What the Gita Says About Equanimity & Balance

Of all the Gita's teachings, equanimity (samatva) may be the most practical. Life swings constantly between gain and loss, praise and blame, joy and sorrow. Krishna teaches that freedom is not found by escaping these swings but by meeting them with a steady, balanced mind. This even-mindedness is not coldness; it is a deep inner stability that lets us love, act and serve without being tossed about by every change.

The Gita gives equanimity its highest possible status in chapter 2, verse 48:

Yogasthah kuru karmani sangam tyaktva dhananjaya... samatvam yoga uchyate. (BG 2.48)

समत्वं योग उच्यते।

Meaning: Established in yoga, perform your actions giving up attachment, remaining even in success and failure - this evenness of mind is called yoga. Here Krishna does not say balance leads to yoga; he says balance is yoga. The whole spiritual path can be measured by how steady the mind stays amid the ups and downs of life.

Before equanimity becomes natural, it must be practised. In chapter 2, verse 38, Krishna advises Arjuna:

Sukha-duhkhe same kritva labhalabhau jayajayau. (BG 2.38)

Meaning: Treating pleasure and pain, gain and loss, victory and defeat as the same, engage in your duty; thus you will incur no sin. The Gita calls these the dvandvas (pairs of opposites). Balance is the steady refusal to be ruled by either side of a pair - neither swept away by success nor crushed by failure.

Equanimity in the Gita extends to how we see all beings. In chapter 5, verses 18 and 19, Krishna says the wise see with equal vision a learned brahmin, a cow, an elephant, a dog and an outcaste alike, for the same self dwells in all. Such people, he says, have already conquered the world while still living (jitah sargo), because their mind rests in the flawless balance of the divine. Even-mindedness toward beings and toward events is one and the same virtue.

Equanimity does not mean feeling nothing; it means not being swept away by what you feel. In practice, it is celebrating success without arrogance and meeting setbacks without despair. It is staying centred when criticised, kind when provoked, and calm when plans collapse. This steadiness makes our decisions wiser, our relationships gentler and our happiness far less dependent on circumstances we cannot control.

Try this for a week to steady the mind: 1. Each morning, set the intention to 'stay even in gain and loss' (the 2.48 vow). 2. When something good or bad happens, pause for one breath and silently say, 'This too will pass.' 3. Once a day, notice a strong like or dislike and try to hold the situation with a calm, neutral mind. 4. At night, recall one moment you stayed balanced and one you did not, without judging yourself. Slowly the gap between an event and your reaction widens, and that space is where equanimity lives.