ap£ryamanamacalapratisham
samudramapah pravisanti yadvat
tadvatkama yam pravisanti sarve
sa santimapnoti na kamakami Verse 70

ap£ryamanam - brimful; acalapratisham - without any motion, well-grounded;
samudram - into this ocean; apah - waters; yadvat - just as; pravisanti -
enter; tadvat - so too; sarve - all; kamah - objects; yam - the one (the wise
person) into whom; pravisanti - enter; sah - he; santim - peace; apnoti -
gains; kamakami - the desirer of objects; na - not

Just as water flows into the ocean that is brimful and still, so too, the wise
person into whom all objects enter, gains peace, (remains unchanged); whereas,
the desirer of objects does not gain peace. There are two adjectives
describing the ocean in this verse. The first one, ap£ryamanam, refers to the
ocean being totally filled with water. It requires no more water to be full
because it is already filled to the brim. The second adjective,
acalapratisham, describes the ocean as not moving from place to place in the
same way that a river does, for example. Thus, the ocean is not only full but,
being without motion, it is also well-grounded. The verse also gives some more
information about the ocean. While a pond depends upon a source of water for
its existence, the ocean does not depend upon any other source of water for
its fullness. It does not depend upon the rain for its oceanness, unlike the
rain clouds that depend upon the evaporation of the ocean water for their
cloudness. Nor does the ocean depend upon any entry of water. It does not
become an ocean because river water enters into it. Thus, to be brimful, it
depends on no other factor, no other source of water. The glory of the ocean,
then, is within itself alone.

Water enters the ocean from all sides in the form of rain and rivers. But does
the entry of these various forms of water bring about any change in the
fullness of the ocean? If it does, then we can say that the ocean is not full,
that it depends upon other sources for its oceanness. And if no change is
brought about by the water entering into it, then the ocean is full by itself
and the non-entry of water will make no difference in its fullness. By itself,
then, the ocean is full of water. Because it does not depend upon any source
of water for its fullness, neither the non-entry nor the entry of water makes
any difference to it. The ocean is not after the entry of water nor is it
afraid of water entering into it. It has no fear of becoming flooded and
thereby losing it's name, ocean. Nor, in order to be ocean, does it covet
water.

A pond, on the other hand, does depend upon rain or some other water to be a
pond. If a pond is dependent upon a particular spring underneath it for
instance, all that is required for it not to be a pond is for someone to put
bore wells all around. The water table will go down, the spring will go dry,
and there will be no water in the pond. A pond can also cease to be a pond if
too much water enters into it. If its banks are broken, there will be water
everywhere. No one will know where the pond is, unless they are wading in the
water and suddenly step into it! Therefore, a pond will no longer be called a
pond if there is too much water entering into it or if no water enters into it
at all. Such changes are possible for a pond, whereas an ocean undergoes no
change whatsoever, regardless of whether water enters or does not enter.

THE WISE PERSON
Just as the fullness of the ocean is not affected by the entry or non-entry of
water, so too the wise person's peace of mind is not affected by objects that
enter the mind. These objects enter into such a person just as water enters
the ocean. But he or she is not affected by them because, like the ocean, the
wise person is full - for no other reason than fullness being his or her own
nature. Everyone has this sense of fullness, if only for the time being, when
something desirable happens. But, eventually, the person finds himself or
herself not full. A wise person, on the other hand, does not depend on
anything for his or her fullness because the self is already full, like the
ocean. The self is ananda; it has no limit. Thus, recognition of the self is
the very reason for the person's being full. 'I am' is fullness. I am
fullness. If I am fullness, then the meaning of the word 'I' is not found in a
limited factor like the body, mind, or senses. Therefore, the 'I' should be
understood as it is - and it happens to be ananda. The wise person is one who
is happy without depending upon any object or situation. Like the ocean, he or
she is full by his or her own glory, by his or her own nature. The fullness of
a wise person, the ananda of the person, is not going to increase because of
the entry of some desirable objects. And if such desirable objects do not
enter, the wise person does not lose anything. In either case, no change is
brought about in the person. He or she remains unchanged.

If desirable objects enter into the head of a person who is not full, they
create havoc in the person because they have to be gained, experienced, or
owned and there may be no way of doing so. Therefore, the person smarts,
sweats, frets, and fumes. When a person looks upon himself or herself as one
who is lacking, desires only cause problems. And, if such a person is told to
give up all desires, he or she cannot do it. Unless one is full, desires
cannot be given up. They go away only when the person is full. Even if desires
do enter the head of a wise person, they do not create any problems because
whether the desires are fulfilled or not it is all the same to the person.

