This summary is about equanimity, which is spread through many places in the Gita. The main verses are 2.14, 2.15, 2.38, 5.18 and 6.7 to 6.9. On The Path of Karma Yoga it comes after Offering All Actions, and then comes Renunciation or Karma Yoga?. Its foundation is in Action Without Claiming the Fruit.
The answer in one line
Equanimity is one steadiness that shows in three places. First, bearing what happens to us, pleasure and pain, cold and heat. Second, acting in the same spirit among the results of work, gain and loss, victory and defeat. And third, in the way we look at people, seeing the one self within all.
The root of all three is the same: I am not what keeps changing, and I have no claim on the fruit. Equanimity is not going numb, it is not coldness, and it is not leaving work.
What problem this answers
When work goes wrong, or someone praises or taunts, the mind at once starts going up and down.
In the Gita, equanimity comes sometimes as bearing cold and heat, sometimes as gain and loss, and sometimes as seeing the one self in a scholar and a dog. How does the Gita get from bearing cold to looking at every being with one eye?
The Gita's order is: first understanding, then practice. In verse 2.13 it first said that the one who dwells in the body does not die with the body (Gita 2.13). Right after it, it says how to live in pleasure and pain.
Three fronts of equanimity
The first front is what happens to us: pleasure and pain, cold and heat. The Gita says to bear them, for they come and go (Gita 2.14–15, Gita 6.7).
The second front is the result of work: gain and loss, success and failure. The Gita says to keep on acting with an even mind (Gita 2.38, Gita 2.48).
The third front is people and things: friend and foe, clay and gold, all beings. The Gita says the same self is in all, and to keep the same fair mind toward all (Gita 5.18, Gita 6.8–9).
The verses in order
Verse 2.14: bearing
When the senses meet their objects, cold and heat, pleasure and pain arise. These are real, and the Gita does not call them false. But they come and go, they do not stay. So the Gita says to bear them. Bearing means letting the wave come and not being swept away with it. It does not mean pushing it down (Gita 2.14).
Verse 2.15: the one these do not trouble
One whom these meetings do not trouble, and for whom pleasure and pain are alike, is fit for immortality, that is, freedom. Stay on "do not trouble". Feeling is one thing, being uprooted by it is another. The fruit is freedom because a mind that goes up and down with every wave cannot rest on anything that stays, which is the self (Gita 2.15).
Verse 2.38: even in gain and loss
The Lord says: treating pleasure and pain, gain and loss, victory and defeat alike, get ready for the battle, that is, for your duty. Then no sin will touch you. The verse does not say to leave work. It changes the manner of work. One who fights from greed of winning or fear of losing is bound by his own mind (Gita 2.38).
Verses 2.47 and 2.48: the yoga of equanimity
The right is to action, never to the fruit. Give up attachment, stay even in success and failure, and act. This is called the yoga of equanimity (Gita 2.47–48). Verse 4.22 says that the karma yogi is content with what comes by itself, is beyond the pairs of opposites, is free of envy, and is even in success and failure. So he is not bound though acting (Gita 4.22). Equanimity is not running from action. It is freedom in the middle of action.
Verse 5.18: one self in all
The wise see the same self in a learned and humble brahmin, a cow, an elephant, a dog and an outcaste (Gita 5.18). The list is wide on purpose.
Equal vision means seeing the self within each one. It does not mean the same treatment in every dealing. A cow and an elephant are not given the same fodder, and the sick and the healthy are not given the same food. The treatment changes with need. The vision does not. This verse does not support discrimination.
Verses 5.19 and 5.20: in this very life
Those whose minds are settled in evenness have conquered the world in this very life. Brahman is faultless and even, so one who has become even rests in Brahman. Such a person does not swell on getting the pleasant or sink on getting the unpleasant. His intellect is steady and free of delusion (Gita 5.19–20). The same evenness that was a discipline in verse 2.14 is here a ripened understanding.
Verses 6.7 to 6.9: the circle widens
The yogi is even in cold and heat, pleasure and pain, and honour and insult. Honour and insult wound deepest, because they touch "I" directly. He looks at clay, stone and gold with one eye. He knows the difference, but gold does not pull him and clay does not repel him. And one who holds the same mind toward the well-wisher, friend, foe, neutral, mediator, hater, kinsman, saint and sinner is specially excellent (Gita 6.7–9). The circle widens: first one's own feelings, then things, then people.
The main points to remember
Equanimity is not a wave of the mind but a steadiness resting on understanding
There are two things in it: knowing what stays, which is the self, and holding no claim on the fruit while acting. Along with these come bearing the blow and not wavering between pairs of opposites.
Pleasure and pain move us because liking and disliking grip us
Attraction and aversion sit in every object of the senses. Do not come under their power, for they are enemies on the road to good (Gita 3.34). Liking or disliking is not the enemy. It becomes one when it starts to drive us. Praise feels good, but when the wish to get it again starts deciding our choices, the trouble begins.
The cure is not running away
One whose mind is in hand moves among objects free of attraction and aversion. He gets the clear calm of the mind (Gita 2.64), his sorrows end, and his intellect soon becomes steady (Gita 2.65). A steady mind does not sit cut off. He eats, drinks, meets people and works. The difference is that things do not carry him off. Where attachment leads as it grows is in From Thought to Ruin. The wanting at the root is in The Enemy Called Desire.
Why the Gita teaches equanimity in these three forms
There are four reasons.
