5 shlokas below: the Sanskrit, its transliteration, the Trust’s translation in both languages, and the Trust’s note on why the verse is here.
Near the end of Chapter 2 Arjuna asks a plain question: what is a person of steady wisdom actually like? How do they sit, walk, speak? Krishna’s answer is the Gita’s portrait of the mature human being — the sthitaprajna.
Such a person is not cold. They feel heat and cold, pleasure and pain, but are not carried away by them. Desires enter them the way rivers enter the sea, which stays full and still. Their peace does not depend on the weather of events.
Sattva, rajas and tamas — not three kinds of people, but three states every person moves between.
The Bhawan tries to be the same in every season — the aarti at the same hour, the doors open the same way — so that anyone who comes finds one steady place in an unsteady week.
At the Bhawan
The shlokas
In the Gita’s own words.
Bhagavad Gita 2.14
मात्रास्पर्शास्तु कौन्तेय शीतोष्णसुखदुःखदाः । आगमापायिनोऽनित्यास्तांस्तितिक्षस्व भारत ॥
Kaunteya, contact with things brings cold and heat, pleasure and pain. They come and they go. They do not last. Bear them, Bharata.
हिंदी · हे कौंतेय, विषयों का स्पर्श ही सर्दी-गर्मी और सुख-दुःख देता है। वे आते हैं और चले जाते हैं, टिकते नहीं। हे भारत, उन्हें सह लो।
The Trust’s reading · Contact with the world brings cold and heat, pleasure and pain. They arrive and they pass; they are not permanent. Endure them, Arjuna.
Untroubled in sorrow, without craving in happiness, free of longing, fear and anger — such a person is called a sage of steady understanding.
हिंदी · जो दुःख में विचलित नहीं होता, सुख में जिसकी चाह नहीं रहती, और जो राग, भय और क्रोध से मुक्त है — वही स्थिर बुद्धि वाला मुनि कहा जाता है।
The Trust’s reading · One whose mind is not shaken by sorrow, who has no hunger for pleasure, who is free of attachment, fear and anger — that sage is called steady in wisdom.
yaḥ sarvatrānabhisnehastattatprāpya śubhāśubham / nābhinandati na dveṣṭi tasya prajñā pratiṣṭhitā
Shri Bhagavan
Neither elated by the good nor bitter at the bad.
The one who is unattached everywhere, who neither rejoices at what is pleasant nor recoils from what is not when it comes to him — his understanding is firmly set.
हिंदी · जो सर्वत्र आसक्ति से रहित है, जो शुभ पाकर हर्षित नहीं होता और अशुभ पाकर द्वेष नहीं करता — उसकी प्रज्ञा प्रतिष्ठित है।
The Trust’s reading · One who is without attachment everywhere, who neither rejoices when good comes nor hates when bad comes — that person’s wisdom is firmly set.
आपूर्यमाणमचलप्रतिष्ठं समुद्रमापः प्रविशन्ति यद्वत् । तद्वत्कामा यं प्रविशन्ति सर्वे स शान्तिमाप्नोति न कामकामी ॥
āpūryamāṇamacalapratiṣṭhaṁ / samudramāpaḥ praviśanti yadvat / tadvatkāmā yaṁ praviśanti sarve / sa śāntimāpnoti na kāmakāmī
Shri Bhagavan
Like rivers into the sea.
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।
The Trust’s reading · 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.
Literally “one whose wisdom is established”. Arjuna asks for the marks of such a person at 2.54, and Krishna answers to the end of the chapter (2.55–72): untroubled by sorrow, without craving in pleasure, free of fear and anger, with senses under control, at peace because their peace does not depend on outcomes.
Is equanimity the same as not caring?
No. The sthitaprajna feels everything but is not ruled by it. The Gita compares them to the ocean: rivers keep flowing in, and the ocean stays full and still.
