Let us now take up the next word of the verse, namely anitya. Anithya is the opposite of nithya. Nithya means eternal. The eternal is that which remains changeless, remains permanent. Anything changing or remaining impermanent is therefore non-eternal, is anitya. Because sukha and duhkha go on changing or disappearing, they are not eternal. They are anityas. Though anitya, they nevertheless pester us rather constantly. Naturally the only course open for us is to forbear them with patience and the knowledge that they are indispensable in life. It is this forbearance that Krishna wants us to cultivate when he says 'taan titikshaswa'. Titiksha is the quality of wise forbearance, forbearance that is born of wisdom and discrimination.
But many people misunderstand this quality, that is titiksha. Titiksha plays an important part in Vedantic practice. It is one of the pre-requisites which a seeker of Truth must inevitably have. That is why it is included in the Sadhana-Chathushtaya.
Taking titiksha to be the power to endure both heat and cold, many sadhakas go on persecuting their body by lying upon ice and hot sand. Such persecution is not necessary, and titiksha does not imply that either. Here again understand the subsidiary nature of the body and senses. The body and the senses are merely the instruments which the mind wields for its purposes. What can the body and senses do, when dissociated from the mind? This is why the human personality is considered as chiefly mental, not physical. Being so, only those qualities which bear upon the mind are the real ones for us. They alone can serve the needs of our mind and buddhi. Titiksha too, if it has to be a meaningful quality must be one relating to the mental level. As Krishna says, true titiksha is that which enables you to bear with the fleeting and frequenting sukha and duhkha. As sukha-duhkhas inhere in the mind, the quality of bearing with them must also inhere in the same mind. You can forbear the sukha-duhkhas by knowing (1) their inevitable nature and (2) their impermanent character. Knowing that they are inevitable and too impermanent, learn to accept them with willingness. Do not resist them with unwillingness. If you can do this, you have gained titiksha. Otherwise not. All Vedantic students must know the true implication of titiksha, and try to cultivate the habit of wise indifference and forbearance towards the two mental reactions, sukha and duhkha.
What about heat and cold, which people unwisely, try to bear with? They are sensations, produced by the body and skin. They hinge upon the temperature of the body, As long as temperature is an indispensable factor for the existence of the body, resultant sensations of heat and cold will also remain indispensable. If our body were to cease differentiating between heat and cold, it would cease to become useful. It would turn akin to the inert wood or stone. That is not what we want. We want an active useful body, which fulfils its functions. So too, an active mind fulfilling its purposes. You should not then be deluded to think that the practice of titiksha consists in torturing the body with the extremes of heat and cold. For cultivating titiksha, what you have to do is to constantly tutor the mind and intellect by impressing upon them the indispensable and impermanent nature of sukha and dukha which affect the mind constantly. Do this exercise, and see how it works.
We shall now take up the next verse of Geetha, and see what it says about the method of conducting life. This verse is nearer to the “act of living”. That is, it lays down, in a nutshell, the exact science of living. While the previous verse gives a definition or description of life, this one actualizes the definition by suggesting what should be the ideal method of living. Both these verses, together, make a complete formula for leading our life properly, successfully.
The literal meaning of the verse is: O Arjuna, that man, whomever the fleeting sukha-duhkhas do not afflict, whoever remains equipoise in them, is the true dheera, the truly illumined one, and he alone is considered fit for attaining liberation.
So, life has been analysed and found to consist of only two experiences. For bringing about these twin experiences, we need not make any effort at all. The tendency, which is prevalent in us and which we are trying to reinforce at all times, to eke out sukha and make it as longstanding as possible, is wrong. To think that duhkha is unwelcome and, therefore, a thing to be scrupulouslyavoided, is also equally wrong. Any amount of effort, on our part, to alter the destiny of sukha-duhkhas cannot, by its very nature, be successful. If at all we make any effort, it should be for remaining unaffected in both sukha and duhkha, considering them as alike unavoidable. This unaffectedness is a quality to be achieved by repeated trial and failure. Failure is inevitable, because our normal habit is to distinguish sukha from duhkha and then prefer the former to the latter. We instinctively wish for sukha, and hate duhkha. The liking for sukha and the dislike for duhkha are so deep-rooted in us, that years of practice will be necessary to come over them and strike a sense of equanimity.
