Bhagavad Gītā · Chapter 5, Verse 20
न प्रहृष्येत्प्रियं प्राप्य नोद्विजेत्प्राप्य चाप्रियम्।
स्थिरबुद्धिरसम्मूढो ब्रह्मविद्ब्रह्मणि स्थितः।।
स्थिरबुद्धिरसम्मूढो ब्रह्मविद्ब्रह्मणि स्थितः।।
na prahṛṣyet priyaṁ prāpya nodvijet prāpya cāpriyam
sthira-buddhir asammūḍho brahma-vid brahmaṇi sthitaḥ
also searched as "na prahrishyet priyam prapya nodvijet prapya chapriyam"
Translation
He who knows Brahman (individual self) and abides in Brahman, whose mind is steadfastly focused on the self and undeluded by body consciousness—he neither rejoices at gaining what is pleasant nor grieves on obtaining what is unpleasant.
Vāṇi's rendering
Not thrilled by the pleasant, not shaken by the painful — steady, clear, rooted in the eternal.
Word by word
| Sanskrit & transliteration | Meaning |
|---|---|
| नna | not |
| प्रहृष्येत्prahṛṣyet | would be thrilled, would leap up in elation |
| प्रियम्priyam | what is pleasant, what one likes |
| प्राप्यprāpya | on getting, having obtained |
| नna | nor (sandhi: nodvijet = na + udvijet) |
| उद्विजेत्udvijet | would recoil, would be shaken or agitated |
| प्राप्यprāpya | on getting, having obtained |
| चca | and |
| अप्रियम्apriyam | what is unpleasant (sandhi: cāpriyam = ca + apriyam) |
| स्थिर-बुद्धिःsthira-buddhiḥ | one whose understanding does not wobble |
| असम्मूढःasammūḍhaḥ | unconfused, not taken in |
| ब्रह्म-विद्brahma-vid | one who knows Brahman, the eternal |
| ब्रह्मणिbrahmaṇi | in Brahman, in the eternal |
| स्थितःsthitaḥ | standing firm, rooted |
Frequently asked
What does Bhagavad Gita Chapter 5 Verse 20 mean?
Krishna describes one who is neither thrilled by what he likes nor shaken by what he dislikes. Such a person's understanding is steady, he is not taken in, and he stands rooted in Brahman. The pleasant and the unpleasant both still arrive — they simply no longer move the ground he is standing on.
What does 'na prahrishyet priyam prapya' teach about good and bad news?
That the two are one habit. The lift when things go well and the sinking when they go badly come from the same place: a self that has outsourced itself to outcomes. Krishna does not ask you to dislike good fortune. He asks you not to be constructed by it.
Does this verse ask me to stop feeling joy?
No. Sweetness stays sweet; loss still stings. What ends is the surrender — the moment you hand your steadiness over to whatever just happened. Asammūḍhaḥ means unconfused, not unfeeling. You can be warmed by a fire without believing you are the fire.
What does it mean to be rooted in the eternal in Gita 5.20?
Brahmaṇi sthitaḥ — standing in Brahman. Not visiting it in meditation and leaving, but living from it. Your circumstances change hourly; that ground does not. Rootedness there is why the news cannot reach you. Find out what in you was never once altered by any headline, and stand there.
Themes in this verse
Read every verse this way, held — inside Vāṇi.
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Commentary
Notice that Krishna names elation first. We guard against grief and let joy in unexamined — but the leap at good news and the drop at bad are the same nerve firing, and whoever can be lifted can be dropped. Arjuna wants a victory that will settle him. Krishna describes someone nothing settles or unsettles, because he is already settled somewhere the news cannot reach. This is not numbness. The pleasant is still pleasant; it simply no longer decides who you are. Test it the next time something goes right — watch how fast you hand yourself over.