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Bhagavad-gītā 5.21

बाह्यस्पर्शेष्वसक्तात्मा विन्दत्यात्मनि यत्सुखम् । स ब्रह्मयोगयुक्तात्मा सुखमक्षयमश्न‍ुते ॥ २१ ॥
bāhya-sparśeṣv asaktātmā
[baahya-sparsheshv asaktaatmaa]
vindaty ātmani yat sukham
[vindaty aatmani yat sukham]
sa brahma-yoga-yuktātmā
[sa brahma-yoga-yuktaatmaa]
sukham akṣayam aśnute
[sukham akshayam ashnute]
Word-for-word
bāhya - sparśeṣu — in external sense pleasure asakta - ātmā — one who is not attached vindati — enjoys ātmani — in the self yat — that which sukham — happiness saḥ — he brahma - yoga — by concentration in Brahman yukta - ātmā — self-connected sukham — happiness akṣayam — unlimited aśnute — enjoys .
Blended reading (Sanskrit + English inline)
bāhya-sparśeṣv asaktātmā
bāhya - sparśeṣu
in external sense pleasure
asakta - ātmā
one who is not attached
vindaty ātmani yat sukham
vindati
enjoys
ātmani
in the self
yat
that which
sukham
happiness
sa brahma-yoga-yuktātmā
saḥ
he
brahma - yoga
by concentration in Brahman
yukta - ātmā
self-connected
sukham akṣayam aśnute
sukham
happiness
akṣayam
unlimited
aśnute
enjoys .
Important Words
  • bāhya-sparśeṣu — in external sense pleasure
    Bāhya — external. Sparśa — contact, touch. The locative plural names the entire domain of sensory contact-pleasures. The Gītā's word sparśa already implies brevity; what touches passes.
  • asakta-ātmā — one who is not attached
    A + sakta — 'not stuck.' From √sañj, same root as saṅga of 2.47. The unattached self can taste external pleasure without becoming smeared by it. Asaṅga is the running ideal of the entire chapter.
  • ātmani — in the self
    Locative. The happiness is found *in* the self, not from outside it. The grammar establishes the architecture of the bhakti-experience: the source is interior, not delivered.
  • brahma-yoga-yukta-ātmā — self-connected by concentration in Brahman
    A heavy compound. Yoked to brahma-yoga, the self enters brahma-yoga, the self becomes brahma-yoga-yukta — Sanskrit's compounds allow this layered fusion. The technique and the practitioner blend.
  • akṣayam — unlimited
    A + kṣaya — 'without decay.' External pleasures have a kṣaya, an end-point; inner happiness is akṣaya, undecaying. The contrast lands on the last word of the verse for emphasis.
Such a liberated person is not attracted to material sense pleasure but is always in trance, enjoying the pleasure within. In this way the self-realized person enjoys unlimited happiness, for he concentrates on the Supreme.
Classical Sanskrit analysis शास्त्रीय विश्लेषण
How Sanskrit scholars read this verse — split, rearranged, grammar-tagged. For the plain English distilled meaning, jump to Plain meaning below.
Auto-generated study layers — original analysis of the public-domain śloka. Review against a published edition for academic work.
Plain meaning (तात्पर्य · Tātparya)
Detachment from external contacts is not a deprivation; it opens access to the sukha that lies in the self. Yoked in Brahma-yoga, one feasts on an akṣaya — undecaying — happiness, qualitatively different from sense-bound joy.
Further notes (विवरण · Vivaraṇa)
The verse cleanly opposes two economies of pleasure: bāhya-sparśa (external contact) is finite and exhaustible; ātma-sukha is akṣaya — never depleting. The yogin migrates from the first to the second, and the migration is itself the joy. Cross-ref 6.21, 14.27. This is the positive case for what 5.22 will negatively diagnose.
Prose order (अन्वय · Anvaya)
बाह्य-स्पर्शेषु असक्त-आत्मा आत्मनि यत् सुखम् (तत्) विन्दति । सः ब्रह्म-योग-युक्त-आत्मा अक्षयम् सुखम् अश्नुते ।
bāhya-sparśeṣu asakta-ātmā ātmani yat sukham (tat) vindati | saḥ brahma-yoga-yukta-ātmā akṣayam sukham aśnute |
One whose self is unattached to external contacts finds the happiness that is in the self. His self yoked in Brahma-yoga, he enjoys imperishable happiness.
Word split (पदच्छेद · Padaccheda)
बाह्य-स्पर्शेषु असक्त-आत्मा विन्दति आत्मनि यत् सुखम् । सः ब्रह्म-योग-युक्त-आत्मा सुखम् अक्षयम् अश्नुते ॥
bāhya-sparśeṣu asakta-ātmā vindati ātmani yat sukham | saḥ brahma-yoga-yukta-ātmā sukham akṣayam aśnute ||
Grammar (व्याकरण · Vyākaraṇa)
SanskritIASTGrammarMeaning
बाह्य-स्पर्शेषु bāhya-sparśeṣu बाह्य (adj.) + स्पर्श (m.) loc.pl. (locative plural), karmadhāraya in external contacts
असक्त-आत्मा asakta-ātmā अ + सक्त p.p.p. (past passive participle) + आत्मन् (m.) nom.sg. (nominative singular)m., bahuvrīhi cpd. (compound) whose self is unattached
विन्दति vindati √विद् pres. (present) 3sg.par. (parasmaipada / active voice) finds
आत्मनि ātmani आत्मन् (m.) loc.sg. (locative singular) in the self
यत् yat rel. pron. (pronoun) nom.sg. (nominative singular)n. which
सुखम् sukham सुख (n.) nom./acc.sg. (accusative singular) happiness
सः saḥ dem. (demonstrative) pron. (pronoun) nom.sg. (nominative singular)m. he
ब्रह्म-योग-युक्त-आत्मा brahma-yoga-yukta-ātmā ब्रह्मन् + योग + युक्त p.p.p. (past passive participle) + आत्मन् (m.) nom.sg. (nominative singular)m., complex bahuvrīhi cpd. (compound) whose self is yoked in Brahma-yoga
अक्षयम् akṣayam अ + क्षय (m.) acc.sg. (accusative singular)n., bahuvrīhi cpd. (compound) imperishable
अश्नुते aśnute √अश् pres. (present) 3sg.ātm. (ātmanepada / middle voice) enjoys, partakes of
Purport

