yo na hrsyati na dvesti
na socati na kanksati
subhasubha-parityagi
bhaktiman yah sa me priyah

"One who neither rejoices nor grieves, who neither laments nor desires, and who renounces both auspicious and inauspicious things—such a devotee is very dear to Me."

Sri Krishna mentions some more qualities, which make His devotee dear to Him. Yo = who, na hrsyati = is not rejoicing, na dvesti = is not hating, na socati = is not sorrowing, na kanksati = is not expecting or desireless. These are Four qualities - never happy, never hate, never sorrow and never anticipate. Subha = good deeds or punya, asubha = bed deeds or papa, parityagi = abandoned, bhaktiman = devotee, is dear to Him. Such a person is Karma yogi. He has renounced good and bad deeds. Are these practical? We have to qualify all these with some more words. We will see with proper interpretations:

  1. Never happy means not rejoicing just because we recieved something pleasing to us. Is it not natural? What Sri Krishna tells is that if we are to rejoice for something pleasing to us, we must be prepared to grieve if we do not get that. What is wrong in that? Then, our time will be spent only in this rejoice and grief. Where is the time for devotion to the Lord? There will not be time to ponder over atman or the Lord. If we avoid worldly pleasures and sorrows, then we can find time for our atman and the Lord. We can rejoice if we are able to have His grace; otherwise feel sorry. The Worldly pleasures are transient and the pleasure lasts for very small time. So, we should not rejoice for worldly pleasures and take them in stride.
  2. Never hating means not hating others just because we did not get what we desired.
Swami Ramanuja in his life has never hated anyone. Great people [மகான் महान] have suffered in many ways. Just because they were great people, we can not say that they never experienced hardships. They are regarded as great people, because they never brooded over when they suffered nor the hated the perpetuators. They did not rejoiced and danced when happy events were encountered. When Swami Ramanuja brought in certain reforms, some tried to kill him by poisoning. That never dicouraged Swami Ramanuja and he continued with his reforms. He deployed Swami Kidambi Acchan [கிடாம்பி ஆச்சான்] and avoided recurrence. Similarly, his teacher Swami Yadavaprakasa tried to finish him and he escaped. But he never showed any hatred for his erstwhile teacher. A King tried to harm him and he escaped to Melkote near Mysore. He remained there for many years. Yet, never Swami Ramanuja hated him or prayed for King's death. Thus great people do not care for any harm done to them. Of course, if their disciples are harmed, they grieve.
3. Never grieving, means not brooding over any loss or injury.
4. Never expects means, they do not do anything with any expectation.
5. Subhaasubha parityagi means that they do not do any good deed to get punya or for some pleasure. They never indulge in such acts to prevent occurance of grief. They do all acts as they are mandates of shastras or they do not do some acts, as they are forbidden in shastras.
These are the characteristics of a Karma yogi and such person is dear to the Lord.