Geeta in Daily Life

May 17, 2011

My eyes lit up when I saw a tiny Chinmaya Mission booklet called "Geeta in Daily Life" by Swami Tejomayanandaji. What perfect synergy for my blog!

For me, the book stands out for Guruji's simple, yet elegant, summarization of samatvam, equanimity as seen in several verses in the Bhagavad Geeta. Guruji himself refers to shloka 6-8 and 6-9.

समलोष्टाश्मकाञ्चनः
samaloshhTaashmakaa~nchanaH
To whom a lump of earth, a stone and gold are the same

सुहृन्मित्रार्युदासीनमध्यस्थद्वेष्यबन्धुषु |
साधुष्वपि च पापेषु समबुद्धिर्विशिष्यते ।। ६-९ ।।
suhR^inmitraaryudaasiinamadhyasthadveshhyabandhushhu .
saadhushhvapi cha paapeshhu samabuddhirvishishhyate .. 6\-9..
He who is of the same mind to the good-hearted, friends, enemies, the indifferent, the neutral, the hateful, relatives, the righteous and the unrighteous, he excels.

Guruji concludes the topic on equanimity by stating:
"In our relationship with people, equanimity (samabuddhi) means acceptance of all. With respect to experiences, it means maintaining our balance of mind. With respect to objects, it means looking at things as they are, understanding their value and dealing with them accordingly."

For me, the book is a quick read but worth coming back to, since the world constantly challenges my equanimity.

Hari Om and Namaskaar until the next post.

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