**2.15** For, O best among men, Arjuna! That steadfast man who remains equipoised in pleasure and pain, whom these mere sense-contacts (objects) cannot agitate (make happy or sorrowful), becomes capable of immortality; that is to say, he attains immortality.
**Commentary:** 'O best among men' – Generally, man contemplates only changing the circumstances, which can never be changed and which are impossible to alter. Upon encountering the circumstance of war, Arjuna, instead of contemplating changing it, contemplated his own welfare. This very contemplation of welfare is his excellence among men.
'Steadfast, equipoised in pleasure and pain' – A steadfast man is equipoised in pleasure and pain. It is only due to the modifications of the inner instrument (antahkarana) that pleasure and pain appear as separate. The Purusha (Consciousness) is the cause in experiencing pleasure and pain, and it becomes the cause by being situated in Prakriti (Gita 13:20-21). When it becomes established in its own essential nature, then there remains no one to experience pleasure and pain. Therefore, by being established in the Self, he naturally becomes equipoised in pleasure and pain.
'Whom these do not agitate' – These mere sense-contacts, i.e., the material objects of Prakriti, do not cause affliction to the steadfast man. The pleasure that arises from the contact with material objects is also affliction, and the pain that arises from their separation is also affliction. However, one whose vision is directed towards equanimity cannot be made happy or sorrowful by these material objects. With the vision fixed on equanimity, although there is awareness of favorable circumstances and that pleasure, since there is no experience of it, no lasting impression of that pleasure is formed in the inner instrument. Similarly, when unfavorable circumstances arise, there is awareness of that pain, but since there is no experience of it, no lasting impression of that pain is formed in the inner instrument. Thus, not forming impressions of pleasure and pain, he is not afflicted. The meaning is that even though there is awareness of pleasure and pain in the inner instrument, he himself does not become happy or sorrowful.
'He becomes fit for immortality' – Such a steadfast man becomes worthy of immortality; that is, the capacity to attain immortality arises in him. Once the capacity, the fitness, arrives, he certainly becomes immortal; there is no delay in this. For his immortality is self-evident. The only mistake was considering a change in oneself due to the contact and separation with objects.
**Special Point:**
This human birth is not obtained for experiencing pleasure and pain; on the contrary, it is obtained for rising above pleasure and pain and attaining the great bliss, supreme peace, after attaining which nothing else remains to be attained (Gita 6:22). If we become happy upon obtaining favorable objects, persons, circumstances, etc., or in their anticipation – meaning, if within us there remains desire, craving to obtain favorable objects, persons, etc. – then we will not be able to make proper use of favorability. The capacity, the power to make proper use of favorability will not be attained by us. Because the power to make proper use of favorability will be expended in the enjoyment of favorability, resulting not in its proper use but merely in enjoyment. In the same way, if we become sorrowful upon the arrival of unfavorable objects, persons, circumstances, events, actions, etc., or in their apprehension, then there will be no proper use of adversity, but only enjoyment. The capacity to endure sorrow will not remain within us. Therefore, we will remain stuck merely in the enjoyment of adversity and will continue to be sorrowful.
If, upon obtaining favorable objects, persons, circumstances, events, etc., we use the means of pleasure for our own pleasure, comfort, convenience and become pleased with it, then this is the enjoyment of favorability. But if, using them with the attitude of sustenance, we employ those means of pleasure in the service of the destitute, then this is the proper use of favorability. Therefore, consider the means of pleasure as belonging to the sorrowful alone. The sorrowful alone have a right over them. Suppose we are a lakhpati (wealthy); we feel pleasure and pride in being a lakhpati. But all this happens only when there is no other lakhpati before us. If all who come before us, within our sight and hearing, are crorepatis (even wealthier), then will we get the pleasure of being a lakhpati? We will not get it at all. Therefore, it is the destitute, the poor, who have given us the pleasure of being a lakhpati. If we do not serve the destitute with the received means of pleasure but enjoy pleasure ourselves, then we become ungrateful. From this alone, all evils arise. Because the means of pleasure we possess have been given by the sorrowful alone. Therefore, it is our duty to employ those means of pleasure in the service of the sorrowful.
Now, the consideration is: how should adversity be properly used? The cause of sorrow is the desire, the hope for pleasure itself. An adverse circumstance becomes sorrowful only when there is a desire for pleasure within. If we carefully renounce the desire for favorability, the hope for pleasure, then we cannot experience sorrow in an adverse circumstance; that is, an adverse circumstance cannot make us sorrowful. Just as a patient has to take even the bitterest medicine, yet he does not feel sorrow; on the contrary, he feels joy considering that this medicine is destroying his disease. Similarly, if a thorn pierces deep into the foot and the one removing it makes a deep wound with a needle to extract it, there is great agony. From that agony, he winces, becomes anxious, but he never tells the remover, "Brother, leave it, do not remove the thorn." Considering that the thorn will be removed, the agony will be permanently eradicated – he endures this agony joyfully. This joyful endurance of sorrow, of agony, by renouncing the desire for pleasure, is the proper use of adversity. If he becomes sorrowful from taking the bitter medicine, from the agony of removing the thorn, then this is the enjoyment of adversity, due to which he will have to suffer terrible sorrow.
If we continue to consume pleasure and pain, then in the future we will certainly have to go to the realms of enjoyment, i.e., heaven, hell, etc. Because these heavens, hells, etc., are precisely the places for experiencing pleasure and pain. If we consume pleasure and pain, do not remain equipoised in pleasure and pain, do not rise above pleasure and pain, then how can we be eligible for liberation? We cannot be.
In the fourteenth verse, the Lord said that these worldly objects, etc., which give pleasure and pain through favorability and adversity, are transient, not permanent; because they are impermanent, momentary. Upon their attainment, their destruction begins that very moment. The moment their contact occurs, their separation begins. They did not exist before, will not remain afterwards, and even in the present, they are moving towards non-existence every moment. By consuming them, we are only spoiling our nature, becoming experiencers of pleasure and pain. By becoming experiencers of pleasure and pain, we are becoming eligible only for the realms of enjoyment; then how will we attain liberation? If our inclination is only for enjoyment (bhoga), then how will the Lord give us liberation (moksha)?
Thus, if we do not consume pleasure and pain but make proper use of them, we will rise above pleasure and pain and experience the great bliss.
**Connection:** What has been explained so far regarding the body and the dweller in the body, the Lord states in other words in the next three verses.
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