EQUAL TO FOE AND FRIEND — The estimation of our relationship with another as foe or friend is generally our own psychological reaction towards another. It belongs essentially to the heart. It is experienced by the PSYCHOLOGICAL being in us. A Man-of-Perfection is one who is not identifying himself with his mental estimation of things, and therefore, he is equanimous and maintains a uniformity of attitude towards his friends and foes.
AND SO TOO, IN HONOUR AND DISHONOUR — A situation is judged by the intellect as honourable or dis-honourable with reference to its own existing values and cultivated habits of thinking. That which is ordinarily considered dishonourable can itself come to be estimated by the same person as honourable in a new pattern of circumstances ordered by a change in time and place. On the whole, these are all different tides in the intellect; and those who are living in that realm are affected by them.
WHO IS THE SAME IN HEAT AND COLD — Heat and cold are only the experiences of the body. By remembering the preparation process of Nitric Acid, my ‘thoughts’ cannot get corroded; by feeling the smouldering beauty of the burning embers in the fire-place, my ‘mind’ cannot get blisters. My knowledge or my capacity to love cannot freeze at the North Pole; nor get evaporated in the Sahara desert. Heat and cold affect only the body. And this idiom in Sanskrit, whenever it is used in the context of philosophy, represents all types of experiences to which the physical equipment is the heir.
The above three terms thus comprehend the entire possibility of experiences in life: physical, mental, and intellectual. In all of them, a true devotee is unagitated because he “IS FREE FROM ATTACHMENT”. Attachment to and identification with the matter equipments — body, mind, intellect — is the cause by which we are helplessly made to dance to the mad tunes which the chance happenings dictate. One who is detached from these equipments is the one who is a master of them all.
TO WHOM CENSURE AND PRAISE ARE EQUAL — Not that he is immune to insults, nor is it because he is not intelligent enough to understand them. To a great devotee, living as he is in a realm of his own, full of transcendental and blissful experiences of the Divine, the worldly censure or even praise has no significance or importance at all. He realises that one who has been praised today will be censured by society tomorrow, and that yesterday’s censured man becomes the praiseworthy leader of today!! Praise and censure are in themselves nothing more than the passing fancy of those who express them!
HE IS SILENT — A true seeker of wisdom becomes a man of few words — not only physically but even mentally. Silence within is real silence (Mouna). Keeping physical silence but letting the mind loose to talk in itself, generally results in a serious type of repression which ultimately drives many to the porch of a mental hospital. Be silent and understand how really silent silence can be!
CONTENT WITH ANYTHING — Contented with anything that might reach him accidentally, unasked and unexpected, is the motto of all serious seekers of inward growth. To entertain the demands in life and to strive forth to satisfy them would be an unending game, as the mind has a knack of breeding its own demands very fast. The policy of contentment is the only intelligent attitude to be taken up by all sincere seekers or else there will be no time to seek, to strive for and to achieve the diviner goal of life. Self-integration is a reward promised for faithful pursuits and all-out attention. It is said in the Mahabharata “he who is clad with anything, who is fed on any FOOD, who lies down ANYWHERE, HIM THE GODS CALL A BRAHMANA.
HOMELESS — Home is generally that which provides shelter from the external inclemencies of weather, for the resident who is dwelling under its roof. The man of spiritual realisation is one who is trying to pull down all his conditionings and striving to free himself from all sense of possession and material shackles.
Living under a roof, in itself, does not make the place a home. To spend a night on a railway station, or in the retiring room at an aerodrome, does not make the place the traveller’s own home. It is only along with a sense of possession, reinforced with a sense of happiness and comfort, that the place under a roof becomes a home. A true devotee has for himself a satisfactory shelter only at the feet of the All-Pervading, and therefore, his mental condition is indicated here by the simple pertinent word ‘homeless.’
Steadfast in his intellectual understanding of the goal, and ever striving to attain his Divine ideal, that the Bhakta dwells on — “THAT MAN IS DEAR TO ME.” There is almost a suggestion, even though by implication, that one who is at least striving to live these values is a full grown man (Nara) to the Geeta Acharya.
These two verses represent the FIFTH SECTION which enumerates ten more different qualities. In short, in thirty-six artistic strokes, Lord Krishna has brought about a complete picture of the Seeker-of-Perfection — his relationship with the world outside, his psychological life and his intellectual evaluation of the world of beings and happenings.
THE ENUMERATION OF THE VARIOUS MORAL, ETHICAL AND SPIRITUAL QUALITIES OF A TRUE DEVOTEE IS CONCLUDED WITH THESE:
