Bg 16.1-3
śrī-bhagavān uvāca
abhayaṁ sattva-saṁśuddhir jñāna-yoga-vyavasthitiḥ
dānaṁ damaś ca yajñaś ca svādhyāyas tapa ārjavam
ahiṁsā satyam akrodhas tyāgaḥ śāntir apaiśunam
dayā bhūteṣv aloluptvaṁ mārdavaṁ hrīr acāpalam
tejaḥ kṣamā dhṛtiḥ śaucam adroho nāti-mānitā
bhavanti sampadaṁ daivīm abhijātasya bhārata
Translation
The Blessed Lord said: 1. Fearlessness, purity of heart, steadfastness in the YOGA -of-Knowledge, alms-giving, control of the senses, sacrifice, study of the SHASTRAS, and straightforwardness . . .
2. Harmlessness, truth, absence of anger, renunciation, peacefulness, absence of crookedness, compassion to beings, non-covetousness, gentleness, modesty, absence of fickle-ness . . .
3. Vigour, forgiveness, fortitude, purity, absence of hatred, absence of pride --- these belong to the one born for the Divine Estate, O Bharata.
Commentary
As we read the opening stanza we are reminded on the twenty VALUES of life, that were described earlier by Lord Krishna in His Divine discourse (XIII --- 8 to 12). Herein we find an almost exhaustive list of the noble TRAITS in a cultured man living the spiritual way-of-life; a life wherein he accepts and lives those twenty VALUES of life, while meeting the work-a-day world. And in the enumeration of these qualities, FEARLESSNESS (Abhayam) comes first. Fear is generated in one, only when one is in a field which is clouded by 'ignorance.' Fear is the expression of Avidya. Where there is 'Knowledge' there is fearlessness. By placing this quality of fearlessness at the head of the list, with the unsung music of sheer suggestiveness, the divine Acharya is indicating that true ethical perfection in one is directly proportional to the spiritual evolution attained by the individual.
PURITY OF HEART --- No amount of external discipline can supply the student the positive dynamism that is the very core in all moral living. The Geeta preaches a dynamic religion, militant both in theory and practice. The Divine Charioteer is not satisfied by a tame generation of passive goodness. He wants the members of the perfect Hindu society not only to live among themselves the highest values of life, but also to burst forth with the positive glow of righteousness and bathe the entire generation of men in the light of truth and virtue --- virtue that implies honesty of intentions and purity of motives.
STEADFASTNESS IN THE YOGA-OF-KNOWLEDGE --- This ethical purity at the level of the heart cannot be brought about when the human mind is turned outward to the flesh. Only when the mind is constantly in unison with the Infinite Song of the Soul, can it discover in itself the necessary courage to renounce its low appetites, clinging attachments and the consequent foul motives GURGLING from within itself. Devotion of Knowledge (Jnana-Yoga) is thus the positive way to persuade the mind to leave all its low temptations. When a child is playing with a delicate glass curio, to save the precious object, the parents generally offer it a piece of chocolate, and the little child, anxious to get at the chocolate, drops the precious thing down. Similarly, a mind that is awakened to the serener joys of the Self will, naturally, never hang on to sensuous objects and their fleeting joys.
ALMS-GIVING (CHARITY), CONTROL OF THE SENSES AND SACRIFICE --- These three are now the techniques by which an individual successfully tunes up his inner instruments of knowledge in order to discover the required amount of "steady devotion to Knowledge." Charity must come from one's sense of abundance. Charity springs only from a sense of oneness in us --- oneness between the giver and the recipient. Unless one is able to identify oneself with others, one will not feel this noble urge to share all that one has with others who do not have it. Thus Daana is born out of a capacity to restrain one's instincts of acquisition and aggrandisement, and to replace them with the spirit of sacrifice, and it consists in sharing with others the objects of the world that one possesses.
If charity (daana) develops in one the capacity to detach oneself from the wealth that one possesses and share it with others who are poorer, then we can say that control of the sense-organs (dama) is the application of the same spirit of sacrifice in one's personal life. To give a complete licence for indulgence to the sense-organs is to waste, unproductively, the total human vitality. To economise in the expenditure of energy through the sense organs in the fields of sense-objects is to discover an extra amount of untapped energy. This energy can be made use of as the motive power behind the mind and intellect that is set on a flight to the higher realms of meditation. To keep the mind turned up to the Self, a subtle energy is called forth, and it will be discovered within ourselves when we control our sense excesses. Without dama and daana the pilgrimage to Truth is merely a dream.
