Chapter 5: Karma-yoga -- Action in Krsna Consciousness

Bhaktivedanta VedaBase: Bhagavad-gita As It Is 5.20

na prahrsyet priyam prapya

nodvijet prapya capriyam

sthira-buddhir asammudho

brahma-vid brahmani sthitah

SYNONYMS

na -- never; prahrsyet -- rejoices; priyam -- the pleasant; prapya -- achieving; na -- does not; udvijet -- become agitated; prapya -- obtaining; ca -- also; apriyam -- the unpleasant; sthira-buddhih -- self-intelligent; asammudhah -- unbewildered; brahma-vit -- one who knows the Supreme perfectly; brahmani -- in the transcendence; sthitah -- situated.

TRANSLATION

A person who neither rejoices upon achieving something pleasant nor laments upon obtaining something unpleasant, who is self-intelligent, who is unbewildered, and who knows the science of God, is already situated in transcendence.

PURPORT

The symptoms of the self-realized person are given herein. The first symptom is that he is not illusioned by the false identification of the body with his true self. He knows perfectly well that he is not this body, but is the fragmental portion of the Supreme Personality of Godhead. He is therefore not joyful in achieving something, nor does he lament in losing anything which is related to his body. This steadiness of mind is called sthira-buddhi, or self-intelligence. He is therefore never bewildered by mistaking the gross body for the soul, nor does he accept the body as permanent and disregard the existence of the soul. This knowledge elevates him to the station of knowing the complete science of the Absolute Truth, namely Brahman, Paramatma and Bhagavan. He thus knows his constitutional position perfectly well, without falsely trying to become one with the Supreme in all respects. This is called Brahman realization, or self-realization. Such steady consciousness is called Krsna consciousness.

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His Divine Grace A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada, Founder Acarya of the International Society for Krishna Consciousness