46. Content with the Self
A rjuna wanted to know about s thita-prajna (one with coherent intellect or stoic) who has attained samadhi (established in self) and how a s thita-prajna speaks, sits and walks (2.54). Krishna replies that the sthita-prajna casts off all desires of the mind and is content in the atma (self) by atma (2.55). When we are content with ourselves, desires as well as motives automatically disappear. As desires drop, all our actions (doing) become nishkaam-karma (unmotivated actions). Krishna sets standards and benchmarks to guide our comparison-seeking mind, which naturally looks for reference points against which to measure our progress on the spiritual journey. Our basic desire is to be different from what we are, as we get bored too quickly. This is captured in economics as “satisfied desire (need) no more motivates us”. Basically, everyone uses it as a tactic on everyone else, making it difficult to attain sthita-prajna . For example, consumer product companies intro...