| 19. He who is
the same to foe and friend, and also in honor and dishonor ; who is the
same in cold and heat, in pleasure and pain ; who is free from attachment
; to whom censure and praise are equal ; who is silent, content with anything,
homeless, steadyminded, full of devotion ; that man is dear to me.He has
no attachment for objects of any kind. He is content with the bare means
of bodily sustenance. It is said (in the Mahabharata): Who is clad with
anything, who is fed on any food, who lies down anywhere, him the Gods call
a brahmana. (Santi parva, MokshaDhrama, 24512) He has no fixed abode, he
is houseless as has been said in another smriti. His thought is fixed steadily
on the Supreme Reality.The enumeration, which was commenced in xii. 13,
of the various attributes of the samnyasinsto the worshippers the Akshara
who are constantly devoted to the knowledge of the Supreme Realityis concluded
as follows: |
| 19. If good comes their way
they will not get elated (unduly); if evil or bad comes their way they will
not hate it, they will `not weep or cry if anything is lost; they will not
aspire to- gain anything, they have transcended Papa (sinful).and Punya
(meritorious) Karmas. Mine, others; fame, ignominy; happiness,.misery- tolerating
such pairs, of opposites, being steady, they will live without being attached
to anything whatsoever. Whether people scold them or praise them--without
having any ups and downs in their mental poise, without having any strict
rules or conventions with regard to food, clothes, living place, they will
get their mind established in Parartlia (the Ultimate Reality)alone. |
