Even fear has a root

buddhirjñānamasammohaḥ kṣamā satyaṃ damaḥ śamaḥsukhaṃ duḥkhaṃ bhavo’abhāvo bhayaṃ cābhayameva ca

Understanding, wisdom, clear sight, patience, truth, restraint and calm. Joy and sorrow, being and not being, fear and fearlessness too.

What it means

Krishna begins a list that runs into the next verse. Notice that it holds pairs: joy and sorrow, fear and fearlessness. He is not only claiming the pleasant things. Every state a being passes through has its deepest root in him. Nothing you feel today lies outside the sacred.

The story

Arjuna has felt every item on this list in a single morning. Clarity as he rode out. Terror when he saw his teachers across the field. Krishna gathers all of it, and none of it is thrown away.

In your life

A nurse finishes a long night shift. She was patient with one family and short with another. Driving home, she feels both. Tonight, notice one moment of calm you had today, and take it as a gift.