Bhagavad Gita 5.23शक्नोतीहैव यः सोढुं प्राक्शरीरविमोक्षणात्।कामक्रोधोद्भवं वेगं स युक्तः स सुखी नरः ॥
śhaknotīhaiva yaḥ soḍhuṁ prāk śharīra-vimokṣhaṇāt
kāma-krodhodbhavaṁ vegaṁ sa yuktaḥ sa sukhī naraḥ
Sanskrit recitation
Peace of the one who knows · 5.13–5.29 · Teaching
Translation
He who is able, while still here in this world, to withstand the impulse born out of desire and anger before the liberation from the body, he is a Yogi, and he is a happy man.
Hindi translation
इस मनुष्य-शरीरमें जो कोई (मनुष्य) शरीर छूटनेसे पहले ही काम-क्रोधसे उत्पन्न होनेवाले वेगको सहन करनेमें समर्थ होता है, वह नर योगी है और वही सुखी है।
Meaning
Yukta means harmonised or steadfast in Yoga or selfabiding.Desire and anger are powerful enemies of peace. It is very difficult to annihilate them. You will have to make very strong efforts to destroy these enemies.When the word Kama (desire) is used in a general sense it includes all sorts of desires. It means lust in a special sense.While still here means while yet living. The impulse of desire is the agitation of the mind which is indicated by hairs standing on end and cheerful face. The impulse of anger is agitation of the mind which is indicated by fiery eyes, perspiration, biting of the lips and trembling of the body. In this verse you will clearly understand that he who has controlled desire and anger is the most happy man in this world, nor he who has immense wealth, a beautiful wife and beautiful children. Therefore you must try your level best to eradicate desire and anger, the dreadful enemies of eternal bliss.Kama (desire) is longing for a pleasant and agreeable object which gives pleasure and which is seen, heard of, or remembered. Anger is aversion towards an unpleasant and disagreeable object which gives pain and which is seen, heard or, or remembered.A Yogi controls the impulse born of desire and anger, destroyes the currents of likes and dislikes,and attains to equanimity of the mind, by resting in the innermost Self, and so he is very happy.(Cf.VI.18)
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→
- kāma
- desire
- prāk
- before
- saḥ
- that person
- vegam
- forces
- yaḥ
- who
- krodha
- anger
- sukhī
- happy
- iha eva
- in the present body
- naraḥ
- person
- soḍhum
- to withstand
- udbhavam
- generated from
- yuktaḥ
- yogi
- śhaknoti
- is able
- śharīra
- the body
- vimokṣhaṇāt
- giving up
Related verses
- 12.15He whom the world does not agitate, and who cannot be agitated by the world, and who is…
- 16.12Bound by a hundred ties of hope, given over to lust and anger, they strive to obtain…
- 9.21They, having enjoyed the vast heaven, enter the world of mortals when their merit is…
- 2.56He whose mind is not shaken by adversity, who does not long for pleasures, and is free…