Verse 2.56

Sanskrit text, Unicode transliteration, Word-for-word and English translation of verse 2.56:

दुःखेष्व् अनुद्विग्न-मनाः सुखेषु विगत-स्पृहः ।
वीत-राग-भय-क्रोधः स्थित-धीर् मुनिर् उच्यते ॥ ५६ ॥

duḥkheṣv anudvigna-manāḥ sukheṣu vigata-spṛhaḥ |
vīta-rāga-bhaya-krodhaḥ sthita-dhīr munir ucyate || 56 ||

duḥkheṣu–in the presence of the threefold miseries: ādhyātmika pains, given by oneself (bodily or mental), ādhibhautika pains, given by other living creatures and ādhidaivika pains, given by the demigods, such as heat and cold; anudvigna-manāḥ–one whose mind is unagitated; sukheṣu–in the presence of sense-pleasures; vigata-spṛhaḥ–and remains free from hankering; vīta–free from; rāga–attachment; bhaya–fear; krodhaḥ–and anger; sthita-dhīḥ–of fixed intelligence;muniḥ–a sage; ucyate–is called.

One who is not disturbed by the three types of miseries–given by one’s own body or mind, given by others and given by the demigods or nature–who remains free from hankering in the presence of plentiful opportunities for sensual happiness, and who is free from attachment, fear and anger, is called a sage of steady mind.

Commentary: Sārārtha-Varṣiṇī Ṭīkā

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

“How does one who is of fixed intelligence speak?” To answer this question, Śrī Bhagavān speaks the present verse beginning with duḥkheṣu, and also the next verse. Duḥkheṣu means ‘the threefold miseries–adhyātmika, adhibhautika and adhidaivika’. Adhyātmika miseries are hunger, thirst, fever, headache and so on; they come from one’s own body and mind. Adhibhautika miseries are caused by other living entities, such as a snake or a tiger, and adhidaivika miseries, such as excessive rain or natural disasters, are caused by the demigods.

Anudvigna-manāḥ refers to a person whose mind is undisturbed. When he is faced by such miseries he thinks, “I have attained these miseries due to my past actions and I have to suffer them.” Knowing this, he either deliberates upon this within himself, understanding the misery to be due to the reactions to his own past action, or he speaks openly and without duplicity when questioned by others. In either case, his face shows no agitation, even in the presence of these miseries. This absence of disturbance is evident to those who are expert in reading such symptoms. However, it is obvious when an imitator artificially manifests symptoms of tolerance. Those who are expert call that imitator corrupt. Similarly, he who remains free from desires when a happy situation appears, knowing it to be enjoyment resulting from past actions, either contemplates it within himself or enlightens others. His actual response to this, also, is understood by learned men.

The present verse clarifies such symptoms, describing such persons as

(1) vīta-rāga–detached from happiness;

(2) vīta-bhaya–free from the fear that entities such as tigers may eat them;

(3) vīta-krodha–free from anger, even toward a person who comes to attack or kill them. An example of this is Jaḍa Bharata. No fear or anger arose in him when the dacoit king Vṛṣala took him to the deity of Devī Kālī as a human sacrifice.

Commentary: Sārārtha-Varṣiṇī Prakāśikā-vṛtti

(By Śrīla Bhaktivedānta Nārāyaṇa Gosvāmī Mahārāja; the explanation that illuminates the commentary named Sārārtha-varṣiṇī)

A person whose heart is not disturbed by the threefold miseries, adhyātmika, adhibhautika and adhidaivika, who is devoid of the desire to attain happiness, and who does not become elated when happiness comes to him, is called a person of fixed intelligence, or sthita-prajña.

na prahṛṣyet priyaṃ prāpya nodvijet prāpya cāpriyam
sthira-buddhir asammūḍho brahma-vid brahmaṇi sthitaḥ

Bhagavad-gītā (5.20)

A person who does not become elated when attaining something dear to him is called sthita-prajña.

The example of this is the life history of Bharata Mahārāja as described in Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam.

Bharata Mahārāja was worshipping Bhagavān alone in a remote forest, after renouncing his entire kingdom. In the last part of his life, he became attached to an infant deer. Due to his state of mind upon leaving his body, he then took birth as a deer. But because he remembered his previous birth, he remained isolated from the association of family and friends and spent his time in the hermitages of the sages, hearing topics of Śrī Bhagavān. As a result of his worship of Bhagavān in his previous life, he took his next birth in the house of a religiously devoted brāhmaṇa. Internally, he always remembered Śrī Bhagavān, but externally he kept himself completely aloof from the world by pretending to be a madman, even though his father diligently tried to make him learn the Vedas. Jaḍa Bharata tolerated ill-treatment and taunts by his step-mother, step-brothers and relatives, while remaining ecstatically absorbed in the worship of Bhagavān.

Once, Vṛṣala, the king of thieves, desired a son, and he wanted to offer a human being who was free from bodily flaws, in sacrifice to his worshipable goddess, Bhadra Kālī. He had previously captured a suitable person for sacrifice, but somehow the man had escaped. While the dacoit king was wandering in search of his escaped offering, he saw the mahā-bhāgavata Jaḍa Bharata protecting his family’s fields. The dacoit king became happy when he saw that Jaḍa Bharata was blessed with a body appropriate for the sacrifice. According to the rules for sacrificing a human, he fed Jaḍa Bharata nicely, decorated him with turmeric powder, garlands and sandalwood paste, and eventually presented him before Kālī-devī as an offering. The topmost devotee Jaḍa Bharata saw, heard and was aware of all this, but he felt neither fear or anger. Rather, he simply stood there completely free from anxiety, fixed in remembrance of Bhagavān.

Just as the robbers were ready to sever Jaḍa Bharata’s head, Kālī Devī herself appeared in a ferocious form, making a loud noise. She snatched the sword from the hand of King Vṛṣala, and beheaded him and all his servants. After drinking their blood, she danced and played with their heads as if they were balls. Finally, with great affection, she sent the great devotee Jaḍa Bharata on his way. This deity of Bhadra Kālī is still present in Kurukṣetra.

While describing this history of Jaḍa Bharata in Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam (5.9.20), Śukadeva Gosvāmī said to Parīkṣit Mahārāja: “O Viṣṇu-rāta (one who is always protected by the arms of the Lord), Bhagavān Śrī Viṣṇu, who carries the Sudarśana cakra, is death to death personified, and He is always anxious to look after His devotees. He completely protects such exalted devotees, who have become free from falsely identifying the body as the self, who have performed the very difficult task of severing the knot of mundane attachment, whose hearts are anxiously absorbed in thoughts of performing welfare for all living entities, and who neither harm others nor feel enmity towards them. Such swan-like devotees (paramahaṃsas), who accept the shelter of Śrī Bhagavān’s fearless lotus feet, are never disturbed, even at the time of their own execution. There is nothing surprising about this.”