Gita Satsangh Chapter 12 Verses 18 to 19

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Gita Satsangh Chapter 12 Verses 18 to 19

(Verse Translation by Swami Gambirananda, Gita Bhasya and commentary

by Swami Chinmayanandaji)

 

Samah shatrau cha mitre cha tathaa maanaapamaanayoh;

Sheetoshnasukhaduhkheshu samah sangavivarjitah.

 

18. He who is the same towards friend and foe, and so also in honour

and dishonour; who is the same under cold, heat, happiness and

sorrow, who is free from attachment to everything.

 

Samah, who is the same; satrau ca mitre, towards friend and foe; ca

tatha, and so also; mana-apamanayoh, in honour and dishonour, in

adoration and humiliation; who is the same sita-usna-sukha-duhkhesu,

under cold, heat, happiness and sorrow; and sanga-vivar-jitah, free

from attachment to everything;

 

Tulyanindaastutirmaunee santushto yena kenachit:

Aniketah sthiramatir bhaktimaan me priyo narah.

 

19. The person to whom denunciation and praise are the same, who is

silent, content with anything, homeless, steady-minded, and full of

devotion is dear to Me.

 

Narah, the person; tulya-ninda-stutih, to whom denunciation and

praise are the same; mauni, who is silent, restrained in speech;

santustah, content; yena-kenacit, with anything-for the mere

maintenance of the body, as has been said in, 'The gods know him to

be a Brahmana who is clad by anyone whosoever' (Mbh. Sa. 245.12);

further, aniketah, he who is homeless, who has no fixed place of

residence-'without a home' [ The whole verse is 'He,however is

certainly the knower of Liberation who has attachment neither for a

hut, nor for water, nor cloth, nor the three places of pilgrimage,

nor a home, nor a seat, nor food.'], as said in another Smrti; sthira-

matih, steady-minded, whose thought is steady with regard to the

Reality which is the supreme Goal; and bhaktiman, who is full of

devotion-(he) is dear to Me. [There is a repeated mention of Bhakti

in this Chapter because it is means to the Knowledge which leads to

the supreme Goal.]

 

The group of qualities of the monks who meditate on the Immutable,

who have renounced all desires, who are steadfast in the knowledge of

the supreme Goal-which (qualities) are under discussion beginning

from 'He who is not hateful towards any creature' (13), is being

concluded:

 

EQUAL TO FOE AND FRIEND --- The estimation of our relationship with

another as foe or friend is generally our own psychological reaction

towards another. It belongs essentially to the heart. It is

experienced by the PSYCHOLOGICAL being in us. A Man-of-Perfection is

one who is not identifying himself with his mental estimation of

things, and therefore, he is equanimous and maintains a uniformity of

attitude towards his friends and foes.

 

AND SO TOO, IN HONOUR AND DISHONOUR --- A situation is judged by the

intellect as honourable or dis-honourable with reference to its own

existing values and cultivated habits of thinking. That which is

ordinarily considered dishonourable can itself come to be estimated

by the same person as honourable in a new pattern of circumstances

ordered by a change in time and place. On the whole, these are all

different tides in the intellect; and those who are living in that

realm are affected by them.

 

WHO IS THE SAME IN HEAT AND COLD --- Heat and cold are only the

experiences of the body. By remembering the preparation process of

Nitric Acid, my 'thoughts' cannot get corroded; by feeling the

smouldering beauty of the burning embers in the fire-place, my 'mind'

cannot get blisters. My knowledge or my capacity to love cannot

freeze at the North Pole; nor get evaporated in the Sahara desert.

Heat and cold affect only the body. And this idiom in Sanskrit,

whenever it is used in the context of philosophy, represents all

types of experiences to which the physical equipment is the heir.

The above three terms thus comprehend the entire possibility of

experiences in life: physical, mental, and intellectual. In all of

them, a true devotee is unagitated because he " IS FREE FROM

ATTACHMENT " . Attachment to and identification with the matter

equipments --- body, mind, intellect --- is the cause by which we are

helplessly made to dance to the mad tunes which the chance happenings

dictate. One who is detached from these equipments is the one who is

a master of them all.

 

TO WHOM CENSURE AND PRAISE ARE EQUAL --- Not that he is immune to

insults, nor is it because he is not intelligent enough to understand

them. To a great devotee, living as he is in a realm of his own, full

of transcendental and blissful experiences of the Divine, the worldly

censure or even praise has no significance or importance at all. He

realises that one who has been praised today will be censured by

society tomorrow, and that yesterday's censured man becomes the

praiseworthy leader of today!! Praise and censure are in themselves

nothing more than the passing fancy of those who express them!

HE IS SILENT --- A true seeker of wisdom becomes a man of few words --

- not only physically but even mentally. Silence within is real

silence (Mouna). Keeping physical silence but letting the mind loose

to talk in itself, generally results in a serious type of repression

which ultimately drives many to the porch of a mental hospital. Be

silent and understand how really silent silence can be!

 

CONTENT WITH ANYTHING --- Contented with anything that might reach

him accidentally, unasked and unexpected, is the motto of all serious

seekers of inward growth. To entertain the demands in life and to

strive forth to satisfy them would be an unending game, as the mind

has a knack of breeding its own demands very fast. The policy of

contentment is the only intelligent attitude to be taken up by all

sincere seekers or else there will be no time to seek, to strive for

and to achieve the diviner goal of life. Self-integration is a reward

promised for faithful pursuits and all-out attention. It is said in

the Mahabharata " he who is clad with anything, who is fed on any

FOOD, who lies down ANYWHERE, HIM THE GODS CALL A BRAHMANA.

 

HOMELESS --- Home is generally that which provides shelter from the

external inclemencies of weather, for the resident who is dwelling

under its roof. The man of spiritual realisation is one who is trying

to pull down all his conditionings and striving to free himself from

all sense of possession and material shackles.

Living under a roof, in itself, does not make the place a home. To

spend a night on a railway station, or in the retiring room at an

aerodrome, does not make the place the traveller's own home. It is

only along with a sense of possession, reinforced with a sense of

happiness and comfort, that the place under a roof becomes a home. A

true devotee has for himself a satisfactory shelter only at the feet

of the All-Pervading, and therefore, his mental condition is

indicated here by the simple pertinent word 'homeless.'

Steadfast in his intellectual understanding of the goal, and ever

striving to attain his Divine ideal, that the Bhakta dwells on ---

" THAT MAN IS DEAR TO ME. " There is almost a suggestion, even though

by implication, that one who is at least striving to live these

values is a full grown man (Nara) to the Geeta Acharya.

 

These two verses represent the FIFTH SECTION which enumerates ten

more different qualities. In short, in thirty-six artistic strokes,

Lord Krishna has brought about a complete picture of the Seeker-of-

Perfection --- his relationship with the world outside, his

psychological life and his intellectual evaluation of the world of

beings and happenings.

 

THE ENUMERATION OF THE VARIOUS MORAL, ETHICAL AND SPIRITUAL QUALITIES

OF A TRUE DEVOTEE IS CONCLUDED WITH THESE