12.18 The same to enemy and friend Krishna speaks
समः शत्रौ च मित्रे च तथा मानापमानयोः
शीतोष्णसुखदुःखेषु समः सङ्गविवर्जितः
samaḥ śhatrau cha mitre cha tathā mānāpamānayoḥ
śhītoṣhṇa-sukha-duḥkheṣhu samaḥ saṅga-vivarjitaḥ
The same to enemy and friend, the same in honour and dishonour, in cold and heat, in pleasure and pain, free of attachment;
Explanation
The same to enemy and friend.
Placed in the Bhagavad Gita, on a battlefield, spoken to a man whose objection in chapter 1 was precisely that the enemy is his family — this is not an abstract evenness.
The list runs on through honour and dishonour, cold and heat, pleasure and pain, and ends free of attachment. Arjuna is being told that the distinction he could not bear to act across is one of these pairs.
Word by word
- samaḥ
- alike
- śhatrau
- to a foe
- cha
- and
- mitre
- to a friend
- cha tathā
- as well as
- māna-apamānayoḥ
- in honor and dishonor
- śhīta-uṣhṇa
- in cold and heat
- sukha-duḥkheṣhu
- in joy and sorrow
- samaḥ
- equipoised
- saṅga-vivarjitaḥ
- free from all unfavorable association
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