Equanimity

“The effort to gain equanimity is the hardest but the most beneficial of all sadhanas (spiritual efforts). It is a bastion against the ups and downs of fortune.”

We all lung to have peace and equanimity, but in practice, are not always successful in achieving this. We are tossed up and down by our emotions, our desires, and our efforts to realize these desires. When things happen the way we want we are happy, otherwise not. Swami says:

“When loss is incurred, men are miserable: but profit too brings misery in its train. The tax-gatherer’s shadow haunts the profit-maker. The attitude must be, “Let what comes, come.” One should have no elation no dejection. Welcome the fruit, whatever it is, as a gift from God. Do not bank on its quantity or quality, no plan what to do with it. Do your duty, sincerely and to the best of your ability. Let the result be what He wills. Success and failure are often unpredictable experiences; they follow man, alternately, without any clear reason. So, the sadhaka [spiritual aspirant] and the seeker of peace have to concentrate on doing their duty, doing what has to be done, and leave the rest to providence.”

Sanathana Sarathi, July 1978, pp. 109-110

“When man has a right for engaging in Karma, he has the right also for the fruit; no one can deny this or refuse his right. But the doer can, out of his own free will and determination, refuse to be affected by the result, whether favorable or unfavorable. The Gita shows the way: “Do—and deny the consequence.” The desire for the result of your action is a sign of rajoguna; the giving up of action since you cannot benefit by the fruit is a sign of tamoguna. To engage oneself in karma (action), to know that the result will follow, and yet not to be attached to it or getting concerned with it—that is the sign et satwaguna.”

Gita Vahini, pp. 35-36

“‘Samatvam yogum uchyate’ (Equanimity is the path to reach Unit.) This is what the Bhagavad Gita declares. Not only the ultimate merger in the Absolute, but even peace and security in the daily process of living, cannot be gained without cultivating this quality of “samatvam” or equanimity. The effort to gain equanimity is the hardest but the most beneficial of all sadhanas (spiritual efforts). It is a bastion against the ups and downs of fortune. Without it, life becomes an uncertain game, a constant struggle with fear, hope, anxiety and doubt.”

Sanathana Sarathi, July 1978, p. 109