The Bhagavad Gita, a timeless text brimming with wisdom, offers guidance applicable across millennia. Today, we’ll delve into a single verse, BG 2.62: “yogastha kuru karmani sangam tyaktva dvesha-bhakti, siddhi-asiddhyo: samabhini veshito mad-gatih” which translates roughly as: “Perform your actions, remaining steadfast in yoga, abandoning attachment and aversion; success and failure should be treated alike - this is the path to Me.”
This verse speaks directly to the anxieties of modern life. We are constantly bombarded with expectations – societal, familial, professional. We strive for success, often equating it with happiness and self-worth. Failure, conversely, can lead to crippling self-doubt and despair. This creates a turbulent internal landscape, a constant oscillation between elation and devastation.
Krishna, through Arjuna (and thus, to us), advocates for a different approach. “Yoga” here doesn’t just mean physical postures; it refers to a state of mental and emotional equilibrium. It’s about finding inner peace amidst the chaos of external events. The key is to perform our actions – our duties, our work, our interactions – without being attached to the outcome. We should act with dedication and intention, but relinquish the need to control the results.
This isn’t about apathy or indifference. It’s about understanding that our efforts are our contribution, but the fruits of our labour are beyond our complete control. The verse emphasizes the detachment from both success and failure – “siddhi-asiddhyo: samabhini veshito.” Whether we achieve our goals or not, our actions should stem from a place of inner calm, free from the tyranny of expectation and fear. This equanimity allows us to perform our duties without being overwhelmed by the emotional rollercoaster of outcomes. It encourages us to find our center, our “mad-gatih” – the path to the divine within. This path, this unwavering center, is our true source of strength and fulfillment, far transcending the fleeting nature of success and failure.
Finding that still point in the whirlwind of daily life – that is the true yoga.