सुहृन्मित्रार्युदासीनमध्यस्थद्वेष्यबन्धुषु | साधुष्वपि च पापेषु समबुद्धिर्विशिष्यते ||९||
suhṛnmitrāryudāsīnamadhyasthadveṣyabandhuṣu | sādhuṣvapi ca pāpeṣu samabuddhirviśiṣyate || 9 ||
Who sees friend, foe, stranger, kin, the righteous and the sinner with truly equal eyes — that one excels.
Word by word (3)
- suhṛt / mitra / ari / udāsīna / madhyastha / dveṣya / bandhu
- — well-wisher / friend / enemy / neutral / arbitrator / the hateful / kinsman · Seven categories of human relationship — covering the full social spectrum: suhṛt (the one who spontaneously wishes you well), mitra (formal friend/ally), ari (active enemy), udāsīna (indifferent bystander), madhyastha (mediator between parties), dveṣya (one you find repellent), bandhu (blood-relation). The yogi maintains sama-buddhi (equal intelligence) across all seven. Not neutral affect — equal VISION.
- sādhu / pāpa
- — virtuous / sinful · The social spectrum (V9a) is now extended to the moral spectrum: sādhu (the righteous, virtuous one) and pāpa (the sinful one). The yogi's equanimity doesn't stop at friends and foes — it extends to judgement of character. This is the hardest form of sama-buddhi: seeing the fundamental ātman equally in the person you admire most and the person you find most morally repugnant.
- sama-buddhiḥ viśiṣyate
- — with equal intelligence, excels / is distinguished · viśiṣyate (from vi + √śiṣ, to distinguish) means 'is specially distinguished,' 'stands out,' 'excels.' This is not equal FEELING — it is equal SEEING. The yogi doesn't love the enemy as much as the friend (that would be a performance). They perceive the same underlying reality (ātman/Brahman) in enemy and friend alike. That perception makes them viśiṣṭa — pre-eminent among practitioners.
The person who maintains the same quality of inner seeing across all seven social categories — well-wisher, friend, enemy, neutral bystander, mediator, the one you dislike, and your own kinsman — and who also applies that equal vision to the morally virtuous and the morally corrupt — that person is described as 'distinguished' among all practitioners.
A modern analogy
A doctor in an emergency room treats every patient with the same quality of care — the criminal and the child, the friend and the stranger, the person who caused the emergency and the person who is its victim. The doctor's discernment (triage, diagnosis, treatment) remains perfectly active. But their fundamental orientation — heal this person — does not waver based on who the person is. V9's sama-buddhi is that doctor's orientation, extended to every moment of life.
What it does NOT mean
Equal vision (sama-buddhi) does NOT mean: treating a rapist and a saint identically in practice, ignoring injustice, refusing to have preferences, or pretending not to notice moral distinctions. The yogi still acts with discernment in the world. What is equal is the deeper seeing: recognising the same fundamental ātman beneath radically different surfaces.
Take with you
- The seven categories in V9a are an audit of your own blind spots. Most people manage sama-buddhi toward 'neutrals' and 'friends' easily. The test is the enemy and the dveṣya (the one you find repellent). Where do you fail the audit?
- Equal vision toward the sādhu and pāpa (virtuous and sinful) is the most philosophically demanding aspect. Start with: can you see the human being beneath the behaviour — the ātman beneath the action — without excusing the action?
- This verse completes the V7-V9 'portrait sequence' — three verses showing what the jitātman looks like in relationship to (V7) circumstances, (V8) material values, and (V9) other human beings.
V9 completes the V7-V8-V9 triad of portrait verses, moving from equanimity toward circumstances (V7), to equanimity toward objects (V8), to equanimity toward persons (V9). The structure is careful: V9a lists the social categories (seven in all), and V9b extends the same principle to the moral spectrum. The compression is remarkable — in one verse, the entire range of human relationships and moral judgements is brought under sama-buddhi. The word viśiṣyate (excels) signals that V9 is not just descriptive but evaluative — this person stands above other yogis in the hierarchy of accomplishment. Equal vision toward persons is apparently harder than equanimity toward cold/heat (V7) or even toward gold/mud (V8).
