A core teaching · grounding in mood · easy to enter
“Equanimity frees action from the stain of panic and craving.”
Treat pleasure and pain, gain and loss, victory and defeat alike. Then enter the battle; you will not incur wrongdoing.
The verse in reading order — each Sanskrit word with its meaning beneath. Hover a word to focus on it.
Read literallypleasure and pain · equal · having made · gain and loss · victory and defeat · then · for battle · be engaged · not · thus · wrongdoing · you will obtain
Stay steady through pleasure and pain, success and failure. Act from that balance, and your action will not bind you.
Krishna speaks this verse, on the battlefield of Kurukshetra, in the chapter titled "Sankhya Yoga" (The Yoga of Knowledge).
Verse 38 sits in Chapter 2 of the Bhagavad Gita — Sankhya Yoga, "The Yoga of Knowledge". The chapter has 72 verses in total.
You open the email that could end a friendship or save one. Your hands shake, but the decision still has to be made. This verse asks for balance before the next move.
Did you like this verse?
It shifts attention from emotional reaction to even-minded action under pressure.
What this verse means
Stay steady through pleasure and pain, success and failure. Act from that balance, and your action will not bind you.
Context & commentary
On the battlefield of Kurukshetra, Arjuna is still frozen. Krishna pushes him one step further: do not let pleasure, pain, victory, or defeat shake your mind. From that steadiness, fight without staining yourself.
Why this verse still matters
You open the email that could end a friendship or save one. Your hands shake, but the decision still has to be made. This verse asks for balance before the next move.
“Inner steadiness makes hard action possible without guilt or panic.”
Explore related themes: battlefield (20 verses), samatva (13 verses)