सम: शत्रौ च मित्रे च तथा मानापमानयो: |
शीतोष्णसुखदु:खेषु सम: सङ्गविवर्जित: || 18||
तुल्यनिन्दास्तुतिर्मौनी सन्तुष्टो येन केनचित् |
अनिकेत: स्थिरमतिर्भक्तिमान्मे प्रियो नर: || 19||
samaḥ śhatrau cha mitre cha tathā mānāpamānayoḥ
śhītoṣhṇa-sukha-duḥkheṣhu samaḥ saṅga-vivarjitaḥ
tulya-nindā-stutir maunī santuṣhṭo yena kenachit
aniketaḥ sthira-matir bhaktimān me priyo naraḥ
samaḥ—alike; śhatrau—to a foe; cha—and; mitre—to a friend; cha tathā—as well as; māna-apamānayoḥ—in honor and dishonor; śhīta-uṣhṇa—in cold and heat; sukha-duḥkheṣhu—in joy and sorrow; samaḥ—equipoised; saṅga-vivarjitaḥ—free from all unfavorable association; tulya—alike; nindā-stutiḥ—reproach and praise; maunī—silent contemplation; santuṣhṭaḥ—content; yena kenachit—with anything; aniketaḥ—without attachment to the place of residence; sthira—firmly fixed; matiḥ—intellect; bhakti-mān—full of devotion; me—to Me; priyaḥ—very dear; naraḥ—a person
Translation:
Who is equal-minded towards friends and enemies, in honour and disgrace, in heat and cold, and pleasure and pain, who is free from attachment (desire and selfishness), who is silent (meditating), who is satisfied with what-so-ever he gets, who has no particular home, who is decided in mind, who is devoted to Me, such a man is dear to Me.
Commentary:
Five pairs of opposites are mentioned in these two verses. 1. Friends and enemies 2. Honour and dishonour, 3. Heat and cold, 4. Joy and sorrow, 5. Praise and blame. The devotee is expected to remain calm and equal-minded when these pairs of opposites overtake him in the usual course of life.
mauni: Silence does not simply mean giving up talking. It means the stillness of the mind also. As the devotee is very much absorbed in thinking of the Lord, he is silent and does not expend his vocal energy in useless talk. Or it may be taken to mean, one whose mind is absorbed in the contemplation of the Divine.
aniketah: One who has no particular home is ‘aniketah’. He finds his home wherever he is. If he stays in one place, home or choultry, he may become attached to it by association. Or, the word ‘niketa’ may be taken to mean ‘body’. Then ‘aniketa’ means one who has no body idea (dehabhimana).
The qualities of a ‘bhakta’ are so far mentioned. As one who is gifted with these thirty-five qualities is said to be a ‘Bhakta’, and as these qualities are also the attributes of a ‘Jnani’, it is clear that in essence both devotion and knowledge are the same. The devotee at first worships with flowers and fruits. But as he evolves he offers the flower of his own mind to the Divinity pervading the whole universe.
Sankaracharya in his Sivanandalahari says that people have not yet learned to offer the flower of their mind to the Lord and then remain in blissful quietude. Thus the real devotee evolves towards the higher form of worship with the mind. What are these flowers of the mind? They are the thirty-five virtues mentioned here.
Non-injury, self-restraint, universal love, forgiveness, peace, austerity, meditation, and truthfulness are most dear to Lord Vishnu. Therefore, along with natural flowers, it is necessary to worship the Lord with flowers of virtue and spiritual conduct. May all the seekers learn His higher form of worship and obtain God’s grace.
Of all worldly things, the greatest and the most precious possession of man is the Lord’s love, and such love cannot be attained except by the practice of the above-mentioned virtues. Those whose conduct is hostile to Divine Command and the injunctions of the ‘Sastras’ cannot hope to receive God’s grace. It is self-delusion for anyone to think that he is worshipping God, while his mind is beset with all foul and filthy passions and desires.
narah: The general term ‘man’ is used to indicate that all human beings are qualified for the divine state without any distinction what-so-ever.