In the Vedic period, SACRIFICE (Yajna) was the day-to-day devotional ritualism that the average man of spiritual seeking diligently practised. Without this regular prayer-cum-puja --- which is the substitute for Yajna available for us --- control of the sense-organs will be impossible, and without this control, the spirit of charity cannot come. In the absence of both daana and dama, spiritual experience of the Self, recognition of the Divine within us, is impossible. It is interesting to note that each subsequent term in this list is logically connected with the one indicated immediately before.
STUDY OF THE SCRIPTURES (Swaadhyaaya) --- Traditionally, this term indicates regular study of the scriptures. Study of scriptural literature daily, in measured quantities, will provide the necessary inspiration to live the divine life in our day-to-day existence. But, scriptural study is indicated here by a very significant term, which in Sanskrit suggests that the study of the scriptures should not be merely an intellectual appreciation, but as the student reads the text-books, he must be able, simultaneously, to observe, analyse and realise the truth of what he is studying within his own life. Regular studies, coupled with regular practice (Yajna), will give us the courage to live in self-control of the sense-organs, which in its turn will supply us with steadiness in meditation for realising the Highest.
ASCETICISM (Tapas) --- All conscious self-denials at the body level, whereby an individual reduces his indulgences in the world outside, gains more and more energy within himself, and applies the new-found energy for the purpose of self-development, are called Tapas.
UPRIGHTNESS (Arjavam) --- Crookedness in thought, emotion and general conduct has a self-destructive influence upon the personality. Actions belying one's own true intentions and motives, convictions and aspirations, realisation and discrimination will result in the crookedness of one's personality. He who is indulging in this way-of-life will thereby develop in himself a split personality and will soon lose the glow of efficiency and be impoverished in the powers of personal grit.
In short, in this very opening stanza of the chapter, while enumerating the qualities of a "Divinely good" man, we find a definite scientific connection among them. Ethical values and moral beauties described in Hinduism are not arbitrary declarations of an imaginative Saint or a melancholy prophet. They are built on the rocky foundations of reason and experience. Sincerely pursued and consciously lived, they contribute to a better expression of the diviner possibilities in man which generally lie dormant. Ethics in India are not, by themselves, a passport to heaven, but are a preparation for a fuller unfoldment of the divine contents in the bosom of man.
MOREOVER, HERE ARE LISTED THE MENTAL CONTENTS OF THE GODLY:
Continuing, Lord Krishna enumerates the mental contents of the godly type of men.
HARMLESSNESS (Ahimsa) --- It does not consist so much in not causing bodily injury to beings in the physical world, as in not harming any living creature in the world around from the realm of thought. Physical ahimsa is simply impossible. To continue living, some kind of physical harm or the other has to be brought about; it is unavoidable. But even while bringing about unavoidable disturbances around ourselves, if our motives are pure and clean, the harm so wrought is not regarded as causing injury.
TRUTH (Satyam) --- We have already discussed this virtue while explaining the last term in the previous stanza "uprightness."
AN EVEN TEMPER (absence of anger --- Akrodha) --- Sometimes it is rendered as 'angerless-ness' which is not very happy. A better rendering would be the capacity to check, at the right time, waves of anger as they mount up in our bosom, so that we do not manifest anger in our actions. It will be almost unnatural to expect the mind to become incapable of anger. But no emotion should be allowed to overwhelm us to such a degree as to render us almost impotent. This anger arises out of an insufferable impatience with others. In short, Akrodha does not mean 'without anger' but only 'keeping, as far as possible, an even temper.'
SPIRIT OF RENUNCIATION (Tyaga) --- In this stanza also we find, as we noticed in the previous stanza, that there is a sequential order strictly followed in the development of thought from term to term. If without respect to Truth, we cannot live in the spirit of ahimsa, so also without the spirit of renunciation an even temper is but a vain hope.
PEACEFULNESS (Quietude --- Shanti) --- If a seeker is capable of living, conscious of Truth harming none, keeping an even temper, in a spirit of renunciation, inspite of all disturbing environments and happenings around, then he is the one who shall come to experience peace and quietude in himself. Even in the midst of a stormy life and outrageous circumstances, such an individual can successfully keep his inward balance and intellectual poise.
