Sanskrit
बाह्यस्पर्शेष्वसक्तात्मा विन्दत्यात्मनि यत्सुखम् । स ब्रह्मयोगयुक्तात्मा सुखमक्षयमश्नुते ॥
bāhyasparśeṣv asaktātmā vindaty ātmani yat sukham sa brahmayogayuktātmā sukham akṣayam aśnute
Translation
He, whose self is unattached to external contacts and findeth joy in the Self, having the self harmonised with the Eternal by yoga, enjoys imperishable bliss.
Annie Besant · The Bhagavad-Gita, translated by Annie Besant (4th ed., 1922) — Wikisource · Public Domain
Explanation
The pivot from external contacts to a happiness located within the Self is the hinge on which the rest of the chapter turns — everything from here to the end concerns a joy that doesn’t depend on what the senses touch. Akṣaya, imperishable, is doing precise work against the argument the next verse will make: sense-pleasures decay because they are compound events with a beginning and an end, while this inward happiness, being of the same nature as the Self, shares none of that structure. This is also the first clear anticipation of chapter 6’s meditation instructions, which will spend a dozen verses detailing exactly how the mind is drawn inward to find this same sukham. Akṣaya sukha — “happiness that does not wear out” — is contrasted point for point with BG 5.22’s ādyantavat, “having a beginning and an end.” The inward joy has no edges to decay from because it shares the nature of the Self.
Study deeper
Word by word
- bāhyasparśeṣv asaktātmāबाह्यस्पर्शेष्व् असक्तात्मा
- the self unattached to outer contacts (bāhya-sparśeṣu + asakta-ātmā)
- vindaty ātmani yat sukhamविन्दत्य् आत्मनि यत् सुखं
- finds the happiness that is in the Self (vindati + ātmani + yat + sukham)
- sa brahmayogayuktātmāस ब्रह्मयोगयुक्तात्मा
- his self joined by the yoga of Brahman (saḥ + brahma-yoga-yukta-ātmā)
- sukham akṣayam aśnuteसुखं अक्षयं अश्नुते
- enjoys imperishable happiness (sukham + akṣayam + aśnute)
Commentary
Site Commentary
The verse’s sequence is worth taking literally: unattachment from external contacts comes first, and finding joy within the self follows as a result, not alongside it as an unrelated parallel fact. Read this way it’s a causal claim, not just two nice things happening to the same person — the withdrawal has to happen before the inward joy becomes available, a stronger and more demanding claim than “detached people also happen to be happy.”
Original commentary written for this site · © Amit Singh — original commentary
Concepts
Apply this verse
Lessons
Personal
- If you're waiting to feel genuine inner contentment while still chasing every external validation available to you, notice this verse's sequencing — withdrawal from external dependence isn't a side effect of inner peace, it's a precondition for it.
Professional
- If you want intrinsic satisfaction in your work rather than dependence on constant external recognition, treat reducing that dependence as the first move, not something that follows automatically once you're already satisfied — the order matters.
Family & Social
- If you want your sense of worth to stop swinging with how a relationship is going day to day, work on reducing that specific dependency first — steadiness rarely arrives as a side effect while the dependency is still fully intact.
Ask yourself
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