Sanskrit
अद्वेष्टा सर्वभूतानां मैत्रः करुण एव च । निर्ममो निरहङ्कारः समदुःखसुखः क्षमी ॥
adveṣṭā sarvabhūtānāṃ maitraḥ karuṇa eva ca nirmamo nirahaṅkāraḥ samaduḥkhasukhaḥ kṣamī
Translation
He who beareth no ill-will to any being, friendly and compassionate, without attachment and egoism, balanced in pleasure and pain, and forgiving,
Annie Besant · The Bhagavad-Gita, translated by Annie Besant (4th ed., 1922) — Wikisource · Public Domain
Explanation
The chapter’s tone shifts here from instruction to portrait — from “how to reach Me” to “who is dear to Me” — opening a list that runs through verse 20. It leads with negatives (no ill-will, no possessiveness, no egoism) before positives (friendliness, compassion, forgiveness), the same defining-by-absence-first pattern used for the sthitaprajna in 2.55-56, and the balance in pleasure and pain here is close to verbatim that earlier formula.
Concepts