Sanskrit
मुक्तसङ्गोऽनहंवादी धृत्युत्साहसमन्वितः । सिद्ध्यसिद्ध्योर्निर्विकारः कर्त्ता सात्त्विक उच्यते ॥ २६ ॥
muktasaṅgo'nahaṃvādī dhṛtyutsāhasamanvitaḥ siddhyasiddhyor nirvikāraḥ kartā sāttvika ucyate
Translation
Liberated from attachment, not egoistic, endued with firmness and confidence, unchanged by success or failure, that actor is called pure.
Annie Besant · The Bhagavad-Gita, translated by Annie Besant (4th ed., 1922) — Wikisource · Public Domain
Explanation
The sattvic actor: free of attachment, without egoistic self-assertion, resolute and energetic, and — crucially — unchanged by success or failure. This last trait is the guna-typology’s version of the “steady in pleasure and pain” ideal chapter 2 associated with the person of settled wisdom, now specifically anchored to how a person relates to the outcome of their own effort rather than to fortune generally. Sāttvic agent: unattached, an-ahaṃ-vādī (“not a sayer of ‘I’”), yet full of dhṛti and utsāha, resolve and drive — and nirvikāra, unchanged by outcome. Not passive; unclaimed.
Study deeper
Word by word
- muktasaṅgo'nahaṃvādīमुक्तसङ्गोऽनहंवादी
- free of attachment, unassuming (mukta-saṅgaḥ + an-ahaṃ-vādī)
- dhṛtyutsāhasamanvitaḥधृत्युत्साहसमन्वितः
- endowed with resolve and zeal (dhṛti-utsāha-samanvitaḥ)
- siddhyasiddhyor nirvikāraḥसिद्ध्यसिद्ध्योः निर्विकारः
- unmoved in success and failure (siddhi-asiddhyoḥ + nirvikāraḥ)
- kartā sāttvika ucyateकर्ता सात्त्विक उच्यते
- such an agent is called sāttvic (kartā + sāttvikaḥ + ucyate)
Commentary
Site Commentary
A natural assumption is that someone truly unmoved by success or failure would also lack drive — why push hard if the outcome doesn’t move you? This verse explicitly refuses that assumption, pairing “unchanged by success and failure” in the same breath as “endued with firmness and confidence.” The sattvic actor isn’t half-hearted about the effort and indifferent about the result; the text insists both traits sit together, full commitment to the doing paired with genuine indifference to how it lands.
Original commentary written for this site · © Amit Singh — original commentary
Concepts
Apply this verse
Lessons
Personal
- Don't let non-attachment become a quiet excuse for putting in less effort — the actual standard here is full, energetic commitment to doing something well, combined with genuine indifference to whether it succeeds. Detachment from outcome and intensity of effort aren't in tension; this verse insists you need both.
Professional
- Being professionally detached from outcomes — not tying your self-worth to whether a project succeeds — doesn't mean bringing less intensity to the execution. The strongest operators pair full commitment to doing the work well with a genuine lack of need for a specific result, not reduced effort dressed up as equanimity.
Family & Social
- Being calm and accepting about however a family plan turns out — a trip, a celebration — doesn't mean you should put in less effort organizing it. Full effort in the planning and real acceptance of however it lands aren't a contradiction; this verse says you can, and should, hold both.
Ask yourself
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