12.17 Neither exulting nor grieving Krishna speaks
यो न हृष्यति न द्वेष्टि न शोचति न काङ्क्षति
शुभाशुभपरित्यागी भक्ितमान्यः स मे प्रियः
yo na hṛiṣhyati na dveṣhṭi na śhochati na kāṅkṣhati
śhubhāśhubha-parityāgī bhaktimān yaḥ sa me priyaḥ
One who neither exults nor hates, neither grieves nor craves, who has let go of both the pleasant and the unpleasant — that one is dear to me.
Explanation
Four pairs, and both halves of each are let go.
Neither exulting nor hating, neither grieving nor craving — and then the summary: having released both the pleasant and the unpleasant.
The symmetry is the teaching. It would be a much easier instruction if only the unpleasant had to be released, and the Gita repeatedly refuses that version: what is being loosened is the grip itself, not the bad half of what it holds.
Word by word
- yaḥ
- who
- na
- neither
- hṛiṣhyati
- rejoice
- na
- nor
- dveṣhṭi
- despair
- na
- neither
- śhochati
- lament
- na
- nor
- kāṅkṣhati
- hanker for gain
- śhubha-aśhubha-parityāgī
- who renounce both good and evil deeds
- bhakti-mān
- full of devotion
- yaḥ
- who
- saḥ
- that person
- me
- to me
- priyaḥ
- very dear
Long-press or right-click the image to copy it. Nothing is uploaded — it is drawn here, on your device.