इहैव तैर्जितः सर्गो येषां साम्ये स्थितं मनः ।
निर्दोषं हि समं ब्रह्म तस्माद्ब्रह्मणि ते स्थिताः ।। ५.१९ ।।

ihaiva tair-jitaḥ sargo yeṣāṁ sāmye sthitaṁ manaḥ |
nirdoṣaṁ hi samaṁ brahma tasmād-brahmaṇi te sthitāḥ || 5.19 ||

In the next verse Krishna goes a step forward and crowns samya as the pinnacle of spiritual, religious, philosophical and yogic life. The way he has worded his proposition makes it supremely adorable:

The entire worldliness stands conquered by those, whose mind is established in equalness. Brahman is taintless and equal. Therefore, by their attainment, they remain established in Brahman.

The sadhaka should think deeply as to what Krishna wants to add here to his earlier statement. The previous verse as well as this has to be studied closely, to get at their import.

Only two points are set forth in the first half of this verse. ‘Conquering or winning over worldly life or worldliness’ is one. ‘The mind dwelling in equalness’ is the other. If one is there, the other also will be, says Krishna. This makes the whole sadhana simple and easy. The complex spiritual life suddenly becomes clear, simple and wholesome.

The whole world has only one constant effect on the mind – to make it uneven. How does it do so? It arouses in the mind varieties of dvandvas. The external or internal cause or means of bringing these dvandvas may be assorted, but the net result or outcome of one and all is the same. In fact, every sensory organ by its perception of objects only adds to the dvandva-imprints in the mind. The dvandvas imply unevenness. Mind’s unevenness alone is at the back of desire, unrest, preference, prejudice, discontent and instability. Krishna gives so much importance to evenness that right from the beginning he has been stressing it from various angles:

Krishna wants everyone to understand without any ambiguity that the sole effort of human life must be to make the mind rest unshakably in ‘samya’. Earlier he had used ‘samatva’ and ‘sama’ to denote yogasadhana. Now he has used the word ‘samya’ – perhaps for the only time! Earlier he was referring to the sadhana. Now he specifies the siddhi (fruition). Do not think that samatva of the mind is just a routine discipline or practice; it is as well the fruition and fulfillment of the wisdom-pursuit.

When the mind is established in ‘samya’, it becomes stable, poised and unassailable. All agitations and torments, together with their causes, become extinct when the mind is enriched and sublimated by evenness.

This kind of mind-enrichment, mind-sublimation, cannot, by itself, be claimed as anything ‘religious’. On the other hand, it is wholly an ‘interactional’ refinement and hence forms a part of the usual vyavahara, activities, common to one and all. Is there any religious concept in this? But Krishna feels and speaks elaborately about it, giving it the status of spiritual and philosophical crowning.

So, he adds that ‘samya’, when adequately gained, becomes the true Brahmic state, Brahma-sthitih, the spirituo-Vedantic crowning of human life. Krishna also explains how this interactional samya entitles itself to be the zenith of Brahma-nishtha.It is this message that makes the gospel universal and eternal.

Brahman is non-dual. It is without a second. Nothing else can be there like Brahman. ‘Samam’ is another description of Brahman. Brahman is equally present in all. It cannot be missed anywhere. Nothing can be outside or besides Its ambit.

To be taintless (nirdosha) is the quality of Brahman alone. Everything in creation is subject to blemish and stain. Describing the Vedas as dealing with only the three gunas, did not Krishna exhort Arjuna to become “nistraigunyah” (to be transcending the three gunas)? What does it mean? Whatever even the holy Vedas have to give or promise still reigns within the realm of taint or blemish. Even the denizen of the highest of the heavens will have to fall. Where is that blemish-free or defect-free abode or existence?

Brahman alone has the quality and power to remain blemishless, defect-free. It is, in a way, like the deep sea, which is not tainted by the rivers that gush into it. What then should be the taintless nature of Brahman, the Supreme Reality? By adopting ‘samatva’ or ‘samya’, and by actualizing it in life and living, the mind becomes freed of all taints and sins – worldly, religious or otherwise.

Did not Krishna say earlier: “Make your response to happiness and unhappiness (sukha-duhkhe) equal; also in gain and loss, as well as victory and defeat”? He also said, “You will no more be a victim to sin then” (2.38). ‘Samatva’ or ‘samya’ alone has the power to insulate the mind from all kinds of impurities and sinfulness. Nirdoshatva (taint-freeness) goes only with Brahman. Naturally, if and when one’s mind is seated or established in ‘samya’, on that very account, it also finds its repose in Brahman. Hence the samya-sthitah becomes the Brahmasthitah as well.

After first dislodging the concept of spiritual sadhana from its religio-philosophical moorings, Krishna installs it in the day-to-day worldly activities. And in that very process, he brings the same lofty benefit and fruition which religious sadhana alone is held to fetch. He is quite particular in placing true sadhana as something practical, secular and interactional, so that it will have its universal appeal and compulsion. There are other occasions too, when Krishna defines sadhana as mind-based and intelligence-based, making one’s usual life and actions as the true arena to pursue it wholesomely and perfect it.