Bhagwad Gita - Post 30

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.

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.

Bhagwad Gita - Post 29

Verse 56

Duhkheshwanudwignamanaah

Sukheshu vigatasprihah;

Veetaraagabhayakrodhah

Sthitadheer munir uchyate.

He whose mind is not shaken by adversity, who does not hanker after pleasures, and who is free from attachment, fear and anger, is called a sage of steady wisdom.

In this verse, Sri Krishna describes sages of steady wisdom as: 

1) Those who have given up craving for pleasure, 

2) Those who remain free from fear, 

3) Those who are devoid of anger.

When the mind craves external pleasures, it runs to the objects of enjoyment, and is again diverted from divine contemplation. So, a sage of steady wisdom is one who does not allow the mind to hanker for pleasure or lament for miseries.

Further, such a sage does not permit the mind to succumb to the urges of fear and anger. In this way, the mind becomes situated on the transcendental level.

Fear is worrying for prospective sorrow which may be caused by bereavement of what is cherished and the projection of the coming of unwanted things. One must learn to be free from this. 

Anger is that disturbed state of mind and irritated feelings produced of pain from others causing separation from what is cherished or giving the experience of things not cherished. One must learn to be free from this. 

As the Stitaprajna was described in a verse earlier, here too Krishna uses only one verse to describe the Stita-Dhi in this verse (sthitadheer munir uchyate). 

Dhi denotes intelligence, buddhi. Intelligence is always given to knowing or understanding. Buddhi can remain active with its role even when one remains bodily active. 

When buddhi acquires its spiritual steadiness and composure, one becomes a sthita-dhi.

Krishna makes this point very clear in the first half of the verse: the sthita-dhi will remain unruffled in duhkhas (miseries) and un-yearning in sukhas.

It is not that he has no duhkha. The duhkha-producing events or involvements will be there, no doubt, as they are unavoidable whenever senses come in contact with their objects.

But these duhkha producing events and situations will not be able to ruffle his mind and dislodge him from his deeper moorings bestowed by sthita-prajnata. 

Likewise, in sukha, the sukha-producing events and episodes, his mind will not have any sense of yearning or hankering. He will not long for any sukha or sukha-producing events or situations. 

Whatever yearning was there would have left because of the sthita-prajnata. 

Sthitaprajnata acts like fire in burning the dry leaves of desires and lingering.

Both sukha and duhkha steep the sthita-dhi in the unchanging and ever-full Consciousness. 

Thus, Arjuna’s question “What will the sthita-dhi speak” has a conclusive answer in Krishna’s words. In the Knower, the Knowledge will remain pronounced. 

Thus, the sthita-dhi will always highlight the sthita-prajna state and how it changes one’s perception and interactional attitude and response so thoroughly.

Love.

Bhagwad Gita - Post 28

Dear All,

From now on, Arjuna becomes curious to know what sort of a person the Self-realized soul is. Krishna satisfied Arjuna’s curiosity in the upcoming verses and in the process, introduces an important expression namely STITHAPRAJNA.

Stithaprajna is described as a person with a steady mind. But when that state is experienced, then actually, the mind is transcended, so, it is not about a person who just has a steadfast mind but taking the clue from the Upanishad declaration “Prajnanam Brahma”, Stithaprajna is to be expressed as the one who is Rooted (stitha), is Consciousness (Prajna).

Verse 54

Arjuna Uvaacha:

Sthitaprajnasya kaa bhaashaa

Samaadhisthasya keshava;

Sthitadheeh kim prabhaasheta

Kimaaseeta vrajeta kim.

Arjuna said (asked):

What, O Krishna, is the description of him who has steady wisdom and is merged in the Superconscious State? How does one of steady wisdom speak? How does he sit? How does he walk?

The style of the scriptures is such that when they refer to one organ, they include all of them collectively. So, the question is how do the organs of action function. 

A realized Person is one who has reached the state of Infinity and yet is living in the world. How does the Infinite express itself in the finite? 

  

Sthita means steady, prajna means one of wisdom. 

Kaa bhaasha means what is his nature, his description. 

Prabhaasheta means how does he speak. Speech is one of the five organs of action. So, the question is How he acts when He is in the world?

Kimaaseeta means how does he sit? When you sit, you are with yourself, not contacting the world. So, the question is about his inner nature. 

And the last, ‘vrajeta kim’, how does he walk? When you walk you interact with the world. So how does such a person meet the external world?

Hence it is a complete question – a word painting of a person of Excellence, where, the painting is veiled and is to be unveiled by the Lord through His answer to the above question in the next few verses.

Verse 55

Sri Bhagawan Uvaacha:

Prajahaati yadaa kaamaan

Sarvaan paartha manogataan;

Aatmanyevaatmanaa tushtah Sthitaprajnastadochyate.

The Blessed Lord said:

When a man completely casts off, O Arjuna, all the desires of the mind and is satisfied in the Self by the Self, then is he said to be one of steady wisdom.

Lord Krishna explains that such a being (Stithaprajna) is immersed in the soul and is completely satisfied by the soul. 

The stability of one’s mind can be known when one becomes pleased and satisfied by the resultant purity of the mind after completely abandoning all desires and lust. 

Swami says,

“The Stithaprajna will be free from all desire and ever engaged in the contemplation of the Atma.  

To give up the promptings of the desire in the mind is a negative process. The negative process is to remove the seedlings of wrong and evil from the mind. 

But here, the positive process to grow the crop of attachment to God (SELF) in the field cleansed thus is portrayed”.

(Extract from the book - Message of the Lord)

The Garuḍa Purāṇa states:

Chakradharo ’pi suratvaṁ

Suratvalābhe sakalasurapatitvam

Bhavtirum surapatirūrdhvagatitvaṁ

Tathāpi nanivartate tṛiṣhṇā 

(2.12.14) [v47]

“A king wishes to be the emperor of the whole world; the emperor aspires to be a celestial god; a celestial god seeks to be Indra, the king of heaven; and Indra desires to be Brahma, the secondary creator. Yet the thirst for material enjoyment does not get satiated.”

But when one learns to turn the mind away from material allurements and renounces the desires of the senses, such a person comes in touch with the inner bliss of the soul and becomes transcendentally situated. 

The Kaṭhopaniṣhad goes to the extent of saying that one who has renounced desires becomes like God:

yadā sarve pramuchyante

kāmā ye ’sya hṛidi śhritaḥ

atha martyo ’mṛito

bhavatyatra brahma samaśhnute

(2.3.14)[v48]

“When one eliminates all selfish desires from the heart, then the materially fettered jīvātmā (soul) attains freedom from birth and death, and becomes God like in virtue.” 

Sri Krishna states in the above verse that a transcendentally situated person is one who has given up selfish desires and cravings of the senses and is satisfied in the self.

The above Kathopanishad verse says, "....... He attains freedom from birth and death".

For attaining this freedom, one need not have to die physically. The freedom is not physical freedom from anything but the eternal freedom from one's identity with one's BMI equipment. So, a Stithaprajna does not have / own a body at all. Then who is there in Him, to think about the birth or death of his body, which is not his own any more. 

If one has a glimpse of this freedom for a fraction of a minute in his nidhidhysana, then, he can never (mentally) return to this world of bondage, world of noise, world of Ego!!!!

Contemplate...

Love.