Bhagavad Gita on success: 7 verses to stay grounded
For the promotion, the win, the good run. Read one a day, or all seven while it's fresh.
- 7 verses
- Gita, then the Mahabharata
- About 14 min to read
- Sanskrit, English, audio
Good news brings its own tests. Krishna's answer is steadiness: the same mind in praise and blame, gold and stone (14.24). These verses start with what success changes, that people now copy you (3.21), and the pride that can creep in (16.4). Then they turn to humility (13.8), the best kind of doer (18.26) and treating everyone as equal (5.18). The last is from the Mahabharata, a king who rose to heaven and fell as a python.
The seven verses
- Verse 1See itPeople are watching nowGita 3.21
- Verse 2What's underneathWhere pride creeps inGita 16.4
- Verse 3SteadyGold and stoneGita 14.24
- Verse 4SteadyNo need for statusGita 13.8
- Verse 5DoThe best kind of doerGita 18.26
- Verse 6DoEveryone gets the same respectGita 5.18
- Verse 7A storyThe king who became a pythonMahabharata
People are watching now
स यत्प्रमाणं कुरुते लोकस्तदनुवर्तते ॥
Whatever a respected person does, others copy. The standard you set is the one people follow.
Bhagavad Gita 3.21 · Krishna
Full translation
Whatever the best person does, others follow. Whatever standard they set, the world copies.
श्रेष्ठ मनुष्य जोजो आचरण करता है, दूसरे मनुष्य वैसावैसा ही आचरण करते हैं । वह जो कुछ प्रमाण देता है, दूसरे मनुष्य उसीके अनुसार आचरण करते हैं ॥
What it means for you
Success gives you an audience. Your team, your juniors, your younger cousins all take cues from how you carry it. Krishna says the world follows the standard the best people set.
Try this
Think of one person who looks up to you. What do you want them to copy?
Where pride creeps in
अज्ञानं चाभिजातस्य पार्थ सम्पदमासुरीम् ॥
Show-off, arrogance, conceit, anger, harshness and ignorance: the marks of a nature heading the wrong way.
Bhagavad Gita 16.4 · Krishna
Full translation
O son of Pritha, hypocrisy, arrogance, self-importance, anger, harshness, and ignorance are the marks of one born with demonic qualities.
हे पृथानन्दन दम्भ करना, घमण्ड करना, अभिमान करना, क्रोध करना, कठोरता रखना और अविवेकका होना भी ये सभी आसुरीसम्पदाको प्राप्त हुए मनुष्यके लक्षण हैं ॥
What it means for you
Krishna names these so you can spot them early in yourself: dambha (show), darpa (arrogance), abhimāna (conceit). They grow fastest in a good season.
Try this
Notice one moment today when you wanted to be seen more than you wanted to help.
Use it as a mirror for yourself. It was never meant as a label for others.
Gold and stone
तुल्यप्रियाप्रियो धीरस्तुल्यनिन्दात्मसंस्तुतिः ॥
Even in pain and pleasure, at ease in yourself; earth, stone and gold the same; praise and blame alike.
Bhagavad Gita 14.24 · Krishna
Full translation
The steady one remains equal in pleasure and pain, in a clod of earth, a stone, and gold; equal toward the liked and the disliked, toward praise and blame.
जो धीर मनुष्य सुखदुःखमें सम तथा अपने स्वरूपमें स्थित रहता है जो मिट्टीके ढेले, पत्थर और सोनेमें सम रहता है जो प्रियअप्रियमें तथा अपनी निन्दास्तुतिमें सम रहता है जो मानअपमानमें तथा मित्रशत्रुके पक्षमें सम रहता है जो सम्पूर्ण कर्मोंके आरम्भका त्यागी है, वह मनुष्य गुणातीत कहा जाता है ॥
What it means for you
Krishna's free person treats a lump of earth, a stone and gold the same, and takes praise and blame alike. Enjoy the win. Just keep your sense of who you are from rising and falling with it.
Try this
Accept today's compliment with a simple thank you, and move on.
