FolioCorpusBhagavad-gītā

Bhagavad-gītā 2.71

విహాయ కామాన్యః సర్వాన్పుమాంశ్చరతి నిఃస్పృహః । నిర్మమో నిరహఙ్కార స శాన్తిమధిగచ్ఛతి ॥ ౭౧ ॥
vihāya kāmān yaḥ sarvān
[vihaaya kaamaan yah sarvaan]
pumāṁś carati niḥspṛhaḥ
[pumaamsh charati nihsprihah]
nirmamo nirahaṅkāraḥ
[nirmamo nirahankaarah]
sa śāntim adhigacchati
[sa shaantim adhigachchati]
Word-for-word
vihāya — giving up kāmān — material desires for sense gratification yaḥ — who sarvān — all pumān — a person carati — lives niḥspṛhaḥ — desireless nirmamaḥ — without a sense of proprietorship nirahaṅkāraḥ — without false ego saḥ — he śāntim — perfect peace adhigacchati — attains .
Blended reading (Sanskrit + English inline)
vihāya kāmān yaḥ sarvān
vihāya
giving up
kāmān
material desires for sense gratification
yaḥ
who
sarvān
all
pumāṁś carati niḥspṛhaḥ
pumān
a person
carati
lives
niḥspṛhaḥ
desireless
nirmamo nirahaṅkāraḥ
nirmamaḥ
without a sense of proprietorship
nirahaṅkāraḥ
without false ego
sa śāntim adhigacchati
saḥ
he
śāntim
perfect peace
adhigacchati
attains .
Important Words
  • vihāya — having abandoned
    Gerund of vi-√hā — to abandon entirely. Same word as in 2.22 (the soul casting off old garments). The same verb that names death now names liberation: the abandoning is the same; only the object changes.
  • niḥspṛhaḥ — without longing
    Nir + spṛhā — without the reaching motion of desire. Echoes 2.56's vigata-spṛhaḥ. The verse uses the same vocabulary the chapter has been building; the sthita-prajña's portrait closes with familiar words.
  • nirmamaḥ — without 'mine'
    Nir + mama — without the *mine-feeling*. Mamatā is the chapter's silent enemy. The renunciation of *mine* is more radical than the renunciation of *thing*: things may stay; the claim on them must go.
  • nirahaṅkāraḥ — without 'I-maker'
    Nir + ahaṅkāra — without the ego-construct. The deepest renunciation: not just *mine* but *I*. The false self that says 'I am the doer' (cf. 2.47's karma-phala-hetuḥ) is here finally dropped.
  • adhigacchati — attains
    From adhi + √gam — to go up to, to reach. *Attains*. Same verb as in 2.64 (prasādam adhigacchati). The chapter promises śānti more than once — verse 66 by negation, verse 70 by image, verse 71 by this direct route. The destination is marked on the map repeatedly.
A person who has given up all desires for sense gratification, who lives free from desires, who has given up all sense of proprietorship and is devoid of false ego – he alone can attain real peace.
Purport

To become desireless means not to desire anything for sense gratification. In other words, desire for becoming Kṛṣṇa conscious is actually desirelessness. To understand one’s actual position as the eternal servitor of Kṛṣṇa, without falsely claiming this material body to be oneself and without falsely claiming proprietorship over anything in the world, is the perfect stage of Kṛṣṇa consciousness. One who is situated in this perfect stage knows that because Kṛṣṇa is the proprietor of everything, everything must be used for the satisfaction of Kṛṣṇa. Arjuna did not want to fight for his own sense satisfaction, but when he became fully Kṛṣṇa conscious he fought because Kṛṣṇa wanted him to fight. For himself there was no desire to fight, but for Kṛṣṇa the same Arjuna fought to his best ability. Real desirelessness is desire for the satisfaction of Kṛṣṇa, not an artificial attempt to abolish desires. The living entity cannot be desireless or senseless, but he does have to change the quality of the desires. A materially desireless person certainly knows that everything belongs to Kṛṣṇa ( īśāvāsyam idaṁ sarvam ), and therefore he does not falsely claim proprietorship over anything. This transcendental knowledge is based on self-realization – namely, knowing perfectly well that every living entity is an eternal part and parcel of Kṛṣṇa in spiritual identity, and that the eternal position of the living entity is therefore never on the level of Kṛṣṇa or greater than Him. This understanding of Kṛṣṇa consciousness is the basic principle of real peace.

— A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupāda
Gauḍīya Ācāryas
Viśvanātha Cakravartī Ṭhākura Gauḍīya
Translation
71. He who gives up all objects of enjoyment but carries out action without desires for them, being devoid of possessiveness and ego, attains peace (jṣāna).
Commentary

This verse describes the person who, , does not enjoy the semse objects at all because he has no faith in them. He is devoid of possessiveness and ego regarding his body and objects related to the body (nirmamaḥ nirahaṅkāraḥ).

Baladeva Vidyābhūṣaṇa Gauḍīya
Translation
71. He who, having given up all objects of enjoyment, being devoid of possessiveness and false identity, acts only to maintain his body, attains peace.
Commentary

That person who eats only to survive (carati niḥspṛhaḥ), after having renounced all sense objects which come to him, except for bodily maintenance, being devoid of possessiveness (nirmamaḥ) and being devoid of thinking of his body as his self (nirahaṁkāraḥ)—that person attains peace. Another meaning is as follows. That person who, wherever he goes, having renounced all sense objects, remains devoid of possessiveness and false identity, attains peace. This verse answers the question “How does the sthita prajṣa move about (vrajeta kim)?”

