🪷 Bhagavad-Gītā · 12.18
Chapter 12 · भक्तियोग · Bhakti-Yoga · "The Yoga of Devotion" · Verse 18 of 20
🪷 English Translations
Five authentic English voices · each from a distinct sampradāya · together revealing the verse's full śabda-tattva.
Shri Purohit Swami · Poetic English · 1935 · public domain · Cosmo Press tradition
12.18 He to whom friend and foe are alike, who welcomes equally honour and dishonour, heat and cold, pleasure and pain, who is enamoured of nothing,
Swami Sivananda · Direct prose · Divine Life Society
12.18 He who is the same to foe and friend, and also in honour and dishonour, who is the same in cold and heat and in pleasure and pain, who is free from attachment.
Swami Gambīrānanda · Word-key glosses · Advaita Ashrama · Śaṅkara-school
12.18 Samah, who is the same; satrau ca mitre, towards friend and foe; ca tatha, and so also; mana-apamanayoh, in honour and dishonour, in adoration and humiliation; who is the same sita-usna-sukha-duhkhesu, under cold, heat, happiness and sorrow; and sanga-vivar-jitah, free from attachment to everything;
Moreover,
Swami Ādidevānanda · Śrī-Vaiṣṇava perspective · Rāmānuja school
12.18 - 12.19 The absence of hate etc., towards foes, friends etc., has already been taught in the stanza beginning with, 'He who never hates any being' (11.13). What is now taught is that eanimity to be practised even when such persons mentioned above are present before one who is superior to those having a general eanimous temperament referred to earlier. Who has no 'home', namely, who is not attached to home, etc., as he possesses firmness of mind with regard to the self. Because of this, he is 'same even in honour and dishonour.' He who is devoted to Me and who is like this - he is dear to Me.
Showing the superiority of Bhakti-Nistha over Atma-nistha, Sri Krsna now concludes in accordance with what is stated at the beginning of this chapter in Verse 2.
Dr. S. Sankaranarayan · Academic precision · modern scholarly
12.18. He, who feels alike to the foe and to the friend and also to honour and to dishonour; who feels alike to cold and to heat, to pleasure and to pain; who is totally free from attachment;
🪷 English Commentaries · The Ācārya Voices
The classical commentary tradition rendered in English · each ācārya speaks from their own sampradāya · the seer chooses the depth of darśana.
Swami Sivananda · Verse-by-verse word-keys with Sanskrit anchors
12.18 समः (he who is) the same? शत्रौ to foe? च and? मित्रे to friend? च and? तथा also? मानापमानयोः in honour and dishonour? शीतोष्णसुखदुःखेषु in cold and heat? in pleasure and pain? समः the same? सङ्गविवर्जितः free from attachment.Commentary The ordinary man of the world is ruled by the pairs of opposites? honour and dishonour? cold and heat and pleasure and pain but a Yogi or a sage or a devotee (Bhagavata) has a balanced mind. He has poise or eanimity. He is not at all swayed by the blind forces of attraction and repulsion.He who does wrong to others is a foe. He who does good to others is a friend.The devotee or the sage has no attachment for objects of any kind.
Swami Gambīrānanda · Advaita-school commentary (Śaṅkara tradition)
12.18 Samah, who is the same; satrau ca mitre, towards friend and foe; ca tatha, and so also; mana-apamanayoh, in honour and dishonour, in adoration and humiliation; who is the same sita-usna-sukha-duhkhesu, under cold, heat, happiness and sorrow; and sanga-vivar-jitah, free from attachment to everything;
Moreover,
Swami Ādidevānanda · Rāmānuja Śrī-Vaiṣṇava commentary
12.18 - 12.19 The absence of hate etc., towards foes, friends etc., has already been taught in the stanza beginning with, 'He who never hates any being' (11.13). What is now taught is that eanimity to be practised even when such persons mentioned above are present before one who is superior to those having a general eanimous temperament referred to earlier. Who has no 'home', namely, who is not attached to home, etc., as he possesses firmness of mind with regard to the self. Because of this, he is 'same even in honour and dishonour.' He who is devoted to Me and who is like this - he is dear to Me.
Showing the superiority of Bhakti-Nistha over Atma-nistha, Sri Krsna now concludes in accordance with what is stated at the beginning of this chapter in Verse 2.
Dr. S. Sankaranarayan · Modern academic scholarship
12.18 See Comment under 12.20
Swami Chinmayānanda · Chinmaya Mission · modern Vedantic teaching
।।12.18।। See Commentary under 12.19
🪷 Place in the Bhagavad-Gītā
- This is verse 18 of 20 in Chapter 12 · Bhakti-Yoga (The Yoga of Devotion)
- Chapter theme: Supreme devotion · the 39 qualities of the dear-bhakta · na cirāt rescue
- Ṣaṭka grouping: TAT-Ṣaṭka (BG 7-12 · the Lord)
- Chapter hub: /bhakti-yoga
🪷 ॐ नमो भगवते वासुदेवाय 🪷
सर्वम् कृष्णार्पणम् — this verse is one maṇi (jewel) on Krishna's thread (BG 7.7)