Sanskrit
जितात्मनः प्रशान्तस्य परमात्मा समाहितः । शीतोष्णसुखदुःखेषु तथा मानापमानयोः ॥
jitātmanaḥ praśāntasya paramātmā samāhitaḥ śītoṣṇasukhaduḥkheṣu tathā mānāpamānayoḥ
Translation
The higher Self of him who is Self-controlled and peaceful is uniform in cold and heat, pleasure and pain, as well as in honour and dishonour.
Annie Besant · The Bhagavad-Gita, translated by Annie Besant (4th ed., 1922) — Wikisource · Public Domain
Explanation
Having settled the self/Self relationship in verses 5–6, the text now names the payoff: equanimity across the standard pairs of opposites (dvandva) — heat and cold, pleasure and pain, honor and dishonor. This equanimity across opposites becomes the chapter’s recurring test for genuine mastery, restated more strongly in verses 8–9 and again at 32. Samāhita — “gathered, collected” — describes the Supreme Self as settled in the person who has conquered the lower self: mastery within produces steadiness through every dvandva without.
Study deeper
Word by word
- jitātmanaḥजितात्मनः
- for one who has conquered the self (jita-ātmanaḥ)
- praśāntasyaप्रशान्तस्य
- of the tranquil one (praśāntasya)
- paramātmā samāhitaḥपरमात्मा समाहितः
- the Supreme Self is steady [in him] (parama-ātmā + samāhitaḥ)
- śītoṣṇasukhaduḥkheṣuशीतोष्णसुखदुःखेषु
- in cold and heat, pleasure and pain (śīta-uṣṇa-sukha-duḥkheṣu)
- tathā mānāpamānayoḥतथा मानापमानयोः
- likewise in honour and dishonour (tathā + māna-apamānayoḥ)
Commentary
Site Commentary
This is the first appearance of a test the chapter keeps rerunning under different names — heat and cold here, valuation itself in verse 8, the full social spectrum in verse 9, and formally again at verse 32. Watch for the pattern rather than treating any single pairing as the point: the content of the test changes, the requirement of staying level through it doesn’t.
Original commentary written for this site · © Amit Singh — original commentary
Concepts
Apply this verse
Lessons
Personal
- Don't judge your own equanimity by how you handled one hard moment — watch for the pattern across several different kinds of disturbance (physical discomfort, praise, criticism) before deciding whether you've actually built the steadiness or just got lucky once.
Professional
- One calm response to a crisis doesn't prove you're unflappable under pressure — look for the pattern across a difficult client call, a public failure, and an unfair performance review before you trust that steadiness is real rather than situational.
Family & Social
- If you stayed calm during one hard family conversation, don't conclude you've mastered your temper — check whether the same evenness holds across praise, criticism, and inconvenience before you believe the pattern is established.
Ask yourself
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