Verse-55
Chapter 2 — Sānkhya Yog
Verse 55
🕉 Original Sanskrit Shloka
|| Shree Bhagavaanuvaacha ||
prajahāti yadā kāmān sarvānpārtha manogatān
ātmanyevātmanā tuṣṭaḥ sthitaprajñastadocyate
🕉 English Translation
📜 Translation
English
The Blessed Lord said, "O Arjun! When a man is able to renounce all desires totally and remains satisfied in the Self, by the Self in that state he is called man of steady wisdom."
The self-absorbed person (who is in the state of stable intelligence), what are his attributes? This is the query of Arjun. Principally, two different conditions have been described by the Blessed Lord. Complete explusion of desires residing in the mind and being contented in the Self by the Self! Truly speaking, the glory of human life and its fulfilment lies in this state. Contentment is the joy of life and the goal to be attained. Contentment is the ultimate happiness and satisfaction is the final benefit. 'Santoshat paramam sukham'–the contented are ever happy.
But where and how to attain contentment! This needs a serious thought. Satisfaction is not dependent on external means and not from another 'atmanyavaatmanah tushtha' by the Self in the Self. Mostly the embodied soul imagines that he will be satisified by continuing to desire, one desire after another just in the hope that the mind will now be satisfied. Whereas the desire keeps on adding to the dissatisfaction. After every desire the mind becomes more restless. After the fulfilment of one desire one apparently feels a state of happiness. But immediately thereafter either some other desire starts agitating the mind or after some time the absence of the suitability of the acquired desired object/being makes the mind lose its peace. Desire in any case is not a means for satisfaction. Desire leads to dissatisfication of life.
Being contented by the Self in the Self! Without doubt it is a remarkably blissful state. Satisfaction is internal and not external. The inner propensities are either impure or agitated, restless, unstable. The fault does not lie anywhere else but with one's own desire. Segregate them; the mind will become stable and satisfaction will automatically and naturally come on its own. Satisfaction lies in the mind dedicated to God.