Chapter 2 · Knowledge of the Self
Bhagavad Gita 2.70
Like rivers into the sea.
Shri Bhagavan
आपूर्यमाणमचलप्रतिष्ठं
समुद्रमापः प्रविशन्ति यद्वत् ।
तद्वत्कामा यं प्रविशन्ति सर्वे
स शान्तिमाप्नोति न कामकामी ॥
āpūryamāṇamacalapratiṣṭhaṁ / samudramāpaḥ praviśanti yadvat / tadvatkāmā yaṁ praviśanti sarve / sa śāntimāpnoti na kāmakāmī
As waters enter the sea, which is filled and yet unmoved, so all desires enter the one who reaches peace — not the one who goes on wanting.
हिंदी · जैसे भरे हुए और अचल समुद्र में सब जल आकर समा जाते हैं, वैसे ही सब कामनाएँ जिसमें समा जाती हैं, वही शांति पाता है — वह नहीं, जो कामनाएँ करता ही रहता है।
What it means
Like rivers into the sea.
As rivers flow into the ocean, which stays full and unmoved, so desires enter the steady person without disturbing them. That person finds peace — not the one who chases desires.
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.
- 2.71The man who moves on having given up every desire, without longing, without calling anything his own, without the sense of I — he comes to peace.
- 5.12The man who is steady gives up the fruit of action and attains lasting peace. The unsteady man, driven by desire and attached to the fruit, is bound.
- 18.53having released egotism, force, arrogance, desire, anger and possessiveness — free of all sense of 'mine' and at peace, he becomes fit for oneness with Brahman.
- 2.66The unjoined man has no understanding, and no power to reflect. Without reflection there is no peace, and without peace, where is happiness?
- 4.39The one who has faith gains knowledge, the one who is intent on it and holds the senses in check. Having gained knowledge, he soon reaches the highest peace.
- 5.29Knowing me as the one who receives every yajna and every austerity, as the great lord of all the worlds, and as the friend of all beings, a man comes to peace.
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.