Chapter 2: Sāṅkhya-yoga: – Yoga of Contemplation on SelfVerse 15
यं हि न व्यथयन्त्येते पुरुषं पुरुषर्षभ ।
समदु:खसुखं धीरं सोऽमृतत्वाय कल्पते ॥
English Transliteration
yaṃ hi na vyathayanty-ete
puruṣaṃ puruṣarṣabha
sama-du:kha-sukhaṃ dhīraṃ
so’mṛtatvāya kalpate – 2.15
Translation
Whoever is not tormented by these, O Purusharshabha (Arjuna), that wise human, equanimous in sukha-du:khas, is fit for immortality, liberation.
Chanting Audio
Chapter 2: Sāṅkhya-yoga: – Yoga of Contemplation on Self - Verse 15
Ma Gurupriya
Commentary
Life is experiential as well as interactional. It is in the nature of sense-object contact, resulting in sukha-du:kha alternates. There is no third experience in life. If this be so, and the plight is unpreventable, should not the wise person accept and reconcile with it? Do not strive to prolong sukha, or to avoid du:kha, as both are impossible. In fact it is each that brings the other. Hence both are complementary to each other.
Discern this fact and nurture equalness towards both. Drop the prejudice to du:kha, and the preference to sukha will naturally fall.
Sukha surges and subsides, then du:kha surfaces. Thus in between, there is a middle presence. It is that which brings the next set of sukha-du:khas. For sukha as well as du:kha, the source thus is the middle presence. Focus on it, not on the fleeting experiences. The evenness, equipoise, you feel will grow, making you greatly stable and fit for liberation.
