Brahmanubhuti Talk 46
(Characteristics of Sthitaprajna – 3)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cjj5Q5HE1tA
Let us contemplate on another characteristic of a Sthithaprajna – how he reacts to various situations in life; how he handles various situations in life; how he faces situations in life.
Sri Krishna speaks about that in Shloka 56, Chapter 2 of Bhagavad Gita:
‘duḥkheṣhv-anudvigna-manāḥ sukheṣhu vigata-spṛihaḥ
vīta-rāga-bhaya-krodhaḥ sthita-dhīr munir uchyate’
One who is not affected by adverse conditions in life, one who is not craving for pleasures, he is free from likes and dislikes, or longings, attractions and repulsions, who is free from fear and anger, is a wise person or Enlightened One, Jnani, Sthithaprajna. So, these are the important characteristics of Sthithaprajna.
The moment we think of a Jnani, we give some super human abilities to him, super human qualities to him. That is what we imagine. How does he react to pain, suffering? First of all, does he have suffering or pain? He has a body, and he experiences pain like anybody else. For example, you have a headache. Jnani also will have a headache. It is a part of life. Headache is a pain. Jnani also experiences pain. But, he doesn’t suffer from that. It doesn’t cause suffering. The pain is momentary, the suffering is psychological. When somebody shouted at you one year back, at that moment, it was a pain. But, if you keep on recollecting it for the next sixty years of your life, it is called suffering. Jnani also experiences pain. But, he doesn’t react, or doesn’t get depressed with these adverse conditions.
The painful conditions are of three types: Adidaivika, Adibhoutika, and Adhyatmika. Adhyatmika means anything to do with the body – stomach ache, headache, disease, or cancer. Sri Ramana Maharshi had sarcoma, cancer. Sri Ramakrishna Paramahamsa had cancer. Swami Vivekananda had diabetes. The physical ailments are there. Is there pain? There is tremendous pain, but there is no suffering. So a Jnani understands that he is not a body, he is Consciousness. The body has pain, which is natural. He doesn’t get depressed; he accepts the pain as it is.
In the case of an AJnani, the pain can be converted into suffering. Somebody said something bad to you something five years ago. You keep on recollecting, like keeping on scratching the wound. The wound will never heal. How often do you do that? A Jnani takes everything as a moment-to-moment happening. There were two monks, who were going to the ashram, on a river bank. One of the monks saw a lady drowning. He immediately jumped into the river and saved her. And then, she was actually breathless, he gave her a mouth to mouth breath. She survived, got up, thanked him and went away. They went to the ashram, which was fifteen kilometers away. The other monk says, ‘How can you touch a woman? You are a monk. How can you give mouth to mouth resuscitation to her? You are a monk. You are so upset.’ The other monk said, ‘Oh! You are still remembering that? I just saved her and forgot it. But, how come she is still in your head?’ This is the situation of an AJnani.
A Sthithaprajna takes everything moment-to-moment. There is pain, the pain is there. But, he doesn’t get depressed with the pain. Neither does he get elated with joy. Something favourable comes, he will not get elated or get excited. Many times, favourable situations also cause problems. One person got one million dollars in the lottery. He had heart disease. His wife was afraid that if this person hears that he got one million dollars in the lottery, he may get a heart attack. So, she goes and tells the Father in the church, ‘Please break this news to my husband very slowly, so that he doesn’t get a shock.’
The husband then goes to the Father. Father says, ‘My son, suppose you find one thousand dollars in the street, what will you do?’ This man says, ‘Father, I will give five hundred dollars to the church and five hundred dollars I will spend.’ ‘Suppose you find ten thousand dollars?’ ‘Then, I will give five thousand dollars to my wife, two thousand dollars to the church and three thousand dollars I will enjoy.’ ‘Suppose you get one million dollars?’ ‘Father, if I get one million dollars, I will give five hundred thousand dollars to you.’ The Father gets a heart attack.
So, what happens is that, if you find something pleasurable, we start seeking that – craving for that, we keep on doing that. ‘I want this more, I want this more,’ the craving happens. This craving binds you. It is like addiction – drug addiction. Why do people take drugs? By taking drugs, they feel some elation or joy. The body craves for that, again they will do it. So it will bind you; the pleasure binds you. Jnani also gets pleasure. If you give good food, he will eat it. But, he doesn’t crave for it, because he is already happy and blissful. There is no more craving for that food. He faces life – sorrow and joy, with equanimity. He is also free from Raga and Dvesha, attraction and repulsion. What is this attraction and repulsion?
‘I am attracted to something’, ‘I want something’, or ‘I don’t want something’. Why is attraction and repulsion there? I like something because it gives me satisfaction, fullness. That means I am feeling incomplete inside. For somebody who is feeling complete inside, full inside, there is nothing which can be added to his fullness. So, he doesn’t have attraction. Similarly, he doesn’t have repulsion also. There is nothing which you can subtract from his fullness. Because, his fullness is his own nature, it is not acquired. Suppose you have a car. The car can be stolen. It is an object. But, nobody can remove anything from your own nature. Who can remove that? It is your own mental attitude. You have to understand, you are Supreme Reality, Brahma, Consciousness, which is fullness. Now that fullness, if you don’t understand, and recollect your nature, and if you keep on thinking that ‘I am Jiva, I am suffering’, your suffering will increase. So, a Jnani is constantly aware of his fullness. There is nothing which attracts him or repels from him.
The attraction/repulsion have by-products, or children. They are Bhaya, and Krodha. Bhaya means fear – ‘What is there with me, I can lose’. Krodha is, ‘I didn’t get what I want’. For a Jnani, both are not there, because he has nothing to gain, nothing to lose. Why? Because, he has attained non-duality. There is no other than Jnani. Please understand that the duality causes fear. When there is something separate from you, it causes fear. ‘God is separate from me’, then, you have heard this word called ‘fear of God’. I put fear of God in his mind. There will also be fear of God, when God is separate from you. ‘No, no,’ you say, ‘God is not separate from me, I am part of God.’ Even then, there is a fear. ‘I am separate from the world,’ there is fear. ‘I am separate from somebody,’ there is fear. Only when you realize that you are non-dual, not separate from anybody, including God, the fear goes away. The complete realization of non-duality alone removes the fear. Jnani is the one who has realized the total non-duality, or his non-dual nature. Then only the fear goes. Then only attraction goes, then only repulsion goes. Even if the slightest amount of separation is there, it is a cause of fear.
Pranams