Bhūrijana Dāsa Gauḍīya
Commentary

The idea is that one should be internally renounced and activelly externally. All these symptoms that were just explained were all internal. How should one act? He should act in such a way that he is internally renounced. This is the point. The activiti one fixed in transcendence may superficially be exactly the same as the activities of one who is a complete materialist, but internally the difference is that they are like the "night" and "day". Here is the art to become internally materially renounced and internally materially attached to Krsna ‑ that is Krsna consciousness.

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

Platform of ‘actual desirelessness’ – Activities of Bhakti-yoga are free from false ego and sense of

proprietorship – thus one can attain real peace

LINK BETWEEN TEXTS 2.71 & 2.72: This verse ends Krishna’s answer to the question: “How does he

walk?” Krishna concludes Chapter 2 with a brief summary.

Classical Ācāryas
Śrī Śaṅkarācārya Classical
Translation
2.71 Sah puman, that man who has become thus, the sannyasin, the man of steady wisdom, the knower of Brahman; adhi-gacchati, attains; santim, peace, called Nirvana, consisting in the cessation of all the sorrows of mundane existence, i.e. he becomes one with Brahman; yah, who; vihaya, after rejecting; sarvan, all; kaman, desires, without a trace, fully; carati, moves about, i.e. wanders about, making efforts only for maintaining the body; nihsprhah, free from hankering, becoming free from any longing even for the maintenance of the body; nirmamah, without the idea of ('me' and) 'mine', without the deeprooted idea of 'mine' even when accepting something needed merely for the upkeep of the body; and nir-ahankarah, devoid of pride, i.e. free from self esteem owing to learning etc. This steadfastness in Knowledge, which is such, is being praised:
Śrī Rāmānujācārya Classical
Translation
2.71 What are desired, they are called the objects of desire. These are sound and other sense-objects. The person, who wants peace must abandon all sense-objects such as sound, touch etc. He should have no longing for them. He should be without the sense of 'mineness' regarding them, as that sense arises from the misconception that the body, which is really non-self, is the self. He who lives in this way attains to peace after seeing the self.
Śrī Abhinavagupta Classical
Translation
2.71 Vihaya etc. Because he has renounced all desires, the man of Yoga, attains emancipation in the form of peace.
Swami Sivananda Classical
Translation
2.71 That man attains peace who, abandoning all desires, moves about without longing, without the sense of mine and without egoism.
Commentary

2.71 विहाय abandoning? कामान् desires? यः that? सर्वान् all? पुमान् man? चरति moves about? निःस्पृहः free from longing? निर्ममः devoid of mineness? निरहंकारः without egoism? सः he? शान्तिम् to peace? अधिगच्छति attains.Commentary That man who lives destitute of longing? abandoning all desires? without the senses of I and mine? who is satisfied with the bare necessities of life? who does not care even for those bare necessities of life? who has no attachment even for the bare necessities of life? attains Moksha or eternal peace. (Cf.II.55).

Swami Gambhīrānanda Classical
Translation
2.71 That man attains peace who, after rejecting all desires, moves about free from hankering, without the idea of ('me' and) 'mine', and devoid of pride.
Shri Purohit Swami Classical
Translation
2.71 He attains Peace who, giving up desire, moves through the world without aspiration, possessing nothing which he can call his own, and free from pride.
Related values & verses
Related values
Tyaga (Renunciation / Letting Go)Karuna (Kindness / Compassion)Tapas (Austerity / Discipline)Atma Nigraha (Self-control)Daksya (Resourcefulness / Skill)Abhaya (Fearlessness)
Related verses
BG 12.13 BG 18.53 BG 18.66 SB 3.25.20 SB 7.9.27 SB 11.18.40 CC Ādi 4.165 CC Madhya 22.99 CC Madhya 24.143 Īśa Upaniṣad 1 BRS 1.2.255
Study Q&A referencing this verse
Related lectures
Personal Guidance
Renouncing all material desires, free from longing and possessiveness, free from false ego — such a one attains peace.
Practical Applications
  • Identify the false ego attached to your roles and offer them to Krishna.
  • Reduce one possessive 'mine' that has been clouding your peace.
  • Refuse to confuse renunciation with resignation; the verse is about freedom, not deprivation.
Reflection Questions
  • What 'mine' is most quietly costing me my peace?
  • Where has my false ego attached itself to a service I claim is selfless?
Analogy

A man who has emptied his house of every claim — no 'mine' on the rugs, no 'I' on the doorpost — finds it suddenly spacious, restful, his. Vihāya kāmān, nirmama, nirahaṅkāra: the three renunciations that produce śānti. The peace is not added; the obstructions are removed.

Stories
King Bharata's third life

Reborn as Jaḍa Bharata after the deer-life, the realized king allowed himself to be treated as a fool. When demanded to serve as a palanquin-bearer, he carried the palanquin so unevenly that the king inside grew angry. Asked who he was, he replied that he was neither the body nor anyone's worker — and gave instruction on the soul.

His life demonstrated vihāya kāmān… nirmamo nirahaṅkāraḥ. The renunciation of mine and ego was not theoretical: he could be insulted, beaten, used as a beast, and remained unbothered. The śānti the verse promises had become his daily climate.

📝 My note

Source: vedabase.io

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