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Bhagavad Gita II: Sh 65-68 Sankara Bhasyam
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To: alt-hindu@uunet.uu.net
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Subject: Bhagavad Gita II: Sh 65-68 Sankara Bhasyam
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From: lchiluku@news2.ucsd.edu (R. & L. Chilukuri)
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Date: 9 Jul 1995 19:20:58 GMT
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From news@news2.ucsd.edu Sun Jul 9 15: 11:11 1995
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Newsgroups: alt.hindu
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Organization: Univ of California at San Diego
Bhagavad Gita Chap II, Shloka 65-68
Sankara Bhasyam, translated by Dr. A.G. Krishna Warrier
65. prasade sarva duhkhanam hanirasyopajayate
prasanna chetaso hyashu buddhih paryavathistate
Serenity won, sufferings come to an end; the reason of that man,
whose mind is serene, soon becomes steadfast.
In serenity the three kinds of sufferings of the disciplined sage come
to an end. Also, the reason of the sage, whose inner sense has been
purified, soon becomes steady like the sky under all circumstances.
The sense is that it becomes immutable, having been assimilated to
the Self. Since he, whose mind is serene and reason immutable, has
achieved his life's goal, he may approach the unavoidable sense
objects, permitted by the sastras, with senses free from attachment
and aversion. This is the upshot of the verse as a whole.
This serenity is lauded:
66. naasti buddih ayuktasya, na chayuktasya bhavana
na chabhayatah shantih, ashantasya kutah sukham
The unintegrated mind has no wisdom; nor can such a person have
yearning (for Self-knowledge). Without such yearning, no peace (is
possible). For one lacking peace, how can there be happiness?
There is not, i.e., there cannot exist buddhi or wisdom born of the
perception of the real Self, for one whose inner sense is
unintegrated, or unconcentrated. Neither can such a one have
yearning for Self-Knowledge. Without this yearning one cannot
attain peace or quietitude. How can there be happiness without
quietitude? The turning away of the senses from the craving for
enjoyment of object is happiness; it is not the craving for objects.
The latter indeed is pain. So long as there is craving, there cannot
be even the remotest semblence of happiness. This is the sense of
the passage.
Why can't the unintegrated man gain wisdom? Listen:
67. indriyanam hi charatam, yanmanoanuvidhiyate
tadasya harati pragyam, vayurnavamivaabhasi
The mind that conforms to the roving senses robs one of perception,
just as the wind sweeps the boat off its course at sea.
The mind that follows the senses in their pursuit of their proper
objects destroys the ascetic's perception, born of discrimination
between the Self and non-Self; fir it is a slave tothese senses and
their objects. How? As the wind blows off its course a boat (at sea),
so the mind, suppressing Self-perception, causes one to hurry after
objects.
Having discoursed in manifold ways on the rightness of the view
advanced in verse II.60 and supported it with reasoning, the Lord
winds it up:
68. tasmadasya mahabaho nigrihiitani sarvashah
indriyaniidriyarthebhyah tasya pragya prathishtitah
The evil caused by the activities of the senses has been set forth.
Therefore O hero! that ascetic's wisdom becomes stable, whose
senses have been withdrawn totally from their objects such as
sounds etc., on all planes of activity.
For the sage of stable wisdom who has won the knowledge of
discrimination, all works, secular and Vedic, cease, since nescience,
their cause, has been sublated. Nescience, too, is sublated as it is
opposed to knowledge. Clarifying this idea, the Lord says:
