य़: सर्वत्रानभिस्नेहस्तत्तत्प्राप्य शुभाशुभम्‌ ।
नाभिनन्दति न द्वेष्टि तस्य प्रज्ञा प्रतिष्ठिता ।। ५७ ।।

yaḥ sarvatrānabhisnehas-tat-tat-prāpya śubhāśubham |
nābhinandati na dveṣṭi tasya prajñā pratiṣṭhitā || 2.57 ||

He who outlives the usual circle of selfish fondness and eschews the constricting thoughts of holy and unholy, thereby keeps away from  complimenting or condemning  anything or any one, is verily the stable-minded.

Sthita-prajnata was beautifully explained by Krishna. From that level how one grows to the sthita-dhee dimension has also been described.  Now Krishna proceeds to show how and where comes the transformation the spiritual Knower embodies in himself.

The Sthita-prajna is one remaining still – thoughtless, speechless and motionless.  He is deeply  absorbed in himself.  But the Sthita-dhee is not so.  In the Sthita-prajna, the consciousness (prajna) has to remain still. But in the Sthita-dhee, the effects of the sthita-prajnata make their appearance.  It is the Sthita-dhee’s intelligence which imbibes and displays the benefits.  A new note of enlightenment will remain pronounced in his buddhi, and consequently in his  mind and movements also.  But in dealing with all these points, Krishna has dropped the difference between the two phrases ‘Sthita-prajna’ and ‘Sthita-dhee’.  The distinction stops with the previous verse, and Krishna uses Sthita-prajna alone uniformly hereafter.  But it should verily mean the Sthita-dhee, as the sthita-prajna will remain motionless and speechless.

Sthita-dhee having been described, Krishna deals with the Sthita-dhee’s perception, interaction and interactional effects in him, so that the subject of seeking, knowing and knowledge will all stand amply explained.

Knowledge alone makes one a Knower. As a Knower one has to be alive and active in the world.  So the Knower in his state of interaction has to be understood.  Till then the subject of spiritual knowledge will not become complete or relevant to our life.

Krishna pinpoints the basic change that transpires in the Sthita-dhee as anabhisneha.  Abhisneha is the state of ordinary people, who can identify their fondness and interests only with the small circle of their family –– the blood and matrimonial relationships.  One’s body is no doubt limited.  Does it mean that his mind also should be subdued by the same limitedness?  But what generally takes place is that the habitual constriction continues. It is common worldly heredity of mankind.

When the yoga-sadhana takes one to spiritual introspection, which matures into Self-absorption and sthita-prajnata, that experience brings about a thorough revolution  in character, behaviour, perception and also interaction.  The bodily relationships appear to be too limited, even misplaced. Is not the body something to be cast aside?  Is one the body, or he merely has his body?  Why should whatever he has as different from whatever he is, blind him so much?   The material body is not what the spiritual Self is.  Man, the spiritual, has naturally now to imbibe spiritual feelings, views and standards.  So the abhisneha, the small circle of fondness and identity,  melts off and a clear expansion takes its place.

This expanded nature is what Krishna refers to by anabhisneha.  Abhisneha is the constricted fondness of the ordinary man.  Anabhisneha is the widening impartial fondness of the Knower – of the Sthita-prajna or the Sthita-dhee.  This natural expansion makes the knower impersonal, refined and more and more subtle in his thoughts, reflections and perceptions.

The effect is quite pronounced.  The usual set of preferences and prejudices which subdue the mind in all its thoughts and outlooks will begin to decline.  The sense of praise and blame with reference to whatever takes place around will also wane off. The mind will grow lighter and subtler.  When the mind thus changes its character and behaviour, the external focus will also naturally change.

Śubha and aśubha, holy and unholy, are the dual concepts and attitudes that guide the ordinary mind.  These will become meaningless.  A sense of uniformity of response, reaction and vision will gain ground every time.  No event will specially be greeted, and no outcome will ever be condemned or rejected.  The very fact that each has transpired, has come to pass, makes it welcome.  It calls for assimilation, acceptance and harmonization.  Thus in the hands of every event, person, place or development, the Sthita-dhee will only feel enriched and elevated.  In one sense, he outlives the abhisneha constriction of his mind, and in another sense he develops sarva-sneha, universal fondness, to encompass and embrace practically whatever comes to his life from the wide world.  This is a true progress and expansion of the Knower’s personality.  This expansional course is inevitable in a Sthita-dhee.

Sensory restraint – indispensable

Krishna emphasizes now the place of sensory restraint and regulation in the life of a spiritual seeker. Throughout Bhagavad Gita sensory restraint has been pointed out as the most pronounced note of spiritual life.  Any one indifferent to disciplining the senses will not be able to make any progress in spiritual life. Sensory restraint is synonymous with self-knowledge, yogic enlightenment.

Sensory restraint, indriya-niyamana, features in many places in Gita. In verse 2-58, it makes its beginning. Bhagavad Gita is a sastra, a scientific composition. It presents rationally the subject it deals with. Krishna has specified the subject clearly. It is Sreyas that is everlastingly good. Sreyas differs from Preyas which is immediately pleasant. Can human life raise itself from the immediate temptational ends to the lasting inner attainment? Is the need for it such as to become clear to all? Is any occasion or favour of some special factors necessary to turn the mind to the lasting from the lure of the fleeting?

In fact, the very Kurukshetra scene is itself a full answer to all these questions. Arjuna, the typical worldly individual, that too a valorous fighter, posed in Kurukshetra with the war enthusiasm and ambition, was suddenly  hit by the insufficiency of his understanding and the fallacy of his emotions. It took little time for him to accept his folly and weakness and seek from Krishna the great path of Sreyas. He did not think of any postponement in his search. As was the war collectively imperative, so was his new search personally compulsive . He was not prepared to be intercepted by any conflict or disharmony between the two.

For anyone placed in any situation, to realize the Sreyas, the goal of life, a certain way is necessary.  Krishna is exposing and explaining it to Arjuna.  And right from the start he stresses that the whole search and path will become meaningful only when the senses are restrained, they are not turbulent or disobedient.  Man’s distractor is his own senses.  Let none else be blamed in this regard.  Senses are to be regulated and sublimated, but not controlled or subdued.  Regulation will be possible provided the mind which links itself with the senses, without which no sense will be able to do its work, is properly treated with wisdom.  The only factor which can work on the mind is the buddhi (intelligence).  The buddhi has to be awakened to wisdom.

Human personality is externally material.  Body, on which the five senses are fixed, constitutes the outermost sheath.  It is in and through this body that a newborn child interacts with the world.  First of all it reacts to the new surrounding.  The skin of the child senses the atmosphere of the earth. Gradually the touch of people, especially of the mother, is added to the process. Later the eyes and ears also begin their work.  Thus in all gradualness the five senses have their complete role.  This role very soon becomes overpowering and devastating.  It takes quite some time, even decades, for any one to recognize the trap and think of getting rid of it.

Sankara emphasizes in Vivekachoodamani that some creatures of the world  have got only one of the senses overwhelmingly powerful.  Chasing that sensory organ the creature courts death.  What then, he asks, could be the fate of man, in whom all the five senses are equally powerful?  A great question, a powerful warning indeed !