Gita 02.56 – Emotional non-entanglement with the material characterizes the seer
duḥkheṣv anudvigna-manāḥ
sukheṣu vigata-spṛhaḥ
vīta-rāga-bhaya-krodhaḥ
sthita-dhīr munir ucyate (Bg 2.56)
Word-for-word:
duḥkheṣu — in the threefold miseries; anudvigna-manāḥ — without being agitated in mind; sukheṣu — in happiness; vigata-spṛhaḥ — without being interested; vīta — free from; rāga — attachment; bhaya — fear; krodhaḥ — and anger; sthita-dhīḥ — whose mind is steady; muniḥ — a sage; ucyate — is called.
Translation:
One who is not disturbed in mind even amidst the threefold miseries or elated when there is happiness, and who is free from attachment, fear and anger, is called a sage of steady mind.
Explanation:
duḥkheṣv anudvigna-manāḥ: One does not become dejected amidst misery.
sukheṣu vigata-spṛhaḥ: One who is free from desire (spṛhā) to enjoy more and more even in happiness (sukheṣu).
vīta-rāga-bhaya-krodhaḥ: One is free from attachment, fear, and anger.
sthita-dhīr munir ucyate: Such a person is said to be a sthita-dhī (a person of steady wisdom).
Arjuna also used the word ‘sthita-dhīḥ’ in his question in verse 2.54:
sthita-prajñasya kā bhāṣā samādhi-sthasya keśava
sthita-dhīḥ kiṁ prabhāṣeta
In His response, Kṛṣṇa adds one more term: sthita-dhīr ‘munir’ ucyate.
Here, Kṛṣṇa further describes the symptoms of a self-realized person. He has already explained the broad principle that such a person rejects external pleasures and seeks inner fulfillment.
After describing the broad principle of not seeking happiness externally but instead finding it within, Kṛṣṇa now explains the mental responses and overall disposition of a self-realized person. The first two lines describe how such a person responds to dualities, loss and gain. The third line highlights the underlying mental attitude that enables these responses.
In ordinary life, we experience duality—elation in gain and dejection in loss. A striking example of this can be seen on a tennis court—when a player wins, they leap into the air in joy, while the defeated player sinks to the ground in disappointment. This contrast of elation and dejection seems like a natural human reaction. After all, isn’t it normal to rejoice in happiness and feel downcast in distress? How, then, can someone transcend these responses?
This is because one understands that there is a higher dimension to life—one that is far more important, meaningful, and fulfilling than external material existence.
Consider a game played at home with a friend or a child. We may play sincerely, but we recognize it as just a game. Who wins or loses is not a matter of life and death—ultimately, it does not hold much significance.
Because we have grown up, we understand that the game is not of great consequence. But for a child, it may feel like a matter of life and death—losing a game might lead to loud crying and distress.
Our emotional reactions are shaped by what we take seriously. The sthita-dhīr muni—a self-realized person—does not take the external world and its events too seriously. That is why such a person remains unaffected, neither elated in pleasure nor dejected in pain and misery.
Similarly, we too can cultivate this disposition—neither becoming overly excited by favorable events nor overly dejected by unfavorable ones. This is the characteristic of a seer, and it should be the aspiration of a seeker.
For the seer, remaining unaffected by life’s ups and downs is a natural state. The seeker, on the other hand, strives to cultivate this disposition with the goal of staying spiritually connected. Because the seer is deeply rooted in spiritual connection, experiencing fulfillment and enrichment at the spiritual level, events at the material level hold little consequence.
After describing the non-reaction to loss and gain, Kṛṣṇa now speaks of a broader disposition toward the material world—vīta-rāga-bhaya-krodhaḥ. Such a person is free from attachment, fear, and anger. They do not crave worldly enjoyment and remain unattached.
Consider a cricket match. When India wins, Indian fans are elated; when India loses, they are devastated. However, a person from Russia—where cricket is not widely followed—would feel neither elation nor dejection. In fact, they would have no emotional involvement at all.
The Russian observer has no attachment—vīta-rāga-bhaya-krodhaḥ—and no bhaya or fear. Rāga is the disposition of the karmīs, while bhaya is the disposition of the jñānīs. Jñānīs fear entanglement in the world and seek to distance themselves from it. They dread material existence, thinking, “Oh! This is a place of misery—we must stay away from it.”
Consider someone who is excessively addicted to cricket—so much so that they are unable to study or work, remaining completely hooked on the game. If they realize the need to curb their obsession, they may develop fear: “I don’t want to watch this match because once I start, I might waste six hours on it.” This bhaya arises in a person struggling to recover from an overpowering attachment. Jñānīs are like that—they are trying to free themselves from strong material attachments, and thus, they feel fear.
However, for the self-realized person, there is neither rāga nor bhaya, nor is there krodha (anger). Krodha arises when one desires enjoyment but is unable to attain it, or when one wishes to renounce but finds themselves unable to do so. This results in frustration. Such frustration is characteristic of skeptics who oscillate between rejecting the world and embracing it. But in either case, they remain dissatisfied.
In all three cases—desire for enjoyment, fear of entanglement, and frustration—there is emotional involvement with the world. One longs to enjoy, another fears getting trapped, and the third struggles with dissatisfaction. In each case, emotional entanglement persists.
However, the self-realized person remains free from such entanglement. That is why they stay undisturbed, detached, and indifferent. Such a person is described as ‘sthita-dhīr munir ucyate.’
A muni is considered a thinker—not a speculator in the sense of being disconnected from śāstra, but a deep thinker. They do not merely observe things at face value but seek to understand the deeper reality beneath the surface. A sthita-dhīr muni is one whose deep inquiry has led to a firm conclusion—they have found the truth.
Speculators are those among the karmīs who merely speculate about which sense objects will bring them pleasure. Jñānīs, on the other hand, go beyond the external forms of sense objects in search of the underlying substance of reality.
However, the truly enlightened are neither captivated by the forms of this world nor by the search for some formless essence beneath them. They have gone beyond both and reached the ultimate substantive principle—Kṛṣṇa. Thus, they are sthita-dhīr munis.
Kṛṣṇa has not yet introduced the positive reality about Himself. At this point, He is not directly speaking about Himself but is describing the sthita-dhīr muni in terms of their attitude toward the material world and their responses to it. Such a person is not emotionally entangled in this world but is firmly situated in spiritual truth.
We cannot directly perceive whether someone is internally fixed in spiritual truth, but we can observe whether they are externally captivated by the world. Their equanimity in happiness and distress, along with their overall mental disposition, indicates that they are not absorbed in the outer world but are deeply rooted in the inner spiritual reality.
Thank you.
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