Bhagavad Gita Chapter 2, Verse 71

Chapter 2 – Sankhya Yoga · Speaker: Krishna

Sanskrit verse

विहाय कामान्यः सर्वान्पुमांश्चरति निःस्पृहः ।
निर्ममो निरहङ्कारः स शान्तिमधिगच्छति ॥

Transliteration

vihāya kāmānyaḥ sarvānpumāṃścarati niḥspṛhaḥ .
nirmamo nirahaṅkāraḥ sa śāntimadhigacchati ॥

Meaning

The person who gives up all desires and moves through life free from longing, without the sense of ‘mine’ and without ego — he attains peace.

Word meanings

विहाय – having abandoned
कामान् – desires
यः – who
सर्वान् – all
पुमान् – person
चरति – moves about, lives
निःस्पृहः – free from longing
निर्ममः – free from the sense of ‘mine’
निरहङ्कारः – free from ego, from the pride of ‘I’
सः – he
शान्तिम् – peace
अधिगच्छति – attains

Anvaya (word order)

यः पुमान् सर्वान् कामान् विहाय, निःस्पृहः निर्ममः निरहङ्कारः (सन्) चरति, सः शान्तिम् अधिगच्छति ।

Explanation

The previous verse, through the image of the ocean, showed that peace comes not to the ‘kama-kami’ but to one who is full within. Now Krishna sums up the path to that peace in four plain words. The verse is like a formula for the whole sthitaprajna section — just as it began (2.55) with the renunciation of desire, so it closes with the renunciation of desire.

First, ‘vihaya kaman yah sarvan’ — giving up all desires. This echoes the ‘prajahati yada kaman sarvan’ of 2.55. The whole section turns like a circle and returns to where it began, to show that renouncing desire is the beginning and the end of steady wisdom.

Second, ‘nihsprihah’ — free from longing. There is a subtle difference between kama and spriha. Kama is the desire for a particular object; spriha is subtler still — a general hankering, an inclination of the mind. Shankara says the sage has no longing even for the things needed merely to sustain the body.

Third, ‘nirmamah’ — free from the sense of ‘mine’. All of Arjuna's grief arose from the feeling of ‘mamakah’ — ‘my people’ (1.1). Possessiveness is the thread that ties us to things and people and drags us through their joys and sorrows. To be ‘nirmama’ is not to be loveless; it is to release the grip of ownership. The wise person serves family, wealth and body as a trust from God, without asserting proprietorship over them.

Fourth, ‘nirahankarah’ — free from ego, from the feeling ‘I am the doer, I am great’. Ego is the root of possessiveness: first comes ‘I’, then ‘mine’. Shankara describes it as the absence of the self-importance that comes from learning and the like. When this false centre of ‘I’ falls away, desire, longing and possessiveness all fall away by themselves.

‘Charati’ — such a person ‘moves about’. Shankara takes it as the wandering of a renunciate who moves only to sustain the body, while other commentators, in keeping with the Gita's flow of karma-yoga, read it as living in the world while fulfilling all one's duties. In both views the essence is the same: he lives in the world without being bound by it. And the fruit is ‘shantim adhigacchati’ — he attains peace.

This verse is a mirror for self-examination. When we are restless, we can ask: which desire is at work? Which longing? What have I clutched as ‘mine’? Where has my ‘I’ been hurt? In these four questions lies the whole diagnosis of unrest.

Context

Verse 2.70 used the image of the ocean to show that peace does not come to one who runs after desires. This verse gives the direct path to peace — giving up desire, longing, possessiveness and ego. The next verse (2.72) names this state ‘brahmi sthiti’ and concludes the chapter.

Life lesson

Whenever the mind is restless, ask four questions: which desire, which longing, what am I clutching as ‘mine’, and where has my ‘I’ been hurt? As these four loosen, peace reveals itself.

Key terms

Nihspriha: free even from subtle longing
Nirmama: free from the possessive sense of ‘mine’
Nirahankara: free from the pride of ‘I am the doer, I am great’
Shanti: the supreme stillness that comes when desire and ego subside