ABSENCE OF CROOKEDNESS (Unmalicious tongue --- Apaishunam) --- The ugliness or beauty of the tongue is ordered by the personality behind it. A shattered entity will seek self-gratification in malicious scandal-mongering, and the soft, fleshy tongue can often become more devastating than the most destructive missile. A seeker who is trying to reach a fuller and more exhaustive self-expression should develop such an inward harmony that his speech should echo the fragrance of his soul. A speech with softness of tone, clarity of expression, honesty of conviction, power of bringing a clear picture in the listener's mind with no veiled meaning, overflowing with sincerity, devotion and love, becomes the very quality of the autobiography of the speaker's personality. To develop, therefore, a habit of such speech would be unconsciously training many aspects in ourselves which are all necessary for the perfect disciplining of the inner equipments.
COMPASSION (TENDERNESS) TOWARDS BEINGS --- In the society in general, it is not reasonable for a seeker to expect that all will keep up to the ideal that he himself entertains. There will be imperfections around. But to recognise, in and through those imperfections, the Infinite beauty of life expressed, is the secret of enduring tenderness in all Saints and Sages. Love alone can discover an infinite amount of tenderness in us. Unless we train ourselves to see the beauty of life pulsating through even wretched hearts and ugly characters, we will fail to bring forth tenderness to sweeten life within and without.
NON-CONVETOUSNESS (Aloluptvam) --- In the subjective life, to live "without covetousness" means controlling our sense-organs from extreme indulgence in sense-enjoyments. An average man has an endless thirst and an insatiable
hunger for sense indulgence. To remain in self-control without endless sense-hunger is meant by the term non-covetousness.
GENTLENESS AND MODESTY --- These are not so much the particular disciplines of the individual, as the resultant beauty and harmony which an individual brings forth as the fragrance of his culture, in his contacts with the world outside. These two qualities are best seen in one who has established himself in all the above-mentioned noble qualities. The conduct of such a disciplined man will be both gentle and modest.
ABSENCE OF FICKLE-NESS --- NOT UNNECESSARILY MOVING THE LIMBS (Achaapalam) --- Restlessness of mind and unsteadiness of character are reflected in the physical movement of a person. The body shadows the condition of the mind. A constant restlessness, a sudden outburst of activity, an immodest shaking of the body and voluptuous tossings of the limbs are all noticed only in individuals who have not yet cultivated a steady character and a purposeful personality. These can be seen in a child and there they are even considered as enhancing its beauty. But as an individual grows, the beauty in him is his mastery over himself as declared by his movements.
Shankara explains this as "NOT TO SPEAK OR MOVE HANDS AND LEGS IN VAIN." This is an extension of the meaning of this term, and implies the promptitude and economy of all physical energy in any efficient activity. Unnecessarily exhausting the muscles with indecisive movements and thoughtless exertions are signs of weakness in the personality. Such individuals are extremely imaginative and miserably weak in their intellectual calibre and emotional vitality. To avoid such movements, therefore, is to cure many simple weaknesses at the various facets of any given personality.
MOREOVER, CONTINUING THE LIST OF DIVINE QUALITIES:
VIGOUR --- BRILLIANT GLOW (Tejas) --- This is not a mere physical glow of complexion produced by good food and ample rest. Nor is it just an exterior beauty arising out of careful tending of the physical structure and planned nourishing of the pads of flesh around the sage. The glow of spirituality is not literally a painted halo around him, glimmering as a ring-of-fire. The brilliance of his intellect, the twinkling joy in his eyes, the thrilling fragrance of peace around, the serene poise in his activities, the dalliance of his love for all, the light of joy that ever shines forth from the innermost depths of his being --- these constitute their resistible attraction of the personality of the sage, who, with abundant energy, serves all and discovers for himself a fulfilment in that service.
FORGIVENESS --- PATIENCE (Kshamaa) --- The context in which the word is used here should increase the depth of its meaning. It is not merely "a capacity to patiently live through some minor physical or mental inconvenience, when insulted or injured by others." It is a subtle boldness that is shown by a man in facing the world around with an unruffled serenity even in the face of the most powerful opposition and provoking situations.
