Sthita-Pragna and Sthira-Buddhi
Lord has given a great teaching as to how to easily achieve that Supreme Peace that we all are after and we deserve but do not know that it is within us but do not know that it is there in us nor we know how to find and experience it. in chapter two and also in chapter 5, He has given us the introduction to what this peace is and how to achieve it.
Verses from Chapter 2:
O Partha, when a man gives up all varieties of sense desire which arise from mental concoction, and when his mind finds satisfaction in the self alone, then he is said to be in pure transcendental consciousness. 2.55
One who is not disturbed in spite of the threefold miseries, who is not elated when there is happiness, and who is free from attachment, fear and anger, is called a sage of steady mind. 2.56
One who restrains his senses and fixes his consciousness upon Me, is known as a man of steady intelligence. 2.61
Therefore, O mighty-armed, one whose senses are restrained from their objects is certainly of steady intelligence. 2.68
A person who has given up all desires for sense gratification, who lives free from desires, who has given up all sense of proprietorship and is devoid of false ego--he alone can attain real peace. 2.71
A person who neither rejoices upon achieving something pleasant nor laments upon obtaining something unpleasant, who is self-intelligent, unbewildered, and who knows the science of God, is to be understood as already situated in Transcendence. 5.20
Verses from chapter 5
Such a liberated person is not attracted to material sense pleasure or external objects but is always in trance, enjoying the pleasure within. In this way the self-realized person enjoys unlimited happiness, for he concentrates on the Supreme. 5.21
One who is beyond duality and doubt, whose mind is engaged within, who is always busy working for the welfare of all sentient beings, and who is free from all sins, achieves liberation in the Supreme. 5.25
Those who are free from anger and all material desires, who are self-realized, self-disciplined and constantly endeavoring for perfection, are assured of liberation in the Supreme in the very near future. 5.26
What is Sthira buddhi:
Sthir buddhi is the one who does not loose his cool in adverse circumstances and also on the contrary does not get too excited in favorable environment. There are ongoing and constant inputs being recieved through our senses and also due to the ongoing vrittis in the mind. These can lead to disturbance in the buddhi or intellect. For example if we are engaged in a particular action and we suddenly see something nice, the tendency is that we are distracted and our efficiency for our task at hand diminishes. Or if I am doing something and a thought comes to mind of some tasty food I have had in the past, than a sthir buddhi will react differently to that vs one who is not sthir buddhi ( One could call them fickle buddhi ). A sthir buddhi will say, yes I have this thought coming to my mind of this tasty food I had, but right now I need to focus on my task on hand and he will continue to focus on what he is doing. But one who is not sthir buddhi ( fickle buddhi ) he will immediately start planning how he is going to go about getting that food again and this leads to a loss of his concentration in his work. Same can apply to heat or cold. If the air temperature rises and it gets too hot or if the air temperature drops and it gets too cold, we all start complaining and lose focus of what we are doing. But a sthir buddhi will be able to see those changes as fluctuations in the physical environment and not allow them to affect his concentration in his work.
Our Buddhi or intellect gets misdirected primarily due to the input through our eyes from things that we see, through our ears as we hear things, through our skin as we feel and touch things, through our tongue as we taste things, through our nose as we smell things etc. Of course mind is an ever present entity busy with thoughts etc that throw us off balance. The problem is not that we do not let our senses perform their functions or our mind perform its functions. Problem comes when we get carried away with these functions. eyes haveto see and the ears have to hear, nothing wrong with that but not being aware that these phenomena are happening due to the vry nature of the senses, as we are influenced by these interactions, that i what causes problem. Like lord says, like wind can sweep away a boat, similarly senses and their activities can carry away the buddhi of a person or as seeker.
What is the benefit of being Sthirabuddhi
Being Sthir buddhi offers many benefits. These pertain to things in this world and also many benefits for the spiritual progress and aid in the union with the Lord.
Material benfits for this world are simple to understand. We can relate to them easier. If my intellect is stable and does not go through wild fluctuations from moment to moment I will be able to concentrate better on my work. Better concentrtion means be able to finish my work in less time. So much money is spent dealing with childhood and adult attention defecit disorders’ evaluations and tratment.
In the spiritual realm stable intellect leads to purity of the antahkarana, that in turn leads to experience of that peace that comes from being in contact with our true source, the atman. when Buddhi is sthir, the vrittis of the mind subside. when those vrittis subside, the real peace that lies within each of us, can be experienced.
How to become Sthirabuddhi
By practicing yoga of Equanimity: In this Yoga, the seeker discards attachment to the outcome of his actions, he is not affected by the profit or loss, gives up desires, withdraws senses from their objects, by overcoming anger, fear and attachments. He is compared to a tortoise who withdraws his limbs within himself similarly a seeker who sithdraws his senses to himself, is the one who is not affected by the interaction between the senses and the objects. This is how he practices yoga of Equanimity and once established in it he is known as Sthirbuddhi or Sthita prajna.
Like a lake which has a diamond sitting at the bottom. This can not be seen if there is turbulence in the water. But if the water is calm and quite, that diamond lying at the bottom of the lake is easily visible. The true peace within us, is that diamond, it is hidden from us due to the turbulence in our mind, mind becomes turbulent due to the input from our senses. Once the senses are quietened the turbulence in th emind subsides, when that turbulence subsides, the intellect becomes stable or sthira, that in turn allows us to see that peace within us. Once we know how to experience that peace we can access it any time and anywhere. It does not depend on anything outside. No one steal it from us, no one can destroy it either.
