nā’sti buddhir ayuktasya na cā’yuktasya bhavanā,
na cā’bhāvayatah ̣śāntir aśāntasya kutaḥ sukham (2.66)

2.66 : “A man without spiritual accomplishment has no wisdom nor true faith, and a man without devotion knows no peace of mind. Since happiness depends on peace, how can such men be happy?”

A man who has not undertaken meditation is devoid of selfless action oriented wisdom. This impoverished man is even deficient in the feeling of devotion to the all-pervading Spirit. How can such a man, without an awareness of the Self within and the God without, be at peace? And how can he, without peace, experience happiness? There can be no devotion without knowing the object of devotion and knowledge comes from contemplation. Without devotion there can be no peace and a man with a disturbed mind cannot experience happiness, much less the state of changeless, eternal bliss.
*
indriyāṇām hi caratām yan mano’nuvidhīyate,
tad asya harati prajñām vāyur nāvam ivā’mbhasi (2.67)

2.67 : “For, as the wind captures the boat on water, just so even one of the senses, that roam amidst objects of their gratification and with which the intellect dwells, is strong enough to sweep away the discrimination of one who is unpossessed of spiritual attainment.”

As the wind drives a boat far away from its destination, even one out of the five senses roving amongst objects perceived by the intellect can get hold of the man who has not undertaken the task of spiritual quest and discipline.Therefore incessant remembrance of God is essential.
*
tasmād yasya mahābāho nigṛhītāni sarvaśaḥ,
indriyāṇī’ndriyārthebhyas tasya prajñā pratiṣṭhitā (2.68) 

2.68 : “Therefore, O the mighty-armed (Arjun), the man who prevents his senses from straying to objects has a steady discrimination.”

The man who restricts his senses from being drawn to their objects is a man of steady wisdom. “Arm” is a measure of the sphere of action. God is called “mighty-armed” (mahabahu), although he is bodiless and works everywhere without hands and feet. The one who becomes one with him or is inclined to him and is on the way to his sublime splendour is also therefore, “mighty-armed.” That is the significance of the use of this epithet for both Sri Krishn and Arjun.
*
yā niśā sarvabhūtānām tasyām jāgarti sanyamī,
yasyām jāgrati bhutāni sā niśā paśyato muneḥ (2.69)

2.69 : “The true worshipper (yogi) remains awake amidst what is night for all creatures, but the perishable and transient worldly pleasures amidst which all living creatures stay awake are like night for the sage who has perceived reality.”

The transcendental Spirit is like night for living beings because he can be neither seen nor comprehended by thought. So he is like night, but it is in this night that the spiritually conscious man remains awake because he has seen the formless and known the incomprehensible. The seeker finds access to God through control of senses, peace of mind, and meditation. That is why the perishable worldly pleasures for which living beings toil day after day is night for God’s true worshipper.

The sage alone, who beholds the individual Self and the Universal Self and is indifferent to desire, succeeds in his enterprise of God-realization. So he dwells in the world and is yet untouched by it.
*
āpūryamāṇam acalapratiṣṭham samudram āpaḥ praviśanti yadvat,
tadvat kāmā yam praviśanti sarve sa śāntim āpnoti na kāmakāmī -(2.70)

2.70 : “As the water of the many rivers falls into the full and ever constant ocean without affecting its tranquillity, even so the pleasures of sense merge into a man of steady discrimination without producing any deviation, and such a man attains to the state of the most sublime peace rather than yearn for sensual enjoyment.”

The full and changeless ocean assimilates all the rivers that flow violently into it without losing its repose. Similarly the man who is aware of the oneness of his Self and the Supreme Spirit assimilates all worldly pleasures within himself without in any way staying from his chosen path. Rather than longing for sensual gratification, he aims at the achievement of the most sublime bliss of uniting his Self with the supreme God.

Ravaging everything that comes in their way- crops,men and animals, and their habitations-and with a frightening roar, the violently sweeping currents of hundreds of rivers fall into the ocean with a tremendous force but they can neither raise or lower its level by even an inch; they only merge into the ocean. In the same violent way sensual pleasures assault the sage who has attained knowledge of reality and merge in him.They can impress on him neither weal nor woe. The actions of the worshipper are non good and non evil: they transcend good and evil.The minds which are conscious of God, restrained and dissolved, bear only the mark of divine excellence. So how can any other impression be made on such a mind?

In this one verse, thus, Sri Krishn has answered several of Arjun’s queries. Arjun was curious to learn the mark of a sage who know the divine reality:how he speaks,how he sits, how he walks. With the single word- “ocean”-the omniscient Sri Krishn answers all these questions. The mark of a sage is that he is like an ocean. Like an ocean he is not bound by rules,that he must sit like this and walk like that. It is men like him who achieve the ultimate peace, for they have self control. They who yearn for pleasure can have no peace.
*
vihāya kāmān yaḥ sarvān pumāmś carati niḥspṛhaḥ,
nimamo nirahamkāraḥ sa śāntim adhigacchati (2.71)

2.71 : “The man who has renounced all desire, and who conducts himself without ego, arrogance, and attachment, is the one who achieves peace.”

Men who have given up all desire, and whose actions are entirely free from the feelings of I and mine, realize the ultimate peace beyond which there is nothing to strive for and achieve.
*
eṣā brāhmī sthitiḥ pārtha nai’nām prāpya vimuhyati,
sthitvā’syām antakāle’pi brahmanirvāṇam ṛcchati (2.72)

2.72 : “Such, O Arjun, is the steadfastness of the man who has realized God; after attaining to this state he subdues all temptation and, resting firmly in his faith, even at the time of his death he continues in this state of rapture of the union of his Self with God.”

Such is the state of one who has realized God. Rivers of temporal objects merge into these ocean-like sages who are endowed with self control and an intuitive perception of God.

[As expounded by most revered Gurudev Swami Adgadanand Paramhans]

Main Source: www.yatharthgeeta.com

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