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Chapter 14 · Verse 25
🪈 Krishna speaks
Illustration for Chapter 14, Verse 25

मानापमानयोस्तुल्यस्तुल्यो मित्रारिपक्षयोः। सर्वारम्भपरित्यागी गुणातीतः स उच्यते॥

mānāpamānayostulyastulyo mitrāripakṣayoḥ | sarvārambhaparityāgī guṇātītaḥ sa ucyate ||

Word by Word 8 words
मानापमानयोः
man to honour, to esteem apa away, off māna honour, respect

in honour and in dishonour, when respected and when slighted

तुल्यः
tul to weigh, to balance -ya to be made equal

equal, weighing both the same

तुल्यः
tul to weigh, to balance -ya to be made equal

equal, the same toward both

मित्रारिपक्षयोः
mitra friend ari enemy, foe pakṣa side, party

toward the side of friends and the side of foes

सर्वारम्भपरित्यागी
sarva all ā toward, up rabh to begin, to undertake pari around, completely tyaj to give up, to let go

one who has let go of all selfish undertakings, giving up all 'I-want' projects

गुणातीतः
guṇa quality, strand ati beyond, across i to go

one who has gone beyond the three qualities

सः
tad that, he

he, that one

उच्यते
vac to speak, to say -yate is being said

is said to be, is called

finishes the picture of the person who has risen above the three qualities. Whether the world honours him or scolds him, both feel the same to him. He treats his friends and the people who oppose him with the very same even kindness, taking no side in his heart. And he has put down all the restless "I want this, I must grab that" projects that keep most people busy and worried. A person like this, Krishna says, is the one we call gunatita, one who has crossed past all three qualities and become truly free.

कथा

The Sage the Two Kings Could Not Move

From the Puranic / forest-sage tradition

Deep in a forest, beside a slow green river, lived an old sage in a hut of leaves. He kept no gold, owned no land, and wanted nothing from anyone. Each morning he watered a small tulsi plant, ate whatever fruit the trees let fall, and sat very still beneath a banyan, his eyes soft and quiet.

Two kings ruled the lands on either side of that forest, and the two kings hated each other.

One day the first king came riding through, his soldiers crashing through the ferns. He had heard the sage was holy, and he wanted the sage on his side. He bowed low and laid garlands and gold coins at the old man's feet. "Great one!" he cried. "Bless my army! Curse my enemy! Be my friend and you shall live in a palace!"

The sage looked at him kindly. "May you be at peace," he said, and he did not touch the gold, and he did not curse anyone.

The king, angry to be refused, kicked over the basket of coins and stormed away, shouting insults. "Foolish old beggar! Useless hermit!" The sage watched him go, and his face did not change at all — not when the gold came, not when the insults came.

The very next morning the *second* king arrived, the first king's great enemy. He too bowed and begged: "Be my friend! Curse that other king who troubles you!"

And the sage smiled at him with the very same warmth he had shown the first one. "May you be at peace," he said again. "I have no enemy here. The king who shouted at me yesterday is no less dear to me than you are today."

The second king blinked. "You would not even curse the man who insulted you?"

"Why would I?" said the sage. "Honour and insult are like the river's sound — they come, they go, they do not wet the one who sits on the bank. Friend and foe are two words people throw at each other; in my heart there is no 'my side' and 'their side.' I want nothing from either of you, so neither of you can pull me. That is the only freedom I have, and it is the only thing I would ever wish for you both."

The two kings, on different days, rode away from that same hut puzzled and strangely quieted. Behind them the old sage went back to watering his tulsi, as steady as the banyan tree, having crossed long ago beyond honour and shame, friend and foe, wanting and not-wanting.

चिन्तनम्

The sage was the same to the king who praised him and the king who insulted him, because he wanted nothing from either. Is it easier to be fair and kind to everyone when you are not hoping to get something from them?