Śrī Yāmunācārya, a great devotee in Kṛṣṇa consciousness, said: yad-avadhi mama cetaḥ kṛṣṇa-pādāravinde nava-nava-rasa-dhāmany udyataṁ rantum āsīt tad-avadhi bata nārī-saṅgame smaryamāne bhavati mukha-vikāraḥ suṣṭhu niṣṭhīvanaṁ ca “Since I have been engaged in the transcendental loving service of Kṛṣṇa, realizing ever-new pleasure in Him, whenever I think of sex pleasure I spit at the thought, and my lips curl with distaste.” A person in brahma-yoga, or Kṛṣṇa consciousness, is so absorbed in the loving service of the Lord that he loses his taste for material sense pleasure altogether. The highest pleasure in terms of matter is sex pleasure. The whole world is moving under its spell, and a materialist cannot work at all without this motivation. But a person engaged in Kṛṣṇa consciousness can work with greater vigor without sex pleasure, which he avoids. That is the test in spiritual realization. Spiritual realization and sex pleasure go ill together. A Kṛṣṇa conscious person is not attracted to any kind of sense pleasure, due to his being a liberated soul.

— A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupāda
Gauḍīya Ācāryas
Viśvanātha Cakravartī Ṭhākura Gauḍīya
Translation
21. He who has attained the happiness of Paramātmā within the soul and is not attached to the happiness from sense objects, being totally absorbed in Paramātmā, attains permanent happiness.
Commentary

His mind is not attached (asaktātmā) to the happiness of sense objects (bāhya sparśeṣu), since he experiences in the soul (ātmani) happiness from having attained Paramātmā. He then attains that happiness permanently (akṣayam), since, in constantly relishing the sweetness, he does not relish lower things.

Baladeva Vidyābhūṣaṇa Gauḍīya
Translation
21. He who, not attached to the happiness from sense object, attains the happiness of ātmā, then becomes fixed in realization of paramātmā and attains indestructible happiness.
Commentary

This verse describes that a person realizes his own ātmā and then paramātmā. When a person, not attached to experiencing the objects of the senses, realizes his own nature and experiences bliss, he then attains samādhi in paramātmā (brahma yoga yuktātmā) and attains indestructible happiness which is an experience of great bliss (akṣayam sukham).

Study Notes — Gauranga Priya Dāsa
Gauranga Priya Dāsa Study
Bhakti-śāstrī Notes, ISKCON Chowpatty (2009)
Theme

When the devotee becomes connected (yukta) with the Supreme, he experiences unlimited happi-

ness and loses all attraction to matter. Śrīla Viśvanātha Cakravartī Ṭhākura comments that just as a

person eating sweetmeats has no inclination to eat mud, so a liberated person is not attracted to

material sense pleasure.