No need for status
आचार्योपासनं शौचं स्थैर्यमात्मविनिग्रहः ॥
No need for status, no pretence, no harm, patience, straightness, respect for teachers, purity, steadiness, self-control.
Bhagavad Gita 13.8 · Krishna
Full translation
Absence of pride, absence of pretence, nonviolence, forgiveness, simplicity, service to the teacher, purity, steadiness, and self-control.
मानित्वअपनेमें श्रेष्ठताके भाव का न होना, दम्भित्वदिखावटीपन का न होना, अहिंसा, क्षमा, सरलता, गुरुकी सेवा, बाहरभीतरकी शुद्धि, स्थिरता और मनका वशमें होना ॥
What it means for you
When Krishna lists what real knowledge looks like, the first word is amānitvam: not needing to be honoured. He puts it ahead of everything else on the list.
Try this
Thank one teacher or mentor who helped you get here.
The best kind of doer
सिद्ध्यसिद्ध्योर्निर्विकारः कर्ता सात्त्विक उच्यते ॥
Free of clinging and boasting, full of resolve and enthusiasm, unchanged by success or failure: the best kind of doer.
Bhagavad Gita 18.26 · Krishna
Full translation
The doer who is free from attachment, free from ego, endowed with steadiness and enthusiasm, and unchanged by success or failure is called sattvic.
जो कर्ता रागरहित, अनहंवादी, धैर्य और उत्साहयुक्त तथा सिद्धि और असिद्धिमें निर्विकार है, वह सात्त्विक कहा जाता है ॥
What it means for you
Krishna's ideal worker is full of drive and enthusiasm, and still doesn't boast or cling. Success and failure leave them the same. Ambition and humility can sit in one person.
Try this
Set your next goal, and tell no one about it until it's done.
Everyone gets the same respect
शुनि चैव श्वपाके च पण्डिताः समदर्शिनः ॥
The wise see the same self in a scholar, a cow, an elephant, a dog and an outcast.
Bhagavad Gita 5.18 · Krishna
Full translation
The wise see the same reality in a learned, humble brahmin, a cow, an elephant, a dog, and an outcaste.
ज्ञानी महापुरुष विद्याविनययुक्त ब्राह्मणमें और चाण्डालमें तथा गाय, हाथी एवं कुत्तेमें भी समरूप परमात्माको देखनेवाले होते हैं ॥
What it means for you
Krishna's wise person sees the same self in everyone, high or low. Treat people the same way after the win as before it, from the CEO to the security guard.
Try this
Learn the name of someone at work you've walked past for months.
The king who became a python
वर्तमानः सुखे सर्वो नावैतीति मतिर्मम ॥
Success can blind even the wise and brave. In comfort, nobody notices it happening.
Mahabharata, Vana Parva
Nahusha's fall
King Nahusha was so successful that he was made ruler of heaven. Drunk on it, he made sages carry his palanquin and kicked one to hurry him along. The sage cursed him, and he fell to earth as a giant python. Ages later he seized Bhima in the forest, and was freed only after Yudhishthira answered his questions about what makes a person good.
Success can blind anyone. Conduct is what makes a person good.
What it means for you
Nahusha's own warning is the honest one: nobody notices the change while it's happening. That's why good seasons are the time to check.
Try this
Ask someone close to you if success has changed you, and listen to the answer.
That's all seven.
Come back to the one that stayed with you. Or let Wisdom pick seven verses for your own situation, with the Sanskrit read aloud.
Common questions
What does the Bhagavad Gita say about success?
Krishna asks for the same mind in success and failure (2.48, 18.26), and describes the free person as equal in praise and blame, treating gold and stone alike (14.24). He warns that others copy the standard successful people set (3.21).
What does the Gita say about pride and humility?
16.4 lists show, arrogance and conceit as signs of a nature going the wrong way. 13.8 opens its list of true knowledge with amānitvam, not needing to be honoured.
Which Gita verse helps you stay humble?
13.8 (amānitvam, freedom from the need for status) and 5.18 (seeing the same self in everyone) are the two most often quoted.
Should I read one verse a day or all seven at once?
Either works. All seven take about 14 minutes. One a day gives each verse time to settle, and the page remembers where you stopped.
