स्थितप्रज्ञ
Sthitaprajna
sthitaprajña
In simple words
Sthitaprajna means someone whose wisdom is steady. Such a person is not thrown around by success and failure, praise and blame, because their contentment comes from within.
What is it?
Sthitaprajna is the Gita's description of a person of stable insight. Arjuna asks how such a person speaks, sits and moves, and Krishna answers in the closing verses of chapter two: they have given up all desires that arise in the mind, are content in the Self, are unshaken in pain and without craving in pleasure, and withdraw the senses from objects as a tortoise draws in its limbs. The portrait is one of several in the Gita, alongside the devotee of chapter twelve and the one beyond the gunas in chapter fourteen.
Scholar’s note
Gita 2.54–72 is traditionally recited as the sthitaprajna section. Commentators debate whether it describes the goal (the jivanmukta, liberated while living) or a model for the practitioner; Shankara reads it as both, describing the knower's natural traits which are to be cultivated as disciplines. Parallels include the gunatita (14.22–26) and the ideal devotee (12.13–20). Similar ideals appear in other traditions, such as the Buddhist arahant and Jain kevalin, though with different metaphysics.How its meaning differs
Shankara reads the sthitaprajna as the knower of the Self, whose traits come naturally after realisation and serve as disciplines for the seeker.
In Ramanuja's reading, steady wisdom is the stable vision of the self as distinct from matter and dependent on the Lord, a stage leading into devotion.
Devotional readers link the steady-minded sage to the ideal devotee of Gita chapter twelve, whose equanimity grows from love and dependence on God.
Mahatma Gandhi and others treated these verses as a practical ethical ideal for public life; this is a modern reading.
In the Bhagavad Gita — as Sadhak Sanjivani explains it
Summary based on Sadhak Sanjivaniसाधक-संजीवनीपर आधारित सारOne who gives up all the desires that arise in the mind and is content in the Self by the Self is called steady in wisdom (2.55). Swamiji notes that desire is neither in the self nor truly in the mind — it comes and goes, while the self remains (2.55). The Gita gives more weight to steadiness of the intellect, meaning firmness of aim, than to stillness of the mind (2.55). Such a person is not shaken in sorrow nor craving in pleasure, and is free of attachment, fear and anger (2.56). Enjoyments come to him as rivers enter the full ocean without disturbing it; he attains peace, not the one who desires enjoyments (2.70). Giving up all desires, free of longing, 'mine' and 'I', he attains peace (2.71).
जब साधक मनमें आयी सब कामनाओंको छोड़ देता है और अपने-आपसे अपने-आपमें सन्तुष्ट रहता है, तब वह स्थिरबुद्धि कहा जाता है (२।५५)। स्वामीजी कहते हैं कि कामना न स्वयंमें है, न मनमें — वह आने-जानेवाली है और स्वयं निरन्तर रहनेवाला है (२।५५)। गीता मनकी स्थिरतासे अधिक बुद्धिकी स्थिरता अर्थात् उद्देश्यकी दृढ़ताको महत्त्व देती है (२।५५)। ऐसा पुरुष दु:खमें उद्विग्न नहीं होता, सुखमें स्पृहा नहीं करता और राग, भय, क्रोधसे रहित होता है (२।५६)। जैसे नदियाँ परिपूर्ण समुद्रमें मिलती हैं पर वह अचल रहता है, वैसे भोग उसे विकार पैदा किये बिना प्राप्त होते हैं; वही शान्ति पाता है, भोगोंकी कामनावाला नहीं (२।७०)। सब कामनाओंको छोड़कर नि:स्पृह, निर्मम और निरहंकार होकर वह शान्तिको प्राप्त होता है (२।७१)।
जिस समय साधक सांसारिक रुचिका त्याग करके अपने स्वरूपमें स्थित रहता है, उस समय वह स्थिर बुद्धिवाला कहा जाता है।Where it appears in the Gita
Arjuna asks: what is a person of steady wisdom like?
