A core teaching · reflective in mood · a little context helps
“Steadiness makes the highest reality feel near in every opposite.”
For one who has conquered the self and is serene, the supreme reality is ever present in heat and cold, pleasure and pain, honor and dishonor.
The verse in reading order — each Sanskrit word with its meaning beneath. Hover a word to focus on it.
Read literallyof one who has conquered the self · of the serene · the supreme reality · is present, absorbed · in cold and heat, pleasure and pain · and also · in honor and dishonor
A person who has mastered the restless mind stays steady through comfort and discomfort, praise and insult. In that steadiness, the supreme reality is immediately present.
Krishna speaks this verse, on the battlefield of Kurukshetra, in the chapter titled "Dhyana Yoga" (The Yoga of Meditation).
Verse 7 sits in Chapter 6 of the Bhagavad Gita — Dhyana Yoga, "The Yoga of Meditation". The chapter has 47 verses in total.
You get praised in the meeting, then criticized in the hallway, and your mood swings with both. This verse asks for a steadier center that no comment can shake.
Did you like this verse?
It shifts attention from outer conditions to inner steadiness, showing that true presence is possible amid opposites.
What this verse means
A person who has mastered the restless mind stays steady through comfort and discomfort, praise and insult. In that steadiness, the supreme reality is immediately present.
Context & commentary
On Kurukshetra, Arjuna is still frozen, and Krishna keeps teaching the inner discipline needed to act rightly. After saying the self can be either friend or enemy, Krishna adds that the conquered, peaceful person remains unchanged through heat, cold, pleasure, pain, praise, and insult.
Why this verse still matters
You get praised in the meeting, then criticized in the hallway, and your mood swings with both. This verse asks for a steadier center that no comment can shake.
“You do not need life to become gentle before you can be at ease.”
Explore related themes: samatva (13 verses), dhyana yoga (13 verses)