What is evenness of mind in the Gita, and how does the Gita get from bearing a cold day to seeing every being alike? The answer is that it is one steadiness, shown on three fronts. The first is toward what happens to us: pleasure and pain come and go, and we are asked to bear them (Gita 2.14–15). The second is toward how things turn out: gain and loss, victory and defeat are to be held alike while we do our work (Gita 2.38). The third is toward people and things: the wise see the same Self in all (Gita 5.18–20), and the yogi stays the same toward honour and dishonour, friend and enemy (Gita 6.7–9).
The Gita's word for this is samatva, evenness of mind. Its method for the first front is bearing, and its name for the opposites it speaks of is the pairs, such as pleasure and pain. Here we take the verses in the order the Gita gives them, and then ask why the teaching is built this way.
Where Lord Krishna says this
Arjuna has put down his bow, overcome by grief (Arjuna's Despondency). Lord Krishna first teaches him what does not perish (The Imperishable Self). Evenness comes straight after, because the two belong together. If what we truly are does not change, then the changing things that cross our days need not rule us. The teaching is first an argument and then a practice, and these verses are the practice.
Pleasure and pain come and go, so bear them
आगमापायिनोऽनित्यास्तांस्तितिक्षस्व भारत ॥ २.१४ ॥
āgamāpāyino 'nityās tāṁs titikṣhasva bhārata || 2.14 ||
O son of Kunti, the contacts of the senses with their objects give rise to cold and heat, pleasure and pain. They come and go and are impermanent. Endure them patiently, O Bharata.
The verse says that when the senses meet their objects, cold and heat, pleasure and pain arise. They come, they go, and none of them stays. So the instruction is to bear them. A winter morning is the plainest picture: nobody argues with the cold, one puts on a shawl and goes on. Praise and blame, a pleasant surprise and a sharp word, are weather of the same kind.
The verse does not ask us to deny what we feel. It names pleasure and pain as real. What it asks for is patience until the feeling passes, and it asks us not to let the feeling steer.
The steady person is fit for deathlessness
समदुःखसुखं धीरं सोऽमृतत्वाय कल्पते ॥ २.१५ ॥
samaduḥkhasukhaṁ dhīraṁ so 'mṛtatvāya kalpate || 2.15 ||
O best among men, the steady person whom these sense contacts do not disturb, and who remains equal in pain and pleasure, becomes fit for immortality.
The next verse (Gita 2.15) says why this matters. The steady person, whom these meetings do not disturb and for whom pleasure and pain are alike, is fit for deathlessness. The mind that is carried off by every wave has no place to rest. The mind that bears each wave can rest in what lasts. This is the reward the Gita puts first, and it is a deep one: freedom, and not mere comfort.
Equal in gain and loss, and still at work
ततो युद्धाय युज्यस्व नैवं पापमवाप्स्यसि ॥ २.३८ ॥
tato yuddhāya yujyasva naivaṁ pāpam avāpsyasi || 2.38 ||
Treating pleasure and pain, gain and loss, victory and defeat alike, then engage in battle. Thus you will not incur sin.
Now the pairs widen from feeling to outcome. Lord Krishna tells Arjuna to hold pleasure and pain, gain and loss, victory and defeat alike, and then to engage in the battle. He adds that acting this way brings him no sin. The even mind does not remove the work. It changes how the work is done: fear of loss no longer makes him shrink, and hunger for victory no longer makes him cross a line.
The Gita says the same elsewhere in a short definition: acting without attachment, equal in success and failure, "such evenness is called yoga" (Gita 2.48). It rests on the earlier teaching that our right is to the action and not to its fruit (Gita 2.47). The hub Action Without Claiming the Fruit takes this up in full. A person content with whatever comes, free of envy and beyond the pairs, is not bound even while acting (Gita 4.22).
Equal vision: the same Self in the learned and the outcast
शुनि चैव श्वपाके च पण्डिताः समदर्शिनः ॥ ५.१८ ॥
śuni caiva śvapāke ca paṇḍitāḥ samadarśinaḥ || 5.18 ||
The truly wise see the same divine Self present in a humble and learned brāhmaṇa, a cow, an elephant, a dog, and even an outcaste. Because they perceive the underlying spiritual reality rather than external differences, they regard all beings with equal vision.
The verse lists a learned and humble brahmin, a cow, an elephant, a dog and an outcaste, and says the wise see the same in all. The same what? The Self within each. The list is long on purpose, to show that no one is left outside this sight. The verse describes how the wise see. It does not set one being above another, and it does not defend any ranking of people.
The following verse (Gita 5.19) says that those whose minds rest in evenness have already won over birth and death in this very life, because Brahman is without fault and even, and they stand in it.
स्थिरबुद्धिरसम्मूढो ब्रह्मविद्ब्रह्मणि स्थितः ॥ ५.२० ॥
sthirabuddhir asammūḍho brahmavid brahmaṇi sthitaḥ || 5.20 ||
A knower of Brahman neither becomes excessively joyful upon obtaining what is pleasant nor disturbed when faced with what is unpleasant. Possessing a steady intellect and freedom from delusion, such a person remains firmly established in Brahman.
