VERSE NUMBER 56 OF SAMKHYA YOGA OR THE YOGA OF KNOWLEDGE

THE HOLY GITA

CHAPTER TWO

SAMKHYA YOGA OR THE YOGA OF KNOWLEDGE

VERSE NUMBER 56

Text in Transliteration:

duhkheshv anudvignamanaah sukheshu vigatasprrhah

veeta raga bhaya krodhah sthitadhieer munir uchyate

Text in English:

  He whose mind is not perturbed by adversity, who does not crave for happiness, who is free from fondness, fear and anger, is the Muni of constant wisdom.

COMMENTARY BY SWAMI CHIDBHAVANANDA:

   There is no end to events in this world, which come as trials and tribulations to man. The way of the ordinary is to be afflicted by them. But the man of wisdom remains unperturbed, viewing them as unavoidable but effectless to the extent ignored. By adding fuel to fire its volume and intensity increase. Desire for happiness increases similarly in a worldly man but never in a ‘jnani’. In the midst of an ever increasing number of object of happiness, he lives entirely unconcerned with them. He is further free from fondness, fear and anger. These three traits tarnish the mind. Fondness is attachment which robs the aspirant of discrimination. Man fails to see defects in those he is fond of. Detached love is what is wanted. Man is not fond of a poisonous snake, but he rears it. Fear is born of ignorance; it deprives man of manliness; it is worse than death. Fearlessness is the message of the Upanishads; the ‘jnani’ fears nothing including death. Practice of fearlessness is imperative for not only the seeker of wisdom, but also for all who want to thrive in life. Bhima the brother immediately elder to Arjuna is one not at all attached to the kauravas and in no way afraid of them; but he was bitterly angry with them. Anger unbecomes an ethically and spiritually evolving one. It robs one of discrimination. The mind that is free from attachment, fear and anger evolves in excellence. The “Brahma-jnani” is necessarily established in these virtues.

Muni is he whose mind delights in the self as steadily and uninterruptedly as the obroken flow of oil poured from its container.

SRI RAMAKRISHNA AS QUOTED BY SWAMI CHIDBHAVANANDA:

    The mind given to envy, anger and timidity never grows in spiritual stature.

COMMENTARY BY DR.S.RADHKRISHNAN:

It is self-mastery, conquest of desire and passion that is insisted on.

COMMENTARY BY SWAMI SIVANANDA:

Lord Krishna gives His answer to the second part of Arnjuna’s question as to the conduct of a sage of seady wosdom in the 56^th, 57^th, and 58^th verses.

The mind of a sage of steady wisdom is not distressed in calamities. He is not affected by the three afflictions ( Tapas)—Adhyatmika (arising from diseases or disorders in one’s own body), Adhidaivika (arising from thunder, lightning, storm, flood, etc.), and Adhibhautika (arising from scorpions, cobras, tigers, etc.) when he is place in an affluent conditiond he does not long for sesual pleasures. (Cf. IV. 10)

Comments by the blogger:

How untimely and unseasonal the exhortations sound to be! How indeed one becomes so strong as to not to be shaken by adversity. In the verse itself there is answer. A man/woman who does not hanker after pleasure is a self-satisfied man. What he has and what comes to him by chance is enough to him and he does not chase the chimeric chances for pleasure. This imbues him with a spiritual stature known only to him and experienced only by him. He does not even boast about his supremely satisfied state. The whole world belongs to him. thus the owner of the whole world fear none, and envious of no bodies riches. Riches, for him, are hurdles in the progress of self-culture. Self is everything for him. His neighbours’ affluence and boasting do not affect him. He knows he is the owner of the universe plus his own self. He is the supreme king. Then how could he become envious of even the five-stare-culture people, corporate barons and the notoriously self complaisant film stars? He could at best pity them and their admirers! While the whole world and your Self is yours, would you renounce them for such pittance. But today’s papers, glossy magazines and just about every TV channels live off them! And the consumer culture has turned man into a pig. For pittance, we have decided willingly to forego of our ownership of the whole universe and the greatest possession of the Self! Attachments, fear, timidity, envy and other tarnishing taints do not slow down his growth in Self-culture. The steadiness of his wisdom is unshakable. And such wisdomatic persons shunning all desires can attain the Brahmic- bliss, as we saw in the previous stanza while measuring the bliss!

Being ugly is no impediment. It is a god-given gift. We won’t be followed by anyone with carnal expectations. So the ugly person can bestow his/ her time in the acquirement of self-culture.

Being poor is no problem. He or she does not have to dress for breakfast, lunch and dinner. One square meal is the panacea for all his bodily ills.

Ugly or beautiful, poor or rich, one can own the whole universe and enjoy it! One has the necessary built-in capacity. Only thing is one should try! The great state is there for the (spiritually steady) asking!