Bhagavad Gita 5.23
Spoken by Krishna · Verse 23 of 29
शक्नोतीहैव यः सोढुं प्राक्शरीरविमोक्षणात्। कामक्रोधोद्भवं वेगं स युक्तः स सुखी नरः॥५-२३॥
śaknotīhaiva yaḥ soḍhuṃ prāk śarīra-vimokṣaṇāt | kāma-krodhodbhavaṃ vegam sa yuktaḥ sa sukhī naraḥ || 5.23 ||
Withstand desire and anger's force here in this body — that one is yoked, that one is happy.
Word by word (7)
- śaknoti iha eva
- — is able here itself / can do it in this very life (iha eva — emphatic, this very body)
- yaḥ soḍhum
- — who is able to withstand / to endure / to bear up under
- prāk śarīra-vimokṣaṇāt
- — before release from the body / before leaving the body / before death
- kāma-krodha-udbhavam
- — born/arising from desire and anger (kāma = desire, krodha = anger, udbhava = arising from)
- vegam
- — force / impulse / rush / current — the driving force or pressure
- sa yuktaḥ
- — that one is yoked / that person is disciplined / in yoga
- sa sukhī naraḥ
- — that person is happy / that human being is truly content
He who can withstand, here in this body before he is freed from it, the force that springs from desire and anger — he is a yogi, and he is a happy man.
A modern analogy
An experienced surgeon who receives terrible news — a personal crisis — just before a critical operation does not act on the emotional surge. They feel it, acknowledge it internally, and continue with full focus. This is not numbness — it is the capacity to withstand the vegam (the raw force) of an emotion without being swept into reactive action. That capacity is what this verse calls yukta (yoked). The untrained person would either suppress (and erode) or react (and cause harm). The yogi does neither.
What it does NOT mean
Soḍhum (withstand) does not mean suppress or deny. It is not the white-knuckled repression of an impulse. It means remaining as the witness of the impulse — feeling the vegam of kāma or krodha arise, and not being carried away by it. The impulse exists; the identification with it dissolves. This is a subtle but critical distinction: suppression stores energy for later explosion; withstanding sees the impulse clearly without acting on it compulsively.
Take with you
- Iha eva — 'here itself' — carries the same urgency Krishna sounded just a few verses earlier, where the equanimous conquer birth in this very life. Krishna consistently refuses to defer liberation or its practical prerequisites to the afterlife. This work — withstanding desire and anger (kāma-krodha) — is possible now, in this body.
- Kāma-krodha vegam: desire and anger are paired because they are linked. Kāma (desire) unfulfilled produces krodha (anger). Earlier the Gita traced the whole chain: attachment leads to desire, desire to anger, anger to delusion, delusion to loss of memory, then loss of intelligence, and finally to ruin. This verse is the intervention point: catch the force of the impulse before it runs the chain.
- Sa yuktaḥ, sa sukhī: these two are given as one — the yoked person IS the happy person. The verse equates yoga (being yoked/disciplined) with sukha (happiness). This is the Gita's direct answer to the question: what does being in yoga actually feel like? It feels like happiness — specifically the happiness of not being run by compulsion.
Public-domain translations (6) compare all →
"One who is able here itself, before leaving the body, to withstand the force arising from desire and anger — that one is a yukta, that one is a happy person." [1]
"He who is able to withstand, even here before his release from the body, the impulse born of desire and anger — he is a Yukta, he is the happy man." [4]
"He who is able, while still here in the body, to withstand before the liberation from the body the impulse born from desire and wrath — he is harmonised, he is a happy man." [5]
"That man who is able to resist here in this world, before his liberation from the body, the impulse which arises from desire and anger, is a Yogi and a happy man." [6]
"Who, here, before he quits his body, learns to master, within this life, the force of Desire and Wrath — he is a Yukta, he is the blessed man." [7]
"He who is able here, before his release from the body, to endure the excitement born of desire and anger, is a Yukta, and is the happy man." [9]
This verse speaks to
Where this thread continues
The enemy is desire and anger, born of rajas — all-devouring, all-sinful. Know this as your internal enemy.
Thinking → clinging → craving → anger. The chain of suffering begins in where you let your mind dwell.
Three gates to hell, destructive of the self: kāma, krodha, lobha. Therefore abandon this triad.
Equanimous minds conquer birth here itself — Brahman is flawless and equal, thus they rest in Brahman.
Bound by hundreds of hope-nooses, devoted to kāma and krodha, they hoard wealth by unjust means for sense-enjoyment.
More daivī qualities: ahiṃsā, satya, akrodha, tyāga, śānti, apaiśuna, dayā, aloluptva, mārdava, hrī, acāpala.
Verse 23 of 29 · back to Chapter 5