Gita 02.56 – Emotional non-entanglement with the material characterizes the seer

Thank you.

So, one does not become dejected amidst misery. When happiness comes means one is freed from is desire that means one doesn't desire the soul, let this go on more and more and more, let this go on forever. One is freed from attachment, fear, anger.

Such a person is Sitadhir Munir, is said to be, is called. Now, Arjuna had also used the word Sitadhir in his question in 2.54. So, Sitadhir Muniruchate. Krishna in the response adds one more, Sitadhir Muniruchate.

So, Krishna is further describing the symptoms of the person who is self-realized and he is telling first, he is talking about the broad principle that person rejects outer pleasure and seeks inner pleasure and further he states over here that this person after describing the broad principle about not seeking happiness externally and seeking happiness internally now states what is the mental responses and mental, broad mental dispositions. So, the mental responses to dualities to loss and gain are described in the first two lines and the broad mental attitudes which enable these responses are mentioned in the third line. So, we see the duality, elation amidst gain and dejection amidst loss.

Probably graphically we see it in a tennis court when the match is won, the winner jumps up rising high in the sky and the loser sinks on the ground in dejection. So, there is elation and there is dejection and like that in life this person seems to take a normal human response. When there is happiness be delighted, when there is stress be dejected.

How can somebody not have that response? That is because one understands that there is a higher dimension to life which is far more important, far more meaningful and far more fulfilling than this outer material life. So, suppose we are playing a small game at home with a friend or with a child. Yes, we may play it nicely but we know it is a game.

Who wins, who loses, it is not a matter of life or death, it does not matter so much. So, just as we because we have grown up we can understand the game does not matter so much but for the child it may be a matter of life and death, child will start crying loudly when on losing a game. So, our emotional reactions depend on also on what we take seriously.

So, the self-realized person does not take the external world and whatever happens in it too seriously and that is why not affected, the person is not affected too much neither elated in pleasure nor dejected in pain, invisible. So, we too can become like this by trying to cultivate this disposition, do not get too excited by something, do not get too dejected by something, by something unfavorable when it happens. So, the whole purpose of the now, now this is the characteristic of the self-realized or the seer and this will be the aspiration of the seeker, this will be natural state to not be affected too much by ups and downs for the seeker and the seer will try to not be affected so that the purpose is to stay spiritually connected because the seer is strongly spiritually connected and is experiencing fulfillment and enrichment at the spiritual level.

So, what happens at the material level is not so consequential and further I will be describing the reactions to or the non-reactions more or less to loss or gain then the broad disposition towards the material world is described. So, one does not have the desire to enjoy the world, one is not attached. It's like suppose somebody is cricket match is going on and people are watching the cricket match so then there is elation when say the team when India wins, Indians will be elated, when India loses they will be devastated but suppose there is a spectator coming from or there was another person who has come from Russia where people don't even know much about cricket then there is neither elation nor dejection.

In fact, there is no emotional involvement only over there. So, it's like that Vita Raga, so the Russian who has come there, there is no attachment and there is no Bhaya, Vita Raga Bhaya Krodha. So, Bhaya refers to fear, fear actually so Raga is the attitude of the Karmis, Bhaya is the attitude of the Jnanis.

They fear this world and they don't want to be entangled in this and that's why they want to stay away from the world. So, they dread the world, oh this is a place of misery, we must stay away from it. So, somebody who has become terribly addicted to cricket and is not able to study, is not able to do the job, is just hooked into cricket, cricket, cricket and that person may decide I have to tone down his addiction and then that person may be afraid, I don't want to watch this match because once I start watching the match then I may spend, I may waste six hours on this.

So, there will be a Bhaya for a person who is trying to recover from a overpowering attachment. So, Jnanis are like that, they are trying to recover from the overpowering attachment and that's why there is Bhaya. But for the self-realized there is no Raga nor Bhaya and nor is there Krodha.

Now, Krodha comes when one wants to enjoy but one is not able to enjoy, one wants to renounce but one is not able to renounce also. So, there is frustration either way and these are the condition of the skeptics. They oscillate sometimes between the rejection of the world and sometimes embrace of the world but either way they get frustrated.

So, in all the three cases there is emotional entanglement with the world. One is the desire to enjoy, other is the fear that oh I'll get caught and other is the third is the frustration. In all three cases there is the desire, there is emotional entanglement.

But for the self-realized there is no emotional entanglement and that's why the self-realized person can stay undisturbed, can stay detached, can stay indifferent and such a person is Sthitadheer Munir Uchchate. So, Muni is considered to be a speculator. Of course, not speculator in the sense that not connected to Shastra at all but trying to come up basically a deep thinker.

One doesn't just observe things and take them at face value. One observes and tries to go deeper into the surface, below the surface. Now, Sthitadheer Muni refers to a person who's seeking below the surface has led to a conclusion and one has found the truth.

So, speculators are those who are seeking the truth. Those who are not even speculators, here speculators are more used to the term of Gyanis. Those who are Karmis, they are actually speculating only about which form of sense objects will give me pleasure.

They are not, the Gyanis are going beyond the forms of sense objects to see what is the substance of reality. Whereas, those who are truly enlightened, they are not enamored by the forms of this world nor are they enamored by the search for some substance below this or maybe some formulas below the form. They have actually gone to the ultimate substantive principle, that is Krishna.

So, they are Sthitadheer Muni. Krishna says that Krishna is not talking about the positive reality about himself till now. So, he's talking about, that's why he's not introducing himself but he's talking about Sthitadheer Muni in terms of their attitude towards the material world and their responses to the material world.

So, basically, they are not emotionally entangled in this world but they are fixed in the spiritual truth and we cannot know whether internally a person is fixed in spiritual truth or not but we can see whether that person is externally captivated or externally not captivated and equanimity amidst happiness and distress and the overall mental attitudes indicate the person is not captivated by the.