FORTITUDE (Dhriti) --- When an individual daringly meets life he cannot expect, all the time, happy situations, favourable circumstances and a conducive arrangement of chances in his field of activity. Ordinarily, a weak man suddenly feels dejected and is tempted to leave his field of work when it is only half done. Many lose their chances of achieving the Highest, and desert the field of action, almost at the moment when, perhaps, victory is round the corner! In order to stick to his guns, man needs a secret energy to nurture and nourish his exhausted and fatigued morale, and this sacred energy welling up in his well-integrated personality is 'FORTITUDE.' Strength of faith, conviction in the goal, consistency of purpose, vivid perception of the ideal and a bold spirit of sacrifice cultivated diligently --- all these form the source from which fortitude trickles down to remove exhaustion, fatigue, despair and so on.
PURITY (Shoucham) --- The word indicates not only the inner purity --- purity of thoughts and motives --- but it also suggests, the purity of environments, cleanliness of habit and personal belongings. As a result of an over-emphasis on subjective purity, today, we find in our society, an utter neglect of external purity. Clean clothes and civic-habits have both become rare in our society. Even the devotee-class is unmindful about these, although our religion emphasises that purity and cleanliness are unavoidable disciplines for a seeker.
ABSENCE-OF-HATRED (Adroha) --- Harmlessness (Ahimsa) was a virtue explained in the previous stanza. Here the same virtue is repeated not only for the purpose of emphasis but also to indicate a slightly different shade of meaning. The term here should mean more than "ABSENCE OF HATRED." Just as an individual will never have, even in his dream, any idea of injuring himself, a true seeker, in his recognition of the Oneness in all living creatures, must come to feel that to injure anyone is to injure himself.
ABSENCE OF OVER-PRIDE (Na-ati-maanitaa) --- To leave off one's exaggerated notions of self-honour is, immediately to relieve oneself from thousands of avoidable excitements and responsibilities. Life is as light as a feather to one who has renounced his over-exaggerated pride while to a Coriolanus, life becomes a heavy cross, to be carried painfully, as it mercilessly cuts through the living flesh on his shoulders.
The twenty-six qualities described above give us a complete picture of the nature of a man of 'Divine Estate.' These qualities are enumerated to serve as a guide to all those who thirst to become "perfect." To the extent we are able to reorganise our way-of-life and change our vision of the world around us on the above lines, to that extent we shall economise our energies, that are often wasted in idle pursuits. To respect and live these twenty-six values of life completely, is to assure ourselves of a right way-of-living.
Sources: Vedabase.com; The Holy Geeta
śrī-bhagavān uvāca
abhayaṁ sattva-saṁśuddhir jñāna-yoga-vyavasthitiḥ
dānaṁ damaś ca yajñaś ca svādhyāyas tapa ārjavam
ahiṁsā satyam akrodhas tyāgaḥ śāntir apaiśunam
dayā bhūteṣv aloluptvaṁ mārdavaṁ hrīr acāpalam
tejaḥ kṣamā dhṛtiḥ śaucam adroho nāti-mānitā
bhavanti sampadaṁ daivīm abhijātasya bhārata
Translation
The Blessed Lord said: 1. Fearlessness, purity of heart, steadfastness in the YOGA -of-Knowledge, alms-giving, control of the senses, sacrifice, study of the SHASTRAS, and straightforwardness . . .
2. Harmlessness, truth, absence of anger, renunciation, peacefulness, absence of crookedness, compassion to beings, non-covetousness, gentleness, modesty, absence of fickle-ness . . .
3. Vigour, forgiveness, fortitude, purity, absence of hatred, absence of pride --- these belong to the one born for the Divine Estate, O Bharata.
Commentary
As we read the opening stanza we are reminded on the twenty VALUES of life, that were described earlier by Lord Krishna in His Divine discourse (XIII --- 8 to 12). Herein we find an almost exhaustive list of the noble TRAITS in a cultured man living the spiritual way-of-life; a life wherein he accepts and lives those twenty VALUES of life, while meeting the work-a-day world. And in the enumeration of these qualities, FEARLESSNESS (Abhayam) comes first. Fear is generated in one, only when one is in a field which is clouded by 'ignorance.' Fear is the expression of Avidya. Where there is 'Knowledge' there is fearlessness. By placing this quality of fearlessness at the head of the list, with the unsung music of sheer suggestiveness, the divine Acharya is indicating that true ethical perfection in one is directly proportional to the spiritual evolution attained by the individual.
PURITY OF HEART --- No amount of external discipline can supply the student the positive dynamism that is the very core in all moral living. The Geeta preaches a dynamic religion, militant both in theory and practice. The Divine Charioteer is not satisfied by a tame generation of passive goodness. He wants the members of the perfect Hindu society not only to live among themselves the highest values of life, but also to burst forth with the positive glow of righteousness and bathe the entire generation of men in the light of truth and virtue --- virtue that implies honesty of intentions and purity of motives.
