February16 – Bhagavadgita Chapter 2; Verses 2.55 (Day 47) Sankhya Yoga

 February 16 – Day 47

Verse 2.55

श्रीभगवानुवाच । 

प्रजहाति यदा कामान्सर्वान्पार्थ मनोगतान् ।

आत्मन्येवात्मना तुष्टः स्थितप्रज्ञस्तदोच्यते ॥ २-५५॥ 

Shrī Bhagavān uvācha
prajahāti yadā kāmān sarvān pārtha mano-gatān
ātmanyevātmanā tuṣhṭaḥ sthita prajñas tadochyate (2.55) 

ஶ்ரீ ப⁴க³வானுவாச¹ |
ப்¹ரஜஹாதி¹ யதா³ கா¹மான்ஸர்வான்பா¹ர்த² மனோக³தான் |
ஆத்¹மன்யேவாத்¹மனா து¹ஷ்ட²: ஸ்தி²த¹ப்¹ரஞ்ஞஸ்த¹தோ³ச்யதே¹ ||55|| 

The Blessed Lord said:

55. When a man completely casts off, O Arjuna, all the desires of the mind and is satisfied in the Self by the Self, then is he said to be one of steady wisdom! 

Commentary: In this verse Lord Krishna gives His answer to the first part of Arjuna’s question.

If anyone gets sugar candy will he crave for black-sugar? Certainly not.  If anyone can attain the supreme bliss of the Self, will he thirst for the sensual pleasures? No, not at all.  The sum-total of all the pleasures of the world will seem worthless for the sage of steady wisdom who is satisfied in the Self. (Cf. 3:17; 6:7-8) 

Commentary by Swami Venkatesananda: To the modern man, thoroughly prejudiced by the psychologist’s emphatic declarations that an action invariably springs from a desire (almost always selfish) and a personal motive, the Gītā-ideal is incomprehensible. The biologist, in his study of the behaviour of an individual cell, often forgets that it is governed by the over-all life of the whole organism. It is the life and activity of the total organism that motivate the life and activity of the single cell. Man is part of a whole. Cosmic consciousness expresses itself in cosmic life. Man himself is a cell in the body of God. When personal and selfish desires pull him in a direction away from that of the divine will, he experiences pain. If he lives in tune with the divine will, he is free from pain and he enjoys a sense of fulfilment, since he consciously desires the divine will and is thus saved from frustration which would be inevitable if he desired the contrary.

Desirelessness or indifference to the result of action should not make us callous. Often people cover up their inefficiency with ‘See, I am not bothered about the outcome’. If you did not do it well, then you deserve nothing but failure! Only if you did your best, and did your duty well, and then remained unconcerned about the result, have you understood the spirit of the Gītā. Surely one should learn to distinguish between ‘natural desires or urges’ like hunger, and ‘desires of the mind’ like craving for chocolate. When the ‘desires of the mind’ are cast off and the mind is relieved of selfish motives and desires, we joyously participate in the divine will, and, therefore, in supreme bliss or cosmic consciousness. 

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