Chapter 2Verse 71 of 72

Bhagavad Gita 2.71

विहाय कामान्यः सर्वान्पुमांश्चरति निःस्पृहः । निर्ममो निरहंकारः स शान्तिमधिगच्छति ॥

vihāya kāmān yaḥ sarvān pumāṃś carati niḥspṛhaḥ | nirmamo nirahaṅkāraḥ sa śāntim adhigacchati ||

Translation

The one who, having given up all desires, moves about free from longing, without the feeling of "mine" and without egotism, attains peace.

Nirmama. Without "mine." Nirahaṅkāra. Without "I-maker." Two compounds that name the deep work of the chapter. The dropping of kāma, desire, is half. The dropping of the structures that hold the dropping in place is the other half. The peace named here arrives only when both have loosened. Carati. Moves about. The picture is not of a person who has stopped; it is of a person who is moving, but moving without the two postures that ordinarily complicate every motion.

Reflection

Where in your life does the word mine carry more weight than the thing it is naming?

Read this verse in its chapter: Chapter Two

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