Chapter 2 Paras 55 to 61 Stitha Pragnya and their qualities

 श्री भगवानुवाच

प्रजहाति यदा कामान् सर्वान् पार्थ मनोगतान्।

आत्मन्येवात्मना तुष्टः स्थितप्रज्ञस्तदोच्यते।।2.55।।
 

2.55 प्रजहाति casts off, यदा when, कामान् desires, सर्वान् all, पार्थ O Partha, मनोगतान् of the mind, आत्मनि in the Self, एव only, आत्मना by the Self, तुष्टः satisfied, स्थितप्रज्ञः of steady wisdom, तदा then, उच्यते (he) is called.

On being questioned by Arjuna about what exactly does a "Stitha-Pragnya" behave like and how does he look like etc. Krishna starts this beautiful explanation of a stithapragnya from this paragraph no. 55 and it goes on till para no. 61. 

Lord Shri Krishna replied: When a man has given up the desires of his heart and is satisfied with the self alone, be sure that he has reached the highest state. 

This can be very confusing, as no human being can live in this world without desires. All action is preceded by desires. So what exactly does it mean here by saying that "casting off one's desires"? 

Here Krishna states that when a person realises the real power of the self and is completely satisfied with the self and enjoys the self itself, then the desires for the external objects are automatically cast away. It is not about'suppression' of desires, but rather an orientation of the mind towards the inner self, where the ultimate truth or happiness is experienced.  This experience causes the desires to just be cast away, similar to a child's toy having no value to a teenager who now desires and has experienced some other toys.  Such is the state of mind of a "wise" person ( Stitha Prajna)!!- EKATVAM ( How the person is internally)

दुःखेष्वनुद्विग्नमनाः सुखेषु विगतस्पृहः।

वीतरागभयक्रोधः स्थितधीर्मुनिरुच्यते।।2.56।।
 

2.56 दुःखेषु in adversity? अनुद्विग्नमनाः of unshaken mind? सुखेषु in pleasure? विगतस्पृहः withut hankering? वीतरागभयक्रोधः free from attachment? fear and anger? स्थितधीः of steady wisdom? मुनिः sage? उच्यते (he) is called.

2.56 The sage, whose mind is unruffled in suffering, whose desire is not roused by enjoyment, who is without attachment, anger or fear - take him to be one who stands at that lofty level.

The conduct of a 'stitha-prajna' is given here: In good times, everyone is comfortable, but only in tough times do we really come to know the state of mind of a person. A person who is unruffled in times of pain (dukha) and in good times also the person is not getting "excited", Then a very important aspect of "Raaga, Bhaya, and Krodha" is mentioned here. Why only these three emotions? Raaga is the main culprit and means 'attachment' and this is the main cause of the other two: "bhaya" ( fear) and "krodha" ( mad anger) . Basically attachment means "I plus I want___" for eg. a mother says "I plus I want my child" and she is attached to the child for the feeling of completeness. For the mother, she cannot imagine herself without her child. So obviously there is a fear induced for the safety and security of the child in the mind, and the mind creates all kinds of imaginations through the fear emotion. So, in case the child goes out somewhere and does not return home in time, the fear emotions play truant in the mind of the mother. When the child returns back home and the fear enotion is porved false in all it's creations and imaginations, then the "anger" emotion takes over and is displayed to the child: "how can you do this to me?" "How many times have I told you to inform me about your wherabouts?" and so on and so forth. At times, this can be also violent reactions.  This is just one example of attachment, we are attached to beings like pets, and also things like home, car etc.. and evoke similar reactions in our mind. A wise perosn is one who has controlled all these emotions by just removing the 'attachment', and therefore is steady in the mind without any such imaginations and emotions. -SAMATVAM ( How the person behaves)

यः सर्वत्रानभिस्नेहस्तत्तत्प्राप्य शुभाशुभम्।

नाभिनन्दति न द्वेष्टि तस्य प्रज्ञा प्रतिष्ठिता।।2.57।।

2.57 यः he who, सर्वत्र everywhere, अनभिस्नेहः without attachment, तत् that, तत् that, प्राप्य having obtained, शुभाशुभम् good and evil, न not, अभिनन्दति rejoices, न not, द्वेष्टि hates, तस्य of him, प्रज्ञा wisdom, प्रतिष्ठिता is fixed.

2.57 He who wherever he goes is attached to no person and to no place by ties of flesh; who accepts good and evil alike, neither welcoming the one nor shrinking from the other - take him to be one who is merged in the Infinite.

ASANGTAVAM- He who talks with no attachment to anyone, 

A wise person is one who remains unattached everywhere, and accepts good and evil things as one, does not rejoice the great nor hate the evil, such is the style of the stitha-prajna. 

यदा संहरते चायं कूर्मोऽङ्गानीव सर्वशः।

इन्द्रियाणीन्द्रियार्थेभ्यस्तस्य प्रज्ञा प्रतिष्ठिता।।2.58।।
 

English Commentary By Swami Sivananda

2.58 यदा when, संहरते withdraws, च and, अयम् this (Yogi), कूर्मः tortoise, अङ्गानि limbs, इव like, सर्वशः everywhere, इन्द्रियाणि the senses, इन्द्रियार्थेभ्यः from the senseobjects, तस्य of him, प्रज्ञा wisdom प्रतिष्ठिता is steadied.

