Verse 2.15

Sanskrit text, Unicode transliteration, Word-for-word and English translation of verse 2.15:

यं हि न व्यथयन्त्य् एते पुरुषं पुरुषर्षभ ।
सम-दुःख-सुखं धीरं सोऽमृतत्वाय कल्पते ॥ १५ ॥

yaṃ hi na vyathayanty ete puruṣaṃ puruṣarṣabha |
sama-duḥkha-sukhaṃ dhīraṃ so'mṛtatvāya kalpate || 15 ||

yam–whom; hi–indeed; na vyathayanti–do not disturb; ete–these (contacts of the senses with the sense objects); puruṣam–person; puruṣa-ṛṣabha–O best among men; sama–equipoised; duḥkha–in distress; sukham–and in happiness; dhīram–steadfast, patient; saḥ–he; amṛtatvāya–for immortality, liberation from birth and death; kalpate–is qualified.

O best among men, that sober person who remains undisturbed despite the dualities caused by sense perception, and who considers happiness and distress to be the same, is certainly qualified for liberation from the endless cycle of birth and death.

Commentary: Sārārtha-Varṣiṇī Ṭīkā

(By Śrīla Viśvanātha Cakravartī Ṭhākura; the innermost intention of the commentary named ‘the shower of essential meanings’)

If a person properly deliberates on the influence of the sense objects and practises tolerance of them, these sense objects will not be the cause of misery when he experiences them. When the sense objects are no longer a cause of misery, one will naturally come closer to attaining liberation. Therefore, the verse beginning with yaṃ hi na is being spoken. Here the word amṛtatvāya means ‘liberation’.