Bg. 2.57 · Bhagavad-gita As It Is

Devanagari

यः सर्वत्रानभिस्नेहस्तत्तत्प्राप्य श‍ुभाश‍ुभम् । नाभिनन्दति न द्वेष्टि तस्य प्रज्ञा प्रतिष्ठिता ॥ ५७ ॥

Verse text

yaḥ sarvatrānabhisnehas tat tat prāpya śubhāśubham nābhinandati na dveṣṭi tasya prajṣā pratiṣṭhitā

Synonyms

yaḥ — one who ; sarvatra — everywhere ; anabhisnehaḥ — without affection ; tat — that ; tat — that ; prāpya — achieving ; śubha — good ; aśubham — evil ; na — never ; abhinandati — praises ; na — never ; dveṣṭi — envies ; tasya — his ; prajṣā — perfect knowledge ; pratiṣṭhitā — fixed.

Translation

In the material world, one who is unaffected by whatever good or evil he may obtain, neither praising it nor despising it, is firmly fixed in perfect knowledge.

Translation (Visvanatha Cakravarti Thakura)

57. He who has no motivated affections at all, who does not rejoice on attaining good fortune or curse on attaining misfortune, is situated in prajṣā.

Translation (Baladeva Vidyabhusana)

57. He who has no motivated affections at all, who does not rejoice on attaining good fortune or curse on attaining misfortune, is situated in prajṣa.

Purport

There is always some upheaval in the material world which may be good or evil. One who is not agitated by such material upheavals, who is unaffected by good and evil, is to be understood to be fixed in Kṛṣṇa consciousness. As long as one is in the material world there is always the possibility of good and evil because this world is full of duality. But one who is fixed in Kṛṣṇa consciousness is not affected by good and evil, because he is simply concerned with Kṛṣṇa, who is all-good absolute. Such consciousness in Kṛṣṇa situates one in a perfect transcendental position called, technically, samādhi.

Purport (Visvanatha Cakravarti Thakura)

That person is without affections which are subject to material conditions (anabhisneha). Unconditional affection out of mercifulness however should remain to some degree. He is fixed in those qualities. On receiving something favorable to himself (śubham), through respect or feeding for instance, he does not approve, and receiving disrespect (aśubham), such as a punch from someone’s fist, he does not disapprove. He does not say, “Oh, you are so religious, serving a great devotee. I bless you with happiness.” Nor does he curse the disrespectful person saying, “Go to hell, you sinful creature.” He is prajṣā pratiṣṭhitā, situated in samādhi (samādhim pratiṣṭhita), or well situated in prajṣā or samādhi.

Purport (Baladeva Vidyabhusana)

He is devoid of specific affection (anabhisnehaḥ) for any living entities (sarvatra). However, since he has the quality of compassion, he has a little general affection. Receiving favorable items such as fine offerings of food, garlands or sandalwood (subha), he does not rejoice, praising others with words like “You are very righteous. May you live long!” Nor does he show hatred when receiving unfavorable items, such as being disrespected or hit with a stick (aśubham). He does not curse, saying “You are a vile sinner. May you die!” He is a sthita prajṣa (tasya prajṣā pratiṣṭhitā). This verse shows the quality of the sthita prajṣa by indicating what he does not speak. (The first half of the previous verse showed what he would speak.)

Surrender Unto Me

He is fixed, he is equal he is completely aloof and detached from the material world. In other words, he is on the transcendental platform. Note that this is a negative way of describing someone who is in Krsna consciousness, therefore we can also describe someone who is simply liberated. Because someone in Krsna‑loka is also unaffected by what material good or evil he may obtain‑ he doesn't have to do anything with these things; but he is active, acting on the transcendental platform for Krsna. But one who is just liberated in Brahman he is also neutral when in relation with the material world, but he has not any positive spiritual activities. But these symptoms are good for both ‑ they are just symptoms of one on the transcendental platform: "how does he walk?" Now in Texts 58 and 59 , [ 4a. How does he sit? (What is his mentality when his senses are restrained from their objects?) Such a person remains fixed in transcendental consciousness by virtue of his higher taste for the service of Krsna. (58‑59) ]