Theme
Broader reflections on the self, impermanence, and how to meet everyday life with steadiness.
Chapter 2Verse 14
Sanskrit
मात्रास्पर्शास्तु कौन्तेय शीतोष्णसुखदुःखदाः। आगमापायिनोऽनित्यास्तांस्तितिक्षस्व भारत॥
This too shall pass. Meet both joy and sorrow with the same steady heart.
Sensation and circumstance are always in motion. Neither discomfort nor pleasure is permanent, and steadiness comes from not over-identifying with either while it passes through.
Read more…Chapter 2Verse 20
Sanskrit
न जायते म्रियते वा कदाचिन्नायं भूत्वा भविता वा न भूयः। अजो नित्यः शाश्वतोऽयं पुराणो न हन्यते हन्यमाने शरीरे॥
What is truly you was never born, and will never die.
What you most fundamentally are is described here as untouched by birth and death, deeper and steadier than any single chapter of a life.
Read more…Chapter 2Verse 63
Sanskrit
क्रोधाद्भवति सम्मोहः सम्मोहात्स्मृतिविभ्रमः। स्मृतिभ्रंशाद् बुद्धिनाशो बुद्धिनाशात्प्रणश्यति॥
Anger left unchecked slowly clouds the mind. Notice it before it grows.
A chain reaction, traced step by step: unchecked anger clouds judgment long before it shows on the surface.
Read more…Chapter 4Verse 34
Sanskrit
तद्विद्धि प्रणिपातेन परिप्रश्नेन सेवया। उपदेक्ष्यन्ति ते ज्ञानं ज्ञानिनस्तत्त्वदर्शिनः॥
Approach wisdom with humility, honest questions, and an open hand.
Real understanding tends to open up through humility and honest questions, not certainty. And it's often passed on person to person.
Read more…Chapter 6Verse 19
Sanskrit
यथा दीपो निवातस्थो नेङ्गते सोपमा स्मृता। योगिनो यतचित्तस्य युञ्जतो योगमात्मनः॥
A steady mind is a lamp that doesn't flicker, even in the wind.
A well-known image for a trained mind. Not motionless because nothing happens around it, but steady because it's learned not to flicker at every draft.
Read more…Chapter 9Verse 22
Sanskrit
अनन्याश्चिन्तयन्तो मां ये जनाः पर्युपासते। तेषां नित्याभियुक्तानां योगक्षेमं वहाम्यहम्॥
What you truly need has a way of arriving when your focus is whole.
A verse about steady, wholehearted focus being met with support: the sense that what's genuinely needed tends to arrive.
Read more…Chapter 9Verse 26
Sanskrit
पत्रं पुष्पं फलं तोयं यो मे भक्त्या प्रयच्छति। तदहं भक्त्युपहृतमश्नामि प्रयतात्मनः॥
A small gift given with a whole heart is never small.
It's the sincerity of an offering, not its size, that gives it worth. A small gesture given wholeheartedly outweighs a grand one given carelessly.
Read more…Chapter 12Verse 13
Sanskrit
अद्वेष्टा सर्वभूतानां मैत्रः करुण एव च। निर्ममो निरहङ्कारः समदुःखसुखः क्षमी॥
Meet every being with kindness, and every swing of fortune with the same steady heart.
A short portrait of a settled mind: goodwill toward others, humility, and roughly the same composure whether things are going well or badly.
Read more…Chapter 12Verse 15
Sanskrit
यस्मान्नोद्विजते लोको लोकान्नोद्विजते च यः। हर्षामर्षभयोद्वेगैर्मुक्तो यः स च मे प्रियः॥
Be someone the world doesn't unsettle, and who doesn't unsettle the world.
A quiet kind of strength: being someone who doesn't unsettle others, and who has enough steadiness not to be easily unsettled by them either.
Read more…Chapter 15Verse 7
Sanskrit
ममैवांशो जीवलोके जीवभूतः सनातनः। मनःषष्ठानीन्द्रियाणि प्रकृतिस्थानि कर्षति॥
Something eternal lives at the center of you, wearing the mind and senses like a garment.
A description of the self as something eternal at the core, temporarily working through the mind and senses like tools it has taken up.
Read more…Chapter 16Verse 21
Sanskrit
त्रिविधं नरकस्येदं द्वारं नाशनमात्मनः। कामः क्रोधस्तथा लोभस्तस्मादेतत्त्रयं त्यजेत्॥
Lust, anger, and greed are the three gates that lead a person to ruin. Walk away from them.
Three habits of mind are singled out as the ones most likely to unravel a person from within. Worth noticing early, before they take hold.
Read more…