Bhagavad Gita, Chapter 2, Verse 70

आपूर्यमाणमचलप्रतिष्ठं समुद्रमापः प्रविशन्ति यद्वत् । तद्वत्कामा यं प्रविशन्ति सर्वे स शान्तिमाप्नोति न कामकामी

āpūryamāṇamacalapratiṣṭhaṃ samudramāpaḥ praviśanti yadvat | tadvatkāmā yaṃ praviśanti sarve sa śāntimāpnoti na kāmakāmī

Translation

He attains peace, into whom all desires enter as waters enter the ocean, which, filled from all sides, remains unaltered; but not he who desires objects.

— Alladi Mahadeva Sastri

Word meanings

āpūryamāṇam

(ever) being filled

acalapratiṣṭham

unmoving, status, whose, him

samudram

(in) to the ocean

āpaḥ

waters

praviśanti

enter

yadvat

as

tadvat

so

kāmāḥ

(objects of) desires

yam

(in) to whom

praviśanti

enter

sarve

all

saḥ

he

śāntim

peace

āpnoti

obtains

na

not

kāmakāmī

of objects, of desires, the desirer

Śaṅkarācārya's commentary

As the ocean, filled from all sides by the rivers, remains unaltered — neither swelling beyond its bounds nor falling short — so the man into whom all desires enter (when sense-objects present themselves) but who is in no way altered, attains peace. Not so the man who desires (kāmakāmī), who runs after objects: he is moved and disturbed in proportion to his desire. The simile is the inward picture of the sthita-prajña.