First, the self does not change. What changes are the experiences of body and mind, and the one who sees stays the same (Gita 2.13). One who takes himself to be the changing thing will be shaken by every change.
Second, the grip on the fruit. Gain and loss shake us because we already hold a claim on the fruit: "I must get it." That is how defeat becomes a wound (Gita 2.47–48).
Third, one self in all. The yogi sees the self in all beings and all beings in the self (Gita 6.29). The best yogi feels the pleasure and pain of others as his own (Gita 6.32).
And fourth, the waves are the movement of nature. All actions are done by the qualities, but the mind deluded by ego thinks "I am the doer" (Gita 3.27). The knower of truth sees that the qualities move among the qualities (Gita 3.28), and one beyond the qualities sits as if unconcerned (Gita 14.23). So one who stays even does not take every wave that rises as "mine". He watches a wave of anger as a wave. The fuller discussion is in Who Is the Doer?.
The fruit of equanimity reaches others
The dear devotee troubles no being, and no being troubles him (Gita 12.15).
The same nature chapter after chapter
The Lord Himself is even toward all beings, with no hatred and no favouritism. Yet those who worship Him with love are in Him and He is in them (Gita 9.29). The dear devotee is even toward foe and friend, honour and insult, cold and heat, pleasure and pain, blame and praise (Gita 12.17–19). The one beyond the qualities has the same marks (Gita 14.24–25). And the seeker established in Brahman, even toward all beings, gains supreme devotion (Gita 18.54). Equanimity and love are not opposed. Equanimity is the nature and the doorway of devotion.
The body has a part too
Yoga is not for one who eats too much or not at all, who sleeps too much or stays awake too much. For one who is moderate in food, recreation, action and sleep, yoga destroys sorrow (Gita 6.16–17). A hungry, tired, sleepless mind wavers quickly. So keeping the day in measure is part of the practice of equanimity. It is not love of comfort.
The mind is restless but can be trained
By practice, bringing it back again and again, and by detachment, loosening the grip on things (Gita 6.35).
From bearing to steady equanimity
In the second chapter bearing is a discipline done with effort. In the fifth chapter it is a steady intellect that does not swell at the pleasant nor sink at the unpleasant (Gita 5.20). At first one has to hold it, and later it stays by itself. Immortality is a fruit ahead (Gita 2.15) and also a taste of this very life (Gita 5.19).
Common misunderstandings
The first misunderstanding is that equanimity means feeling nothing. That is not so. The Gita names pleasure and pain (Gita 2.14), and the steady one is the one whom they do not trouble, not the one who feels nothing (Gita 2.15). One who is compassionate to all (Gita 12.13) and feels the pain of others as his own (Gita 6.32) is no stone. Equanimity is not pressing down feeling. It is staying steady amid feeling.
The second is that equanimity means not caring about people. That is not so. The dear devotee hates none and is friendly and compassionate to all (Gita 12.13). Equal vision is seeing one self in all. It is not going cold toward all. Even sight does not mean the same attachment to everyone either. The Lord is even in all, and still has love for the devotee (Gita 9.29).
The third is that equanimity means giving up care for the work. That is not so. In the very verse that says to treat gain and loss alike, it also says to get ready for battle (Gita 2.38). Equanimity is a state of mind, not slackness in work (Gita 2.48). How to hold it under pressure at the office is in Working Under Pressure.
The fourth is that equanimity means the same conduct toward everyone in every dealing. That is not so. Equal vision is about the self within (Gita 5.18), while conduct changes with the person, the occasion and duty. A good teacher looks at every student with one eye, yet gives more time to the weak one. That is not against equanimity. It is its fruit.
Questions people ask
Why bear pain instead of removing its cause? Removing causes does not end the pairs that keep returning. The meeting of senses and objects will go on bringing cold and heat, pleasure and pain (Gita 2.14). Causes that can be removed should be removed. But by bearing, the mind is not tangled, and stays free for the right work.
If gain and loss are the same, why work? Equanimity is about the mind, not about the work (Gita 2.38, Gita 2.47). Work done with an even mind is often better, because it carries no weight of fear and greed.
How can I protect my own while staying even toward friend and foe? Equanimity is the inner vision, and outer conduct is settled by duty (Gita 6.9, Gita 2.38). Protection is a duty, and it can be done without hatred. It is taken up in One's Own Duty.
Is the equanimity of bearing the same as the steadiness of the wise? Yes. The quality is one and the state is different (Gita 2.14 and Gita 5.20).
If you have to explain it in thirty seconds
The Gita's equanimity is not one rule. It is one steadiness that shows in three places. In our own pleasure and pain it is called bearing, because they come and go (Gita 2.14). In the results of work it is called karma yoga: finish the work and keep no claim on the fruit (Gita 2.38, Gita 2.47–48). In people it is called equal vision, because the same self is within all (Gita 5.18, Gita 6.9). All three come from one understanding: I am not what keeps changing. It does not mean going numb or leaving work. Feeling is there, it just does not carry us off, and the work goes on. And it comes from understanding, which is why the Gita speaks first of the self and then of equanimity.
Related hubs: Offering All Actions (before) · Renunciation or Karma Yoga? (next) · Action Without Claiming the Fruit · Working Under Pressure · The Imperishable Self · Arjuna's Despondency · From Thought to Ruin · The Enemy Called Desire · Who Is the Doer? · The Devotee Dear to the Lord · One's Own Duty