Verse 57
Yah sarvatraanabhisnehas tattat
Praapya shubhaashubham;
Naabhinandati na dweshti
Tasya prajnaa pratishthitaa.
He who is everywhere without attachment,
on meeting with anything good or bad,
who neither rejoices nor hates,
his wisdom is fixed.
on meeting with anything good or bad,
who neither rejoices nor hates,
his wisdom is fixed.
This shloka uses an interesting word
“anabhisneha”, which means without affection. The root of this word is “sniha”
which means “to stick”.
Most of us tend to get stuck to objects,
people and situations that we encounter in our lives. And it is that stickiness
which gets us into trouble.
Lord Krishna explains here that one devoid of
attachment to everything, when exposed to that which is good does not rejoice,
neither does such a one lament when exposed to that which is not good.
If one remains unattached and works
towards a goal, he gains the objectivity to remain the same whether he succeeds
or fails in accomplishing that goal.
When exposed to sources of pleasure, such a
one does not rejoice at receiving these things nor give praise to those who
have bequeathed these things.
Similarly, when exposed to sources of
unpleasantness, such a one does not show disdain and is indifferent to
statements made by people to criticize him such as being called a pseudo yogi
or a hypocrite.
Thus, the essence is such a one uses his
words sparsely, praises no one and blames no one and because he possesses
neither love nor hatred for any living being benefits all. Such a one is
situated in transcendent consciousness.
He knows that he was there before that
success or failure happened, he was there during it, and he will be there after
it as well. Therefore, whatever happened can be easily dealt with. In no way
does he let any adverse outcome demotivate him.
(The above expression, if understood at the
highest level, would mean - "He as SELF, exists before anything
happened, before even this creation happened (emerged) and will remain
even after everything gets over (even the creation ends). A stitaprajna
exists thus, rooted in his super conscious state!!).
Sankara describes the state of such a man of
wisdom in Viveka Chudamani thus:
“He who, through desire for liberation, has
attained perfect freedom from desires is able to abide in the Self and get
rid of all attachments, inner as well as outer, and he alone achieves inner
and outer renunciation.
Moreover, it is only he who
is without desires, who has perfect non-attachment and so
obtains samadhi and through samadhi the certainty that he has won to
tattva jnana, which brings liberation.
He who has
attained liberation has attained Eternal bliss. Therefore complete non
attachment is the only path for him who aspires to the bliss of union
with the bride of liberation”.
Love.
