The Gita You LiveBhagavad Gita 2.48: steadiness in success and failure
Praise can lift your whole day; criticism can seem to undo it. In Bhagavad Gita 2.48, Krishna asks Arjuna to act with steadiness through success and failure. The verse calls this evenness yoga and places it within a relationship to the divine.
योगस्थः कुरु कर्माणि सङ्गं त्यक्त्वा धनञ्जय । सिद्ध्यसिद्ध्योः समो भूत्वा समत्वं योग उच्यते ॥
Historical English translation · Annie Besant, 1922Perform action, O Dhananjaya, dwelling in union with the divine, renouncing attachments and balanced evenly in success and failure: equilibrium is called yoga.Read the surrounding passage
What follows the teaching on action
The preceding verse, 2.47, concerns action, its fruits and the danger of withdrawing into inaction. Here Krishna describes the disposition from which to act. In Besant's historical translation, Arjuna is asked to dwell in union with the divine while relinquishing attachment.
The word samatva points to evenness or equanimity. It does not make success and failure identical events. They can have different practical consequences. The question is whether those changing results completely govern your clarity, values and willingness to do what is called for.
Steadiness leaves room for feeling
Disappointment may still hurt. Good news may still bring joy. A useful modern reading is to make room for those experiences while allowing time for a considered response. Feeling upset after difficult feedback does not mean that reflection has failed.
Consider receiving two reviews of the same work: one enthusiastic, one dismissive. You might be tempted either to disregard every criticism or to abandon confidence entirely. A steadier response looks for specific information in both. Which observation is accurate? What can be improved? What remains worth keeping?
Keep your standards visible
Before a consequential conversation, name the qualities you want your action to have. You may want to be truthful, prepared and willing to listen. Afterward, assess those qualities separately from whether the other person agreed. Their response matters, but it is not the only information about how you acted.
Equanimity also needs discernment. An unfair decision can warrant an appeal; a harmful pattern can warrant distance. This verse is not a reason to become indifferent to harm. In its original setting, Krishna's instruction is to act, with a different relationship to attachment and the changing results of action.
A practice to try
Before one task today, choose a standard you can apply to your own conduct, such as honesty or careful preparation. Afterward, record what happened and how you met that standard as two separate observations.
A question to keep
What can I learn from this result without making it the whole measure of myself?