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Swami Vivekananda Says —
“He who hates none, who is the friend of all, who is merciful to all, who has nothing of his own, who is free from egoism, who is even-minded in pain and pleasure, who is forbearing, who is always satisfied, who works always in yoga, whose self has become controlled, whose will is firm, whose mind and intellect are given up unto Me, such a one is My beloved bhakta. From whom comes no disturbance, who cannot be disturbed by others, who is free from joy, anger, fear, and anxiety, such a one is My beloved. He who does not depend on anything, who is pure and active, who does not care whether good comes or evil, and never becomes miserable, who has given up all efforts for himself; who is the same in praise or in blame, with a silent, thoughtful mind, blessed with what little comes in his way, homeless, for the whole world is his home, and who is steady in his ideas, such a one is My beloved bhakta.” Such alone become yogis.[Source]
Sri Ramakrishna Says —
“Once a wicked man beat into unconsciousness a monk who lived in a monastery. On regaining consciousness he was asked by his friends, ‘Who is feeding you milk?’ The monk said, ‘He who beat me is now feeding me.’” (Source: Gospel of Sri Ramakrishna)
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“An egotistic person cannot realise God. Do you know what egotism like? It is like a high mound, where rain-water cannot collect: the water runs off. Water collects in low land. There seeds sprout and grow into trees. Then the trees bear fruit.
“Therefore I say to Hazra, ‘Never think that you alone have true understanding and that others are fools.’ One must love all. No one is a stranger. It is Hari alone who dwells in all beings. Nothing exists without Him.
“The Lord said to Prahlada, ‘Ask a boon of Me.’ ‘I have seen You’, replied Prahlada. ‘That is enough. I don’t need anything else.’ But the Lord insisted. Thereupon Prahlada said, ‘If You must give me a boon, let it be that those who have tortured me may not have to suffer punishment.’ The meaning of those words is that it was God who tortured Prahlada in the form of his persecutors, and, if they suffered punishment, it would really be God who suffered. (Source: Gospel of Sri Ramakrishna)
(Note: Similar Incidents from the life of Markandeya Rishi, Radha Baba, Poet Jayadeva)
THE SAGE’S EQUIPOISE
māna is honour, and apamāna is dishonour. These might happen in anyone’s life. A bad name is worse than death for a person attached to fame. It so happened that a person with ulterior motives printed pamphlets scandalising Sri Ramana Maharshi by ascribing to him all sorts of ignoble actions and started distributing them. Maharshi too got a copy of the booklet. The Sage read it, started correcting the spelling mistakes in them and remarked casually, “He knows only a few flaws of mine. If he had come here, we could have narrated more incidents. He could have published those too.” This is a remarkable statement! If we are not bothered about name or fame and are concerned only about the Truth, then anything dishonourable that is said will also be welcomed. It can work like a medicine to cure the cancerous growth of the ego inside. The insight that one must go beyond the attachment to one’s personality is one of the greatest insights that one receives in deeper meditation.
We can see that Krishna too was subjected to much dishonour; he joyfully accepted everything. Krishna’s life was a demonstration of equipoise. At times we are honoured and at other times insulted. All this is due to our destiny. Even amid these, a Knower knows that he is not affected by them. He knows that it is the ego that gets dishonoured, insulted, elated or depressed; never the Self. The very nature of the ego is to welcome honour and resent dishonour. It needs tremendous meditative composure to swallow both honour and dishonour and to digest them in one’s being. When one is ready to swallow even dishonour, then the ego gets de-energised. (Source: Srimad Bhagavad Gita – Elixir of Eternal Wisdom | Vol 3)
MUKTABAI’S ADVICE TO JNANESWARA
There is a beautiful story from Jnaneswara’s life. It is from saint Jnaneswara that the great Varakari movement started in Maharashtra. Many saints of Maharashtra belong to this lineage. Nivrttinath, Jnaneswara, Sopanadev and Muktabai—these four children suffered immensely due to prejudiced societal norms. Once, the ill-treatment from the villagers became so unbearable that Jnaneswara was deeply troubled. He closed himself in a room, saying he would give up his body in samādhi. His elder brother Nivrttinath, who was also Jnaneswara’s Guru, tried to console him and asked him to come out. But Jnaneswara refused to open the door. His younger brother, Sopanadev, also requested Jnaneswara to come out, but it was of no use. Then, the youngest of them, Muktabai, who had gone to get water from the river, came back. When this little girl of five years heard this, she sang eleven songs, which are called Tāṭīche Abhang—the Abhangs of the Door.
