Chapter 6, Verse 22
यं लब्ध्वा चापरं लाभं मन्यते नाधिकं ततः | यस्मिन्स्थितो न दुःखेन गुरुणापि विचाल्यते ||६-२२||
yaṃ labdhvā cāparaṃ lābhaṃ manyate nādhikaṃ tataḥ . yasminsthito na duḥkhena guruṇāpi vicālyate ||6-22||
Meaning
6.22 Which, having obtained, he thinks there is no other gain superior to it; wherein estabished, he is not moved even by heavy sorrow.
Word-by-Word Meaning
Explanation & Commentary
Krishna names two unmistakable marks of one who has reached the supreme bliss. First, having gained it, he considers no other gain greater — the endless human pursuit of 'more' simply stops. He who has tasted the infinite no longer chases the finite, for nothing the world offers could surpass what he has found within. The restless acquisitiveness that drives most lives falls silent.
Second, and even more striking: established in this state, he is not shaken even by guru duhkha — the heaviest sorrow, the most crushing grief. This is not because he has grown cold, but because his footing now rests in something deeper than circumstance. Storms that would devastate an ordinary heart pass over him without dislodging his peace. Together these two signs — the end of craving and the end of being shattered by grief — reveal a person who has finally found solid ground beneath the shifting sands of fortune.
💡 Key Takeaway
Once you find the inner treasure, nothing seems more valuable and no sorrow, however heavy, can shake you.
Related Verses
जितात्मनः प्रशान्तस्य परमात्मा समाहितः | शीतोष्णसुखदुःखेषु तथा मानापमानयोः ||६-७||
jitātmanaḥ praśāntasya paramātmā samāhitaḥ . śītoṣṇasukhaduḥkheṣu tathā mānāpamānayoḥ ||6-7||
6.7 The Supreme Self of him who is self-controlled and peaceful is balanced in cold and heat, pleasure and pain, as also in honour and dishonour.
ज्ञानविज्ञानतृप्तात्मा कूटस्थो विजितेन्द्रियः | युक्त इत्युच्यते योगी समलोष्टाश्मकाञ्चनः ||६-८||
jñānavijñānatṛptātmā kūṭastho vijitendriyaḥ . yukta ityucyate yogī samaloṣṭāśmakāñcanaḥ ||6-8||
6.8 The Yogi who is satisfied with the knowledge and the wisdom (of the Self), who has conered the senses, and to whom a clod of earth, a piece of stone and gold are the same, is said to be harmonied (i.e., is said to have attained Nirvikalpa Samadhi).
सुहृन्मित्रार्युदासीनमध्यस्थद्वेष्यबन्धुषु | साधुष्वपि च पापेषु समबुद्धिर्विशिष्यते ||६-९||
suhṛnmitrāryudāsīnamadhyasthadveṣyabandhuṣu . sādhuṣvapi ca pāpeṣu samabuddhirviśiṣyate ||6-9||
6.9 He who is of the same mind to the good-hearted, friends, enemies, the indifferent, the neutral, the hateful, the relatives, the righteous and the unrighteous, excels.