Bhagavad Gita 5.21बाह्यस्पर्शेष्वसक्तात्मा विन्दत्यात्मनि यत्सुखम्।स ब्रह्मयोगयुक्तात्मा सुखमक्षयमश्नुते ॥
bāhya-sparśheṣhvasaktātmā vindatyātmani yat
sukham sa brahma-yoga-yuktātmā sukham akṣhayam aśhnute
Sanskrit recitation
Peace of the one who knows · 5.13–5.29 · Teaching
Translation
With the self unattached to external contacts, he finds happiness in the Self; with the self engaged in the meditation of Brahman, he attains endless happiness.
Hindi translation
बाह्यस्पर्शमें आसक्तिरहित अन्तःकरणवाला साधक आत्मामें जो सुख है, उसको प्राप्त होता है। फिर वह ब्रह्ममें अभिन्नभावसे स्थित मनुष्य अक्षय सुखका अनुभव करता है।
Meaning
When the mind is not attached to external objects of the senses, when one is deeply engaged in the contemplation of Brahman, he finds undecaying bliss in the Self within. If you want to enjoy the imperishable happiness of the Self within, you will have to withdraw the senses from their respective objects and plunge yourself in deep meditation on the Self within. This is the gist of this verse.
After Swami Sivananda
Peace of the one who knows· 5.13–5.29→
Teachers usually read this idea across several verses together, one shared reflection covers the whole unit.
- 5.13Mentally renouncing all actions and being self-controlled, the embodied one happily rests…
- 5.14Neither does the Lord create agency nor actions for the world, nor union with the fruits…
- 5.15The Lord takes neither the demerit nor the merit of any; knowledge is enveloped by…
- 5.16But to those whose ignorance is destroyed by knowledge of the Self, like the sun,…
- 5.17Their intellect absorbed in That, their self being That, established in That, with That as…
- 5.18Sages look with an equal eye on a Brahmana endowed with learning and humility, on a cow,…
- 5.19Even here in this world, those whose minds rest in reality overcome birth; Brahman is…
- 5.20Resting in Brahman, with a steady intellect and undeluded, the knower of Brahman neither…
5.21With the self unattached to external contacts, he finds happiness in the Self; with the…
- 5.22The enjoyments that arise from contact are only sources of pain, for they have a beginning…
- 5.23He who is able, while still here in this world, to withstand the impulse born out of…
- 5.24He who is happy within, who rejoices within, and who is illuminated within, that Yogi…
- 5.25The sages obtain absolute freedom or Moksha when their sins have been destroyed, their…
- 5.26Absolute freedom exists on all sides for those self-controlled ascetics who are free from…
- 5.27Shutting out all external contacts and fixing the gaze between the eyebrows, realizing the…
- 5.28With the senses, mind, and intellect ever controlled, having liberation as their supreme…
- 5.29He who knows Me as the enjoyer of sacrifices and austerities, the great Lord of all the…
Word-by-word→
- yat
- which
- saḥ
- that person
- sukham
- happiness
- vindati
- find
- ātmani
- in the self
- aśhnute
- experiences
- akṣhayam
- unlimited
- asakta-ātmā
- those who are unattached
- bāhya-sparśheṣhu
- external sense pleasure
- brahma-yoga yukta-ātmā
- those who are united with God through yog
Related verses
- 13.11Unswerving devotion to Me through the Yoga of non-separation, resorting to solitary…
- 5.6But, O mighty-armed Arjuna, renunciation is hard to attain without Yoga; the sage who is…
- 15.15And I am seated in the hearts of all; from Me come memory and knowledge, as well as their…
- 2.48Perform action, O Arjuna, being steadfast in Yoga, abandoning attachment and balanced in…