Bhagavad Gita 2.55: What Is Steady Wisdom — and How Do You Build It?
The Bhagavad Gita’s Chapter 2 , Sankhya Yoga , is the philosophical heart of the entire text. Verse 2.55 is one of its essential teachings. Below you will find the original Sanskrit, transliteration, translation, and a deep exploration of how this verse…
The Bhagavad Gita’s Chapter 2 , Sankhya Yoga , is the philosophical heart of the entire text. Verse 2.55 is one of its essential teachings. Below you will find the original Sanskrit, transliteration, translation, and a deep exploration of how this verse applies to the challenges and choices you face today.
BHAGAVAD GITA 2.55
प्रजहाति यदा कामान् सर्वान् पार्थ मनोगतान्…
prajahāti yadā kāmān sarvān pārtha mano-gatān…
When a person gives up all desires of the mind and is satisfied in the self by the self, that person is said to be of steady wisdom.
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The Portrait of Mastery
With verse 2.55, Arjuna asks: what does a truly wise person actually look like? How do they speak, sit, move through the world?
Krishna’s answer across the next seventeen verses is one of the most detailed psychological portraits in world literature. It begins here: sthita-prajña, literally ‘one whose wisdom is steady.’
Satisfied in the Self
Ātmany evātmanā tuṣṭaḥ , satisfied in the self by the self. This is the foundation.
The sthita-prajña is not dependent on external conditions for their inner state. They have found a source of contentment not contingent on outcomes, on what people think of them, on whether circumstances are favourable.
This is not indifference. It is self-sufficiency , generating stability from within rather than requiring it to arrive from outside.
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What Steady Wisdom Is Not
It is not emotional flatness. The Gita’s portrait is not of someone who does not feel. It is of someone who feels without being controlled by what they feel.
The desires have not been crushed. The verse says ‘gives up all desires of the mind’ , which the Gita clarifies elsewhere means not being enslaved by desire, not the elimination of all wanting.
A Life’s Work, Not a Weekend
No one wakes up as a sthita-prajña. It is a destination, and the whole Gita is the path. GitaPath is built around the daily practices that move you, incrementally, toward this kind of stability.
Chapter 2 of the Bhagavad Gita: Context for Verse 2.55
Chapter 2 is called Sankhya Yoga , the yoga of discriminating knowledge. It begins with Arjuna’s collapse and Krishna’s response, and moves through the nature of the soul, the philosophy of action, and the portrait of the wise person (sthita-prajña). Verse 2.55 sits within this arc.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is a sthita-prajña in the Bhagavad Gita?A person of steady wisdom , one whose inner state is not shaken by circumstances, satisfied within the self rather than dependent on external conditions.
Does BG 2.55 describe an impossible ideal?It describes a direction rather than a binary state. The practices that move you toward that stability are available to anyone.
How do you give up desires as BG 2.55 says?The Gita means: stop being enslaved by desire , not eliminate all wanting. The sthita-prajña can have preferences and goals but is not undone when they are not met.
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