Transcendence drops ego-driven projects.
Krishna speaks to Arjuna
मानापमानयोस्तुल्यस्तुल्यो मित्रारिपक्षयोः |सर्वारम्भपरित्यागी गुणातीतः स उच्यते ||१४-२५||
mānāpamānayostulyastulyo mitrāripakṣayoḥ . sarvārambhaparityāgī guṇātītaḥ sa ucyate ||14-25||
Use this verse to audit ego-driven projects.
Meaning
One who is equal in honor and dishonor, equal toward friend and enemy, and renounces all selfish undertakings is called gunatita.
Translation: Gita Guidance (original English rendering).
In plain words
The gunatita is equal in honor, insult, friend, enemy, and selfish projects.
Word-by-word meaning
Tap a word to see its meaning.
Explanation
This verse continues the behavior profile of transcendence. The person beyond gunas does not run life through ego-validation, rivalry, or self-centered undertakings.
Read the traditional commentary
Krishna completes the portrait of the guṇātīta with its final and most demanding marks. Such a one is equal in māna and apamāna — honour and dishonour — and equal toward the camps of friend and foe alike, for his love does not depend on how others treat him.
And he is sarvārambha-parityāgī — one who has renounced all egoistic undertakings, no longer launching projects to feed the self's craving for results. With this, Krishna seals the answer to Arjuna's question: 'he is said to have transcended the qualities.'
The renunciation here is inward, not a fleeing from action. The sage still acts, but no longer as the anxious initiator scheming for personal gain; he has surrendered the sense of being the doer. Free of partiality and of the ego's restless ventures, he meets honour and insult, ally and adversary, with the same untroubled heart.
This is the living evidence of one beyond the guṇas — recognisable not by withdrawal from the world, but by unshakeable evenness within it.
In daily life
Act from dharma, not from validation or rivalry.
A professional may drop a project done only to prove superiority and focus on meaningful work.
Try this today
Release or purify one ego-driven project.
I choose dharma over ego-validation.Reflect
Which undertaking is driven by ego-validation?
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Quick check
What does ‘तुल्यः मित्रारिपक्षयोः’ mean in this verse?
Krishna on renunciation, in other chapters
- Verse 2.59Forced abstinence suppresses sense appetite but only the direct experience of the Supreme dissolves the taste for lower pleasures entirely.
- Verse 13.15Like light that reveals every colour yet takes on none, the Self enables all experience while remaining untouched.
- Verse 18.49Mastering the self and releasing all craving brings freedom from the binding power of action.
- Verse 5.3True renunciation is freedom from craving and aversion within — not the outer abandonment of work.
Swipe left for 14.26 · Bhakti carries the soul beyond the gunas.
Questions about Bhagavad Gita 14.25
Who says Bhagavad Gita 14.25, and to whom?
Krishna speaks to Arjuna in verse 14.25, in Chapter 14, Gunatraya Vibhaga Yoga (Gunatraya Vibhaga Yoga).
What does Bhagavad Gita 14.25 mean?
One who is equal in honor and dishonor, equal toward friend and enemy, and renounces all selfish undertakings is called gunatita. (Translation: Gita Guidance (original English rendering).)
What is the lesson of Bhagavad Gita 14.25 for daily life?
Act from dharma, not from validation or rivalry. A professional may drop a project done only to prove superiority and focus on meaningful work.
What do the Sanskrit words in Bhagavad Gita 14.25 mean?
मानापमानयोः तुल्यः — the same in honour and dishonour; तुल्यः मित्रारिपक्षयोः — the same to the side of friend and foe; सर्वारम्भपरित्यागी — renouncing all undertakings (egoistic initiatives); गुणातीतः — transcended the gunas; सः उच्यते — he is said to be.
Where does verse 14.25 come in the Bhagavad Gita?
It is verse 25 of 27 in Chapter 14, Gunatraya Vibhaga Yoga. The next verse is 14.26.