The unequal, the differentiating, sense towards sukha and duhkha has to be removed by the force of wisdom, by the force of discrimination. With the eye of wisdom, you have to consider sukha on a par with duhkha, and treat both of them as equally useless for bestowing any lasting gain. The clinging to sukha as well as the attempt to make it endure longer and longer is to be avoided. To crave for permanent and undisturbed sukha is, by its very nature, wrong. It is the result of a delusion. You have already seen how life goes on swinging from sukha to duhkha and vice versa. So, how can either of them be avoided? If duhkha and sukha both are equally unavoidable, what meaning can there be then in thinking that one of them should be permanent? Again, how can the other be prevented at all? The attempt to differentiate between sukha and duhkha, and then prefer the one to the other is the direct result of ignorance, of the lack of knowledge about the facts and nature of life. Real wisdom tells us that we should not do so.
As sukha, as is duhkha, will come to every one’s lot, of itself, it should not be the object of our pursuit. Will not the effort to get at that (sukha), which is sure to come off and on, be redundant? Again, is not the attempt to avoid the unavoidable (that is duhkha) in vain? So, if at all one tries for anything, it should be for cultivating an impartial and indifferent attitude towards both the sukha and the duhkha. Do not be stuck to any of them in particular. View them alike. As either sukha or duhkha will always be in your mind, you can practice indifference, cultivate impartiality, rather constantly. It is like one that tries to learn swimming by entering into water.
If you want to learn swimming, you have to go to deep waters for making your efforts. The waters of sukha-dukhas are, likewise, necessary for you to learn the art of indifference, cultivate the habit of impartiality. Suppose you have learnt to swim, the presence of water does not become unnecessary. You will want to swim now and then, thereby deriving the joy of swimming. In the same way, the waters of sukha-dukhas also act as a source of joy and elation, for one who has become adept in practicing indifference. Again, even a fast flowing river will not be able to drown one, who is well-versed in the art of swimming. The same is the case with the jnaanin as well, who has become proficient in the art of assuming indifference towards the sukha-duhkhas. When faced with the fast current of the river, the swimmer’s nature is to wave his hands and feet faster, and somehow succeed in swimming to the shore. The jnaanin too will, likewise, exert his mind and buddhi more, when faced with unexpected and powerful sukha-duhkha currents, and thereby succeed in retaining the state of indifference intact. His knowledge and practice will always save him from the danger of getting drowned by those currents sukha-duhkhas, therefore, like waters for the swimmer, are always a help and a necessity. Above all, they are ever a divine source of peacefulness and contentment, shanti and samtripti.
To describe the practice in another manner, we must shift our attention from the sukha and the efforts to make it abide longer. We should then pin it on THE CENTRE BETWEEN THE SUKHA AND THE DUHKHA. That is to say, we must constantly try to withdraw ourselves from the thoughts of sukha-duhkhas, and try to remain unaffected, whenever they emerge and pester us. This unaffectedness is truly equanimity. Only a dheera will have this quality. A dheera is one who lives and acts with clear vision, stability of purpose, and self-seatedness. In whatever he thinks and acts, these qualities, these traits, will become pronounced. Equanimity will not come to you easily. You have to understand what it is, at first, and then exert yourself in the right way for gaining it.
Once the truth about sukha-dukhas is known, all our agitations must cease forthwith. For, after all, any one that lives on earth, with a body and senses, must and will derive sukha as well as duhkha. No matter whether he is rich or poor, healthy or weak, wise or foolish. Why should we fret or fume then, for anything, at anything? The right course for us is to take life easy at all times, by knowing what it is in truth, in essence. A right knowledge of life will automatically put a stop to our incorrect sense of differentiation. Let come what may. Let not, what will not.
