Equanimity in the Bhagavad Gita
The Gita teaches equanimity as staying even in pleasure and pain, gain and loss; Krishna calls this evenness yoga.
Verses across the Gita that speak to equanimity, drawn from all chapters and ordered by where they appear.
- 2.14Ch. 2
Passing sensations lose power when you stop treating them as permanent.
You do not have to be ruled by every sensation. Calm endurance gives you room to choose wisely.
- 2.15Ch. 2
Freedom begins where pain and pleasure stop controlling you.
You do not need to be ruled by every high and low. Steadiness itself becomes strength.
- 2.38Ch. 2
Equanimity frees action from the stain of panic and craving.
Inner steadiness makes hard action possible without guilt or panic.
- 2.48Ch. 2
Equanimity turns action into yoga.
You can stay calm without stopping action. Inner balance makes effort cleaner and less painful.
- 2.54Ch. 2
Steady wisdom must be recognizable in ordinary movement.
Real wisdom should show up in ordinary behavior, not just in ideas.
- 2.56Ch. 2
Steadiness remains when pleasure and pain lose their grip.
You do not have to be ruled by every rise and fall. Calm can remain while life changes.
- 2.57Ch. 2
Steady wisdom does not need life to feel favorable.
You can meet life fully without being pulled around by every result.
- 2.63Ch. 2
Anger first distorts seeing, then destroys the mind that should guide action.
You can feel the warning inside anger before it turns into damage.
- 2.65Ch. 2
Clear seeing ends suffering and lets understanding settle at once.
Clear the mind and much of the suffering drops off with it.
- 2.70Ch. 2
Peace belongs to the one who stays steady while desire moves.
You do not have to fight every desire; you can let it move through without letting it steer you.
- 2.72Ch. 2
Steadiness in the supreme reality ends confusion, even at life’s edge.
A clear mind can stay steady even at life's end.
- 5.19Ch. 5
Sameness of mind is the real conquest; everything else is aftermath.
You can stop fighting reality and feel the quiet strength of being rooted beyond change.
- 5.20Ch. 5
Steadiness begins when pleasure and pain lose their power over you.
You do not have to be pushed around by every gain or loss.
- 6.8Ch. 6
True mastery makes gold and dust feel identical.
Real freedom feels unshaken by what others call valuable.
- 6.9Ch. 6
Equal vision toward all people marks the highest steadiness.
You stop being manipulated by preference and aversion, and that gives real inner freedom.
- 6.32Ch. 6
Equal vision makes you unshaken by pleasure or pain.
Treat others' joy and pain as you would your own, and stay level through both.
- 12.15Ch. 12
True devotion leaves no wake of disturbance.
Steady people do not stir up others, and others cannot easily stir them up.
- 12.17Ch. 12
Devotion becomes steady when liking and disliking no longer rule the heart.
Stop riding every high and low, and the mind gets room to breathe.
- 12.18Ch. 12
Real devotion stays even when life feels hostile or kind.
You can stay open and calm without needing life to treat you kindly.
- 14.22Ch. 14
Freedom begins when changing states stop controlling your response.
You stop fighting your changing states and stop chasing the next one.
- 14.23Ch. 14
Freedom begins when movement happens, but identity does not.
You can stop identifying with every passing mood and impulse. That creates a quiet kind of freedom.
- 14.24Ch. 14
Steadiness means nothing external gets to decide your center.
You do not have to be pulled around by every reaction. Steadiness is possible.
- 14.25Ch. 14
Freedom begins when praise, blame, and personal impulse lose their power over you.
You can stop living as a puppet of approval, rejection, and impulse.