A person who is centered in the supreme consciousness, is forewarned,  just like a tortoise is forewarned of danger, of any sensual attraction, and with much ease and  effortlessly withdraws his mind into the safety of the higher understanding and experience of the supreme. The quality of  a “stithapragnya pratishtitha” is explained with this analogy. 

The sense organs is mentioned here, but the mind is to be controlled, as the sense organs and sense objects are just the tools, but the mind is the one which leaks through them.

Practical Implementation: Pratyahara: The skill or ability to withdraw the sense organs on own command is being emphasized here. When a person develops this ability to sense and withdraw at the slightest provocation, they are a person steeped in wisdom. For eg,  if a person is busy working on something or doing something and is focused on the task, the moment there is a disturbance or some event that happens around, the ability of the person to remain in focus on the task and not get affected by the sight, sound, touch, smell, or even a thought of anything else other than the task focused upon is what the verse seems to indicate.

विषया विनिवर्तन्ते निराहारस्य देहिनः।

रसवर्जं रसोऽप्यस्य परं दृष्ट्वा निवर्तते।।2.59।।
 

English Commentary By Swami Sivananda

2.59 विषयाः the objects of senses, विनिवर्तन्ते turn away, निराहारस्य abstinent, देहिनः of the man, रसवर्जम् leaving the longing, रसः loving (taste), अपि even, अस्य of his, परम् the Supreme, दृष्ट्वा having seen, निवर्तते turns away.

When we stop indulging in the world outside, the sense objects retreat from you.  For eg, if you announce to your friends in a party that you have stopped drinking, after a few months , you will not be invited for drinks party. So when one abstains, the sense objects retreat from our life. Only when we indulge in sense objects, they come towards us.  But the taste still remains. 

When we focus on the Supreme, even the taste for the sense objects retreat. 

Practical Implementation: What is the practical way in which a person could develop the skill of not getting distracted by sensual attractions? Here a method is mentioned that one must, at the first level, start abstaining from the habitual sensual indulgences. But by doing so, the taste of the indulgence still remains, so the attention must be diverted to a ‘highest’ goal, which is pulling the person as an aspiration. 

Step 1: Stop indulging in sense objects..and aim to achieve something really large and satisfying at the moment. 

यततो ह्यपि कौन्तेय पुरुषस्य विपश्चितः।

इन्द्रियाणि प्रमाथीनि हरन्ति प्रसभं मनः।।2.60।।
 

English Commentary By Swami Sivananda

2.60 यततः of the striving, हि indeed, अपि even, कौन्तेय O Kaunteya (son of Kunti), पुरुषस्य of man, विपश्चितः (of the) wise, इन्द्रियाणि the senses, प्रमाथीनि turbulent, हरन्ति carry away, प्रसभम् violently, मनः the mind.

Mind is the one that needs to be controlled, not the sense organs.. The extrovert nature of the mind is always looking for the 1st opportunity to run towards the sense objects of the world, even for a self-controlled person working towards self realisation. ( Warning being given to a candidate to be careful of the mind’s strength– turbulence and force of the mind is great and can easily pull away from the goal.)

Practical Implementation: In this process of acquiring the skill by stopping indulgences, and focusing on efforts towards highest goals, there is always the danger of the mind leaking out to the senses and then it becomes uncontrollable, the power of the mind is being described here to enable the person to realize the importance of complete focus and attention at all times, and complete alertness, otherwise, even a little slack could just let loose the torrent and turbulent mind to be carried away easily. 

Normally all of us are slaves to the sense organs. I want to watch a movie. I want to eat that food. I want to hear that music. I want to marry that person... Senses are controlling our actions. Practical example:  I want to have that extra helping of a favourite sweet in lunch. My intelligence warns me not to have it, but my mind justifies saying that I have done enough exercise to have one extra helping. Whom do I listen to: the sensual mind, which is scamming me, or the intelligence, which is driven by unbiased facts?

The sense organs, body, mind, and intellect are our vehicles. We have to steer them in the right direction. All the sense organs are under our complete control, only when the mind is focused on an ideal goal. The ‘sadhana’ explained here is “GOAL SETTING” . Everyone of us needs to have a large ideal or a GOAL that we strive for throughout our lives. The vehicle given to us then is steered in that uni-direction. We become the Masters of the vehicle. 

“Yuktah Asita Mat-parah” is the main part here, which is about turning the mind to the “SUPREME”. So, for a believer of GOD, it is a surrender of all action to the Supreme Lord Krishna. Complete devotion and work with a sense of sacrifice or contribution to the Lord  is the prescribed method of working in the World. 

To a non-believer also, the advice is to have a large GOAL be it scientific, economic, physical or anything, but it should be a very large GOAL, an ideal to be pursued for life. 

The energy and efforts and aspirations that pull the ‘mind’ towards the GOAL is what is crucial and that will keep the senses, body, mind and intellect under the complete control of a ‘stitha pragnya’ and not carried away by the senses.

Step 1: Stop indulging in Sense objects..( Deha Vasana, Loka Vasana, Shastra Vasana) 

Step 2: Set A Large Goal or an Ideal in Life and focus all Attention and efforts on achieving it.