← Chapter 2: The Yoga of KnowledgeLesson 3/3

The Steady Mind (Sthitaprajna)

~10 min

Arjuna asks Krishna: 'What does a person of steady wisdom look like? How do they sit, how do they speak, how do they move through the world?' Krishna's answer describes the sthitaprajna — a person whose mind is steady, who is not shaken by pleasure or pain, success or failure.

श्रीभगवानुवाच | प्रजहाति यदा कामान्सर्वान्पार्थ मनोगतान् |

“2.55 The Blessed Lord said When a man completely casts off, O Arjuna, all the desires of the mind and is satisfied in the Self by the Self, then is he said to be one of steady wisdom.”

BG 2.55— View with commentaries →

आपूर्यमाणमचलप्रतिष्ठं समुद्रमापः प्रविशन्ति यद्वत् |

“2.70 He attains peace into whom all desires enter as waters enter the ocean which, filled from all sides, remains unmoved; but not the man who is full of desires.”

BG 2.70— View with commentaries →

The image of the ocean is powerful: rivers flow into it endlessly, but the ocean itself remains unmoved. A steady mind receives experiences — joy, sorrow, praise, criticism — without being destabilized by them. This is not suppression of emotion. It is a deeper stability beneath the emotions.

Reflect

“When have you felt most steady — most 'oceanic' — in your life? What conditions supported that steadiness?”

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