A core teaching · grounding in mood · a little context helps
“Clinging fades; the mind stays level.”
Freedom from attachment to sons, wife, home, and the like; and constant evenness of mind in desired and undesired events.
The verse in reading order — each Sanskrit word with its meaning beneath. Tap a word to focus on it.
Read literallynon-attachment · no clinging · in sons, wife, home, and such · always · and · evenness of mind · in the arrival of the desired and undesired
Do not cling to family and possessions, and keep your mind steady whether things go your way or not.
Krishna speaks this verse, on the battlefield of Kurukshetra, in the chapter titled "Kshetra Kshetrajna Vibhaga" (Field and Knower of the Field).
Verse 10 sits in Chapter 13 of the Bhagavad Gita — Kshetra Kshetrajna Vibhaga, "Field and Knower of the Field". The chapter has 35 verses in total.
Parents whose son moves abroad for work can cling and resent, or they can stay even-minded. Krishna names that evenness, through what you want and what you dread, as part of knowledge.
Did you like this verse?
No clinging to son, wife and home, and an even mind through wanted and unwanted events: Krishna calls this knowledge.
What this verse means
Do not cling to family and possessions, and keep your mind steady whether things go your way or not.
Context & commentary
Krishna continues listing the qualities of clear seeing: not clinging to family and home, and remaining even-minded whether life brings what is wanted or not.
What it looks like today
Parents whose son moves abroad for work can cling and resent, or they can stay even-minded. Krishna names that evenness, through what you want and what you dread, as part of knowledge.
“You can love without gripping. Stability grows when approval and loss stop steering your mood.”
Explore related themes: kshetra kshetrajna (10 verses)