STEADFASTNESS IN THE YOGA-OF-KNOWLEDGE --- This ethical purity at the level of the heart cannot be brought about when the human mind is turned outward to the flesh. Only when the mind is constantly in unison with the Infinite Song of the Soul, can it discover in itself the necessary courage to renounce its low appetites, clinging attachments and the consequent foul motives GURGLING from within itself. Devotion of Knowledge (Jnana-Yoga) is thus the positive way to persuade the mind to leave all its low temptations. When a child is playing with a delicate glass curio, to save the precious object, the parents generally offer it a piece of chocolate, and the little child, anxious to get at the chocolate, drops the precious thing down. Similarly, a mind that is awakened to the serener joys of the Self will, naturally, never hang on to sensuous objects and their fleeting joys.
ALMS-GIVING (CHARITY), CONTROL OF THE SENSES AND SACRIFICE --- These three are now the techniques by which an individual successfully tunes up his inner instruments of knowledge in order to discover the required amount of "steady devotion to Knowledge." Charity must come from one's sense of abundance. Charity springs only from a sense of oneness in us --- oneness between the giver and the recipient. Unless one is able to identify oneself with others, one will not feel this noble urge to share all that one has with others who do not have it. Thus Daana is born out of a capacity to restrain one's instincts of acquisition and aggrandisement, and to replace them with the spirit of sacrifice, and it consists in sharing with others the objects of the world that one possesses.
If charity (daana) develops in one the capacity to detach oneself from the wealth that one possesses and share it with others who are poorer, then we can say that control of the sense-organs (dama) is the application of the same spirit of sacrifice in one's personal life. To give a complete licence for indulgence to the sense-organs is to waste, unproductively, the total human vitality. To economise in the expenditure of energy through the sense organs in the fields of sense-objects is to discover an extra amount of untapped energy. This energy can be made use of as the motive power behind the mind and intellect that is set on a flight to the higher realms of meditation. To keep the mind turned up to the Self, a subtle energy is called forth, and it will be discovered within ourselves when we control our sense excesses. Without dama and daana the pilgrimage to Truth is merely a dream.
In the Vedic period, SACRIFICE (Yajna) was the day-to-day devotional ritualism that the average man of spiritual seeking diligently practised. Without this regular prayer-cum-puja --- which is the substitute for Yajna available for us --- control of the sense-organs will be impossible, and without this control, the spirit of charity cannot come. In the absence of both daana and dama, spiritual experience of the Self, recognition of the Divine within us, is impossible. It is interesting to note that each subsequent term in this list is logically connected with the one indicated immediately before.
STUDY OF THE SCRIPTURES (Swaadhyaaya) --- Traditionally, this term indicates regular study of the scriptures. Study of scriptural literature daily, in measured quantities, will provide the necessary inspiration to live the divine life in our day-to-day existence. But, scriptural study is indicated here by a very significant term, which in Sanskrit suggests that the study of the scriptures should not be merely an intellectual appreciation, but as the student reads the text-books, he must be able, simultaneously, to observe, analyse and realise the truth of what he is studying within his own life. Regular studies, coupled with regular practice (Yajna), will give us the courage to live in self-control of the sense-organs, which in its turn will supply us with steadiness in meditation for realising the Highest.
ASCETICISM (Tapas) --- All conscious self-denials at the body level, whereby an individual reduces his indulgences in the world outside, gains more and more energy within himself, and applies the new-found energy for the purpose of self-development, are called Tapas.
UPRIGHTNESS (Arjavam) --- Crookedness in thought, emotion and general conduct has a self-destructive influence upon the personality. Actions belying one's own true intentions and motives, convictions and aspirations, realisation and discrimination will result in the crookedness of one's personality. He who is indulging in this way-of-life will thereby develop in himself a split personality and will soon lose the glow of efficiency and be impoverished in the powers of personal grit.
In short, in this very opening stanza of the chapter, while enumerating the qualities of a "Divinely good" man, we find a definite scientific connection among them. Ethical values and moral beauties described in Hinduism are not arbitrary declarations of an imaginative Saint or a melancholy prophet. They are built on the rocky foundations of reason and experience. Sincerely pursued and consciously lived, they contribute to a better expression of the diviner possibilities in man which generally lie dormant. Ethics in India are not, by themselves, a passport to heaven, but are a preparation for a fuller unfoldment of the divine contents in the bosom of man.