The verse after that (Gita 5.20) returns to the person's own feelings. Such a one is neither overjoyed on getting what is pleasant nor shaken on getting what is unpleasant, and stands on a steady understanding, free from confusion. It is the evenness of the early verse on bearing (Gita 2.14), now settled into knowledge.
The yogi's even mind: honour, dishonour, clod and gold
शीतोष्णसुखदुःखेषु तथा मानापमानयोः॥ ६.७॥
śītoṣṇa-sukha-duḥkheṣu tathā mānāpamānayoḥ || 6.7 ||
For one who has mastered the mind and attained inner peace, the Supreme Lord remains firmly established in the heart. Such a yogi maintains equanimity amid all dualities of life, such as heat and cold, pleasure and pain, honor and dishonor.
For the person who has mastered the mind and is at peace, says the verse, the Supreme stands steadily in the heart. Such a yogi stays the same in cold and heat, pleasure and pain, honour and dishonour. The next verse (Gita 6.8) says why: the yogi is content through knowledge and direct experience, and sees a clod, a stone and gold alike. A full person does not grab at gold or push away a stone.
साधुष्वपि च पापेषु समबुद्धिर्विशिष्यते॥ ६.९॥
sādhuṣv api ca pāpeṣu sama-buddhir viśiṣyate || 6.9 ||
A yogi who maintains an equal and impartial attitude toward a selfless well-wisher, a friend, an enemy, a neutral person, a mediator, a disliked person, a relative, the righteous, and even a sinner is regarded as truly excellent.
The last verse (Gita 6.9) turns the evenness toward people: the well-wisher, the friend, the enemy, the stranger, the mediator, the one who is disliked, the relative, the good and the sinner. The one whose understanding is equal toward all of them is called the best.
The three fronts together
| Toward what | What the Gita asks | Verses |
|---|---|---|
| What happens to me (pleasure and pain, cold and heat) | Bear it; it passes | 2.14-15, 6.7 |
| How things turn out (gain and loss, success and failure) | Act with a level mind | 2.38, 2.48 |
| People and things (friend and enemy, clod and gold, all beings) | See the same Self; keep the same fairness | 5.18-20, 6.8-9 |
Liking and disliking: what makes pleasure and pain shake us
If pleasure and pain simply pass, why do they disturb us so much? The Gita points to the place where they take hold. Attraction and aversion sit waiting in every object of the senses. Lord Krishna tells Arjuna not to come under their control, and calls them enemies on the path (Gita 3.34). A feeling is one thing. Being run by liking and disliking is another. The first is part of living, and the second is what the Gita asks us to loosen.
Nor does the Gita ask us to run away from the world to do this. The person it describes moves among the objects of the senses, with the senses free from attraction and aversion and under self-control, and gains tranquility (Gita 2.64). When that tranquility comes, sorrows end and the understanding soon becomes steady (Gita 2.65). This also answers the fear of going numb. The steady person is in the middle of things and is not pulled by them.
What happens when attachment is left to grow is the subject of From Thought to Ruin. The place of desire itself is taken up in The Enemy Called Desire.
Why the Gita builds evenness this way
Three reasons run through the Gita. The first is that the Self does not change. The embodied one passes through childhood, youth and age, and the wise are not deluded by the change (Gita 2.13). A person who knows what lasts can bear what passes.
The second is that the grip on the fruit is what makes results shake us. When the claim is released, a win or a loss has less to hold on to (Gita 2.47, Gita 2.48).
The third is that the same Self is in all. The yogi sees the Self in all beings and all beings in the Self (Gita 6.29), and counts the joy and pain of others as his own (Gita 6.32). Equal regard then follows from what one sees. It is not an effort. The Lord himself is equal to all, yet those who love him are in him and he is in them (Gita 9.29). Equality and love are not opposed.
The fourth reason is that feelings and doings are movements of nature. All actions are performed by the strands of nature, and only the one deluded by ego thinks, "I am the doer" (Gita 3.27). The one who knows the truth sees that the strands move among the strands, and does not cling (Gita 3.28). Such a person sits like one unconcerned and unshaken, knowing that only the strands act (Gita 14.23). The even person does not take every wave as "mine". The hub Who Is the Doer? takes this up.
Evenness is also a gift to the people around. The devotee dear to the Lord is the one by whom no one is agitated and who is not agitated by anyone (Gita 12.15).
The same person appears in other chapters under other names. The devotee dear to the Lord is equal in praise and blame, friendly and compassionate (Gita 12.13, Gita 12.17–19; see The Devotee Dear to the Lord). The one who has gone beyond the three strands of nature is equal in pleasure and pain, honour and dishonour, friend and foe (Gita 14.24–25). And the one who is equal toward all beings attains supreme devotion (Gita 18.54). The portrait of the steady-minded person in the same chapter as the first verses draws the same figure from within.
