जितात्मनः प्रशान्तस्य परमात्मा समाहितः ।
शीतोष्णसुखदुःखेषु तथा मानापमानयोः ।। ६.७ ।।

jitātmana: praśāntasya paramātmā samāhita: |
śītoṣṇa-sukha-du:kheṣu tathā mānāpamānayo: || ।।6.7।।

Discovering the supreme in and through interactions

These are again statements which are solely secular and practical in nature. The message is universal, all-enfolding. Maintaining the same note, Krishna makes the next pronouncement, unique in many ways:

For the peaceful and self-regulated person, the Supreme Self is established in cold and heat, in sukha and duhkha, as well as in praise and blame.

By pronouncing “the Supreme Self is established for him (paramatma samahita:)”, Krishna emphasizes how the process of self-refinement and sublimation underscores everything of spiritual life and attainment. In other words, all religio-spiritual pursuits have but one aim of orienting and enriching one’s own personality, the crowning fulfillment of all forms of sadhana. Thinkers and seekers should not fail to keep this fact in mind.

Self-knowledge and Self-realization are not, in truth, a short-term experience or vision. They have a broad base, a great depth and an equally lofty magnitude. The attainment is not something to be gained for a short duration, by a particular discipline or process. The refinement and sublimation it calls for and implies, have a profound and far-reaching effect. In the whole process, the Knower counts far more than mere Knowledge. The Knowledge, as such, may be held to have an abstruse or abstract note, but the Knower cannot be so.

The body is only the material visible part of one’s total personality. It is animated and activated by the supra-material mind, its emotions and intelligence, its rationality. These inner agencies should receive greater attention in the pursuit of Self-knowledge. When the inner personality gets refined, sublimated and integrated, that will mark the finale of the whole sadhana.

Krishna explains how this is so. His words are extremely revealing. They should set any seeker to think and reflect deeply. The paramatma will be established even when the self-sublimated Knower remains interactive and encounters sukha and duhkha, praise and blame. Krishna speaks about sukha-duhkhas again and again, because these are the twins the mind constantly generates and tries to preserve. The world of objects can, at any time, bestow only these two to the mind. Even mind’s own independent thoughts and imaginations result only in sukha and duhkha. External factors causing or fetching these may be many, but sukha and duhkha are the only recurring creations of the mind.

One offers praise because he likes to do so. It is his act and creation. Leave it to the praising individual. Let him express his praiseful words, delighting himself in the process. Let equally a blamer make his blaming remarks. Do not own up what either does. Does not an action belong to the actor? Let the praise and blame then remain with those who indulge in them. What has the seeker to do in the process?

Both the actions and their actors should be left to themselves. Once the sadhaka is able to gain such self-sublimation, the whole plural world will lose its allurement. The entire plurality, left to itself, can instill only the sukha-duhkha dual, nothing more, nor less. When sukha and duhkha, like praise and blame, are treated and sublimated in the mind by the mind process itself, it will disarm the world of its plurality and coat it with a wholesome divinity.

Colours will shine before the eyes, but none of them will have the power to attract or repel the mind, because the mind has now mastered the art of remaining sublime all the time. The multiplicity of colours will thus stand neutralized or homogenized in the mind. Once this takes place at all levels – sensory, emotional and intellectual – what possible adversity of the whole world of infinite plurality can thrust its dominance on the mind? The affluence of external, objective plurality will reign, but all that will have no adverse consequence on the mind of the Knower. Such unaffectedness of the mind and the sublimity of perception of the intelligence will together make the Knower unassailable in all conditions and circumstances.

That is how Krishna says that for the self-sublimated person, the param¡tm¡ gets established in sukha-duhkhas as well as in praise and blame. This is not a state of inwardness or absorption. On the other hand, it is one of intense objective interactional sublimity and wholesomeness.

The key to such a functional, vibrant state lies in taking up the inner process of self-integration, self-refinement and sublimation. The inspiration for such a pursuit will be derived from the enlightenment and exposure, like the one Krishna provides to Arjuna. The seeker has to be alert in imbibing what is exposed and then pursuing it as a full-fold sadhana, personality orientation.

This verse is generally explained in another manner also: For one who is sufficiently controlled in meeting sukha and duhkha, praise and blame, the paramatma gets established (paramatma samahitah). He has gained poise over praise and blame, sukha and duhkha. By him, the Knowledge and Realization of the Self is had.

As pointed out in other instances, this is also a statement in which Krishna gives a practical interactional note to the otherwise sublime spirituo-religious sadhana.