RE: Bhagavd Gita Chapter 2 Verses 54 to 60 - memories of my teacher

[Guest guest]

Reading the verses of sthitapragna have brought back some memories of my

teacher. Swamini Amma was taking Bhagawad Gita classes for us... I was the

first batch student of Dharma Veer course. Everyday in the afternoon, after

finishing the lunch, I used to go to Amma and fan her for some time till she

goes to sleep. I mentioned you earlier that Amma doesn't allow/use electric

fans or any such appliances in her kutia (a room made of thatched roof and

mud walls). Amma was reading some mail and I was there as usual sitting on

the floor and fanning. All of a sudden amma looked at me and said "Madhava,

do you know what you are going to listen in the Gita class today?" I was

curious, I shook my head conveying no. She said "It is about a sthitapragna

(steadfast)... Mahatma Gandhi always wished that the President of India

should be a sthitaprajna..." while saying this she went in to a kind of

trance, as if enjoying the description of a sthitapragna.

 

This arouse curiosity in me. Amma went to sleep and I went back to my

kutia. In the evening after performing the Shivapuja I went to the satsang

hall. It was 7PM. The surroundings are in pitch dark, except the lamps in

the hall. Amma came walking slowly and sat on the dais. She opened the

book. I was anxious to listen to the Sthitapragna slokas. A wave of wind

came all of a sudden and amma could not keep the gita pages in tact. Then

she told me to get a stone, so that she could use the stone as a paper

weight. I ran down the hall and went outside. I brought a stone and kept

it on the table. The apparent stone jumped out of the table and ran off...

Actually, I mistook a stone colored Bull Frog for a stone and brought it in

a hurry. My mind was anxious in listening to the slokas, I didn't like the

idea that the wind is disturbing the study... Everybody started laughing

after realizing that I brought a Frog in stead of a stone.. I felt very

embarrassed... Amma also laughed and said "One has to be anxious for knowing

what is good. But occasionally try to observe the surroundings. Any way,

don't worry, remember this as a Mandukyopanishad"... Saying that my mother

pacified me. After that for some days other students teased me about the

Mandukyopanishad...

 

-Madhava

>

> LINKING UP THIS STANZA WITH THE NEXT, SHANKARA SAYS: "ANXIOUS TO

> KNOW THE CHARACTERISTIC FEATURES OF ONE WHOSE INTELLECT HAS

> COME TO AN EQUIPOISE, HE ASKS THIS QUESTION, AS SOON AS HE GETS A

> CHANCE TO INTERROGATE":

>

> Arjuna uvaacha .

>

> sthitapraGYasya kaa bhaashhaa samaadhisthasya keshava .

> sthitadhiiH kiM prabhaashheta kimaasiita vrajeta kim.h .. 2\.54..

>

> Arjuna said: 54.

> What, O Keshava, is the description of him who has steady

> Wisdom and who is merged in the Superconscious state? How does one of

> steady Wisdom speak, how does he sit, how does he walk?

>