Bhagavd Gita Chapter 2 Verses 54 to 60 - Adi Shankara's Commentary

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Arjuna said:

 

54. How can a man of stablw wisdom, anchored in concnetration, be

described, O Krsna? How does a man of steadfast intelligence speak?

How does he sit? How walk?

 

54.1 A man of stable prajna (wisdom) is he who has the assured

wisdom born of the experience, "I am the Supreme Brahman." Of such a

man, what is the description? How is he spoken of by others? O Krsna!

How would he himself speak? How would he walk? I what manner does he

sit or move about? What is requested in this verse is a definition

(of the sage) of stable wisdom.

 

 

55.0 In the verses from 2.55 to the end of the chapter are taught

the characterestics of, and the means employed by, the sage of stable

wisdom who concerns himself with the discipline of knowledge. He

does so either after renouncing actions right from the beginning, or

he may have become a sage practising Karma Yoga. For, in all texts

on the science of the Spirit, the very characterestics of the

perfected sage have been set forth as means, too, to be cultivated by

the practitioner of the life of the Spirit. Thus, indeed, are these

characterestics acquired through direct effort. The blessed Lord

recounted these characterestics that are at once the means, demanding

efforts on the part of the aspirant, and also the marks of the

accomplished sage. So the Lord said:

 

55. When one wholly discards desires of the heart and becomes

exclusively content with the Self, one is called a sage of stable

wisdom. O Arjuna!

 

55.1 One "wholly discards" when, in an eminent degree, one gives

up all desires, i.e. all forms of desire which fill the heart. It

may be objected: "But when all desires are discarded, causes of

satisfaction dry up, still there would remain the need to sustain the

body. What follows then may well be aimless movements of a person

deranged." So it is stated: "Content with the Self." The idea is

that the contentment should be due to the Self alone, independently

of esternal gains. Since he has tasted teh immortalizing nectar of

the knowledge of supreme Reality, he is indifferent to everything

else. His wisdom, born of discrimination between the Self and the

non-Self, has become stabilized. Such a sage is said to have stable

wisdom. The idea is that the monk, who has renounced the desire fro

progeny, wealth, and reputation, who rejoices in the Self, is the

sage of stable wisdom.

 

Besides,

 

56. The silent sage is said to have stable wisdom when sufferings

no longer perturb his mind, when he ceases to cling to pleasures, and

he is rid of attachment, fear and wrath.

 

56.1 He whose mind, even amidst the threefold suffering, stays

unperturbed is the anudvignamanah. When pleasures come, he does not

crave for them, his mind being unlike the fire fed on fuel. From him

having departed attachment, fear and wrath. He, the silent sage and

renouncer, is said to be the man of stabel wisdom.

 

57. His wisdom is stable who clings to nothing good or evil, when

these occur to him; he neither seeks nor shuns them.

 

57.1 The silent sage does not care even for his own body, life-

style and so forth. He is devoid of all attachment and aversion when

good and evil occur to him. He neither seeks the one nor shuns the

other. the discriminating wisdom of such a sage, free from gaiety

and depression, is stable.