Bhagavad Gītā · Chapter 2, Verse 64
रागद्वेषवियुक्तैस्तु विषयानिन्द्रियैश्चरन्।
आत्मवश्यैर्विधेयात्मा प्रसादमधिगच्छति।।
आत्मवश्यैर्विधेयात्मा प्रसादमधिगच्छति।।
rāga-dveṣa-viyuktais tu viṣayān indriyaiś caran
ātma-vaśyair-vidheyātmā prasādam adhigacchati
also searched as "raga-dvesha-viyuktais tu vishayan indriyaish charan"
Translation
But he who goes through the sense-objects with the senses free from love and hate, disciplined and controlled, attains serenity.
Vāṇi's rendering
But move through the world with senses freed of pull and push, self-governed — and you find serenity.
Word by word
| Sanskrit & transliteration | Meaning |
|---|---|
| रागrāga | attraction, the leaning toward what pleases |
| द्वेषdveṣa | aversion, the flinch away from what displeases |
| वियुक्तैःviyuktais | freed from, unhitched from (sandhi with the following tu) |
| तुtu | but |
| विषयान्viṣayān | the objects of sense, the things of the world |
| इन्द्रियैःindriyaiś | with the senses (sandhi before caran) |
| चरन्caran | moving about, walking among |
| आत्मवश्यैःātma-vaśyair | with senses under one's own governance (sandhi before vidheyātmā) |
| विधेयात्माvidheyātmā | one whose self is answerable to itself; vidheya + ātmā |
| प्रसादम्prasādam | serenity, the clear settled gladness |
| अधिगच्छतिadhigacchati | reaches, comes into |
Frequently asked
What does Bhagavad Gita Chapter 2 Verse 64 mean?
It means the world need not be avoided, only un-obeyed. Krishna describes someone who moves among sense-objects with the senses no longer yanked by attraction or pushed by aversion. Because nothing is steering him from outside, he comes into prasāda — a settled clarity. The change is inward; the walking looks ordinary.
What does raga-dvesha-viyuktais tu vishayan indriyaish charan teach?
That freedom is measured in the middle of contact, not in retreat from it. You still eat, still see, still meet people. What drops away is the reflex of leaning in and pulling back. Once the senses answer to you rather than to their objects, ordinary life becomes quiet enough to live in.
Does this verse ask me to give up enjoyment?
No. Krishna does not remove the objects; he removes their grip. Pleasure and displeasure still arrive, but they no longer dictate the next move. Notice how much of your day is spent chasing one and dodging the other. Stop the chasing and the dodging, and the day itself grows spacious.
What is prasada in the Gita?
Prasāda is not a reward and not a mood you arrange. It is what remains when the mind is no longer being tugged — a clearness like water after the silt settles. Krishna places it at the end of self-governance because it cannot be pursued directly. Govern the senses; the serenity comes on its own.
Themes in this verse
Read every verse this way, held — inside Vāṇi.
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Commentary
Krishna has described the man who withdraws — and now he lets him back out into the world. The senses still go among objects. Sight still sees, taste still tastes. What has changed is the pull and the push: the leaning toward what pleases, the small flinch from what does not. Remove those and the same street, the same food, the same face becomes bearable — more than bearable, quiet. Arjuna wanted to know how such a person walks. Like anyone. Nothing outward is renounced here; the tugging is. Prasāda is not what you get by leaving the world. It is what arrives when the world stops steering you.