Chapter 5, Verse 23
शक्नोतीहैव यः सोढुं प्राक्शरीरविमोक्षणात् | कामक्रोधोद्भवं वेगं स युक्तः स सुखी नरः ||५-२३||
śaknotīhaiva yaḥ soḍhuṃ prākśarīravimokṣaṇāt . kāmakrodhodbhavaṃ vegaṃ sa yuktaḥ sa sukhī naraḥ ||5-23||
Meaning
5.23 He who is able, while still here (in this world) to withstand, before the liberation from the body, the impulse born out of desire and anger he is a Yogi, he is a happy man.
Word-by-Word Meaning
Explanation & Commentary
Krishna gives a wonderfully concrete measure of spiritual attainment. The true yogi is the one who, while still living in the body (iha eva, before death), can withstand (sodhum) the vega — the surging impulse, the sudden pressure — that arises from kama (desire) and krodha (anger). To hold steady against that inner storm is the mark of the genuinely harmonized person.
Notice the realism here. Krishna does not ask that desire and anger never arise; he asks that one be able to bear their force without being swept away. This is a practice available right now, in everyday life — not a distant ideal reserved for the afterlife. And the reward is immediate: sa sukhi narah, 'he is a happy man.' Mastery over these two great disturbers of peace yields tangible, present happiness. The capacity to pause and endure the surge, rather than act on it, is itself liberation in miniature.
💡 Key Takeaway
Learn to withstand the surge of desire and anger without being swept away — that very capacity makes you a yogi and a happy person.
Related Verses
योगयुक्तो विशुद्धात्मा विजितात्मा जितेन्द्रियः | सर्वभूतात्मभूतात्मा कुर्वन्नपि न लिप्यते ||५-७||
yogayukto viśuddhātmā vijitātmā jitendriyaḥ . sarvabhūtātmabhūtātmā kurvannapi na lipyate ||5-7||
5.7 He who is devoted to the path of action, whose mind is ite pure, who has conered the self, who has subdued his senses and who realises his Self as the Self in all beings, though acting, is not tainted.
युक्तः कर्मफलं त्यक्त्वा शान्तिमाप्नोति नैष्ठिकीम् | अयुक्तः कामकारेण फले सक्तो निबध्यते ||५-१२||
yuktaḥ karmaphalaṃ tyaktvā śāntimāpnoti naiṣṭhikīm . ayuktaḥ kāmakāreṇa phale sakto nibadhyate ||5-12||
5.12 The united one (the well poised or the harmonised) having abandoned the fruit of action attains to the eternal peace: the non-united only (the unsteady or the unbalanced) impelled by desire, attached to the fruit, is bound.
कामक्रोधवियुक्तानां यतीनां यतचेतसाम् | अभितो ब्रह्मनिर्वाणं वर्तते विदितात्मनाम् ||५-२६||
kāmakrodhaviyuktānāṃ yatīnāṃ yatacetasām . abhito brahmanirvāṇaṃ vartate viditātmanām ||5-26||
5.26 Absolute freedom (or Brahmic bliss) exists on all sides for those self-controlled ascetics who are free from desire and anger, who have controlled their thoughts and who have realised the Self.