THE DEMISE OF ONE'S EMOTIONAL YO-YO
The word kama in this verse is taken to mean objects - kamyate iti kamah (they
are desired and therefore called kamas). If a person does not know that he or
she is ananda, the person is elated when desirable objects enter and dejected
when undesirable objects enter. Whereas, for the wise person, there is no
difference. He or she is santi alone, meaning that there is no change in the
person whatsoever. The emotional yo-yo is no longer there for him or her.
There may be a ripple of laughter or even roaring laughter sometimes, just as
the ocean seems to be very ecstatic at certain times and simply smiling at
other times. There can be a smile, a laugh or tranquillity.

For the ocean, the small waves are its smiles and the huge breakers are its
roaring laughter. If it is not roaring with laughter or smiling, is the ocean
gone? No, it is tranquil in its fullness. Therefore, it is the fullness that
is laughing, the fullness already being there. It can be a laughing fullness,
a smiling fullness, or a tranquil fullness. The other person mentioned in this
verse, the kamakami, is one who has desires, This is not to say that he or she
has a desire for desires. No one wants to have a desire for desires, but this
person definitely has desires for desirable objects. Into this person's mind,
also, sense objects enter; the world enters. When the desirable enters, there
is elation and when the undesirable enters, there is depression. In this way,
the emotions of the person go up and down like a yo-yo.

If a wise person can be likened to an ocean, the other-wise can certainly be
likened to a miserable pond that we just saw in the example. When the rains
come, there will be water. Provided there is not too much water or too little,
the pond will remain. But if it is flooded or all its water dries up, the pond
is gone. Similarly, for one who has binding desires, the entry and non-entry
of desirable and undesirable objects bring about changes, which is not the
case for the wise person. This verse, then, gave Arjuna some hope. The
previous verse was a real description of a wise person in the sense that it
takes wisdom for you to be wise and, therefore, you had better gain this
wisdom. This was then followed by the illustration in the present verse, which
likened the wise person to an ocean. Let all the desirable and undesirable
objects enter, like so much water into the ocean! The wise person remains full
and the kamakami does not. Krsna was telling Arjuna here that the one who has
binding desires will always have problems and that by this illustration Arjuna
would know what a wise man is like. Having said this, Krsna then summed up the
section on the sthitaprajna, as well as the entire chapter, in the next two
verses.

vihaya kaman yah sarvan pumamscarati nihsprhah
nirmamo nirahankarah sa santimadhigacchati Verse 71

yah - the one who; puman - person; sarvan - all; kaman - binding desires;
vihaya - having given up; nisprhah - devoid of longing; nirmamah - without the
sense of 'mine'; nirahankarah - without the sense of limited 'I'; carati -
moves around; sah - he; santim - peace; adhigacchati - gains

Having given up all binding desires, the person who moves around, devoid of
longing, without the sense of limited 'I' and 'mine,' gains peace. The wise
person is one who has given up all binding desires and who moves freely in the
world. Whether the person is a king like Janaka or a sannyasi like Sankara,
there is no difference in the freedom of the person. The longing for this or
that is gone because the person is happy with himself or herself. There is no
more longing for situations in order to be secure and happy. Therefore, the
sense of 'mine' is no longer there. Such a person does not have this kind of
attachment to anyone or anything. People hold on to certain people and certain
objects and look upon them as 'mine.' They are like children, who say, 'Do not
touch this. Do not take it away from me. This is my toy.' The only difference
between the 'mine' we had as children and the 'mine' we have as adults is that
the toys have been replaced with other, more sophisticated objects. In fact,
we are nothing but bearded, grown-up children. The 'mine-ness' never goes;
only objects are replaced. Thus, with reference to a few things and people, we
say, 'This is mine.'

THERE IS NO 'I' OR 'MINE'
However, when I see that the whole thing, everything, is myself alone,
everything changes. I am the father, the mother, and all the places. When
everything is myself, there is no 'mine.' 'Mine' means that 'yours,' 'his,'
and 'hers' are also there. These are the reasons for all your problems. You
become small in your own eyes. When 'I' and 'mine' are no longer there,
because you know 'I am all of this,' you are wise. When you say, 'I am all of
this' the sense of 'mine' is gone. The 'I' sense is also gone because when
everything is me, there is no 'I.' People think this is vanity, but vanity
only exists when you are small. When you say, 'I am everything,' there is no
vanity. Vanity is only with reference to comparison and pride. When you take
yourself to be 'this much,' there is quantifying in terms of your possessions,
your capacity, your skills, and so on. Then there is ahankara, ego. But when
the ego is bloated to such an extent that 'I am everything,' there is no
ahankara at all! There is only reality, knowledge, Brahman.

