Chapter 5, Verse 20
न प्रहृष्येत्प्रियं प्राप्य नोद्विजेत्प्राप्य चाप्रियम् | स्थिरबुद्धिरसम्मूढो ब्रह्मविद् ब्रह्मणि स्थितः ||५-२०||
na prahṛṣyetpriyaṃ prāpya nodvijetprāpya cāpriyam . sthirabuddhirasammūḍho brahmavid brahmaṇi sthitaḥ ||5-20||
Meaning
5.20 Resting in Brahman, with steady intellect and undeluded, the knower of Brahman neither rejoiceth on obtaining what is pleasant nor grieveth on obtaining what is unpleasant.
Word-by-Word Meaning
Explanation & Commentary
Krishna describes the emotional poise of one established in Brahman. Such a person does not become elated (na prahrishyet) when something pleasant arrives, nor agitated (na udvijet) when something unpleasant befalls. Life brings its constant alternation of the welcome and the unwelcome, but the brahma-vit meets both with the same unwavering composure.
Two qualities make this possible: sthira-buddhi, a steady, settled intellect, and being asammudha, free from delusion. Because such a one no longer mistakes fleeting experiences for the source of happiness, the mind is not yanked up by gain or dragged down by loss. This is not cold indifference but profound stability — the calm of someone rooted in something deeper than circumstance. Resting in Brahman, the unchanging Reality, they remain serene amid the ceaseless tides of fortune.
💡 Key Takeaway
Meet both pleasant and unpleasant with steady composure — true stability comes from resting in what never changes.
Related Verses
ज्ञेयः स नित्यसंन्यासी यो न द्वेष्टि न काङ्क्षति | निर्द्वन्द्वो हि महाबाहो सुखं बन्धात्प्रमुच्यते ||५-३||
jñeyaḥ sa nityasaṃnyāsī yo na dveṣṭi na kāṅkṣati . nirdvandvo hi mahābāho sukhaṃ bandhātpramucyate ||5-3||
5.3 He should be known as a perpertual Sannyasi who neither hates nor desires; for, free from the pairs of opposites, O mighty-armed Arjuna, he is easily set free from bondage.
संन्यासस्तु महाबाहो दुःखमाप्तुमयोगतः | योगयुक्तो मुनिर्ब्रह्म नचिरेणाधिगच्छति ||५-६||
saṃnyāsastu mahābāho duḥkhamāptumayogataḥ . yogayukto munirbrahma nacireṇādhigacchati ||5-6||
5.6 But renunciation, O mighty-armed Arjuna, is hard to attain without Yoga; the Yoga-harmonised sage ickly goes to Brahman.
ज्ञानेन तु तदज्ञानं येषां नाशितमात्मनः | तेषामादित्यवज्ज्ञानं प्रकाशयति तत्परम् ||५-१६||
jñānena tu tadajñānaṃ yeṣāṃ nāśitamātmanaḥ . teṣāmādityavajjñānaṃ prakāśayati tatparam ||5-16||
5.16 But to those whose ignorance is destroyed by the knowledge of the Self, like the sun, knowledge reveals the Supreme (Brahman).