Advaita lens
The Advaita basis for sama-buddhi is ātma-darśana — seeing the one ātman in all forms. Shankaracharya: 'When one knows that there is but ONE Ātman in all beings, how can there be friend or enemy, relatedness or alienness?' The seven social categories of V9 all dissolve at the Brahman-level. What remains is the simple fact of consciousness appearing in different forms. The yogi who can hold this perception across all seven — especially across the sādhu/pāpa divide — has truly achieved sama-darśana (equal-sightedness), the mark of the true jñānī.
Bhakti lens
The Bhakti tradition extends V9 to seva (service): one who truly sees the Divine in all serves all — friend and enemy, saint and sinner. The famous Vivekananda quote: 'Serve man as God' is V9's bhakti application. Where you see a person (especially the suffering, the despised, the sinful), the bhakta sees an opportunity to serve the Divine.
Karma-Yoga lens
For Tilak, equal vision toward the sinful is especially significant: the karma yogi who sees clearly does not excuse injustice (Ch.3 V21, Ch.4 V8 — dharma must be protected). But their ACTING against adharma arises from clarity, not from hatred. The karma yogi fights what is wrong without hating who is wrong — because they see the ātman even in the wrongdoer.
Modern parallels
Restorative justice practice in criminology asks: can we see the humanity of the person who caused harm, without minimising the harm? This is V9's sama-buddhi in legal and social practice. Martin Luther King's 'love your enemies' draws directly from this tradition: not naive affection, but the recognition of shared humanity that makes justice, rather than revenge, possible.
Practice
Sit with the image of seven people: one who loves you, one who is your friend, one who is your enemy, one who is a stranger, one who mediates between you and another, one who you dislike, one who is your kin. See each face. As each arises, notice the different qualities of inner seeing — the warmth, the guard, the aversion. Then, without forcing change, look for what is the same: the fact of their existence, their capacity to suffer, the consciousness in their eyes. That sameness is Brahman. Resting in that sameness is V9.
Public-domain translations (6) compare all →
He excels who has equal intelligence toward well-wishers, friends, enemies, neutrals, mediators, the hateful and kinsmen — and also toward the righteous and the sinful. [1]
He attains excellence who looks with equal regard upon well-wishers, friends, foes, neutrals, arbiters, the hateful, the relatives, and upon the righteous and the unrighteous alike. [4]
He who looks with equal regard on well-wishers, friends, enemies, the indifferent, the neutral, the hateful, relatives, the righteous and the unrighteous — he excelleth. [5]
He is an excellent man who looks with equal eye upon all — whether it be well-wishers, friends, enemies, those indifferent to him, neutrals, the objects of his aversion or his kindred, the virtuous or the sinful. [6]
Who — equal-minded — looks upon well-wishers, friends, and foes, indifferent ones, aliens, enemies, relatives, righteous and unrighteous alike — he excels. [7]
He is esteemed who has equal intelligence towards the good-hearted, friends, enemies, indifferent persons, neutrals, the hateful, relatives, also the good and the sinful. [9]
This verse speaks to
Where this thread continues
Satisfied by knowledge and realisation, senses mastered, gold and mud equally seen — this is the true steadfast yogi.
The paṇḍita sees equally in a learned Brahmin, cow, elephant, dog, and outcaste — sama-darśana.
Not hating, friendly, compassionate, without 'mine' or 'I', equal in pain and joy, forgiving — the dear devotee!
For the protection of the good, destruction of wickedness, establishment of dharma — I come, age after age.
Yoga is the disconnection from suffering — practise it with firm resolve and a mind that does not despond.
More daivī qualities: ahiṃsā, satya, akrodha, tyāga, śānti, apaiśuna, dayā, aloluptva, mārdava, hrī, acāpala.