Chapter 2 · Knowledge of the Self
Bhagavad Gita 2.48
Evenness of mind is called yoga.
Shri Bhagavan
योगस्थः कुरु कर्माणि सङ्गं त्यक्त्वा धनञ्जय ।
सिद्ध्यसिद्ध्योः समो भूत्वा समत्वं योग उच्यते ॥
yogasthaḥ kuru karmāṇi saṅgaṁ tyaktvā dhanañjaya / siddhyasiddhyoḥ samo bhūtvā samatvaṁ yoga ucyate
Do your work standing in yoga, Dhananjaya, letting attachment go, the same whether it succeeds or fails. That evenness is what yoga means.
हिंदी · हे धनंजय, योग में स्थित होकर, आसक्ति छोड़कर कर्म करो — सिद्धि और असिद्धि में समान रहकर। यही समता योग कहलाती है।
What it means
Evenness of mind is called yoga.
Act while established in yoga, giving up attachment, the same in success and failure. Balance — not withdrawal from the world — is what the Gita means by yoga.
This is the Trust’s own reading, written for this site. The verse above it is the text.
Verses that share its vocabulary
Near it in the text’s own words.
- 3.7But the one who controls the senses with the mind, Arjuna, and begins karma yoga with the organs of action, unattached, stands far above him.
- 5.11With the body, the mind, the intellect, and even with the senses alone, yogis perform action after giving up attachment, for the purification of the self.
- 5.21The man whose self is not attached to outer contacts finds the happiness that is within. His self joined to brahman through yoga, he enjoys happiness that does not run out.
- 7.1With your mind fixed on me, Partha, practising yoga and taking refuge in me, hear how you will come to know me completely and without any doubt.
- 18.52living in solitude, eating lightly, with speech, body and mind restrained, ever given to the yoga of meditation, and firmly taking refuge in dispassion;
- 2.47Your right is to the action alone, never to its fruits. Do not let the fruit be your reason for acting, and do not be attached to inaction either.
Chosen by shared uncommon vocabulary, weighted so that a rare word counts for far more than a common one. A reading aid, not a claim that these verses mean the same thing.