SankarAcArya's bhagavad gItA bhAshya: 2. 14-15.

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In verses 2. 12-13, we saw that death is treated similarly with the

attainment of youth and old age. Through all these changes, the Atman is

seen to be changeless and eternal. Further development of this theme is

found in the next two verses.

 

Vidyasankar

 

 

 

Translation -

 

Although one understands that the Atman is eternal, and therefore, no

longer thinks that the Atman is destroyed, it is still seen in the world

that heat and cold, happiness and sorrow lead to delusion. Separation from

happiness leads to moha (delusion), while association with sorrow leads to

Soka (grief). Anticipating that Arjuna may entertain such a doubt, the

Lord says,

 

Verse -

 

mAtrAsparSAstu kaunteya SItoshNa-sukhaduHkha-dAH |

AgamApAyino 'nityAs tAMs titikshasva bhArata || 2. 14 ||

 

mAtrAsparSAH - in this context, sense organs and contact with the objects

of these organs

tu - particle, added for emphasis, anticipating a question

kaunteya, bhArata - son of Kunti, descendent of bharata, both words refer

to Arjuna here.

SIta - cold

ushNa - heat

sukha - joy, happiness

duHkha - sorrow

SIta...dAH - things that give rise to cold etc.

AgamApAyinaH - things that come and go

anityAH - temporary, ephemeral

tAn - them

titikshasva - endure, pay no heed.

 

The contact of sense organs with their objects gives rise to cold and

heat, happiness and sorrow, O son of Kunti. These come and go, they are

temporary. Endure them.

 

Commentary -

 

mAtrAsparSAH - mAtrAH refers to those by which objects, beginning with

sound, are measured, i.e. the ear and other sense organs. The

contacts/touches (sparSa) of these organs with their objects yield

(experiences such as) cold and heat, joy and sorrow. Or else - those that

touch (make contact) are sparSAH, i.e. objects such as sound, etc. The

sense organs and their objects give rise to cold, heat, joy, sorrow. [1]

 

Cold is sometimes pleasant, at other times painful. Similarly, heat also

has no necessary svarUpa (own-nature, as pleasant or unpleasant). Joy and

sorrow, on the other hand, have their own natures, and are therefore

mentioned separately from cold and heat. As these senses, their objects

etc. are things that come and go, they are non-eternal. Therefore, endure

them, cold, heat and so on. The meaning is, do not feel either elated or

dismayed by these things.

 

Notes -

 

[1]. SankarAcArya offers two alternative meanings for the term

mAtrAsparSAH. The first explanation views it as a compound (samAsa), split

as mAtrANAM sparSAH, which is a tatpurusha samAsa. Here, that which yields

these experiences of cold etc. is the contact *of* sense organs with

their objects. In the second explanation, mAtrAsparSAH is split as a

simple compund, mAtrAS ca sparSAS ca, which is a dvandva samAsa. Here,

sense organs *and* their objects are said to give rise to cold etc. This

may seem like a simple trivial point of grammar, but the contact of sense

organs with their objects is an issue that has generated widely different

views in Indian philosophy. By offering two grammatical explanations,

SankarAcArya steps aside from the details of this issue, and concentrates

on the import of the verse, namely that one should not be neutral to cold

and heat, pleasure and pain. In this context, note verse 2. 38 of the

gItA, which reads, "sukhaduHkhe same kRtvA lAbhAlAbhau jayAjayau" etc.

 

It should be remembered that "cold and heat" represent the entire gamut of

sensory experience, including sound, touch, sight, taste and smell,

obtained by the five sense organs, ear, skin, eyes, tongue and nose. The

advice tendered in this verse is not limited to the objects of touch,

which yield cold and heat. It is intended to cover the other sense organs

and their objects also. Also see the third prose chapter of

upadeSasAhasrI, where this theme is developed in SankarAcArya's teaching

of parisaMkhyAna.

 

Translation -

 

(One may ask) so what, once cold and heat are endured? Listen -

 

Verse -

 

yaM hi na vyathayanty ete purushaM purushaRshabha |

samaduHkhasukhaM dhIraM so 'mRtatvAya kalpate || 2. 15 ||

 

yaM purushaM - The man whom

hi - only, indeed

na vyathayanti - do not agitate/disturb

ete - these (cold etc. as in the previous verse)

purushaRshabha - bull among men, a term of praise for Arjuna

samaduHkhasukham - (him who is) the same in sorrow and happiness

dhIraM - the intelligent/wise man

saH - he

amRtatvAya - for immortality

kalpate - becomes fit, is prepared.

 

The man whom these do not disturb, who is neutral to happiness and sorrow,

he is indeed wise and fit for immortality.

 

Commentary -

 

The man -

who is not affected by sorrow and happiness,

who is neither elated nor dismayed by happiness and sorrow,

who is wise,

whom cold, heat and the rest do not disturb, as said earlier,

because of the vision of the eternal Self,

he is tolerant of all pairs of opposites (dvandva), and is disciplined in

his vision of himself as the eternal Self. He, indeed, is prepared (fit)

for the state of immortality, the state of liberation.

 

Therefore, one should endure experiences such as cold and heat, without

getting deluded or feeling sorrowful.

 

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