प्रजहाति यदा कामान् सर्वान् पार्थ मनोगतान्।आत्मन्येवात्मना तुष्टः स्थितप्रज्ञस्तदोच्यते॥
prajahāti yadā kāmān sarvān pārtha mano-gatānātmany-evātmanā tuṣṭaḥ sthita-prajñas tadocyate
Word by word
The verse says
Krishna said: When a person lets go of every craving that comes into the mind, and is content in himself with himself alone, then his understanding has settled.
In plain words
The first answer, and it has two halves.
Let go of the cravings as they arise. And be content in yourself, by yourself.
That second half is the load-bearing one. Not suppressing wants. Having a source of contentment that does not depend on getting them.
Where you've felt this · in growing older
Someone who is fine on their own Saturday. Not proud of it, not making a point. They simply are not waiting for the evening to arrive and rescue the day.
Going deeper
Ātmany evātmanā tuṣṭaḥ — content in the self, by the self. The repetition is exact and untranslatable in one pass.
The structure matters. If contentment comes from anywhere else, it is on loan, and whatever lends it can call it back. That is the whole mechanism the Gita is trying to describe, and it is why the answer has to be reflexive.
Manogatān kāmān — desires that have gone into the mind. Not desires in general. The ones that have got in, taken up residence, become the furniture.
This distinction saves the verse from being inhuman. Krishna is not describing someone who never wants anything; hunger and preference keep operating. He is describing someone in whom a passing want does not convert into a resident condition.
And this is the first item in the portrait for a reason. Everything that follows — steadiness in pain, freedom from fear and anger, control of the senses — depends on it. If your contentment is outsourced, all of those are managing symptoms.