TEXT 15
yam hi na vyathayanty ete
purusam purusarsabha
sama-duhkha-sukham dhiram
so 'mrtatvaya kalpate
purusam purusarsabha
sama-duhkha-sukham dhiram
so 'mrtatvaya kalpate
SYNONYMS
yam--one whom; hi--certainly; na--never; vyathayanti--are distressing; ete--all these; purusam--to a person; purusa-rsabha--O best among men; sama--unaltered; duhkha--distressed; sukham--happiness; dhiram--patient; sah--he; amrtatvaya--for liberation; kalpate--is considered eligible.
TRANSLATION
O
best among men [Arjuna], the person who is not disturbed by happiness
and distress and is steady in both is certainly eligible for liberation.
PURPORT
Anyone
who is steady in his determination for the advanced stage of spiritual
realization and can equally tolerate the onslaughts of distress and
happiness is certainly a person eligible for liberation. In the varnasrama institution, the fourth stage of life, namely the renounced order (sannyasa), is a painstaking situation. But one who is serious about making his life perfect surely adopts the sannyasa
order of life in spite of all difficulties. The difficulties usually
arise from having to sever family relationships, to give up the
connection of wife and children. But if anyone is able to tolerate such
difficulties, surely his path to spiritual realization is complete.
Similarly, in Arjuna's discharge of duties as a ksatriya, he is
advised to persevere, even if it is difficult to fight with his family
members or similarly beloved persons. Lord Caitanya took sannyasa
at the age of twenty-four, and His dependents, young wife as well as
old mother, had no one else to look after them. Yet for a higher cause
He took sannyasa and was steady in the discharge of higher duties. That is the way of achieving liberation from material bondage.
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