Sita's summary of Vedanta in two shlokas

Sita’ summary of Vedanta in two shlokas

I heard the following from a lecture of Dr.  Veezhinathan (in Chennai) several years ago:

In her weakest moment of captivity  in the Ashoka Grove in Lanka, Sita decides to take away her own life  and after going through a woeful recall of all her sufferings, she gears up to congratulate, appreciate and revere all those ‘mahAnubhAvulu’ (Great meriorious persons) who can take pleasure and pain alike: She says (Valmiki Ramayana: Sundara Kanda- 26 – 49,50):

dhanyAH khalu mahAtmAno munayaH satya-sammatAH /

jitAtmAno mahAbhAgA yeshhAM na staH priyApriye // 49 //

priyAn-na sambhaved-duHkhaM apriyAd-adhikaM bhayaM /

tAbhyAM hi te viyujyante namas-teshhAM mahAtmanAM //50//

Meaning: Great souled ones with abandoned sins, with a conquered mind, those who are anchored in Truth, sages are indeed fortunate to whom there is no pleasure and pain. From pleasure sorrow and from pain great fear do not occur to great souls. Whoever are thus dissociated  from both pleasure and displeasure, my obeisance to such great souls.

Sita has actually remembered at this point the great saying in Chandogya-Upanishad VIII – 12 – 1:

Maghavan, martyaM vA idaM sharIraM AttaM mRRityunA / tat asya amRRitasya asharIrasya AtmanaH adhishhTAnaM, Atto vai sa-sharIraH, priyApriyAbhyAM, na vai sa-sharIrasya sataH priyApriyayoH apahatir-asti, asharIraM vA va santaM na priyApriye spRRishataH //

Meaning: It is true that the body is perishable, but within it dwells (it supports) the bodiless imperishable Self. This body is subject to pleasure and pain; no one who identifies with the body can escape from pleasure and pain. But those who know they are not the body pass beyond pleasure and pain to live in abiding joy.

In the Gita also Lord Krishna is never tired of emphasizing this:

‘with mind undisturbed in the midst of sorrows and free from desires in the midst of pleasures’ (2 – 56)

‘equal in failure and success’ (4 – 22)

‘neither rejoices on obtaining what is pleasant, nor sorrows on obtaining what is unpleasant’ (5 – 20)

‘He who neither desires the pleasant and rejoices at its touch nor abhors the unpleasant and sorrows at its touch’ (12 – 17)

‘He who regards happiness and suffering alike, gold, mud and stone as of equal value, to whom the pleasant and the unpleasant, praise and blame, honour and insult,.. etc. are equal things’ (14 – 24)

‘unelated by success, undepressed by failure’ (18 – 26).