Classical Ācāryas
Śrī Śaṅkarācārya Classical
Translation
5.21 Asakta-atma, with his heart, internal organ, unattached, bahya-sparsesu, to external objects-sparsah means objects that are contacted, viz sound etc.; bahya-sparsah means those things which are external (bahya) and are objects of contact; that person who thus has his heart unattached, who derives no happiness from objects; he vindati, gets that sukham, bliss; yat, which is; atmani, in the Self. Brahma-yoga-yukta-atma, with his heart absorbed in meditation on Brahman-meditation (yoga) on Brahman is brahma-yoga; one whose internal organ (atma) is absorbed in (yukta), engaged in, that meditation on Brahman is brahma-yoga-yukta-atma; he asnute, acires; aksayam, undecaying; sukham, Bliss. So, he who cherishes undecaying happiness in the Self should withdraw the organs from the momentary happiness in external objects. This is the meaning. For this reason also one should withdraw:
Śrī Rāmānujācārya Classical
Translation
5.21 He who finds happiness in the self within himself, his mind detached from external contact in the manner already mentioned, i.e., from experience of objects other than the self - such a person abandoning the contemplation on Prakrti or bodily experiences, has his mind engaged in the contemplation on Brahman i.e., the Atman. Thus he attains everlasting bliss which consists in the experience of Brahman (the self). Sri Krsna speaks of the abandonment of material pleasure as easy:
Śrī Abhinavagupta Classical
Translation
5.21 He, in whom there is no desire for the external touch viz., the object-he thinks says as follows the Bhagawat -
Swami Sivananda Classical
Translation
5.21 With the self unattached to external contacts he finds happiness in the Self; with the self engaged in the meditation of Brahman he attains to the endless happiness.
Commentary

5.21 बाह्यस्पर्शेषु in external contacts? असक्तात्मा one whose mind is unattached? विन्दति finds? आत्मनि in,the Self? यत् (that) which? सुखम् happiness? सः he? ब्रह्मयोगयुक्तात्मा with the self engaged in the meditation of Brahman? सुखम् happiness? अक्षयम् endless? अश्नुते enjoys.Commentary When the mind is not attached to external objects of the senses? when one is deeply engaged in the contemplation of Brahman? he finds undecaying bliss in the Self within. If you want to enjoy the imperishable happiness of the Self within? you will have to withdraw the senses from their respective objects and plunge yourself in deep meditation on the Self within. This is the gist of this verse.

Swami Gambhīrānanda Classical
Translation
5.21 With his heart unattached to external objects, he gets the bliss that is in the Self. With his heart absorbed in meditation on Brahman, he acires undecaying Bliss.
Shri Purohit Swami Classical
Translation
5.21 He finds happiness in his own Self, and enjoys eternal bliss, whose heart does not yearn for the contacts of earth and whose Self is one with the Everlasting.
Related values & verses
Related values
Tyaga (Renunciation / Letting Go)Karuna (Kindness / Compassion)Tapas (Austerity / Discipline)Guru Bhakti (Reverence for Teacher)Maitri (Friendship / Goodwill)Daksya (Resourcefulness / Skill)Abhaya (Fearlessness)
Related verses
BG 6.20 BG 6.21 BG 2.55 SB 1.2.6 SB 7.9.25 SB 10.14.58 CC Madhya 8.70 CC Madhya 19.149 CC Antya 15.19 Taittirīya Upaniṣad 2.7.1Bṛhadāraṇyaka Upaniṣad 4.3.32
Related lectures
Personal Guidance
Unattached to external pleasures, finding happiness within — united with Brahman through yoga — he enjoys unending happiness.
Practical Applications
  • Cultivate inner happiness through sādhana so external pleasure becomes optional.
  • Notice that real happiness has a different quality from sense-pleasure.
  • Trade up — outer pleasures for inner, when offered the choice.
Reflection Questions
  • Where am I still seeking outside what is available inside?
  • What inner pleasure of mine is most real?
Analogy

A man who has tasted spring water from the mountain no longer queues at the village's brackish well. Once inner happiness is found, external sense pleasures lose their pull — not by force of will but because something better has been tasted. The Gītā's renunciation is not deprivation but graduation.

Stories
Mīrābāī and the cup of poison

When Mīrā's in-laws sent her a cup of poison, hoping to be rid of the troublesome princess who would not stop singing to Kṛṣṇa, she drank it without flinching. The tradition records that she sang as she drank, and the poison did not harm her.

What the in-laws missed was that they had nothing she wanted. The palace's pleasures, the queenly station, even physical safety — all bāhya-sparśas, external contacts — had become irrelevant. She had found ātmani yat sukham, the happiness within, and external pleasures and threats touched her with equal weakness.

Bāhya-sparśeṣu asakta-ātmā vindati ātmani yat sukham. Mīrā's life is the verse made song.

📝 My note

Source: vedabase.io

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