MOREOVER, HERE ARE LISTED THE MENTAL CONTENTS OF THE GODLY:
Continuing, Lord Krishna enumerates the mental contents of the godly type of men.
HARMLESSNESS (Ahimsa) --- It does not consist so much in not causing bodily injury to beings in the physical world, as in not harming any living creature in the world around from the realm of thought. Physical ahimsa is simply impossible. To continue living, some kind of physical harm or the other has to be brought about; it is unavoidable. But even while bringing about unavoidable disturbances around ourselves, if our motives are pure and clean, the harm so wrought is not regarded as causing injury.
TRUTH (Satyam) --- We have already discussed this virtue while explaining the last term in the previous stanza "uprightness."
AN EVEN TEMPER (absence of anger --- Akrodha) --- Sometimes it is rendered as 'angerless-ness' which is not very happy. A better rendering would be the capacity to check, at the right time, waves of anger as they mount up in our bosom, so that we do not manifest anger in our actions. It will be almost unnatural to expect the mind to become incapable of anger. But no emotion should be allowed to overwhelm us to such a degree as to render us almost impotent. This anger arises out of an insufferable impatience with others. In short, Akrodha does not mean 'without anger' but only 'keeping, as far as possible, an even temper.'
SPIRIT OF RENUNCIATION (Tyaga) --- In this stanza also we find, as we noticed in the previous stanza, that there is a sequential order strictly followed in the development of thought from term to term. If without respect to Truth, we cannot live in the spirit of ahimsa, so also without the spirit of renunciation an even temper is but a vain hope.
PEACEFULNESS (Quietude --- Shanti) --- If a seeker is capable of living, conscious of Truth harming none, keeping an even temper, in a spirit of renunciation, inspite of all disturbing environments and happenings around, then he is the one who shall come to experience peace and quietude in himself. Even in the midst of a stormy life and outrageous circumstances, such an individual can successfully keep his inward balance and intellectual poise.
ABSENCE OF CROOKEDNESS (Unmalicious tongue --- Apaishunam) --- The ugliness or beauty of the tongue is ordered by the personality behind it. A shattered entity will seek self-gratification in malicious scandal-mongering, and the soft, fleshy tongue can often become more devastating than the most destructive missile. A seeker who is trying to reach a fuller and more exhaustive self-expression should develop such an inward harmony that his speech should echo the fragrance of his soul. A speech with softness of tone, clarity of expression, honesty of conviction, power of bringing a clear picture in the listener's mind with no veiled meaning, overflowing with sincerity, devotion and love, becomes the very quality of the autobiography of the speaker's personality. To develop, therefore, a habit of such speech would be unconsciously training many aspects in ourselves which are all necessary for the perfect disciplining of the inner equipments.
COMPASSION (TENDERNESS) TOWARDS BEINGS --- In the society in general, it is not reasonable for a seeker to expect that all will keep up to the ideal that he himself entertains. There will be imperfections around. But to recognise, in and through those imperfections, the Infinite beauty of life expressed, is the secret of enduring tenderness in all Saints and Sages. Love alone can discover an infinite amount of tenderness in us. Unless we train ourselves to see the beauty of life pulsating through even wretched hearts and ugly characters, we will fail to bring forth tenderness to sweeten life within and without.
NON-CONVETOUSNESS (Aloluptvam) --- In the subjective life, to live "without covetousness" means controlling our sense-organs from extreme indulgence in sense-enjoyments. An average man has an endless thirst and an insatiable
hunger for sense indulgence. To remain in self-control without endless sense-hunger is meant by the term non-covetousness.
GENTLENESS AND MODESTY --- These are not so much the particular disciplines of the individual, as the resultant beauty and harmony which an individual brings forth as the fragrance of his culture, in his contacts with the world outside. These two qualities are best seen in one who has established himself in all the above-mentioned noble qualities. The conduct of such a disciplined man will be both gentle and modest.
ABSENCE OF FICKLE-NESS --- NOT UNNECESSARILY MOVING THE LIMBS (Achaapalam) --- Restlessness of mind and unsteadiness of character are reflected in the physical movement of a person. The body shadows the condition of the mind. A constant restlessness, a sudden outburst of activity, an immodest shaking of the body and voluptuous tossings of the limbs are all noticed only in individuals who have not yet cultivated a steady character and a purposeful personality. These can be seen in a child and there they are even considered as enhancing its beauty. But as an individual grows, the beauty in him is his mastery over himself as declared by his movements.
