Bhagavad Gita 6.7
Spoken by Krishna ☆ Key verse · Verse 7 of 47
जितात्मनः प्रशान्तस्य परमात्मा समाहितः | शीतोष्णसुखदुःखेषु तथा मानापमानयोः ||७||
jitātmanaḥ praśāntasya paramātmā samāhitaḥ | śītoṣṇasukhaduḥkheṣu tathā mānāpamānayoḥ || 7 ||
The self-conquered yogi finds the Supreme Self equally present through cold, heat, joy, pain, honour and dishonour.
Word by word (5)
- jitātmanaḥ
- — of the one who has conquered the self · jita (conquered, from √ji) + ātman (self). The jitātman is the continuation of V6's 'conquered self' — that person who has made the ātman their ally. V7 tells us what life looks like for that person: the Supreme Self is always present, always realised, unaffected by circumstances.
- praśāntasya
- — of the serene / utterly peaceful one · pra (fully, intensely) + śānta (peaceful, from √śam, to be calm). Praśānta is not passive calm — it is the deep equanimity that comes from having resolved the internal war of V5-6. This person is not suppressing disturbance; they have no ground for disturbance to arise.
- paramātmā samāhitaḥ
- — the Supreme Self is steadied / gathered in · paramātmā = the highest Self, Brahman. samāhita = collected, concentrated, established (from sam + ā + √dhā, to place). The verse says the Supreme Self is 'placed' or 'established' in the jitātman — meaning: the realisation of Brahman is constant, unbroken, not lost in changing circumstances. This is jīvanmukti — liberation while living.
- śītoṣṇa-sukha-duḥkheṣu
- — in cold and heat, in pleasure and pain · Three pairs: śīta (cold) / uṣṇa (heat) — environmental opposites; sukha (pleasure) / duḥkha (pain) — experiential opposites. These six represent the full spectrum of bodily and mental experience. The jitātman is not immune to cold or pain — they still feel them. But the paramātmā within is unaffected. The weather passes; the sky remains.
- māna-apamānayoḥ
- — in honour and dishonour · māna = honour, respect, esteem. apamāna = dishonour, disrespect (apa = away from, removal of). These are the social opposites — the hardest to be equanimous about, since ego lives in the realm of reputation. A person who can receive praise and insult with the same inner stillness has truly conquered the self.
For the person who has truly mastered themselves — who is internally quiet and at peace — the Supreme Self (the deepest reality within them) remains constantly present and fully realised, regardless of whether life brings cold or heat, pleasure or pain, respect or insult.
A modern analogy
Think of a lighthouse. The sea around it can be glassy calm or churning in a storm. The waves can rise up and crash against it with immense force. The lighthouse doesn't move. It doesn't stop the storm — but it doesn't go away either. The jitātman of this verse is a lighthouse: fully present in the world, fully feeling its weather, unmoved in its foundation. Or consider a master surgeon in the middle of a complicated operation. Whether it's freezing in the operating room or sweltering, whether the patient is a friend or a stranger, whether the colleagues compliment or criticise — the surgeon's hands remain steady. Mastery creates a zone of stability that circumstances cannot breach.
What it does NOT mean
This verse does NOT mean the yogi becomes numb or indifferent to experience. They still feel cold. They still feel pain. They still notice praise and insult. What has changed is that these experiences no longer disturb the deeper ground of their being. Equanimity is not anaesthesia — it is stability that survives all weather.
Take with you
- When next you receive criticism or disrespect, notice your first inner reaction. Is there a tightening, a defensive surge? That surge is the 'unconquered self' — the mind not yet mastered, still acting as its own enemy — still responding. This verse shows the destination: not suppressing the surge, but having worked inward enough that the ground below it stays still.
- The pairs of opposites in this verse (cold/heat, pleasure/pain, honour/dishonour) are a checklist of your trigger points. Which pair disturbs you most? That is your primary field of inner work.
- This verse is a portrait, not a command. Krishna is not saying 'be unmoved right now.' He is describing what the fruit of dhyana yoga looks like — so you know what you are practicing toward.
Public-domain translations (6) compare all →
Of the self-controlled and serene one, the Supreme Self is concentrated — in cold and heat, pleasure and pain, and also in honour and dishonour. [1]
To the self-controlled and serene, the Supreme Self is the object of constant realisation, in cold and heat, pleasure and pain, as well as in honour and dishonour. [4]
Of the self-conquered, peaceful one, the Supreme Self is balanced in cold and heat, in pleasure and pain, and in honour and dishonour. [5]
To the man of subdued mind and spirit the Supreme Spirit is uniform in cold and heat, pain and pleasure, honour and dishonour. [6]
Who hath subdued himself — on him the Supreme Self is steadfastly established — in cold and heat, in joy and pain, in honour and dishonour alike. [7]
The Supreme Self of one who is self-restrained and peaceful is fixed in cold and heat, in pleasure and pain, as also in honour and dishonour. [9]
This verse speaks to
Where this thread continues
Your own mind is your best friend when mastered; your worst enemy when not.
The person unmoved by pleasure and pain is fit for liberation — equanimity is not coldness but freedom.
Lift the self by the Self; let not the self drown itself — you alone are your own friend and your own foe.
I am the same toward all beings — none hateful nor dear to Me — but My devotees are in Me, and I am in them.
Equal in pleasure-pain, clod-stone-gold, agreeable-disagreeable, censure-praise — the guṇātīta abides in self.
Once that joy is found, no other gain seems greater — established in it, even the heaviest sorrow cannot shake you.
Verse 7 of 47 · back to Chapter 6