|| Shri Hari ||

Meaning of Each Chapter of the Gita

गीताके प्रत्येक अध्यायका तात्पर्य

continued.....

Fifth Chapter

A man should not feel happy or sad,  pleased or displeased, in favourable or unfavourable circumstance, because being entangled in the pairs of opposites, of pleasure and pain etc.,   he can’t transcend the world.   

A true renouncer is not he who renounces his wife, sons, family,  self,  and property,  but one who is free from attachment and aversion while performing his duty.  He who neither rejoices in pleasant circumstances,  nor grieves in unpleasant circumstance,  being free from pairs of opposites,  remains established in God.     The pairs of opposites of mundane pleasures and pains,  likes and dislikes,  are the sources of pain.   So a wise man should not get entangled in them.   

Sixth Chapter

Every means should lead to even mindedness, without which a man cannot remain uniform in favorable and unfavorable circumstances, in honor and dishonor,  and can’t meditate on God.    It means that without even-mindedness, the effect of the pairs of opposites such as pleasure and pain will continue and it will create an obstruction in meditation.   

The person who remains equanimous in favourable and unfavourable circumstances (which he receives as a fruit of his past deeds),  in success and failure,  in honor and dishonor,  in profit and loss,  and also while dealing  with good and evil persons,  is noble.  He who by controlling his senses and mind,  meditates on God,  in order to attain equanimity,  becomes equanimous for all beings,  and also in their pleasures and pains.  

The person having desire to attain equanimity,   transcends the meritorious deeds,  performed for fruits as mentioned in the Vedas.  An equanimous person is superior to those persons who perform austerities and action, and gain knowledge in order to reap their fruits.   

  (to be continued )

‒From the book in Hindi ‘Gita-Darpan’  by Swami Ramsukhdasji