6.9

Sanskrit

सुहृन्मित्रार्युदासीनमध्यस्थद्वेष्यबन्धुषु । साधुष्वपि च पापेषु समबुद्धिर्विशिष्यते ॥

suhṛnmitrāryudāsīnamadhyasthadveṣyabandhuṣu sādhuṣv api ca pāpeṣu samabuddhir viśiṣyate

Translation

He who regards impartially lovers, friends, and foes, strangers, neutrals, foreigners and relatives, also the righteous and unrighteous, he excelleth.

Annie Besant · The Bhagavad-Gita, translated by Annie Besant (4th ed., 1922) — Wikisource · Public Domain

Explanation

Verse 7’s equanimity across circumstance is now extended to people — the full social spectrum from ally to enemy, and even the moral spectrum of righteous and unrighteous. This is the quality the chapter returns to at verse 32 as the mark of the “highest” yogi, and it echoes 2.38’s counsel to treat pleasure and pain, gain and loss, alike before entering battle.