2.48 Evenness is what yoga means Krishna speaks
योगस्थः कुरु कर्माणि सङ्गं त्यक्त्वा धनञ्जय
सिद्ध्यसिद्ध्योः समो भूत्वा समत्वं योग उच्यते
yoga-sthaḥ kuru karmāṇi saṅgaṁ tyaktvā dhanañjaya
siddhy-asiddhyoḥ samo bhūtvā samatvaṁ yoga uchyate
Steady in yoga, do your work — letting go of attachment, even in success and failure alike. That evenness is what yoga means.
Explanation
The Gita's own definition of yoga.
And it has nothing to do with posture. samatva — evenness, sameness of mind — that is what the word means here.
Steady in it, do your work, letting go even of success and failure. Every later chapter's portrait of the free person is a gloss on this one word.
Going further
Word by word
- yoga-sthaḥ
- being steadfast in yog
- kuru
- perform
- karmāṇi
- duties
- saṅgam
- attachment
- tyaktvā
- having abandoned
- dhanañjaya
- Arjun
- siddhi-asiddhyoḥ
- in success and failure
- samaḥ
- equipoised
- bhūtvā
- becoming
- samatvam
- equanimity
- yogaḥ
- Yog
- uchyate
- is called
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Here is the Gita's own definition of yoga, and it has nothing to do with posture. Samatva — evenness, sameness of mind. Not detachment, not numbness. Evenness.
It is worth noticing that success is listed alongside failure as something to stay even about. We assume equanimity is for disaster. This verse says it is equally needed when things go well, which is the harder half and the one nobody practises.