सन्तुष्टः सततं योगी यतात्मा दृढनिश्चयः।मय्यर्पितमनोबुद्धिर्यो मद्भक्तः स मे प्रियः ॥
santuṣṭaḥ satataṃ yogī yatātmā dṛḍhaniścayaḥ|mayyarpitamanobuddhiryo madbhaktaḥ sa me priyaḥ ||
Ever-content, ever-yoked, self-controlled, firm in resolve, mind-intellect offered to Me — he is My dear devotee!
Word by word (3)
- santuṣṭaḥ satataṃ yogī yatātmā dṛḍha-niścayaḥ
- — ever-content, constantly yoked, self-controlled, firm in resolve · santuṣṭaḥ = thoroughly content (sam + tuṣṭa = completely + satisfied; tuṣṭa from √tuṣ = to be satisfied; santuṣṭa = fully satisfied, contentment-as-a-stable-state not the excitement of getting something but the settled sufficiency of one who wants nothing more than what is). satataṃ = constantly, always (from sata = continuous; satatam = continuously, without interruption; modifies yogī: not 'sometimes' yoked but always). yogī = yogi, one who is yoked/united (from √yuj = to yoke; yogī = the one who lives in yoga; here: one who is constantly in the state of inner union, not only during formal practice). yatātmā = self-controlled (yata = restrained; ātmā = self; one who has mastered the inner instrument — senses, mind, ego — through restraint; cf. V11's yatātmavān). dṛḍha-niścayaḥ = firm in resolve/certainty (dṛḍha = firm, solid, unshakeable; niścaya = certainty, determination, resolve; dṛḍha-niścaya = one who is settled in conviction and doesn't waver when tested).
- mayy arpita-mano-buddhir
- — with mind and intellect offered/placed in Me · mayi = in Me (locative; the destination of the offering). arpita = offered, placed (past participle of ā + √ṛp = to place toward; arpita = offered-toward, dedicated-to; the act of arpana = offering, placing, consecrating). mano-buddhiḥ = mind-and-intellect (manas = the reactive coordinating mind; buddhi = the discriminating reasoning faculty; together they are the two primary inner organs of cognition; both offered to Krishna). The compound mayy-arpita-mano-buddhiḥ = 'one whose mind-and-intellect is offered into Me' mirrors V8's mayyeva mana ādhatsva mayi buddhiṃ niveśaya: V8 was the instruction; V14 is the description of the person who lives it. The portrait thus contains V8's ideal within it — the dear devotee is the one who actually does what V8 prescribes.
- yo mad-bhaktaḥ sa me priyaḥ
- — who is My devotee — he is dear to Me · yo = who (relative pronoun: 'the one who has ALL the above qualities'). mad-bhaktaḥ = My devotee (mad = My; bhakta = one who is devoted, past participle of √bhaj = to share, partake, be devoted to; bhakta = the devoted-one, the devotee). sa = he/that one. me = My (genitive). priyaḥ = dear (from √prī = to please, to love; priya = that which pleases, the beloved; priyaḥ = dear, beloved, loved). 'Sa me priyaḥ' = 'he is dear to Me' — this refrain will repeat three more times (V15, V16, V17) and then shift to 'sa me priyataraḥ' (dearer to Me) in later verses. The repetition is devotional: Krishna keeps returning to say 'this person I love.' The Gita rarely describes what Krishna loves; when it does, the reader pays attention.
V14 continues the dear-devotee portrait: ever-content (santuṣṭa), constantly a yogi, self-controlled, firm in conviction, with mind and intellect placed in Krishna — that person Krishna calls 'dear to Me.' Notice: this person lives what V8 prescribed (mind-and-intellect in Me). The portrait is the lived reality of what the staircase teaches. Krishna then says: 'sa me priyaḥ' — this is My beloved.
A modern analogy
Like someone whose contentment comes from within rather than from circumstances — you can put them in a difficult situation and they remain steady. Not because they suppress reaction but because they are genuinely yoked to something that doesn't depend on external outcomes. Krishna is describing what unconditional inner stability looks like from the outside.
Sit with this: V14 describes both santuṣṭa (content) AND dṛḍha-niścaya (firm in resolve). These might seem contradictory — contentment (needing nothing) alongside firmness (determined to something). How do you reconcile genuine contentment with firm spiritual resolve?
V14 closes the first paired cluster of the dear-devotee portrait (V13-V14 together form one complete picture). V13 gave the relational-ethical qualities (how this person meets the world); V14 gives the inner-yogic qualities (how this person is with themselves and with Krishna). The culminating phrase 'mayy arpita-mano-buddhiḥ' (mind-intellect offered to Me) is the bridge back to V8: the dear devotee is the person who has fulfilled V8's instruction as a lived state, not an occasional practice. The refrain 'sa me priyaḥ' appears here for the first time: Krishna's affective declaration that this kind of human IS loved. This is pastoral theology: not fear of God but the love of God for a particular human type.
Advaita lens
For Śankara, the dear-devotee portrait describes jīvanmukta-lakṣaṇas: the characteristics of one liberated while still embodied. Santuṣṭa = āptakāma (one whose desires are fulfilled — because there are no desires separate from Brahman). Nirahaṃkāra + nirmama (V13) = the dissolution of the subject-object illusion. Mayy arpita-mano-buddhi = the inner organs directed to Brahman = effectively, the organs functioning from the place of non-separation. The dear devotee doesn't BECOME Brahman by having these qualities — they have these qualities because they ARE recognizing Brahman.
Public-domain translations (5) compare all →
[V14 missing from SH indexed] [1]
[V14 missing from SW indexed — combined with V13 portrait unit in SW translation] [4]
contented, firm / In faith, mastering himself, true to his word, / Seeking Me, heart and soul; vowed unto Me,-- / That man I love! [7]
contented, constantly devoted, self-restrained, and firm in his determinations, and whose mind and understanding are devoted to me, he is dear to me [9]
contented, always devoted, of subdued soul, firm of purpose, with heart and understanding fixed on me, even he is dear to me [13]
This verse speaks to
Where this thread continues
Fix your mind in Me alone, enter your intellect in Me — you shall dwell in Me hereafter, without doubt!
Who measures others' joy and pain by the standard of their own — seeing the same everywhere — is the supreme yogi.
Steady wisdom begins here: when all desires fall away and the Self finds fullness in itself alone.
With mind in Me, by My grace you will cross all obstacles; but from egotism if you will not hear, you will perish.
Peaceful, fearless, vowed to brahmacharya, mind on Krishna — yoked in practice, with the Supreme as the final goal.
Mind-in-Me, devotee, worshiper, bow to Me — you will come to Me; truly I promise, you are dear to Me.