Category Archives: dheeraha

Bhagavad Gita Verse 24, Chapter 14

01 Friday Mar 2013

Posted by in aatmasamstutihi, apriyaha, ashma, dheeraha, duhkhasukhaha, kanchanaha, loshta, nindaa, priya, sama, svastaha, tulya

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samaduhkhasukhaha svastaha samaloshtashmakanchanaha |
tulyapriyaapriyo dheerastulyanindaatmasamstuti || 24 ||
 
He to whom sorrow and joy are same, he who is established in his self, who regards mud, stone and gold as same, he who treats the dear and the detested as alike, he who is wise, he who treats insult and praise as alike.
 
sama : same
duhkhasukhaha : sorrow and joy
svastaha : established in his self
sama : same
loshta : mud
ashma : stone
kanchanaha : gold
tulya : alike
priya : dear
apriyaha : detested
dheeraha : wise
tulya : alike
nindaa : insult
aatmasamstutihi : one’s praise
 
Shri Krishna continues to explain the conduct of one who has gone beyond the gunas. He says that such a person maintains a state of balance, a state of equanimity in his dealing with objects of the world and with people. Right from the second chapter, Shri Krishna has repeatedly emphasized the importance of maintaining samatva or equanimity in our lives, and does so again in this shloka. Only he who has transcended the gunas can maintain this level of equanimity. Such a person is termed “dhira” or wise, and “svastha” meaning self-established or healthy by Shri Krishna.
 
Three types of objects are mentioned in this shloka : a lump of clay, a stone, and a piece of gold. The person who has transcended the gunas will understand the real-world, practical difference in value of all these three objects. He will also know that at some times, some of these objects will bring joy, and some of these objects will bring sorrow. When he has to rush to the hospital to deal with a medical emergency, no piece of gold can bring him joy. He will continually maintain the awareness that clay, stone and gold, and the subsequent joy and sorrow that they bring, are nothing but the gunas playing with themselves. With this knowledge, he will maintain his balance and equanimity.
 
Now we look at how such a person deals with people. When people praise us or act in our interest, they become dear to us. When they insult us or trouble us in any way, we begin to detest them. Just like objects, different types of people can generate different reactions in different circumstances. Friends can become rivals, relatives can become enemies, even families can fall apart within minutes. One who has learned to transcend the gunas will transact with people appropriate to the situation, but will never hold on to one person, or run away from them. Praise, insult, friend, foe, all these are interactions between gunas. His “I”, his self, has nothing to do with any of these.

Bhagavad Gita Verse 13, Chapter 2

09 Sunday Oct 2011

Posted by in 2.13, asmin, chapter 2 verse 13, dehaantara, dehe, dehinaha, dheeraha, jaraa, kaumaram, muhyati, praaptihi, tatra, yathaa, yauvanam

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dehinosminyathaa dehe kaumaram yauvanam jaraa |
tathaa dehaantarapraaptirdheerastatra na muhyati || 13 ||

Just as in this body, the body dweller passes through childhood, youth and old age, so also does it obtain another body (after death); the steadfast person does not grieve over this.

dehinaha : body dweller
asmin : this
yathaa : just like
dehe : body
kaumaram : childhood
yauvanam : youth
jaraa: old age
tathaa : similarly
dehaaantara : another
praaptihi: obtain
dheeraha : steadfast person
tatra : by that
na muhyati : do not grieve

It is our experience that we pass through childhood, youth and old age. We can agree that this concept is familiar to us. But note the language used in the first line. It is not you or I that passes through these phases, it is something called the “dehina” or the “body dweller”. The body is born, it undergoes changes, and eventually perishes. But the body dweller remains constant through these changes. So, this means that the body dweller is something that is separate, distinct and different from the body.

Remember the example of Mr. X and his car from the first verse? Let’s revisit it. Mr. X is excited when his car is brand new. After 5-6 years, it starts to develop engine problems. After another 4-5 years, the problems have become so bad that Mr. X decides to sell this car and buy a new Mercedes S-class. Mr. X can be called a “car dweller”.

As the old car’s engine degraded over the years, Mr. X remained the same from the car’s perspective. But when the car had lived its life, he discarded that car for another new car. And there was nothing to be sad about this point. An extreme scenario is some unscrupulous people deliberately crash their old car just so that they can get insurance money to buy a new one.

Similarly, our body undergoes modifications of birth and aging, and eventually perishes. But the body dweller remains constant through these modifications. When the old body has become unfit to dwell in, the body dweller discards it and obtains a new body. The key point here is that the body dweller remains constant through the changes in its body, and also through the change from one body to another. And just like in the car example, a wise person should not grieve about growing old or dying, because the body dweller will always remain constant.

The body dweller is, therefore, the eternal essence that was highlighted in the prior verse. And since it is different than the physical body which perishes, it cannot be “found” in any part of the physical body.

So what exactly is this body dweller, this eternal essence? And how should we acquire the wisdom to see this eternal essence?

Footnotes

1. In one day we have several thoughts such as “I am happy”, “I am sad”, we join a condition to our “I”. Each time do so, we are “born” as a happy person, as a sad person and so on, even if there is no new physical body that is born.