"Established in Brahman, with intellect steady and undeluded, the knower
of Brahman, neither rejoices on receiving what is pleasant nor grieves meeting
with the unpleasant." (20-V).
The intellect of the ignorant man is deluded. It is unsteady like a weather
- cock and turns round and round by every gust of wind. But he who is established
in Brahman has a steady intellect and is undeluded.
The man of steady intellect is the one who has the firm conviction of the
existence of the one and the same taintless self in all beings. Such a man
is not delighted by getting what is desirable and not dejected by getting
what is undesirable. He has realised fully well that dejection and delight
and pain and pleasure pertain to the body alone and not to the self. Hence
in his case there can be no acquisition of desirable or undesirable
objects.
"With the self detached from the external contacts, he realises the joy
that is in the self. With the heart in union with Brahman, he enjoys imperishable
Bliss." (21-V)
He who is not attached to the external objects of enjoyment secures the
undecaying joy which exists within his own self. Such a man stops his mind
from all wanderings in the external world and turns it towards his Self.
He knows that the external objects of enjoyment are transient and as such
the pleasure derived from them is also transient. Happiness which is transient
lasts for a while and is then gone for ever. What is the use of such happiness?
The longing for eternal happiness which is in the Self can never be fulfilled
by external objects of enjoyment.
When a man is extremely hungry a delicious food gives him happiness. But
when his hunger is fully appeased the same food however delicious will not
give him any joy. Rather it would create only disturbances in his stomach.
So the objects which give happiness now, give pain afterwards. All external
enjoyments are of this nature.
In fact there is no happiness in the external objects. Happiness is the nature
of the self and you can find it only in the self. For instance, when a man
is hungry if he can not get something to eat he feels unhappy and restless.
But if food is readily available the restlessness of the mind ceases. He
takes the food, satisfies his hunger and then he rests in peace. As the vagaries
and restlessness of his mind stopped for the time being, his mind peacefully
rests in his own self. The moment the mind leaves the self and starts wandering
in the external object it will lose its peace and happiness. So the seeming
happiness that man gets from external objects is the happiness which he gets
from his own self. Notwithstanding this, all people who lead a worldly life
are busy accumulating wealth and other objects of enjoyment. This is what
is called delusion, simple but grand.
To withdraw the mind from external objects and turn it within one's own Self
is Brahma Yoga or union with Brahman. When a man knows that the Brahman,
who pervades the entire cosmos, is there within him as his own self and,
in order to realise it when he fixes his mind firmly as his self he attains
union with Brahman. Then he becomes a 'Brahma yoga yukta Atma', i.e., his
mind is ever in union with Brahman, which is his own Self. He then enjoys
imperishable Bliss.
"Enjoyments arising out of contact (with external objects) are verily
the wombs of pain, they have, O Arjuna, a beginning and an end. A wise man
takes no delight in them.'' (22-V)
Enjoyments that arise from contact between the objects and the sense organs
are verily the sources of sorrow. It is everyone's experience that sense
pleasures make one's mind corrupt and lead to tension, misery and suffering.
Longing for wealth, Governmental authority or power and lustful desires all
spoil the mind of man and subject him to lot of sufferings. Therefore, realising
that there is not the least trace of happiness in the world, one should withdraw
his sense organs from their objects.