Who is a dhIra?

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The upanishads say that we do not know our real nature and so we consider ourselves to be some thing other than what we really are. The instruments we have for acquiring knowledge are our sense-organs, but these do not have the capacity to reveal our real nature to us. On the other hand they prevent us from knowing what we really are by keeping our attention riveted on the external world. This is what the following mantra 2.1.1 of kaThopanishad says:--

parAnci khAni vyatR^iNat svayambhUHtasmAt parAng pashyati nAntarAtman |kashcit dhIraH pratyagAtmAnam aikshatAvR^ittacakshhuH amR^itattvam icchan ||

svayambhUH—The Lord who is self-existent, khAni- the sense-organs,parAnci- go only outward, vyatR^iNat—made. tasmAt- therefore, parAng- external (objects), pashyati- (the jIva) sees,

na antarAtman- not the indwelling self. kashcit- A rare, dhIrah- dheera (this term will be explained later),pratyagAtmAnam- the indwelling self, aikshat- saw, AvR^ittacakshhuH- with his eyes (i.e., all sense-organs) turned away (from sense-objects), icchan-desiring, amR^itattvam- immortality.

The Lord made the sense-organs go only outward and so they can reveal only external objects, and not the indwelling self. A rare individual, who is a dheera, and is desirous of immortality (release from the continuous cycle of birth and death), withdraws all his sense-organs from sense-objects and concentrates his mind on the self and thus 'sees' the indwelling self.

The self is not an object which can be seen by the eyes or experienced by the other sense-organs. The expression 'sees the self' only means negating the superimposition in the form of the BMI and realizing that one is the pure self.

Shri Shankara says in his commentary on this mantra that turning the sense-organs away from their objects is very difficult and compares it to changing the course of a river. He says that only a rare 'dheera' succeeds in doing this. He interprets the word dheera as 'dheeman' or 'viveki', i.e., a person of discrimination. The definition of 'dheera' which is most apt in the present context is that given by the famous poet kAlidAsa in his work known as 'kumArasambhavam'. The following shloka gives this definition:

vikArahetau sati vikriyante |yeshhAm na cetAmsi ta eva dhIrAh ||

vikArahetau sati- even when causes for disturbing the mind and rousing various emotions are present,yeshhAm- they whose, cetAmsi- minds, na vikriyante- do not get disturbed,

te eva dhIrAh- they alone are dheeras.

Thus a dheera is a person in whose mind emotions such as desire, dislike, fear, anger, envy, pride, etc., do not at all arise even in the presence of objects or circumstances which generate such emotions in ordinary people. That means a person whose mind remains calm under all circumstances. Only such a person will be able to withdraw his sense-organs from all objects and concentrate his mind on the self.

Such a person is one who has reached the stage of 'yogArUDha' as mentioned in gItA 6.4. He is free from all desires.

S.N.Sastri