अर्जुनका प्रश्न—स्थितप्रज्ञके क्या लक्षण हैं?
स्थितप्रज्ञस्य का भाषा समाधिस्थस्य केशव।
Arjuna asks four questions about the one whose intellect is steady: what are his marks, and how does he speak, sit and move?
अर्जुन स्थिर बुद्धिवालेके विषयमें चार प्रश्न करते हैं—उसके लक्षण क्या हैं, वह कैसे बोलता, बैठता और चलता है?
2.55Drop every desire, content in the Self
सम्पूर्ण कामनाओंका त्याग, अपने-आपमें सन्तोष
प्रजहाति यदा कामान्सर्वान्पार्थ मनोगतान्।
When a person completely gives up all desires that come into the mind and is content in himself, by himself, he is called steady in wisdom.
जब साधक मनमें आयी सम्पूर्ण कामनाओंका भलीभाँति त्याग कर देता है और अपने-आपसे अपने-आपमें ही सन्तुष्ट रहता है, तब वह स्थितप्रज्ञ कहा जाता है।
2.56Unshaken in sorrow, uncraving in joy
दु:खमें उद्वेग नहीं, सुखमें स्पृहा नहीं
दु:खेष्वनुद्विग्नमना: सुखेषु विगतस्पृह:।
One who is not agitated in sorrow, does not crave in pleasure, and is free of attachment, fear and anger is called a sage of steady intellect.
दु:खोंमें जिसके मनमें उद्वेग नहीं, सुखोंमें स्पृहा नहीं और जो राग, भय, क्रोधसे रहित है, वह मननशील मनुष्य स्थिरबुद्धि कहा जाता है।
2.59Objects fall away, the taste remains — until God is seen
विषय छूटते हैं, रस नहीं—परमात्मदर्शनसे रस भी छूटता है
विषया विनिवर्तन्ते निराहारस्य देहिन:।
When the senses are held back, objects fall away but the taste for them remains; on experiencing the Supreme, even that taste goes.
इन्द्रियोंको विषयोंसे हटानेसे विषय तो छूट जाते हैं, पर रस नहीं छूटता; परमात्मतत्त्वका अनुभव होनेसे रस भी निवृत्त हो जाता है।
2.70Like the ocean, full and unmoved
समुद्रकी तरह परिपूर्ण और अचल
आपूर्यमाणमचलप्रतिष्ठं
As rivers flow into the full ocean without disturbing its bounds, one into whom all objects enter without causing change attains peace — not the one who craves objects.
जैसे नदियोंका जल परिपूर्ण समुद्रमें मिलता है पर समुद्र अचल रहता है, ऐसे ही जिसे सब भोग विकार उत्पन्न किये बिना प्राप्त होते हैं, वही शान्ति पाता है, भोगोंकी कामनावाला नहीं।
2.71Without desire, need, 'mine' or 'I' — peace
निष्काम, नि:स्पृह, निर्मम, निरहंकार—शान्ति
विहाय कामान्य: सर्वान्पुमांश्चरति नि:स्पृह:।
One who gives up all desires and moves about free of need, free of 'mine' and free of 'I' attains peace.
जो मनुष्य सम्पूर्ण कामनाओंका त्याग करके स्पृहारहित, ममतारहित और अहंतारहित होकर आचरण करता है, वह शान्तिको प्राप्त होता है।
Where else it appears
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Trace the idea from one source to the next.
- 1Gita verseBhagavad Gita 2.54Arjuna asks what the person of steady wisdom is like.
- 2Gita verseBhagavad Gita 2.55The answer begins: all desires of the mind given up, content in the Self.
- 3Gita verseBhagavad Gita 2.62The chain from dwelling on objects to ruin shows what steadiness protects against.
- 4Gita verseBhagavad Gita 2.70The ocean image: enjoyments enter but the full person is undisturbed.
- 5Conceptसमत्वSamatvaEquanimity is the practical core of steady wisdom.
- 6Gita verseBhagavad Gita 14.25Compare the portrait of one who has gone beyond the gunas.
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