Wittgenstein, Kipling and Gita's Stithprajna

Time of India

02-06-2025

Authored by Ashok Vohra
The Sanskrit term ' stithprajna' combines 'stitha' – steady, firm, and 'prajna' – wise, learned. So, stithprajna means a person of steady wisdom. He is the 'one whose mind remains undisturbed amidst misery, for whom sukha-duhkha, happiness and sorrow; labha-alabhau, gain or loss; jaya-ajaya, conquest and defeat are the same.
A person, according to Gita, 2.55, attains the status of stithprajna when he 'discards all selfish desires and cravings of the senses that torment the mind, and becomes satisfied in realisation of the Self, such a person is said to be transcendentally situated.' A stithprajna turns his mind away from the material allurements and renounces lure of the senses. He is free from raag, attachment; dvesh, jealousy; bhay, fear; krodh, anger. He is indifferent to the uncertainties of life, its vulnerability to reversals and its resilience. He is indifferent to the temporary nature of the results of his actions, nor is he disappointed if he cannot achieve his chosen goals, complete the deeds undertaken by him, or even if his deeds do not yield desired fruits. The performance of actions with all sincerity is the end that gives him satisfaction.
Kathopanishad, 2.3.14, goes to the extent of saying that one who has renounced desires becomes like God: 'When one eliminates all selfish desires from the heart, then the materially fettered jivatma (soul) attains freedom from birth and death, and becomes Godlike in virtue.' In the Bhagwad Gita, 2.54, Arjun asks Krishn about the characteristics of a stithprajna. He asks, 'How does the man of steady wisdom speak? How does he sit? How does he move about?' Krishn answers that a stithprajna 'practises self-control' and 'discards all selfish desires and cravings of the senses that torment the mind'.
His life is both authentic and autonomous.
If interpreted in Ludwig Wittgenstein's terms, stithprajna is 'the man…fulfilling the purpose of existence who no longer needs to have a purpose except to live. That is to say, who is content.' For him, the solution to problems of life lies in 'disappearance of the problem'. This frees him from hope and fear, 'for life in the present there is no death.' He knows that the lived world is 'beyond the control of human will, and therefore he is content with how the world is.' He lives in the world and accepts it without trying to change it. He contemplates the world as a limited whole as an impartial observer. He realises that he 'cannot steer the world's happenings according to (his) will,' and that he is 'entirely powerless'. He also realises that he 'can only make (himself) independent of the world – and so in a certain sense, master it – by renouncing any influence on happenings.' Krishn's description of stithprajna also reflects in Rudyard Kipling's poem If , it reads: 'If you can dream – and not make dreams your master/If you can think – and not make thoughts your aim/If you can meet with Triumph and Disaster/And treat those two impostors just the same…/If neither foes nor loving friends can hurt you/If all men count with you, but none too much'.
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Views expressed above are the author's own.