The agent who is free of attachment, who does not speak of himself, endowed with resolve and zeal, unmoved by success or failure — that agent is called sattvic.
मुक्तसङ्गोऽनहंवादी धृत्युत्साहसमन्वितः | सिद्ध्यसिद्ध्योर्निर्विकारः कर्ता सात्त्विक उच्यते ||१८-२६||
The Bhagavad Gita, translated and commentated by S. Radhakrishnan, is one of the most scholarly and accessible English renderings of Hinduism's most beloved scripture — the dialogue between Arjuna and Lord Krishna on the battlefield of Kurukshetra. Radhakrishnan, philosopher and statesman, brings both rigorous intellectual insight and genuine spiritual depth to his translation and notes. This edition is treasured for its ability to illuminate the Gita's universal spiritual teaching across cultural and philosophical boundaries.
Contacts with the objects of sense, Kaunteya, give rise to cold and heat, pleasure and pain. They come and go and are impermanent. Endure them, Bharata.
मात्रास्पर्शास्तु कौन्तेय शीतोष्णसुखदुःखदाः | आगमापायिनोऽनित्यास्तांस्तितिक्षस्व भारत ||२-१४||
A person who stays in the society just as the lotus does in water, is the real saint. Just as the lotus remains above water, uninfluenced by water even though it stands in it, a saint remains unattached even while he performs all his worldly duties; his real attachment is with God.
True happiness requires more than just knowledge; it demands love. The love of God can only fill a person's heart after it has been purified of worldly desires, and this purification can only be achieved through self-discipline and detachment.
The man who abides in God’s love must be dead to himself and all created things, and regard himself as a mere unit among a thousand million.