Chapter 4 Gnana Yoga Verse 15 – Bhagavadgita

Chapter 4 Gnana Yoga Verse 15

Sloka

Yadricchaalaabhasantushto dwandwaateeto vimatsarah;
Samah siddhaavasiddhau cha kritwaapi na nibadhyate.

Translation

Content with what comes to him without effort, free from the pairs of opposites and envy,
even-minded in success and failure, though acting, he is not bound.

Interpretation

Lord Krishna continues to talk about the qualities of a sage in this sloka also and talks about some more qualities of a sage. He says that a sage is a person who doesn’t make an effort to get an action done by putting efforts but allows actions to happens automatically. A sage is also a person who is not affected by good or bad or any type of envy. He is a person who is even minded in both success and failure, which means the sage really doesn’t care whether that work he does brings success or failure. Such a person who acts like this is called a sage.

Extending Interpretation to Mankind’s Life!

“Content with what comes to him without effort” is a phrase we need to understand. Nobody will agree with the fact that one needs to be content with what he gets without effort. In simple terms it talks about the laziness of a person. If a person puts no effort and he is content with what comes to him then how will he ever succeed? How can we call such a person a sage? The answer goes like this. We need to understand the above said phrase in the right context.

What it means is that a sage is a person to whom action comes naturally, it doesn’t require any extra effort. It is not that he is lazy or not putting efforts. It simply means that that a sage is so accurate in doing his actions that he doesn’t need any extra efforts to do what he does. Let’s take the example of the master flute player from the previous sloka. He is an expert in playing flute and the moment he takes the flute rhythmic music flows from his lips with no effort. He is totally content with his efforts because he is a master of his actions and is always content with what he does. Only a sage can be content without efforts.

Published by Sriram

A Teacher trying to Learn new things and explore the world each day! Believe in Happiness by the virtue of sacrifice and forgiveness.

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