The Bhagavad Gita is a dialogue between two ambitious, high-performing individuals at the critical moment of their careers. One is a soldier who wants to reclaim everything he lost, the other is his adviser. The setting is the battlefield but the principles apply just as directly in a boardroom, a start-up or any place where the stakes are high, said Swami Mitranandaji.
Chapter XV, Verse 5 gives us Krishna’s check list for people who want to win without being destroyed by the win. Krishna is not asking Arjuna to quit and become an ascetic. He is giving him the operating system for clarity under pressure. First, the words nirmana moha ask you to be free from pride and illusion. In business, that means your title, your last success or your ego cannot drive the decision. Check the data, not your image.
Next, the words jita sanga dosha is a call to conquer attachment. Be committed to the mission, not addicted to one outcome, one client or one quarter’s result. Krishna points out that attachment clouds judgment. Third, the words adhyatma-nitya means stay anchored in purpose. Understand why you are doing this, beyond money or applause. That ‘why’ keeps you steady when markets crash or deals fall apart.
Fourth, the words vinivritta-kamah ask you to be free from compulsive craving. Ambition is fuel. Craving is noise. Leaders with craving chase every shiny object and burn out teams. Fifth, dvandvair vimuktah sukha-dukha-samjnaih: asks you to rise above the pairs of opposites — success and failure, praise and criticism. If a win makes you arrogant and a loss makes you collapse, you are not leading. You are reacting.
Krishna’s point is simple: liberation is not about running away from work. It is about shifting your internal state while you do the work. When you drop pride, attachment and mood swings, you stop being confused. You act, but you are not trapped by the result.
That is why the Gita works on a battlefield and in a boardroom. It is not for people who have retired from action. It is for dynamic people who must act but want to act free. Do the job. However, do not let the job own you. That is the eternal abode Krishna points to: inner freedom in the middle of the fight.
Published - July 16, 2026 05:00 am IST