5 Bhagavad Gita Shlokas to Remind You Your Worth Is So Not Based on Other People
Riya Kumari | Jul 25, 2025, 04:00 IST
( Image credit : Times Life Bureau )
Let’s be honest: it takes approximately 0.2 seconds for your self-worth to plummet when someone leaves you on “read,” doesn’t laugh at your carefully crafted joke, or god forbid, doesn’t validate your latest trauma dump disguised as a casual Instagram story. We live in a time where one double-tap or lack thereof can emotionally derail even the most “emotionally intelligent” among us. (Yes, even people with crystals.)
There comes a point, quiet, undramatic, almost inconvenient, when you realize: you’ve handed over too much of yourself to other people’s opinions. Not all at once. Piece by piece. A compliment here. A cold shoulder there. Approval, praise, validation, slowly becoming the mirror you look into, hoping it reflects something back you can like. And when it doesn’t? You shrink. Doubt yourself. Question your worth, your direction, your very nature. But here’s the thing: The Bhagavad Gita is not some ancient book of rituals and renunciation. It is the most direct conversation ever written about who you really are and how the world has nothing to do with that. These five shlokas aren’t just philosophy. They are your return ticket. To the place inside you that’s untouched by approval, failure, flattery, or judgment. To the you that always existed, even before the world taught you to look outside.
1. Do your best, but stop tying your self-worth to results
“You have the right to your actions, not to the results.”
(Bhagavad Gita 2.47)
We’ve been taught to live transactionally. You work hard, you should be rewarded. You love deeply, they should love you back. You try your best, life should notice. But Krishna says something deeply inconvenient and deeply liberating: You only control what you give. Never what you get. You can pour yourself into a project and still fail. You can love with every inch of your heart and still be left.
That doesn’t make your effort meaningless. It makes it pure. When your actions are not held hostage by outcomes, something inside you shifts. You stop living for reactions. You start living in truth. And truth, unlike people, doesn’t ghost you.
2. Emotional maturity is when you stop living on reaction mode
“One who is not disturbed by joy or sorrow becomes eligible for freedom.”
(Bhagavad Gita 2.15)
We like to think we’re in control until a bad day undoes us. A small insult, a missed opportunity, a social slight and suddenly we’re questioning everything. Krishna speaks of steadiness. Not in a robotic, emotionless way. But in the way of someone who’s found their center and no longer needs the world to cooperate to feel okay.
If your happiness rises and falls depending on who claps, who criticizes, who notices, then you are always at risk of losing yourself. But if you remain rooted in your own values, your own sense of meaning, then even in the chaos, you stay clear. This is not suppression. It’s power.
3. You are not your labels, your job title, or your last failure
“The soul is never born and never dies.”
(Bhagavad Gita 2.20)
We live like our value expires with each mistake. As if one wrong move, one failed relationship, one rejection somehow makes us less. But Krishna says: What you are, deeply, eternally, is beyond change. You are not your resume, your heartbreak, your follower count, or your darkest thought. You are being itself.
You existed before the world told you who to be. And when all the noise is gone, you’ll still be here. To remember that is to walk differently. Not arrogantly. But with quiet dignity. With the understanding that your value is not something to earn, it’s something to remember.
4. Needing to be liked will cost you your peace
“One who gives up attachments and ego attains peace.”
(Bhagavad Gita 2.71)
There’s a subtle form of slavery we don’t talk about: the compulsion to be liked. We shape-shift, adjust, soften ourselves just a little to avoid disapproval. Not because we’re weak, but because we think peace comes from acceptance. But peace doesn’t come from being liked. It comes from being whole.
Letting go of ego doesn’t mean being passive. It means being free. When you stop needing to be seen a certain way, you stop being afraid of who you are. And that’s when you start telling the truth. To others. But most importantly, to yourself.
5. The voice in your head can save you or sabotage you
“Lift yourself by yourself; do not degrade yourself.”
(Bhagavad Gita 6.5)
This is Krishna’s version of: stop being your own worst enemy. We think our inner critic keeps us in check. But often, it just keeps us small. The voice that tells you you’re not enough is not wise, it’s wounded. Krishna asks us to raise ourselves. Not with delusion or fake positivity. But with clarity.
