away by every displeasure. You notice the beauty in the display without craving it. You notice the unpleasant smell without recoiling into aversion. You move through — fully present, engaged, unentangled. That quality of passage through experience is prasāda — the clarity that comes from neither grasping nor resisting.
Take with you
- The goal is not to avoid the world of sense but to move through it without rāga-dveṣa (attraction and aversion) dominating each moment.
- Prasāda (inner clarity) is the natural state of the mind when attraction-aversion cease to color experience — it is uncovered, not manufactured.
- Test your rāga-dveṣa balance: are there people, situations, foods, or environments you reflexively pursue or avoid? Those are your hooks.
- This verse is the positive antidote to the chain of suffering described just before it: instead of the cascade where dwelling on objects breeds craving, anger, delusion and finally total ruin, this is the chain of liberation — controlled senses leading to prasāda, and prasāda to peace.
Public-domain translations (5) compare all →
But the self-controlled man, moving among objects with senses freed from attraction and aversion and subjected to his control, attains to grace. [1]
But the self-controlled man, moving among objects with his senses freed from attraction and aversion and brought under his own control, attains to peace. [4]
But that man who moves among the objects of sense with senses under his control, free from attraction and aversion, directed by his soul, reaches serenity. [6]
But who shall move amidst the world of sense, From these kept free — subdued, with self restrained, Able to bear attraction and dislike With equal mind — so walks in peace. [7]
But the self-restrained man moves among objects of sense, with the senses weaned from likes and dislikes, and brought under his own control, and attains serenity. [9]
This verse speaks to
Where this thread continues
Anger → delusion → memory loss → intellect destroyed → total ruin. Know this chain before it starts.
Rāga and dveṣa lie in every sense-object. Do not come under their power — they are enemies on the path.
Not elated at pleasant, not disturbed at unpleasant — steady, undeluded, the brahma-vit rests in Brahman.
Guṇa-fed branches spread everywhere; in the human world, karma-roots grow downward entangling further.
Those whose sin has ended — virtuous in deed, freed from dvandva-delusion — worship Me with firm resolve.
Do My work, hold Me supreme, be My devotee, attachment-free, without enmity toward all — such a one comes to Me!
Verse 64 of 72 · back to Chapter 2