How to stop worrying about what others think and develop steady wisdom (sthita-prajna)?

The disturbance of worrying about others' opinions stems from the mind's entanglement in mental concoction and desire for sense gratification, which Bhagavad-gītā identifies as the root of all anxiety. When one learns to give up all varieties of desire for sense gratification, as BG 2.55 instructs, and allows the mind to be purified so that it finds satisfaction in the self alone, the compulsive need for external validation naturally dissolves. This internal purification shifts our reference point from the fluctuating opinions of the world to the steady witness within, establishing the foundation for transcendental consciousness. The realized soul who has attained this steady wisdom, or sthita-prajna, is described by Arjuna's inquiry in BG 2.54, which seeks to understand how such a person speaks, sits, and walks in consciousness. BG 2.56 reveals the practical symptom: one who is not disturbed in mind even amidst the threefold miseries or elated when there is happiness, and who is free from attachment, fear, and anger. By cultivating this equanimity through detachment from the material mind's constant chatter about social approval, the devotee develops an unshakeable foundation in self-realization, walking through life with the serenity of one who knows their eternal identity beyond the temporary body and mind.