You don’t need to wait for someone to believe in you. You can choose to believe in yourself now, before it looks impressive, before it’s validated, before it’s perfect. Self-respect is not the result of success. It’s the cause of it.
Final Thought:
The Gita does not tell you to escape the world. It tells you how to live in it without losing yourself. When you stop measuring your worth by other people’s responses, something amazing happens: You stop performing and start being. You stop pleasing and start becoming.
And slowly, without fanfare, you start walking in a way that needs no permission. Not because you’ve hardened. But because you’ve remembered.
1. Do your best, but stop tying your self-worth to results
Breathe
( Image credit : Unsplash )
“You have the right to your actions, not to the results.”
(Bhagavad Gita 2.47)
We’ve been taught to live transactionally. You work hard, you should be rewarded. You love deeply, they should love you back. You try your best, life should notice. But Krishna says something deeply inconvenient and deeply liberating: You only control what you give. Never what you get. You can pour yourself into a project and still fail. You can love with every inch of your heart and still be left.
That doesn’t make your effort meaningless. It makes it pure. When your actions are not held hostage by outcomes, something inside you shifts. You stop living for reactions. You start living in truth. And truth, unlike people, doesn’t ghost you.
2. Emotional maturity is when you stop living on reaction mode
Power
( Image credit : Unsplash )
“One who is not disturbed by joy or sorrow becomes eligible for freedom.”
(Bhagavad Gita 2.15)
We like to think we’re in control until a bad day undoes us. A small insult, a missed opportunity, a social slight and suddenly we’re questioning everything. Krishna speaks of steadiness. Not in a robotic, emotionless way. But in the way of someone who’s found their center and no longer needs the world to cooperate to feel okay.
If your happiness rises and falls depending on who claps, who criticizes, who notices, then you are always at risk of losing yourself. But if you remain rooted in your own values, your own sense of meaning, then even in the chaos, you stay clear. This is not suppression. It’s power.
3. You are not your labels, your job title, or your last failure
Worth
( Image credit : Unsplash )
“The soul is never born and never dies.”
(Bhagavad Gita 2.20)
We live like our value expires with each mistake. As if one wrong move, one failed relationship, one rejection somehow makes us less. But Krishna says: What you are, deeply, eternally, is beyond change. You are not your resume, your heartbreak, your follower count, or your darkest thought. You are being itself.
You existed before the world told you who to be. And when all the noise is gone, you’ll still be here. To remember that is to walk differently. Not arrogantly. But with quiet dignity. With the understanding that your value is not something to earn, it’s something to remember.
4. Needing to be liked will cost you your peace
Truth
( Image credit : Unsplash )
“One who gives up attachments and ego attains peace.”
(Bhagavad Gita 2.71)
There’s a subtle form of slavery we don’t talk about: the compulsion to be liked. We shape-shift, adjust, soften ourselves just a little to avoid disapproval. Not because we’re weak, but because we think peace comes from acceptance. But peace doesn’t come from being liked. It comes from being whole.
Letting go of ego doesn’t mean being passive. It means being free. When you stop needing to be seen a certain way, you stop being afraid of who you are. And that’s when you start telling the truth. To others. But most importantly, to yourself.
5. The voice in your head can save you or sabotage you
Self reliance
( Image credit : Unsplash )
“Lift yourself by yourself; do not degrade yourself.”
(Bhagavad Gita 6.5)
This is Krishna’s version of: stop being your own worst enemy. We think our inner critic keeps us in check. But often, it just keeps us small. The voice that tells you you’re not enough is not wise, it’s wounded. Krishna asks us to raise ourselves. Not with delusion or fake positivity. But with clarity.
You don’t need to wait for someone to believe in you. You can choose to believe in yourself now, before it looks impressive, before it’s validated, before it’s perfect. Self-respect is not the result of success. It’s the cause of it.
Final Thought:
And slowly, without fanfare, you start walking in a way that needs no permission. Not because you’ve hardened. But because you’ve remembered.