Shankara explains this as "NOT TO SPEAK OR MOVE HANDS AND LEGS IN VAIN." This is an extension of the meaning of this term, and implies the promptitude and economy of all physical energy in any efficient activity. Unnecessarily exhausting the muscles with indecisive movements and thoughtless exertions are signs of weakness in the personality. Such individuals are extremely imaginative and miserably weak in their intellectual calibre and emotional vitality. To avoid such movements, therefore, is to cure many simple weaknesses at the various facets of any given personality.
MOREOVER, CONTINUING THE LIST OF DIVINE QUALITIES:
VIGOUR --- BRILLIANT GLOW (Tejas) --- This is not a mere physical glow of complexion produced by good food and ample rest. Nor is it just an exterior beauty arising out of careful tending of the physical structure and planned nourishing of the pads of flesh around the sage. The glow of spirituality is not literally a painted halo around him, glimmering as a ring-of-fire. The brilliance of his intellect, the twinkling joy in his eyes, the thrilling fragrance of peace around, the serene poise in his activities, the dalliance of his love for all, the light of joy that ever shines forth from the innermost depths of his being --- these constitute their resistible attraction of the personality of the sage, who, with abundant energy, serves all and discovers for himself a fulfilment in that service.
FORGIVENESS --- PATIENCE (Kshamaa) --- The context in which the word is used here should increase the depth of its meaning. It is not merely "a capacity to patiently live through some minor physical or mental inconvenience, when insulted or injured by others." It is a subtle boldness that is shown by a man in facing the world around with an unruffled serenity even in the face of the most powerful opposition and provoking situations.
FORTITUDE (Dhriti) --- When an individual daringly meets life he cannot expect, all the time, happy situations, favourable circumstances and a conducive arrangement of chances in his field of activity. Ordinarily, a weak man suddenly feels dejected and is tempted to leave his field of work when it is only half done. Many lose their chances of achieving the Highest, and desert the field of action, almost at the moment when, perhaps, victory is round the corner! In order to stick to his guns, man needs a secret energy to nurture and nourish his exhausted and fatigued morale, and this sacred energy welling up in his well-integrated personality is 'FORTITUDE.' Strength of faith, conviction in the goal, consistency of purpose, vivid perception of the ideal and a bold spirit of sacrifice cultivated diligently --- all these form the source from which fortitude trickles down to remove exhaustion, fatigue, despair and so on.
PURITY (Shoucham) --- The word indicates not only the inner purity --- purity of thoughts and motives --- but it also suggests, the purity of environments, cleanliness of habit and personal belongings. As a result of an over-emphasis on subjective purity, today, we find in our society, an utter neglect of external purity. Clean clothes and civic-habits have both become rare in our society. Even the devotee-class is unmindful about these, although our religion emphasises that purity and cleanliness are unavoidable disciplines for a seeker.
ABSENCE-OF-HATRED (Adroha) --- Harmlessness (Ahimsa) was a virtue explained in the previous stanza. Here the same virtue is repeated not only for the purpose of emphasis but also to indicate a slightly different shade of meaning. The term here should mean more than "ABSENCE OF HATRED." Just as an individual will never have, even in his dream, any idea of injuring himself, a true seeker, in his recognition of the Oneness in all living creatures, must come to feel that to injure anyone is to injure himself.
ABSENCE OF OVER-PRIDE (Na-ati-maanitaa) --- To leave off one's exaggerated notions of self-honour is, immediately to relieve oneself from thousands of avoidable excitements and responsibilities. Life is as light as a feather to one who has renounced his over-exaggerated pride while to a Coriolanus, life becomes a heavy cross, to be carried painfully, as it mercilessly cuts through the living flesh on his shoulders.
The twenty-six qualities described above give us a complete picture of the nature of a man of 'Divine Estate.' These qualities are enumerated to serve as a guide to all those who thirst to become "perfect." To the extent we are able to reorganise our way-of-life and change our vision of the world around us on the above lines, to that extent we shall economise our energies, that are often wasted in idle pursuits. To respect and live these twenty-six values of life completely, is to assure ourselves of a right way-of-living.
Sources: Vedabase.com; The Holy Geeta
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