In the first song, she sings,
Open the door, O Jnaneswara. An awakened One is he who endures condemnation of the world and remains unaffected. Only he who has no ego can have the divine experience. His nobility can be perceived in his compassion and empathy towards all living beings. Paramātmā is universally present in all living beings. Hence, getting angry or being affected by worldly opinions has no meaning. When you know that all are one and the same, how can you get affected by anyone’s words? Stay with this divine vision, this same-sightedness, and open the door, Jnaneswara!
The Supreme, in Its unchanged form, has pervaded all the living beings from all four sides. Does anyone get annoyed if one hits himself accidentally? Does one break all his teeth in anger when he bites his tongue by mistake? Let the mind get used to worrying as there are many more sufferings to face. One, who is prepared to eat and digest the iron groundnuts, can dance in ecstasy. Deliberating this way, churn the truth and open the door Jnaneswara!
This little child who was a jīvanmukta, a free being—named Mukta—declares, “The world will make you suffer, but you should not suffer. The world tries to give you sorrow and misery; do not get affected by them. Be ready to digest even an iron groundnut given to you by the world and dance in ecstasy!” Look at this last statement! Perhaps no one in the world has ever said anything of this sort. (Source: Srimad Bhagavad Gita – Elixir of Eternal Wisdom | Vol 3)
THE BLISSFUL BRAHMIN
This is the story of a simple brahmin in a village in Kerala who always lived in a blissful state. He was an illumined sage. At times he was seen dancing with the children, chatting casually with the villagers, working with the farmers in the paddy field, and at times in a congregation of devotees doing nāma-saṅkīrtana. He was often found absorbed in meditation on the banks of the nearby river. He would read the Bhagavata with tears of ecstasy. Village women would crowd around him to hear him sing. Because of this, people started spreading some rumours about him. But these did not make any dent in his bliss. He lived blissfully as before. A sannyāsi who greatly respected this brahmin spoke to him about this. He replied, “If what they are saying about me is true, why should I bother?” “But it is blasphemy!” retorted the Swami. “If so, why should I bother, Swami?” The sannyāsi felt that the Bhagavad Gita Herself was standing before him. (Source: Srimad Bhagavad Gita – Elixir of Eternal Wisdom | Vol 3)
Question: What are the qualities of the devotee mentioned in this Discourse?
Answer: Thirty-five qualities are mentioned here: (1) Absence of hatred towards all beings, (2) Friendliness, (3) Compassion, (4) The absence of ‘Myness’. (5) Absence of egoism, (6) Equanimity in joy and sorrow, (7) Forbearance, (8) Contentment, (9) Self-control, (10) Firm determination, (11) Surrendering the mind and intellect to God, (12) Absence of fear either by him to the world or by the world to him, (13) Absence of elation, hatred and fear, (14) Desirelessness, (15) Purity, (16) Competence in action, (17) Indifference, (18) Freedom from anxiety, (19) Renunciation of the fruits of action, (20) Absence of elation, (21) Absence of hatred, (22) Absence of fear, (23) Absence of desire, (24) Renunciation of good and bad, (25) Equal mindedness towards friends and enemies, (26) Equanimity in honour and dishonour, (27) Equanimity in heat and cold, (28) Equanimity in joy and sorrow, (29) Non-attachment (30) Equalmindedness in praise and blame. (31) Silence, (32) Contentment with what-so-ever obtained by chance, (33) Absence of attachment to home, (34) Firmness of decision, (35) Devotion of God.
Question: Who is dear to the Lord?
Answer: He who possesses the above virtues is dear to the Lord.
Question: What then is the way to obtain God’s grace?
Answer: The possession of these virtues alonę draws God’s grace.
Bhagavad Gita: Chapter 12 🔻 (20 Verses)
