Bhagavad Gita Chapter 6 - Dhyana Yoga - Sloka 32

The entire content of this mail is from Swami Chidbhavananda's translation of The Bhagavad Gita, published by Ramakrishna Mission.

Perfection Yoga - 29-32

1 Gita Sloka every day - Chapter 6 - Dhyana Yoga - Sloka 32

Atma aupmyena sarvatra samam pashyati yah arjuna I

Sukham va yadi va duhkham sa yogi paramah mantah II sloka 32

आत्मा औपंयेन सर्वत्र  समं पश्यति यः अर्जुन ।

सुखं वा यदि वा दुःखं सयोगी परमः मन्तः ।। श्लोक ३२

That yogi, O Arjuna, is regarded as supreme, who judges pleasure or pain everywhere, by the same standard as he applies to himself.

 Man does not differentiate between the limbs of his own body as high and low.  They are all of equal importance to him. The harm done to any limb is the harm done to himself, because he and his limb are one and the same. An ordinary man is unassailable in this conviction of his. The yogi, in his turn, beholds the cosmos as the body of the paramatman and himself a limb of that cosmic personality. One limb in a body does not hurt another; all the limbs function for mutual welfare. The yogi knows that he and his neighbours are not different; they are all limbs of the same iswara. So he works for the general welfare of all. That yogi is supreme who has this cosmic outlook.

A few holy men were living in an ashram in the outskirts of a township. While the oldest of them was passing through the main street of that village, he chanced to see the landlord mercilessly belabouring a tenant of his. The holy man intervened on behalf of the helpless victim. But the holy man directed his fury on the holy man and thrashed him to the point of making him fall unconscious. Coming to know of this mishap, inmates of the ashram hastened to the spot and carried the holy man back, lying yet unconscious. When, after long nursing, the saint opened his eyes, a tending man put the question, "Revered one, do you recognise who I am?". In gentle but clear voice camethe unexpected answer, "The hand that beat then is now nursing." He said so because he saw the same Brahman manifesting as the many. The feeling of the offender and offended was not in the saint.

Sri Ramakrishna Paramahamsa