Chapter 14 - Verse 24 — Ancient Knowledge

समदुःखसुखः स्वस्थः समलोष्टाश्मकाञ्चनः ।
तुल्यप्रियाप्रियो धीरस्तुल्यनिन्दात्मसंस्तुतिः ॥ २४ ॥

samaduḥkhasukhaḥ svasthaḥ samaloṣṭāśmakāñcanaḥ .
tulyapriyāpriyo dhīrastulyanindātmasaṃstutiḥ .. 24 ..

He to whom pain and pleasure are alike, who dwells in the Self, to whom a clod of earth and stone and gold are alike, to whom the dear and the undear are alike, who is a man of wisdom, to whom censure and praise are same;

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The Self-knowing samnyasin, like a neutral man who inclines to neither party,* treads firmly the path † by which he seeks to rise above the gunas; he does not swerve from the state of discrimination. This is made clearer by what follows next: the gunas transforming themselves into the body, senses and sense-objects, act and react upon each other. Thus thinking, he remains unshaken. i.e., he remains in his own true nature.—There is another reading which makes this part mean “thus thinking, he acts.‡” Who dwells in the Self : who is calm.

This is to illustrate how the Self-knower, in virtue of his knowledge of the immutability of the Self, ceases to regard himself as the doer of actions and does not engage in any action.—A.

This path is Self-knowledge.—A.

This action is the continuation of a mere semblance of action which, he knows, does not pertain to him—A.

Moreover :