Bhagavad Gita 6.32
Spoken by Krishna ☆ Key verse · Verse 32 of 47
आत्मौपम्येन सर्वत्र समं पश्यति योऽर्जुन | सुखं वा यदि वा दुःखं स योगी परमो मतः ||३२||
ātmaupamyena sarvatra samaṃ paśyati yo'rjuna | sukhaṃ vā yadi vā duḥkhaṃ sa yogī paramo mataḥ || 32 ||
Who measures others' joy and pain by the standard of their own — seeing the same everywhere — is the supreme yogi.
Word by word (3)
- ātmaupamyena sarvatra samaṃ paśyati yaḥ arjuna
- — who sees everywhere by the measure of himself the same, O Arjuna · ātma-aupamya = by self-comparison, using the self as the measure (ātman = self; aupamya = comparison, likeness, from upa-mā, to measure). sarvatra = everywhere, in all beings. samaṃ paśyati = sees the same. The deepest application of V29's sama-darśana: not just seeing the same ātman philosophically in all beings, but applying the test of self-experience — 'by the measure of myself.' What does this mean practically? If I know that I dislike pain, I use that as the measure: all beings dislike pain. I see their experience by the measure of mine. This is the foundation of ethical empathy from a non-dual base.
- sukhaṃ vā yadi vā duḥkhaṃ sa yogī paramaḥ mataḥ
- — whether pleasure or pain — that yogi is considered supreme · sukham = pleasure, joy. vā yadi vā = whether... or. duḥkham = pain, sorrow. sa = that one. yogī paramaḥ = supreme yogi (parama = highest, supreme). mataḥ = is regarded, considered (from √man, to think). The criterion: the yogi who measures others' pleasure and pain by their own experience — who sees others' joy as they would see their own and others' suffering as they would feel their own — is parama (supreme). This is the highest yogic standard V32 establishes. Not samādhi technique, not knowledge — but the capacity for genuine empathy grounded in sama-darśana.
- ātmaupamyena (key compound): self-as-measure
- — using the self as the measure for others — the empathy criterion · This compound is unique in the Gita: ātma-aupamya means using yourself as the measuring instrument for other beings. It is the practical application of non-dual insight to ethics: because the same ātman is in all beings (V29), the yogi's own experience of pleasure and pain is a direct guide to all beings' experience. 'I know I feel pain — and the same ātman that is me is in you — therefore I know you feel pain too.' This is the Gita's version of the golden rule, grounded not in moral duty but in non-dual perception.
The highest yogi, O Arjuna, is the one who measures others' experience by their own: who sees others' pleasure and pain with the same directness they feel their own pleasure and pain. This ātmaupamyena (self-as-measure) empathy — seeing everywhere as if looking in a mirror — is the mark of the supreme yogic life.
A modern analogy
A person who has genuinely suffered knows how to sit with someone else in their suffering — they don't offer platitudes, they don't rush to fix. They recognise: 'This is pain. I know what this is. I measure it by what I have felt.' This verse's ātmaupamyena is this quality generalised universally — seeing all beings' pleasure and pain as if looking at oneself.
What it does NOT mean
This verse does NOT define the 'highest yogi' by their samādhi attainment, their knowledge, or their adherence to any external practice. The criterion is relational and ethical: the capacity to measure others' experience by one's own. This is the Gita's culminating definition of yoga's fruit — not inner bliss alone, but that inner recognition expressed as genuine empathy.
Take with you
- This verse is the ethical culmination of the chapter: all the practice from the chapter's opening teaching on equal-mindedness through to abiding in Krishna in all activity has been building toward this capacity — genuine, non-dual empathy that measures others by oneself. The practice doesn't end at inner bliss — the supreme bliss of becoming Brahman; it opens into this verse's universal compassion.
- The ātmaupamyena test in daily life: before responding to someone in difficulty, briefly ask: 'If this were happening to me, how would I feel? What would I need?' Then respond from that answer. This is this verse applied.
- This verse closes the chapter's sama-darśana sequence: seeing the Self in all beings (philosophical equal vision) → mutual presence with Krishna → worshipping Krishna in all beings → measuring all beings' pleasure and pain by one's own experience. The arc moves from metaphysics to ethics to lived empathy.
Public-domain translations (6) compare all →
O Arjuna, the yogi who judges pleasure and pain for others by the measure of their own experience — who sees the same everywhere — is regarded as supreme. [1]
He who judges of pleasure or pain everywhere, by the same standard as he applies to himself, that Yogi, O Arjuna, is regarded as the highest. [4]
He who seeth everywhere as his own self, O Arjuna, whether in pleasure or in pain — he is considered a perfect Yogi. [5]
That Yogi is considered the highest who judges the pleasure or pain of every being by the same standard as he applies to himself. [6]
Who sees — in good or ill — but one, judging of all things equally, that Yogi is the best, Arjuna! [7]
O Arjuna! he is regarded the best Yogi, who is alike to himself in the case of all beings — (whether there is) pleasure or pain. [9]
This verse speaks to
Where this thread continues
Established in unity, worshipping Me as dwelling in all beings — whatever the mode of life, that yogi abides in Me.
O Madhusūdana — I see no stable foundation for this yoga: the mind's restlessness defeats all steadiness.
Seers with sins destroyed, doubts cut, self-controlled, devoted to all beings' welfare — they attain brahma-nirvāṇa.
The self-conquered yogi finds the Supreme Self equally present through cold, heat, joy, pain, honour and dishonour.
Past practice carries the yogi forward involuntarily — even the yoga-inquirer surpasses the Vedic ritualist.
Your own mind is your best friend when mastered; your worst enemy when not.
Verse 32 of 47 · back to Chapter 6