Sanskrit
तुल्यनिन्दास्तुतिर्मौनी सन्तुष्टो येन केनचित् । अनिकेतः स्थिरमतिर्भक्तिमान्मे प्रियो नरः ॥
tulyanindāstutir maunī santuṣṭo yena kenacit aniketaḥ sthiramatir bhaktimān me priyo naraḥ
Translation
Taking equally praise and reproach, silent, wholly content with what cometh, homeless, firm in mind, full of devotion, that man is dear to Me.
Annie Besant · The Bhagavad-Gita, translated by Annie Besant (4th ed., 1922) — Wikisource · Public Domain
Explanation
Sameness in praise and blame (tulya-nindā-stutiḥ) directly echoes 2.56-57’s own equanimity language, but this verse also adds two qualities absent from that earlier portrait: silence (maunī) and homelessness (aniketaḥ). Contentment “with whatever comes” (yena kenacit) generalizes verse 13’s balance of pleasure and pain into a stance toward circumstance as a whole, marking the devotee list as broader in scope than the jñāna-based portrait it otherwise closely tracks. Tulya-nindā-stutiḥ, “the same in blame and praise,” echoes BG 2.56, but this verse adds two qualities absent from that portrait — maunī (silence) and aniketaḥ (homelessness) — marking the devotee list as broader in scope than the jñāna-based one it tracks.
Study deeper
Word by word
- tulyanindāstutir maunīतुल्यनिन्दास्तुतिः मौनी
- the same in blame and praise, silent (tulya-nindā-stutiḥ + maunī)
- santuṣṭo yena kenacitसन्तुष्टो येन केनचित्
- content with whatever comes (santuṣṭaḥ + yena + kenacit)
- aniketaḥ sthiramatirअनिकेतः स्थिरमतिः
- homeless, of steady mind (aniketaḥ + sthira-matiḥ)
- bhaktimān me priyo naraḥभक्तिमान् मे प्रियो नरः
- the man full of devotion is dear to Me (bhakti-mān + me + priyaḥ + naraḥ)
Commentary
Site Commentary
Verse 13 asked for balance between pleasure and pain specifically; this verse widens the same demand to “whatever comes” — the general case, not just the one pair of opposites already handled. That widening is the harder test: a balance that only holds for the situations you rehearsed for isn’t yet the balance this chapter is actually describing.
Original commentary written for this site · © Amit Singh — original commentary
Concepts
Apply this verse
Lessons
Personal
- Once you've made peace with one specific hard thing, test whether that peace holds for circumstance in general, not just that one situation — the harder, more complete version of equanimity is the one that generalizes.
Professional
- Once your team handles one specific kind of setback calmly, check whether that composure holds for unrelated kinds of disruption too — that's the real test of whether the discipline actually took, not just the first success.
Family & Social
- If you've made peace with one hard thing in your family life, notice whether that's a genuine steadiness that would hold for whatever comes next, or peace with just that one thing.
Ask yourself
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