Ahankara is nothing but a notion, the 'I' notion. When the reality is 'I am
everything,' there is no ego. Ego is only when you compare yourself with
another person, and say, 'He does not have as much as I have' is ego. But
there is no other person at all. All that is there is me. There is no ego, no
doer; there is only aham, 'I.' That, 'I am a doer' is a notion, whereas 'I' is
the self. Therefore, the person under discussion in this verse is one who has
no 'I' or 'mine' sense because everything is himself or herself. If everything
is oneself, where is the question of having a desire? Knowing this, then, the
wise person has no binding desires.

HOW A WISE PERSON LIVES IN THE WORLD
The use of the word, carati, here is very beautiful. The wise person does not
run away from the world. Where would he or she go anyway? Having given up all
binding desires, such a person continues to live in the world and may engage
himself or herself in a variety of activities. But the activity itself means
nothing. The person gains only santi, meaning that he or she never changes.
Other people move around because of the pressure of their desires, whereas the
wise person is free from such binding, pressurising desires. People who are
impelled by desires will say, 'This has to be done; only then can I be happy!'
The only difference between a wise person and these people is that the wise
person is motivated but not driven by his or her desires. In spite of moving
around and being active in the world, there is no appreciable inner change
brought about in the person either by desire or by its outcome.

When the world enters into the sthitaprajna, the person is santa. And when he
or she enters into the world, engaging in the activities of the world, then
also there is nothing but santi. This was said because of a doubt that can
arise here. It is fine to say that the sthitaprajna is full and when the world
enters into such a person, it merely resolves into his or her fullness. He or
she just sits in one place in this fullness and whatever world enters into the
person, santi alone prevails. What about the wise person who is active?
Activity does not change the person's wisdom. There is no change because there
is no doership or enjoyership, no 'I' notion, in the person. Santi alone
remains.

Let the person be engaged in the world or let the world enter into the person.
Either way, it is the same. Whether he or she is enjoying or doing, there is
santi. When the world enters into the person or the person does something, he
or she does not become an enjoyer or a doer. Enjoyership and doership are both
negated in the wise person. Although there is a seeming enjoyership and
doership, essentially, they are not there. This is what we call badhita,
meaning that, through knowledge, the reality of doership and enjoyership,
centred on 'I.' is sublated. When Krsna talked to Arjuna and when Sankara
wrote his commentaries, there was doership. But neither Krsna nor Sankara
looked upon themselves as the doer. Doership, for the wise person, is just
doing. The notion, 'I am the doer,' is not there. This means that the
sthitaprajna continues to be Brahman. Therefore, Krsna concluded.

esa brahmi sthitih partha nainam prapya vimuhyati
sthitvasyamantakale'pi brahmanirvanamrcchati Verse 72

partha - Oh! Son of Prtha (Arjuna); esa - this; brahmi sthitih - the state of
being in Brahman; enam - this; prapya - having gained; na vimuhyati - is not
deluded; antakale - at the end of life; api - even; asyam - therein; sthitva -
remaining; brahma-nirvanam - liberation; rcchati - gains

This is what is meant by being steady in Brahman, Oh! Partha. Having gained
this, one is not deluded. Remaining therein, even at the end of one's life,
one gains liberation. The steady knowledge, jnana-nisha, that had been the
topic of Krsna's teaching from the beginning, is steadfastness in Brahman,
brahma-nisha. In between, karma-yoga was pointed out and Arjuna's question
concerning the definition of a sthitaprajna was answered, this same steady
wisdom being again mentioned. Jnana-nisha means steady knowledge and
brahma-nisha is one whose knowledge is that atma is Brahman. It is this
knowledge, called brahma-nisha, that is being praised here in the last verse
of the second chapter.

Sthiti refers to this nisha, or steadfastness in the knowledge. Addressing
Arjuna as Partha, the son of Prtha, Krsna told Arjuna that being a
sthitaprajna is the state, sthiti, of being in Brahman, born of the knowledge
of Brahman. However, once we use the word 'state,' there is a problem because,
being only a state, it will not always be the same. Previously, something was
not and now this something is, in a particular state. Later, using the same
logic, it will be lost when another state is gained, just as the previous
state was lost when this state was gained. When the waking state goes, dream
comes. When the dream-state goes, sleep comes. When sleep also goes, waking
comes. When this particular life is gone, another life comes. Because of
centrifugal force, we find that certain things are in a particular state or
position and when the force is gone, they are no more in the same position.
Similarly, any state is subject to loss, subject to change. Otherwise, it
would not be called a state. It is important to note that we are not
discussing samadhi here, which is a state. The question about what happens
after one comes out of samadhi often arises. The final stage of samadhi,
wherein there are no thought modifications whatsoever, the nirvikalpa-samadhi,
is a state and, therefore, will be lost.

