VERSE NUMBER 57 OF THE SAMKHYA YOGA OR THE YOGA OF KNOWLEDGE

THE HOLY GITA

CHAPTER TWO

SAMKHYA YOGA OR THE YOGA OF KNOWLEDGE

VERSE NUMBER 57

Text in Transliteration:

yah sarvatra ‘nabhisnehas tat-tat prapya subhaasubham

naa ‘bhinandati na dveshti tasya prajnaa prratishthitaa

Text in English:

He who is unattached everywhere, who is not delighted at receiving good nor dejected at coming by evil, is poised in wisdom.   

COMMENTARY BY SWAMI CHIDBHVANANDA:

  This world is a  mixture of good and evil. People whoare attaché to it are bound to have joy and sorrow. They oscillate helplessly between weal and woe. But the jnani remains supremely above these turmoils. He is no creature of circumstances. From his mouth come neither words of praise nor those of censure; this is the implied answer to the question as to how he speaks.

 SRI RAMKRISHNA AS QUATED BY SWAMI CHIDBHAVANAND:

For a man who sees from the peak of a hill, the tall trees, the grass, the ups and downs and everything on he plains below seem alike. The brama-jnani likewise sees divinity alone in everything. He makes no distinction between the good and the bad and between the superior and the inferior.

COMMENTARY BY DR.S.RADHKRISHNAN:

Flowers bloom and the fade. There is no need to prise the former and condemn the latter. We must receive whatever comes without excitement, pain or revolt.

COMMENTARY BY SWAMI SIVANAND:

The sage possesses poised understanding or evenness of mind. He does not rejoice in pleasure nor is he averse to pain that may befall him. He is quite indifferent as he is rooted in the Self. He has no attachment even for his life or body as he identifies himself with Brhman or for his or body as he identifies himself with Brahman or the Supreme Self. He will not praise anybody when the latter does any good to him nor censure anyone when one does him any harm. This is the answer given by the Lord to Arjuna’s query: “How does a sage of steady wisdom talk?”

Comments of the blogger:

Many of us cannot even form a good understanding of this. Love for all that lives. The facility to see the Lord in every one and every thing will make us simple in all activities of life. Even a loin cloth is enough and no wardrobe is needed. Even a square meal a day is enough. Stuffing the belly is not for the continent. This frugality makes the body obey and demand little. There is no craving for anyone or anything. Live on the plane of earth is not much more than a drama. And every one should end his drama. What is there in between? Just various scenes? And the Brahma-jnani opts for no role. On the other hand, he stands by and watches the panoramic human action. He loves all, not for their inability to understand and being foolish, but there is the same God in them as He is in him. He loves everything. In the present day context we don’t get to see so much of such souls. In his, “An Autography of a Yogi” Yogananda Paranhansa recounts a scen. According to it, the police are looking for a criminal. And there is information that he has entered a nearby forest. So they for a group and go into the forest. There, they slew the arm of a hermit mistaking him for the criminal. When the real identity is revealed, there is much remorse on the part of the policemen. They beg to be pardoned. But the perfected yogi smiles at them and ask them to come to the same place after a few days. With those words the hermit takes up the arm lying on the ground with the other arm and departs from there. The much intrigued policemen goes to meet the sage after a few days and fins his both arms forming part of his body with no mark of an injury on the slain arm where it connects with the shoulder. The policemen once again beg for forgivance. But smiles and blessing come forth from the serine saint!

When we read Bhgavat Gita, many a time we will find it jarring with our cherished belief and convictions. This world is just a theatre and we all are actors. Great love for the fellow human beings and the facility to see the lord in the king, Prim Minister and the wayside filthy beggar, and our adversaries, tormentors and persecutors would provide us great inner power and understanding. We can stay with the Gita. Otherwise it is very impossible to stay with the greatest Scriptural Text of the Hinduism meant  for the laymen unlike the Vedas and Upanishads.