Bhagavad Gītā · Chapter 12, Verse 18
समः शत्रौ च मित्रे च तथा मानापमानयोः।शीतोष्णसुखदुःखेषु समः सङ्गविवर्जितः।।
samaḥ śatrau ca mitre ca tathā mānāpamānayoḥ
śītoṣṇa-sukha-duḥkheṣu samaḥ saṅga-vivarjitaḥ
also searched as "samah shatrau cha mitre cha tatha manapamanayoh"
Translation
He who is the same to foe and friend, honor and dishonor, who is alike to both cold and heat, pleasure and pain, and who is free from all attachments;
Vāṇi's rendering
The same to enemy and friend, in honour and insult; the same in cold and heat, pleasure and pain; unattached.
Word by word
| Sanskrit & transliteration | Meaning |
|---|---|
| समःsamaḥ | the same, level, unmoved |
| शत्रौśatrau | toward an enemy |
| चca | and |
| मित्रेmitre | toward a friend |
| चca | and |
| तथाtathā | likewise, in the same way |
| मानmāna- | honour, being held high (joined by sandhi to the next word) |
| अपमानयोःapamānayoḥ | in dishonour, insult — the pair of honour and insult |
| शीतśīta- | cold |
| उष्णuṣṇa- | heat (śīta + uṣṇa joined as śītoṣṇa) |
| सुखsukha- | pleasure |
| दुःखेषुduḥkheṣu | in pains — across all of these |
| समःsamaḥ | the same, steady |
| सङ्गsaṅga- | clinging, attachment |
| विवर्जितःvivarjitaḥ | wholly free of, having let go |
Frequently asked
What does Bhagavad Gita Chapter 12 Verse 18 mean?
It describes one who meets opposites without tilting: enemy and friend, honour and insult, cold and heat, pleasure and pain. Krishna is not praising numbness. The pairs still arrive and are still felt. What has changed is that none of them can buy or sell the one who receives them, because clinging has been let go.
What is the meaning of samah shatrau cha mitre cha tatha manapamanayoh?
The same toward enemy and friend, the same in honour and insult. Sameness here is not indifference to people — Krishna never asks Arjuna to stop loving. It is the refusal to let another's posture toward you decide your own. You can fight a man and still not hate him. That is the sameness meant.
How does this verse help with grief?
Grief tells you that this weather is permanent and that you are made of it. The verse lists the pairs precisely so you can see them as pairs — arriving, departing, exchanging places. Sorrow is one half of a rhythm, not the whole of you. Bearing it steadily is not coldness; it is the only warmth that lasts.
Is being the same to enemy and friend even possible?
Not as an act of will, and Krishna does not present it as a technique. It is what remains when saṅga — the grip by which we make our worth depend on outcomes and opinions — has loosened. Begin smaller. Watch one insult land today without answering it, and see how much of you was never touched.
Themes in this verse
Read every verse this way, held — inside Vāṇi.
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Commentary
Notice what is being asked and what is not. Krishna does not say stop having enemies, or feel nothing when insulted. He says be the same — samaḥ — while the enemy stands there and the insult lands. Cold still bites. Praise still arrives sweet. What steadies is the one receiving them. Arjuna is about to face men he loves on the other side of a field; friend and enemy have already collapsed into one word for him. This verse names that collapse as freedom rather than horror. The next time someone's opinion of you swings, watch whether you swing with it.