Sanskrit
प्रजहाति यदा कामान्सर्वान्पार्थ मनोगतान् । आत्मन्येवात्मना तुष्टः स्थितप्रज्ञस्तदोच्यते ॥
prajahāti yadā kāmān sarvān pārtha manogatān ātmany evātmanā tuṣṭaḥ sthitaprajñas tadocyate
Translation
When a man abandoneth, O Pârtha, all the desires of the heart, and is satisfied in the Self by the Self, then is he called stable in mind.
Annie Besant · The Bhagavad-Gita, translated by Annie Besant (4th ed., 1922) — Wikisource · Public Domain
Explanation
The chapter’s closing portrait of the sthitaprajna — the person of steady wisdom — begins here. Its mark: abandoning every desire that arises in the mind and finding contentment in the self alone, by the self alone. This is the practical, psychological complement to the metaphysical teaching earlier in the chapter — if the self is what’s real and permanent, resting satisfaction there, rather than in outcomes, is what stability of mind actually looks like.
Concepts