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As A Result Of His Persistent Dedication To Ishvara, The Devotee Accepts Whatever Comes His Way Without Complaint

सम: शत्रौ च मित्रे च तथा मानापमानयो: |
शीतोष्णसुखदु:खेषु सम: सङ्गविवर्जित: || 12.18||
तुल्यनिन्दास्तुतिर्मौनी सन्तुष्टो येन केनचित् |
अनिकेत: स्थिरमतिर्भक्तिमान्मे प्रियो नर: || 12.19||

samaḥ śhatrau cha mitre cha tathā mānāpamānayoḥ
śhītoṣhṇa-sukha-duḥkheṣhu samaḥ saṅga-vivarjitaḥ|| 12.18||
tulya-nindā-stutir maunī santuṣhṭo yena kenachit
aniketaḥ sthira-matir bhaktimān me priyo naraḥ|| 12.19||

Shloka Translation
BG – Ch. 12- Ver. 18 and 19:

He who is alike to friend and foe, in honour and dishonour, and also alike in cold and heat, in joy and sorrow, without attachment. A devotee to whom praise and abuse are equal, who is silent, content with whatever, who is homeless, with an unchanging mentality, is precious to me.

Explanation

Here, Shree Krishna lists eleven more attributes. Devotees have a pleasant attitude toward everyone and are unaffected by feelings of hostility or friendship. Shree Krishna goes on to say that the devotees are unconcerned about honour or dishonour. The flame of heavenly love burns so brilliantly in the devotee’s heart that earthly honour and disgrace have no meaning.

In both favourable and adverse circumstances, the devotees are balanced. They are well aware that none of this is permanent. They come and go like the day and night, so they don’t think it’s worth their time to divert their attention from God to either of them. The act of associating with people or items is known as sang. Sang is divided into two types. Kusag (unfavourable association) directs our focus to the world, but satsang (favourable association) takes our mind away from the world and toward God (favorable association). Devotees shun kusang and engage in satsang because they do not enjoy worldly notions.

The acceptance or rejection of others is critical for people who are externally motivated. Devotees, on the other hand, are internally motivated by the values they hold dear. As a result, neither praise nor condemnation from others has any effect on them. Worldly people enjoy talking about materialistic subjects. The saintly devotees have pure thoughts; this isn’t to say that they don’t talk. Their minds are drawn to things such as God’s Names, Forms, Pastimes, and Glories.

The devotees’ wants are reduced to the minimum necessities for body maintenance. No earthly dwelling can be a permanent residence for the soul because it must be left behind after death. Devotees are firm believers in God’s dominance over creation and in their eternal relationship with Him. They are also certain that if they yield to Him lovingly, they would gain the highest realization via God’s mercy. As a result, they don’t jump from attraction to attraction or path to path. Such steadfast devotees are extremely beloved to Shree Krishna.

Verse & what we can learn

In this shloka, Shri Krishna summarizes the twelfth chapter by describing more traits of the accomplished devotee. He begins by stating that neither praise nor insult has any influence on the devotee. Most compliments and insults are directed towards a person’s name.

The devotee, on the other hand, has given up all identification with his name and is unconcerned whether he is praised or ridiculed. The devotee is also a silent person. The stillness here does not refer to vocal silence, but rather to the silence of desires and thoughts that are not based on Ishvara.

The devotee is content in his everlasting devotion to Ishvara and accepts whatever comes his way without complaint. The devotee also has no sense of ownership over anything, including his own home. The devotee considers the entire universe his home and is devoted to his house, his physical body, his thoughts, his intellect, or his wants, just as the wind comes and departs wherever it pleases.

As we progress down the road of dedication, we will see that our mind alternates between providing reality to the world as a part of Ishvara and providing reality to the world as a separate entity from Ishvara. We can never get rid of our unfulfilled aspirations and the attachment to the world that emerges from those desires as long as we give existence to the world as an autonomous entity.

A perfected devotee is one whose attention is fixed on bringing reality to the world as a part of Ishvara while simultaneously letting go of all selfish wants. According to Shri Krishna, a person who possesses all of these qualities is qualified to be considered an actual human being. , In the fullest sense of the term. He treasures such a dedicated individual.

To acquire knowledge and to implement that knowledge in life one needs to be mentally and physically active and healthy and for that daily meditation is a great tool.

There are various types of meditation like Buddhist meditation, heartfulness meditation, mindfulness meditation, meditation for stress, and each meditation benefits are countless. There is also numerous meditation techniques for beginners which help in practicing daily meditation so go ahead and start your journey towards a peaceful and balanced life.

In the next shloka also Shri Krishna continues to describe what kinds of devotees are dear to him.

Let’s learn to live with “The Gita” via Meditation Affinity…