What is equanimity? How to have a devoted mind? || Acharya Prashant, on Bhagavad Gita (2020)

Acharya Prashant

Video Information: He who is the same to friend and foe, and also in honor and dishonor; who is the same in heat and cold, and in pleasure and pain; who is free from attachment; to whom censure and praise are equal; who is silent, content with anything, homeless, steady-minded, full of devotion - that man is dear to Me. ~Shrimad Bhagwad Gita (Chapter-12, Verses-18 and 19)  Context: ~ What does it mean to have a mind which is ‘full of devotion’?  ~ How to develop equanimity?  ~ How to have a devoted mind?   Music Credits: Milind Date ~~~~~

Transcript

00:00 [Music]

00:07 Srimad Bhagavad Gita, Chapter 12, Verses 18 and 19.

00:13 "He who is the same to friend and foe, and also in honour and dishonour,

00:25 who is the same in heat and cold, and in pleasure and pain, who is free from attachment,

00:30 to whom censor and praise are equal, who is silent, content with anything,

00:36 homeless, steady-minded, full of devotion, that man is dear to me."

00:40 The question says, "Sri Krishna here is giving a lot of importance to equanimity.

00:47 How to develop this attribute in one's mind?

00:51 Also, what does it mean to have a mind full of devotion?"

00:55 Equanimity does not really mean giving equal importance or equal value to heat and cold,

01:10 to happiness and sorrow.

01:14 It is not about looking at day and night equally.

01:21 It is not about looking at friend and foe equally.

01:27 It is about not looking at these pairs of opposites at all.

01:33 That's equanimity.

01:35 If you look at friend and foe, then you cannot be equanimous towards them.

01:43 That's certain.

01:44 Because a friend by definition is a friend.

01:48 That's why you are looking at him. Why else are you looking at him?

01:51 A friend by definition is a friend.

01:56 And a friend carries value for you.

01:59 That's the only reason why you are looking at him. Otherwise, why would you look at him?

02:02 And a foe by definition is a foe.

02:05 And by definition, the foe carries value for you.

02:09 And that's the reason you are looking at him. Otherwise, why would you look at him?

02:12 There are so many other things to look at.

02:14 So, if you start looking at a friend and a foe, you cannot be equal towards them.

02:21 Therefore, equanimity is not to look at these two in an equal way or same or similar way.

02:29 Equanimity is about looking somewhere else.

02:32 Equanimity is about being absent to these pairs of dualities.

02:40 Heat and cold mean the same to me because I am bothered with neither heat nor cold.

02:49 So, how much does heat mean to me?

02:54 Zero.

02:56 How much does cold mean to me?

02:58 Zero. Therefore, heat equals cold.

03:01 It's not as if I want to establish h is equal to c.

03:08 That's not my objective because neither do I bother for h nor do I bother for c.

03:12 So, h is equal to c is not a priority with me at all.

03:15 My priority is something else.

03:18 And that leaves me with no priority to give to h or c.

03:25 So, how much does h receive from me?

03:28 Zero. How much does c receive from me?

03:32 Zero. Because both of these receive nothing from me,

03:37 they become equal because they don't exist in my eyes at all.

03:40 It's almost like saying I am equally good at maths and biology.

03:49 How? Because I study commerce.

03:52 I know neither maths nor bio.

04:00 That's equanimity.

04:02 You are in the commerce section.

04:06 How do you pass in front of the maths section?

04:12 Nonchalantly.

04:14 How do you pass in front of the bio section?

04:18 Pretty indifferently. Not bothered.

04:21 That's equanimity.

04:23 My section is somewhere else. I belong there.

04:26 I have no interest here.

04:28 So, that's equanimity.

04:32 If you want to practice equanimity by experiencing heat and cold in a similar way,

04:38 you would only be mastering hypocrisy.

04:42 That's what you would practice.

04:45 How not to display reactions when experiencing heat and when experiencing cold.

04:54 Because the experience is there.

04:58 All that you can win over is your reaction.

05:03 The manifestation of your reaction. That you can stop.

05:06 But the fact is, heat still means a lot to you.

05:10 That's why you went to experience heat.

05:12 Cold still means a lot to you.

05:15 Why the hell do you have so much time available to experience this and that

05:18 and then say neither of them mean anything to me?

05:21 Why are you not found busy with your own section?

05:27 You would be found there. Right?

05:28 And that's equanimity.

05:30 Therefore, the best way to practice equanimity is love.

05:36 You must be occupied with your beloved.

05:41 And then you become indifferent towards everything else.

05:45 This indifference is another name for equanimity.

05:48 Getting it?

05:53 Then what does it mean to have a mind full of devotion?

05:59 It means nothing.

06:01 The mind is anyway full of devotion.

06:04 Mind is another name for devotion.

06:08 It's just that in absence of discretion,

06:12 devotion becomes quite blind and mad.

06:16 The mind is always devoted to something. Or is it not?

06:22 Look at the Hindu history.

06:23 Look at this day to day.

06:25 Has there been a single moment when the mind was not devoted to something or the else?

06:30 The mind is always devoted.

06:32 The proof is mind is always with something.

06:36 The mind always has an object to be with.

06:39 Correct?

06:41 So the mind is devoted.

06:43 It's just that the mind does not know what it really wants.

06:47 Therefore, it gets devoted to all the little and stupid things.

06:51 You don't really need to have a mind with devotion.

06:55 Devotion is there. You need to have discretion.

06:58 You need to understand what is worthy of your devotion.

07:05 Not everything deserves your devotion.

07:07 At the same time, anything that you get devoted to would ultimately lead you to the truth.

07:13 But do you have 10,000 years to live?

07:18 How many years do you have in your current physical form in this mortal body?

07:23 You have some 10, 20, 40 years to live.

07:26 And if you get devoted to something, that will take 10,000 years to take you to the truth.

07:32 Are you doing yourself a favor?

07:34 That's the thing that you need to watch out against.

07:37 Discretion is the word.

07:43 No part of this recording may be reproduced

07:45 without Mooji Media Ltd.'s express consent.

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