Equanimity in Action
Perform your duty with steadfast mind, remaining equal in success and failure.
True yoga is equanimity—maintaining inner balance regardless of external outcomes. This teaching frees us from the emotional roller coaster of attachment to results. When we act from duty rather than desire for reward, we experience peace regardless of circumstances. The verse itself defines yoga as samatvam—evenness of mind—not as any posture or ritual.
Be steadfast in yoga, O Arjuna. Perform your duty and abandon all attachment to success or failure. Such evenness of mind is called yoga.
Swami Vivekananda taught that this verse contains the essence of Karma Yoga—acting without attachment while maintaining perfect inner equilibrium.
Bhagavad Gita
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- What the Bhagavad Gita says about letting go of results
The next verse defines yoga as evenness of mind in success and failure. Not a posture, not an hour of practice.