इहैव तैर्जित: सर्गो येषां साम्ये स्थितं मन: |
निर्दोषं हि समं ब्रह्म तस्माद् ब्रह्मणि ते स्थिता: || 19||
ihaiva tair jitaḥ sargo yeṣhāṁ sāmye sthitaṁ manaḥ
nirdoṣhaṁ hi samaṁ brahma tasmād brahmaṇi te sthitāḥ
iha eva—in this very life; taiḥ—by them; jitaḥ—conquer; sargaḥ—the creation; yeṣhām—whose; sāmye—in equanimity; sthitam—situated; manaḥ—mind; nirdoṣham—flawless; hi—certainly; samam—in equality; brahma—God; tasmāt—therefore; brahmaṇi—in the Absolute Truth; te—they; sthitāḥ—are seated
Translation:
Even here (while living in this body) birth and death (samsara) are overcome by those whose mind is established in equality; Brahman is untainted and is the same in all; therefore in brahman, they rest.
Commentary:
Mind is the cause of bondage or freedom. If the mind is corrupt and unbalanced, it is bondage. If the mind is pure and equal, it is freedom. Therefore the Lord declares that the man who keeps his mind pure and balanced conquers the bondage of samsara. While living in this body, the man becomes free – a Jivanmukta the living free.
The reason for it is that Atma, the Self, is free from evil and is always balanced. Who-so-ever acquires these attributes of Atma has their life and being in Atma. Like things mix together and not unlike things. Water mixes with water and not with oil. Oil mixes with oil and not with milk. So to become Atma, one should cultivate Atma dharma. Two attributes are mentioned here as Atma dharma are purity and balance. When these qualities are acquired, man realises Brahman. –
When the mind acquires purity, objectlessness, balance equal to that of Atma, man attains emancipation.
Moksha is purity of mind illumined by Knowledge. If one keeps the mind pure and balanced, he is free, now and here, and not elsewhere and at a distant time. There are no conditions of time and place. Wherever he is and whatever he is, if one acquires purity and balance of mind he attains freedom.
Mind established in equality: It means that the mind is balanced, free from the unsettling waves of attraction and repulsion while moving through the objective world. This balance is achieved by the Jnani as he is able to perceive the one Self in all beings. So much so there is no mental disturbance at all for him.
The highest state of freedom could be achieved while living in this body. This gives the greatest hope for suffering humanity. It is not after death that their freedom is attained. It is attained here and now by the aspirant whose mind is free and balanced.
Swami Vivekananda Says —
Breaking the bondages of all, the chains of all, declaring liberty to all to reach the highest goal, come the words of the Gita, rolls like thunder the mighty voice of Krishna: “Even in this life they have conquered relativity, whose minds are firmly fixed upon the sameness, for God is pure and the same to all, therefore such are said to be living in God.”[Source]
“Even in this life he has conquered relative existence whose mind is firmly fixed on this sameness, for the Lord is one and the same to all, and the Lord is pure; therefore those who have this sameness for all, and are pure, are said to be living in God.” This is the gist of Vedantic morality — this sameness for all.[Source]
Therefore the absolute sameness of conditions, if that be the aim of ethics, appears to be impossible. That all men should be the same, could never be, however we might try. Men will be born differentiated; some will have more power than others; some will have natural capacities, others not; some will have perfect bodies, others not. We can never stop that. At the same time ring in our ears the wonderful words of morality proclaimed by various teachers: “Thus, seeing the same God equally present in all, the sage does not injure Self by the Self, and thus reaches the highest goal. Even in this life they have conquered relative existence whose minds are firmly fixed on this sameness; for God is pure, and God is the same to all. Therefore such are said to be living in God.” We cannot deny that this is the real idea; yet at the same time comes the difficulty that the sameness as regards external forms and position can never be attained. [Source]
Dualism is the natural idea of the senses; as long as we are bound by the senses we are bound to see a God who is only Personal, and nothing but Personal, we are bound to see the world as it is. Says Ramanuja, “So long as you think you are a body, and you think you are a mind, and you think you are a jiva, every act of perception will give you the three — Soul, and nature, and something as causing both.” But yet, at the same time, even the idea of the body disappears where the mind itself becomes finer and finer, till it has almost disappeared, when all the different things that make us fear, make us weak, and bind us down to this body-life have disappeared. Then and then alone one finds out the truth of that grand old teaching. What is the teaching? “Even in this life they have conquered the round of birth and death whose minds are firm-fixed on the sameness of everything, for God is pure and the same to all, and therefore such are said to be living in God.”[Source]
But above all, let me once more remind you that here is need of practical work, and the first part of that is that you should go to the sinking millions of India, and take them by the hand, remembering the words of the Lord Krishna: “Even in this life they have conquered relative existence whose minds are firm-fixed on the sameness of everything, for God is pure and the same to all; therefore, such are said to be living in God.”[Source]
This is what one of your ancestors said: “Even in this life, they have conquered relativity whose mind is fixed in sameness” — one who is believed to be God incarnate. We all believe it. Are his words then vain and without meaning? If not, and we know they are not, any attempt against this perfect equality of all creation, irrespective of birth, sex, or even qualification, is a terrible mistake, and no one can be saved until he has attained to this idea of sameness. Follow, therefore, noble Prince, (The Raja of Khetri) the teachings of the Vedanta, not as explained by this or that commentator, but as the Lord within you understands them. Above all, follow this great doctrine of sameness in all things, through all beings, seeing the same God in all. This is the way to freedom; inequality, the way to bondage. No man and no nation can attempt to gain physical freedom without physical equality, nor mental freedom without mental equality. Ignorance, inequality, and desire are the three causes of human misery, and each follows the other in inevitable union. Why should a man think himself above any other man, or even an animal? It is the same throughout: “त्वं स्त्री त्वं पुमानसि त्वं कुमार उत वा कुमारि — Thou art the man, Thou the woman, Thou art the young man, Thou the young woman.” Many will say, “That is all right for the sannyasins, but we are householders.” No doubt, a householder having many other duties to perform, cannot as fully attain to this sameness; yet this should be also their ideal, for it is the ideal of all societies, of all mankind, all animals, and all nature, to attain to this sameness.[Source]
The yogi says, every man is a slave except the yogi. He is a slave of food, to air, to his wife, to his children, to a dollar, slave to a nation, slave to name and fame, and to a thousand things in this world. The man who is not controlled by any one of these bondages is alone a real man, a real yogi. “They have conquered relative existence in this life who are firm-fixed in sameness. God is pure and the same to all. Therefore such are said to be living in God.”[Source]
“They indeed have conquered Heaven even in this life whose mind has become fixed in sameness. God is pure and same to all, therefore they are said to be in God.” Desire, ignorance, and inequality — this is the trinity of bondage. Denial of the will to live, knowledge, and same-sightedness is the trinity of liberation. [Source]
Question: Who can overcome the bondage of samsara?
Answer: He whose mind is pure and equal overcomes Samsara.
Question: What is the way to cross over the ills of life?
Answer: 1. Purity of mind, 2. firmness and balance 3. looking with an equal eye on all beings these are the means to peace and bliss.
Question: What is the nature of Brahman?
Answer: Purity and harmony.
Question: When would man attain Moksha?
Answer: When the mind is pure and balanced, man attains Moksha.