Common misreadings
"Evenness means feeling nothing." The first verse on evenness names pleasure and pain as real (Gita 2.14). The best yogi feels the joy and pain of others as his own (Gita 6.32). Evenness is a steadier way of feeling.
"Evenness means coldness toward people." The devotee dear to the Lord is friendly and compassionate to all (Gita 12.13). Equal regard is not equal affection, and it is not the withdrawal of care.
"If gain and loss are equal, nothing matters." The same verse says "engage" (Gita 2.38). The work matters. What is released is the shaking over its result.
"Equal vision means the same dealing with everyone." Equal vision is of the Self within. A parent, a stranger and a patient need different things from us. Duty and the person in front of us decide what we do; the even mind makes sure that liking and disliking do not decide it. On duty itself, see One's Own Duty.
Food, sleep and rest: the body's part in evenness
A hungry, sleepless or overworked mind shakes at very little. The Gita does not leave this out. Yoga cannot be perfected by one who eats too much or fasts too hard, or who sleeps too much or too little (Gita 6.16). For the one who is measured in food, rest, work, sleep and waking, yoga becomes the remover of sorrow (Gita 6.17). A measured day is part of the practice. A person who keeps late hours, skips meals and then wonders why one sharp word upset them has found the cause.
An example
Take Savita, a school teacher whose class results are announced. One year they are excellent, and the principal praises her in front of everyone. The next year they are poor, and some parents blame her. In the first year she is tempted to think she has arrived, and in the second to think she has failed.
What helps her is exactly what the verses give. She bears the first wave: the glow of praise, then the sting of blame. She works on her teaching in the second year as she did in the first, because the work is hers whatever the result. When a parent speaks harshly, she listens for what is true in it and answers without anger, because the same fairness holds toward the one who blames her. Praise did not make her careless, and blame did not make her bitter. The same evenness on a heavy workday is the subject of Working Under Pressure.
A practice the verses themselves give
- Bear the first wave. When praise or blame arrives, let the feeling be there and let it pass, as one lets the cold pass (Gita 2.14).
- Do the work without claiming the fruit. Act as your task asks and release the claim on the result (Gita 2.38, Gita 2.48).
- Train the mind. The mind is restless, and it is held by constant practice and non-attachment (Gita 6.35).
- Widen the view. Look at the person in front of you, whether friend or critic, and recall that the same Self is there (Gita 5.18, Gita 6.9).
- Keep the day in measure. Eat, rest, work and sleep in proportion, so that the mind is not already tired when the day tests it (Gita 6.17).
- What was my last reaction to praise or blame, and how long did it steer me?
- Do I need to answer someone within five minutes, or only within a day?
- Whom do I treat worse than I should because I dislike them?
- Does my work change when nobody is watching?
Questions readers ask
Why bear pain instead of removing its cause?
Some causes can be removed, and the Gita does not forbid that. But the pairs of pleasure and pain return, so the mind needs a footing that does not depend on the weather. Bearing gives that footing (Gita 2.14). A mind that has learned to bear can then decide what to do without panic.
If gain and loss are equal, why act at all?
The verse that asks for evenness also asks for action: "then engage" (Gita 2.38). Evenness is a quality of the mind, and action is the person's task. The task stays because the right to the action stays (Gita 2.47).
Can I treat friend and enemy alike and still protect my own?
Equal-mindedness toward all (Gita 6.9) is an inner view. It does not take away duty. Lord Krishna says this to a warrior who must act (Gita 2.38). The fairness of regard stays inside, and the conduct follows the duty.
Is deathlessness a future gain or a present one?
The first verse names what the steady person becomes fit for (Gita 2.15). The second names what such a person has already won while living (Gita 5.19). One is the direction and the other is the first taste of it here.
Is the evenness of 2.14 the same as the evenness of 5.20?
It is the same quality at two stages. In the early verse it is a discipline of bearing (Gita 2.14). In the later one it is a settled knowledge that needs less effort (Gita 5.20).
Conclusion
Evenness of mind in the Gita is one steadiness with three fronts: bear what comes, act the same in gain and loss, and see the same Self in all. It rests on knowing what lasts and on releasing the claim on the fruit. It is not numbness, not coldness and not idleness. The Gita puts it in one line, and with it this reading may end:
सिद्ध्यसिद्ध्योः समो भूत्वा समत्वं योग उच्यते ॥ २.४८ ॥
siddhyasiddhyoḥ samo bhūtvā samatvaṁ yoga uchyate || 2.48 ||
Established in yoga, O Dhananjaya, perform your actions, abandoning attachment and remaining equal in success and failure. Such equanimity is called yoga.
For a simple way in, there is the simple reading. For the verses closely read, with objections and the tradition's answers, there is the deeper reading. This hub stands on the path of karma yoga, after Offering All Actions and before Renunciation or Karma Yoga?.