In our pursuit of higher ambition we are constantly juggling between dichotomies - success and failure, attachment and aversion, hope and despair, happiness and misery.
The State of Equanimity
In our day-to-day struggle for existence we are led to confront these dualities
of life which narrow our perspectives to one of the two limiting states: success
or failure, happiness or misery etc., but there could be a situation when the
two are balanced. In such a condition, one has neither the feeling of attachment
with success and the resulting feeling of hope and joy, nor that of aversion
to failure and the opposed feeling of despair and misery. That is the state
of equanimity in activities, speech or thoughts.
Scientific Analogy
The concept of equanimity corresponds to the "(dynamic) state of equilibrium"
used in physical sciences, when the tendency for change in opposed directions is
nearly balanced. Also, in thermodynamics, if the system in changing from one
state to another the output of work gets minimized then it is far from the equilibrium
condition. Extending the simile, state of equanimity is best suited for achieving
optimum success in any objective by an aspirant on the path of spirituality.
Theological Analogy
The Bhagavad Gita explains the principle
of equanimity thus: "Attachment and aversion by sense organs for respective
objects are natural; let no one come under their sway; they are his foes…notions
of heat and cold, of pain and pleasure have a beginning and an end, are impermanent
in nature…bear them patiently…be contented with whatever comes without
effort, remain unaffected by pairs of opposites". It also says that the
serene minded person alone, to whom dualities do not disturb, is easily set
free from bondage of samsara (world / cycle of rebirth) and attain moksha
(salvation).
Literary Analogy
This is precisely what Samuel Taylor Coleridge upholds in his Biographia
Literaria where he talks of the "reconciliation of opposites"
to reach a state of heightened sense perception or imagination that creates
sublime poetry. Even Abraham Lincoln had emphasized the need of equanimity during
the Civil War where the outcome was uncertain: "Let us have faith that
right makes might and in that faith let us do our duty as we understand it".
William Wordsworth, the romantic poet has said in Tintern Abbey that
when "the breath of this corporeal frame" and "the motion of
our human blood" are suspended,
"…we are laid asleep / In body, and become a living soul:
While with an eye made quiet by the power
Of harmony, and the deep power of joy,
We see into the life of things."
The Three Gates to Hell
Motivated by desire to succeed we toss ourselves into the storm of materialistic
world. Success makes us happy and may lead to yet another vaulting desire, which
ultimately may breed greed in us. But, conversely, all our efforts may amount
to a colossal failure. Then the intense feeling of despair leads to anger. No
wonder, the Bhagavad Gita (16.21) names desire, greed and anger, as "the
three gates to hell".
Equanimity leads to Nirvana
Equanimity as a spiritual state can be gained by yoga
and meditation. A person who believes in karma or duty may practice
equanimity in his karma with evenness of mind, nonchalant about the karma-phal
or outcome. A gyani or a wise person, pitches his wisdom in firmness
detached from all emotions. Such a "knower of self" is a samdarsi
or one who finds everyone equal, who envisions the supreme Self in all beings
and all beings in the Self. A dhyan yogi (one on the path of meditation),
for whom Supreme is the object of realization, holds pleasures and pain in the
same balance. For a bhakti yogi (one on the path of devotion) equanimity
is attained through his compassion towards all and in his removing himself from
all duality. Thus the undeluded reach the eternal abode, the freedom from worldly
bondage, the nirvana.