Lord has given a great teaching as to how to easily achieve that Supreme Peace that we all are after and we deserve but do not know that it is within us but do not know that it is there in us nor we know how to find and experience it. in chapter two and also in chapter 5, He has given us the introduction to what this peace is and how to achieve it.
Verses from Chapter 2:
O Partha, when a man gives up all varieties of sense desire which arise from mental concoction, and when his mind finds satisfaction in the self alone, then he is said to be in pure transcendental consciousness. 2.55
One who is not disturbed in spite of the threefold miseries, who is not elated when there is happiness, and who is free from attachment, fear and anger, is called a sage of steady mind. 2.56
One who restrains his senses and fixes his consciousness upon Me, is known as a man of steady intelligence. 2.61
Therefore, O mighty-armed, one whose senses are restrained from their objects is certainly of steady intelligence. 2.68
A person who has given up all desires for sense gratification, who lives free from desires, who has given up all sense of proprietorship and is devoid of false ego--he alone can attain real peace. 2.71
A person who neither rejoices upon achieving something pleasant nor laments upon obtaining something unpleasant, who is self-intelligent, unbewildered, and who knows the science of God, is to be understood as already situated in Transcendence. 5.20
Verses from chapter 5
Such a liberated person is not attracted to material sense pleasure or external objects but is always in trance, enjoying the pleasure within. In this way the self-realized person enjoys unlimited happiness, for he concentrates on the Supreme. 5.21
One who is beyond duality and doubt, whose mind is engaged within, who is always busy working for the welfare of all sentient beings, and who is free from all sins, achieves liberation in the Supreme. 5.25
Those who are free from anger and all material desires, who are self-realized, self-disciplined and constantly endeavoring for perfection, are assured of liberation in the Supreme in the very near future. 5.26
What is Sthira buddhi:
Sthir buddhi is the one who does not loose his cool in adverse circumstances and also on the contrary does not get too excited in favorable environment. There are ongoing and constant inputs being recieved through our senses and also due to the ongoing vrittis in the mind. These can lead to disturbance in the buddhi or intellect. For example if we are engaged in a particular action and we suddenly see something nice, the tendency is that we are distracted and our efficiency for our task at hand diminishes. Or if I am doing something and a thought comes to mind of some tasty food I have had in the past, than a sthir buddhi will react differently to that vs one who is not sthir buddhi ( One could call them fickle buddhi ). A sthir buddhi will say, yes I have this thought coming to my mind of this tasty food I had, but right now I need to focus on my task on hand and he will continue to focus on what he is doing. But one who is not sthir buddhi ( fickle buddhi ) he will immediately start planning how he is going to go about getting that food again and this leads to a loss of his concentration in his work. Same can apply to heat or cold. If the air temperature rises and it gets too hot or if the air temperature drops and it gets too cold, we all start complaining and lose focus of what we are doing. But a sthir buddhi will be able to see those changes as fluctuations in the physical environment and not allow them to affect his concentration in his work.
Our Buddhi or intellect gets misdirected primarily due to the input through our eyes from things that we see, through our ears as we hear things, through our skin as we feel and touch things, through our tongue as we taste things, through our nose as we smell things etc. Of course mind is an ever present entity busy with thoughts etc that throw us off balance. The problem is not that we do not let our senses perform their functions or our mind perform its functions. Problem comes when we get carried away with these functions. eyes haveto see and the ears have to hear, nothing wrong with that but not being aware that these phenomena are happening due to the vry nature of the senses, as we are influenced by these interactions, that i what causes problem. Like lord says, like wind can sweep away a boat, similarly senses and their activities can carry away the buddhi of a person or as seeker.
What is the benefit of being Sthirabuddhi
Being Sthir buddhi offers many benefits. These pertain to things in this world and also many benefits for the spiritual progress and aid in the union with the Lord.
Material benfits for this world are simple to understand. We can relate to them easier. If my intellect is stable and does not go through wild fluctuations from moment to moment I will be able to concentrate better on my work. Better concentrtion means be able to finish my work in less time. So much money is spent dealing with childhood and adult attention defecit disorders’ evaluations and tratment.
In the spiritual realm stable intellect leads to purity of the antahkarana, that in turn leads to experience of that peace that comes from being in contact with our true source, the atman. when Buddhi is sthir, the vrittis of the mind subside. when those vrittis subside, the real peace that lies within each of us, can be experienced.
How to become Sthirabuddhi
By practicing yoga of Equanimity: In this Yoga, the seeker discards attachment to the outcome of his actions, he is not affected by the profit or loss, gives up desires, withdraws senses from their objects, by overcoming anger, fear and attachments. He is compared to a tortoise who withdraws his limbs within himself similarly a seeker who sithdraws his senses to himself, is the one who is not affected by the interaction between the senses and the objects. This is how he practices yoga of Equanimity and once established in it he is known as Sthirbuddhi or Sthita prajna.
Like a lake which has a diamond sitting at the bottom. This can not be seen if there is turbulence in the water. But if the water is calm and quite, that diamond lying at the bottom of the lake is easily visible. The true peace within us, is that diamond, it is hidden from us due to the turbulence in our mind, mind becomes turbulent due to the input from our senses. Once the senses are quietened the turbulence in th emind subsides, when that turbulence subsides, the intellect becomes stable or sthira, that in turn allows us to see that peace within us. Once we know how to experience that peace we can access it any time and anywhere. It does not depend on anything outside. No one steal it from us, no one can destroy it either.
Very nice thank you very much
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