Chapter 2Verse 55 of 72

Bhagavad Gita 2.55

श्रीभगवानुवाच । प्रजहाति यदा कामान्सर्वान्पार्थ मनोगतान् । आत्मन्येवात्मना तुष्टः स्थितप्रज्ञस्तदोच्यते ॥

śrī-bhagavān uvāca | prajahāti yadā kāmān sarvān pārtha mano-gatān | ātmany evātmanā tuṣṭaḥ sthita-prajñas tadocyate ||

Translation

The deity said: When one casts off all the desires within the mind, O son of Pṛthā, content in the self by the self, that one is then called of steady knowledge.

The first description. Prajahāti. He releases. Sarvān kāmān. All desires. Mano-gatān. The ones moving in the mind. The release is internal; the desires that have not yet acted out are the ones the verse points at. Ātmany evātmanā tuṣṭaḥ. Content in the self by the self. Aurobindo notes the doubling: the self is both the field and the means. The contentment does not come from outside arrangements; it comes from the relation the self has with itself. The verse begins the portrait at the inner room and works outward from there.

Reflection

What outside arrangement have you been waiting on to feel content?

Read this verse in its chapter: Chapter Two

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