That firm man to whom, surely, these afflict not, O chief among men, to whom pleasure and pain are the same, is fit for realizing the Immortality of the Self. 2:15
Having made – pleasure and pain, gain and loss, victory and defeat – the same, engage in battle for the sake of battle; thus you shall not incur sin. 2:38
Image and shlokas from
The Holy Geeta
Commentary by Swami Chinmayananda
This week showed me how much I needed to find my inner samasthithi.
The moment of understanding actually happened when I received news that my daughter had secured admission into school when just the day before they had asked me to check elsewhere. That 24 hour period saw me disappointed, stoic, frustrated, dejected, sad, accepting and ecstatic. The moment I got a call asking me to get to the school was when I experienced joy and the realization that in happiness too, I need to find the calmness.
The samasthithi that is firm and unshakable in every situation. Just like the mountain it is named after. Learning to stand in tadasana has a big parallel in my life to standing strong and tall in my own life.
In the mad scramble to get life organized around admissions and work, all I managed was 10 minutes of asana for a few days. I felt lazy about unrolling my mat for practice thinking I would be stiff but somehow managed to shake off that lethargy and get moving. Standing asanas and wound up with Setuband Sarvangasana. At the end, I experienced the same sense of lightness that I felt in class a few months ago. Just before I saw sound.
I later learnt from my friend that there is a medical term for the phenomenon which is called synesthesia. Intuition says there is something there but for now I am content to focus on alignment since there is a long way before I achieve proficiency in asana.
In the meanwhile, I can use the two shlokas from the eternal song to help me find my grounding.
anonymous sadhaka 