Bhagavatgita a detailed study-chapter2-slokas 54 to56

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57. yaH sarvathra anabhisnehah thath thath praapya Subha aSubham

na abhinandhathi na dveshti thasya prajan parthishTithaa

 

The wisdom of one, who is detached to all things which when experienced gives good result or bad and hence does not rejoice nor feel depressed on contacting them, is firm.

 

This is the continuation of the idea expressed in the previous sloka. When contacting the sense objects one gets happiness or sorrow depending on his reaction to it, which again depends on his likes and dislikes, raga and dvesha. The pleasure and pain comes not from the contact of the sense organs with the sense object alone but because the mind gets identified with the sense organ and feels pleasure or pain. That is why when we are engrossed in something, say, a book, we are not at all aware of the sense experience even though the sense organs contact the sense objects. For instance when children are watching their favourite programme on TV they can be made to eat the food which they despise normally. The sThithprajna on the other hand has no desire or aversion and hence he is not at all affected by anything that normally gives pleasure or pain. How he does this is explained in the next sloka.

 

Abhisneha is attachment anabhisneghaH is the opposite.. sarvathra anabhisnehaH means he is not attached to anything or any one .

 

Thath thath praapya Subh aaSubham- He too gets into contact things pleasant and unpleasant but he is not affected by it. The same idea is expressed in the previous sloka, `sukhaduhkhe same krthvaa laabhaalaabhou jyaajayaou.' This is what is meant by thath thath prrapya,

 

Na abhinandhathi- not rejoices when experiencing something pleasant na dveshti, nor repulsed from something unpleasant.

 

The example of this behaviour can be seen in the story of Rshabhadeva, in Bhagavatha Purana. Rshabha was supposed to be one of the 24 avathras of the Lord. King Rshabha placed his son Bharatha , who also was another example of asThithaprajna in his later life as Jadabharatha,. on the throne and went away wandering. During his travels he was praised and honoured in some places and censured and dishonoured in other places. But he took everything with the same attitude and went on walking. The picture of sThithaprajna was portrayed in the characters like Rshabha and Jadabharatha, The Lord Himself as Rama and Krishna has acted the part which He described in Gita as sThithaprajna.