Bhagavad Gita Chapter 2, Verse 64 (BG 2.64) — Meaning, Translation & Commentary

The person who, endowed with self-mastery, engages with the many objects of the world yet harbors neither attachment nor aversion—such a one attains peace and contentment. Mere flight from the objects of the world does not bring peace, for the turbulence of the inner being does not depend upon whether external objects are present or absent. Its root cause lies in the craving to possess what is dear and the desire to reject what is unpleasant. Yet the wise one, possessed of complete self-control and knowledge, moves through life entirely free from these sources of disturbance. Just as our shadow follows us wherever we go, determined by the position of light, yet that shadow can neither bind us through attachment nor destroy us through aversion—so too, the external world of objects causes suffering only to one who grants those objects the power to torment him. If a deluded person were to strike himself with a whip and cry out in pain, his suffering would end only when he releases the whip, or at least ceases to strike himself with it. Similarly, the mind alone projects beauty and other qualities onto objects, labors to obtain them, and thereby creates its own suffering. From the perspective of teaching, it is said here that the self-controlled person, free from attachment and aversion, does not empower objects to afflict him. Self-mastery and the absence of attachment and aversion—when these two qualities are present, the mind's distraction arising from the attraction of objects naturally diminishes. This undisturbed state of mind is called peace, or grace. When grace is attained, what shall come to pass? Listen.