Gita 05.19 – Sameness of perception is the situation of liberation

Thank you. nirdosham hisamam brahma tasmad brahmanite sthitaha Ihaiva in this word certainly Ihaiva Tair by those people who are described in the previous verse who have acquired knowledge jithah sargo jithah have one sarga the material existence yesham samme sthitam manaha those whose manaha is situated sthitaha in sameness so those people have conquered material existence even in this world whose mind is situated in sameness nirdosham hisamam brahma now why are they considered to be to have conquered material existence because they have become flawless nirdosham hisamam brahma like brahma they have become nirdosham they have become free from flaws tasmad brahmanite sthitaha therefore brahmani in brahman in spiritual reality they are situated sthitaha so here Krishna is talking about the state of liberation from material existence and he speaks how a person who is the who has acquired the knowledge so now Krishna has been talking about this advanced stage from the 16th verse where he stated that just as when the sun rises all the light shines around so like that sun like knowledge illumines the person jnanena tathagyanam yesham nashitam atmanaha tesham aditya vajjyanam prakashayati tatparam so knowledge destroys all ignorance just as the sun destroys darkness when 17th verse talked about how to acquire that knowledge how to become illumined internally invest the mind, the intelligence, the faith and the destiny tad buddhya sadatmanas tan nishthas tatparayanaha gacchanti apnaravrttim gyan nirdhuta kalmashaha so kalmashaha the contaminations will be destroyed by gyan nirdhuta by gyan the contaminations will be washed away so now after describing that it is said here gyan nirdhuta so now same point is made over here nirdosham that this person has no dosham, no blemishes gyan nirdhuta kalmashaha nirdosham isamam brahma so by knowledge the person has become flawless so flaws here refer to what for the soul who is spiritual to be caught in material desires and to have materialistic perceptions is a flaw for the soul to be able to see beyond the dualities of material existence that is the stage of flawlessness so Krishna is not saying here that when the soul is nirdosha he has become all pervading and he is neither saying that the soul has become the supreme brahma let us see what all Krishna is exactly saying in this verse in this world they have conquered material existence sargo now who are those people who have conquered material existence yesham samyesthitammanaha those who are situated in oneness in sameness actually samya is it ekattva Krishna is not using ekattva samya samya means sameness is there any difference between sameness and oneness yes there is oneness means the idea that that there is no difference there is only one thing existing and that one thing exists everywhere now sameness when we perceive samyesthitammanaha so the mind that means consciousness is existing and the consciousness is perceiving sameness that means for the perception of sameness also there has to be two-ness there has to be the perceiver and there has to be the perceived so if I say that oh this laptop and that laptop is the same then that means there are the two laptops which I am seeing as same and there is eye from the observer so there is for the perception of sameness there has to be the seer and the seen and the seen should be able to see the sameness so that means there is a two-ness there is not exactly oneness if there is perception of any sort there has to be the perceiver and the perceived so yesam samyesthitammanaha now what he is saying over here is the mind is situated in sameness that means the mind does not perceive duality the mind does not perceive variety at the material level it goes beyond that and this was pointed out in 5.18 also where panditah samadarsinah the soul sees all living beings equally it is not said that he sees them as all as one in terms of being just the I mean no difference at all he just says that he sees them equally samadarsinah so the word samya is used here samadarsinah was used in the previous verse and now samya is used continuing the same theme samyesthitammanaha now to a large extent our impurities the dualities that we go through they come because our mind is not situated in samya when the mind is situated in duality in variety then we don't have samya and then because of that we get entrapped in material existence nirdosham hi samam brahma and again he is not saying that they are brahma exactly he says samam brahma and they are situated in brahma is it that they are merging in brahma no situated in brahma that means situated in the brahman platform tasmad brahmani testhitaha so at the spiritual level one does not get carried away by the perception of material dualities so at the material level one thing is attractive another thing is unattractive but at the spiritual level one sees that actually nothing material can give me pleasure there is no need for me to become unduly excited about anything material because ultimately nothing material can ever make me happy so in appearance there might be some difference but in substance whatever is material cannot satisfy the spiritual soul and therefore there is no need for the spiritual soul to get captivated so nirdosham hi samam brahma tasmad brahmani testhitaha and therefore these people who can see sameness they are situated on the spiritual platform and it is this situation on spiritual platform that is the aspiration of the serious seekers that is the aspiration of those who want to be liberated and that is the achievement of those who are liberated now this perception of sameness which leads to ihai vajitah sargo here itself one has conquered material existence so this is referring to jivan mukti there are two kinds of muktis of course the Bhagavatam talks of five kinds of liberations in terms of the post material existence status so what happens to the soul after the soul is liberated out of material existence where it goes based on that it talks about five kinds of liberation but here we are talking about when exactly the soul gets liberation so there is videha mukti when the soul leaves the body and becomes liberated from material existence and then there is jivan mukti and the soul may still be in material existence but the soul is as good as liberated because at this time the soul is no longer having any of the desires that bind the soul so the soul is simply waiting for the body's existence to get over according to its karma and then the soul will go out of material existence so here Krishna is talking about that videha mukti one who is perceiving equality perceiving oneness has no longer material desires to material existence when there are no desires there is no bondage and eventually the soul will go out of material existence entirely and attain videha mukti so the perception of sameness by which one no longer finds one material thing attractive and another repulsive and therefore one is no longer captivated by material desires is the platform of liberation within this body itself and it is this that the seekers have attained and when they become seers of sameness everywhere.