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. Tap 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.
At her daughter's wedding, a mother is praised by one relative and insulted by another within the same hour. Krishna describes the self-conquered person who stays settled through both, as through heat and cold.
Did you like this verse?
Heat and cold, pleasure and pain, honour and insult: the serene, self-conquered person stays fixed in the supreme.
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
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.
What it looks like today
At her daughter's wedding, a mother is praised by one relative and insulted by another within the same hour. Krishna describes the self-conquered person who stays settled through both, as through heat and cold.
“You do not need life to become gentle before you can be at ease.”
Explore related themes: samatva (13 verses), dhyana yoga (13 verses)