Bhagavad Gītā · Chapter 2, Verse 55
श्री भगवानुवाच
प्रजहाति यदा कामान् सर्वान् पार्थ मनोगतान्।
आत्मन्येवात्मना तुष्टः स्थितप्रज्ञस्तदोच्यते।।
प्रजहाति यदा कामान् सर्वान् पार्थ मनोगतान्।
आत्मन्येवात्मना तुष्टः स्थितप्रज्ञस्तदोच्यते।।
śrī bhagavān uvāca
prajahāti yadā kāmān sarvān pārtha mano-gatān
ātmany-evātmanā tuṣṭaḥ sthita-prajñas tadocyate
also searched as "prajahati yada kaman sarvan partha manogatan"
Translation
The Lord said, "When a man renounces all the desires of the mind and is content with himself, then he is said to possess firm wisdom."
Vāṇi's rendering
When one drops every craving of the mind and rests content in the self alone — that is steadiness.
Word by word
| Sanskrit & transliteration | Meaning |
|---|---|
| श्रीśrī | holy, blessed |
| भगवान्bhagavān | Krishna, the blessed one |
| उवाचuvāca | said |
| प्रजहातिprajahāti | lets go of completely, casts away |
| यदाyadā | when |
| कामान्kāmān | desires, cravings |
| सर्वान्sarvān | all, every one of them |
| पार्थpārtha | Arjuna, son of Pṛthā |
| मनोगतान्mano-gatān | that have entered the mind, mind-born |
| आत्मनिātmani | in the self (sandhi: ātmany-eva) |
| एवeva | alone, only (sandhi: evātmanā) |
| आत्मनाātmanā | by the self |
| तुष्टःtuṣṭaḥ | content, satisfied |
| स्थितप्रज्ञःsthita-prajñaḥ | one whose wisdom stands firm (written sthita-prajñas before t) |
| तदाtadā | then (sandhi: tadocyate) |
| उच्यतेucyate | is called, is said to be |
Frequently asked
What does Bhagavad Gita Chapter 2 Verse 55 mean?
It means the steady one is known by what has left, not by what has been added. Every craving the mind manufactures is released, and contentment is found in the self, by the self — with no second thing required. Krishna calls that state sthita-prajña: wisdom that stands rather than wobbles with circumstance.
What does prajahati yada kaman sarvan partha manogatan teach?
That desires are mano-gata — they live in the mind, not in the objects outside it. The mango does not crave you. So the letting go happens where the craving is born. Krishna is not asking Arjuna to leave the world; he is asking him to stop feeding what the mind keeps generating.
How can I be content in the self when I still want things?
Begin by seeing the wanting as weather in the mind rather than a command you must obey. Contentment here is not a mood you force; it is what remains when nothing is being chased. Notice, once in a day, that you are already whole in the gap between one desire and the next.
Does Krishna say we must give up all desire to be wise?
He says the desires of the mind are dropped, not that living stops. Arjuna still fights; the arrow still flies. What ends is the inner grasping that makes peace conditional on the outcome. Wisdom stands firm precisely because nothing outside is holding it up.
Themes in this verse
Read every verse this way, held — inside Vāṇi.
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Commentary
Arjuna asked what such a person looks like — how he sits, how he speaks, how he walks. Krishna answers with none of that. He answers with a subtraction: the cravings of the mind, gone. Not managed, not hidden, not postponed until after the war — dropped. And in their place, no emptiness: contentment, resting in the self by the self alone, needing nothing from outside to complete it. This is the Gītā's first portrait of the steady mind, and it is not a posture. You can sit perfectly still and want everything. Steadiness is measured by what you no longer need in order to arrive.