आपूर्यमाणमचलप्रतिष्ठं
समुद्रमाप: प्रविशन्ति यद्वत् |
तद्वत्कामा यं प्रविशन्ति सर्वे
स शान्तिमाप्नोति न कामकामी || 70||
āpūryamāṇam achala-pratiṣhṭhaṁ
samudram āpaḥ praviśhanti yadvat
tadvat kāmā yaṁ praviśhanti sarve
sa śhāntim āpnoti na kāma-kāmī
āpūryamāṇam—filled from all sides; achala-pratiṣhṭham—undisturbed; samudram—ocean; āpaḥ—waters; praviśhanti—enter; yadvat—as; tadvat—likewise; kāmāḥ—desires; yam—whom; praviśhanti—enter; sarve—all; saḥ—that person; śhāntim—peace; āpnoti—attains; na—not; kāma-kāmī—one who strives to satisfy desires
Translation:
As the ocean is filled with water flowing into it from all sides and remains immovable, so the man into whom all desires flow, but is not a bit affected attains peace and not the man who craves the desires.
Commentary:
The man who is moved by desires and pleasures cannot attain peace. He alone attains peace who has conquered all desires. The man of steady wisdom, the sthitaprajna is compared to the ocean. Though the waters of the ocean are drawn up by the sun in the form of clouds, it is not reduced in any way. So also, though rains and floods join the ocean, it does not expand. It remains the same, immovable. In the same way, the sage of steady wisdom remains unmoved, when all desires flow into him without producing any reactions of the mind or the body. All the enjoyments of the sense-world may come to him, but they are all absorbed in the blissful experience of the Self. He does not recognize them as anything other than the bliss of Self-realisation. He may be put in a palace surrounded by all earthy pleasures. And yet he is indifferent to them. He knows only one Reality one happiness, in which everything is dissolved as all the waters are absorbed by the ocean. Similarly, the sage may be placed on the most painful circumstances and yet he knows only one Reality and one happiness (Ananda). The pain also merges into the same reality and disappears.
The Jnani has dispassion towards the pleasures of the material world. If there is the least trace of desire for this or that, he is still not a sage. The real Jnani is like the ocean, vast, and full. He is filled with the bliss of Brahmananda. And just as the ocean is full and immovable, the Jnani is firm, immovable, and changeless, in all the states and conditions of life. Small wells, tanks, and reservoirs are not like the ocean. When floods come, they overflow, cut the bund and cause damage. When there is drought, they dry up and look like empty pits. They change. But the ocean is changeless. The ignorant man is upset one way or the other by the pleasures and sufferings of life. They are distracted both when pleasures come, and when suffering falls to their lot.
The ocean does not seek for augmenting its water from rains and rivers. They come and the ocean simply absorbs them. That is all. The Jnani also does not seek anything. When Providence brings pleasures, he absorbs them into his own Brahmananda and remains unaffected.
So those who desire peace should constantly meditate on the last line of this verse. They should root out all the secret desires from their heart and fix their mind in the one Reality and the one Bliss that exists everywhere. The seeker should be desireless (akamakami).
Swami Vivekananda Says —
“As all the rivers of the world constantly pour their waters into the ocean, but the ocean’s grand, majestic nature remains undisturbed and unchanged, so even though all the senses bring in sensations from nature, the ocean-like heart of the sage knows no disturbance, knows no fear.” Let miseries come in millions of rivers and happiness in hundreds! I am no slave to misery! I am no slave to happiness![Source]
Question: Who enjoys peace?
Answer: The desireless man who like the ocean, absorbs into himself all the pleasures and enjoyments attains peace.