Since Krsna used the word sthiti here, one may question how long this state
will last, if indeed it is ever gained. The word 'state' is used in this verse
only for want of a better word and does not mean something that will be lost.
This nisha is knowledge, knowledge of Brahman. It is not that atma goes into
Brahman and sits there. All that is there is atma, the self, and the self
happens to be Brahman. Therefore, it is something to be understood.

KNOWLEDGE OF BRAHMAN IS NOT A STATE
There is no Brahman other than atma. Ëtma is Brahman. If atma is Brahman, it
is a matter for understanding. It is not a state; it is knowledge, gaining
which the person is no more deluded. Because knowledge is not a state, the
wise person never dons the cloak of delusion again. Therefore, one's old
ignorance does not come back. Such notions that were based on ignorance, such
as 'I am a jiva, a mortal, a doer, an enjoyer,' also do not return. You may
fret about whether the false notions will come back again. You may think,
'Suppose the doer, the enjoyer, comes back. Again, I will have all the old
problems. Then what will I do? I will have to find another guru. My present
guru will send me away because, having taught me once, he will not want to
teach me again. What will I do? Again, I will have to come back. I will have
to assume another body and everything will start all over again!' There is no
such problem because what we are discussing here is not a state; it is
knowledge. Knowledge gained is gained for good. Ëtma is Brahman. When its
svar£pa, its nature, is understood, there is no more jiva. The individual is
gone. There are no more false notions about oneself and the old delusion does
not return.

IT IS NEVER TOO LATE TO GAIN SELF-KNOWLEDGE
Krsna then said that, remaining in this knowledge of Brahman, the wise person
gains moksa in this life itself. Living, he or she is liberated. Also, there
is one more piece of information given: liberation is possible even for a
person who is in the last lap of his or her life. The person may be very old.
The ears may no longer hear, the eyes may not see, the liver may not work, the
heart may be palpitating, and the person may always be scratching his or her
head in order to remember things - none of which matters at all.

Even if a person is old and is in the last days of his or her life, the person
can know, helped by all life's experiences. The old problems are no longer
there and everything has been tried anyway! It is only those who cannot even
try any longer who tend to think of themselves as lonely. 'I cannot go out
boating or fishing. I can no longer catch any salmon. They move too fast for
me. Now it is deer season and all the deer escape from me. I cannot even drive
a car and I am in an old age home. No one comes to see me except at Christmas
time. Even then my family asks me how I am and goes away again.' For such
people, these are big problems, whereas if a person has some discrimination
and has learned what life can teach, nothing is really a problem for him or
her anymore.

Life is meant for all this. Children are born and call you 'Daddy' and then
'Grand-daddy.' When you are a Daddy, you are supposed to be a viveki, one who
can discriminate the real from the unreal, and when you are a Grand-daddy, you
are supposed to be a grand viveki! Naturally, then, such a person is ready. If
all the people go away and he is left with himself, it should not be a
problem. By now, the person should know that nothing is really with him or
her, except some Social Security perhaps. There is no other security. Then,
having some viveka, if the person listens to the sastra the knowledge will
stick. Why? Because the person is mature.

MOKâA NEED NOT TAKE TIME
An old person has already gone through all the experiences that make one
wiser. For such a person, one sentence, if presented properly, is enough. He
or she should be mature by this time and, therefore, should have no emotional
problems or raga-dvesas. This kind of mature person, even though close to
death, can gain the knowledge. Earlier in this chapter we saw the story about
King Pariksit that bears this out. A curse was placed on him that he would die
in a week. He went to Vyasa's son, Suka, who was a jnani, and told him that he
had only one week to live. In response, Suka just laughed. 'Why are you
laughing?' the king asked, 'I am going to die in a week!' Suka then explained
why he was laughing. 'You are lucky,' he said, 'You say you are going to die
in a week. This means that you know you are going to be alive for seven days,
whereas I myself have no such guarantee. Since you are sure you are going to
live for seven days, it is definitely a matter for celebration. You are lucky.
My God! You can be Brahman by that time.' Seven days are more than enough time
to change one's whole perspective and, sure enough, in seven days this king
became a jnani. Thus, even if you are suffering from a terminal disease or are
very old, it makes no difference. You can gain moksa, liberation. Sankara then
completed the sentence. If a person about to die can gain moksa, anyone can.
Even as a brahmacari, before one enters the second stage of life which is
marriage, a person who takes to this study can gain moksa. Then, for as long
as he or she lives, the person lives in the knowledge of Brahman.

When the ears hear, the eyes see, the mind is thinking, and memory is a
possibility, knowledge can definitely be gained. If a person whose memory is
gone, whose eyes do not see, and whose ears do not hear can gain this
knowledge, all the more possible is the knowledge for one whose body is
healthy and whose mind is bright. There being no doubt that knowledge is all
that is to be gained for one to be liberated, the second chapter comes to an
end.