Chapter 16 Shloka 3

तेजः क्षमा धृतिः शौचमद्रोहो नातिमानिता।

भवन्ति सम्पदं दैवीमभिजातस्य भारत।।३।।

Vigour, forgiveness, fortitude, purity,

absence of malice, absence of self importance;

these are the attributes of one

endowed with divine wealth.

Chapter 16 Shloka 3

तेजः क्षमा धृतिः शौचमद्रोहो नातिमानिता।

भवन्ति सम्पदं दैवीमभिजातस्य भारत।।३।।

The Lord says, “Arjuna, now hear further!”

Vigour, forgiveness, fortitude, purity, absence of malice, absence of self importance; these are the attributes of one endowed with divine wealth.

Tej (तेज) – Vigour

1. Tej is the strength gained by the spiritual aspirant from his love of the Supreme.

2. Tej is the strength which enables one to put that knowledge into practice in one’s life, which reveals the Truth.

3. The strength of attachment with the divine is tej.

4. Tej is the boon granted by faith.

5. Tej is the manifestation of faith in the Supreme.

6. Tej is the glorious outcome of tapas.

7. Tej is the Light of knowledge.

8. Tej is the energy of tapas through whose potency the spiritual aspirant is able to endure every difficulty.

9. Tej is an internal energy, an internal luminescence, an internal courage.

Look Kamla, understand this carefully. When one has faith in the Truth, the spiritual aspirant endeavours to imbibe the attributes of Truth. No longer is he afraid of being humbled or being robbed; he is not even afraid of dying; he is not afraid of any harm befalling him, nor of being defamed or impoverished.

When one is set on giving one’s body to the Lord, how can one be afraid of such trivialities? The decision to unite with the Supreme ignites the courage within that spiritual aspirant, whereby he recognises the path he must follow and gathers the strength to walk that path and reach his goal.

Kshama (क्षमा) – Forgiveness

Forgiveness is:

a) To desist from punishing one who has transgressed against you.

b) To grant fearlessness to one who has opposed you.

c) To grant fearlessness to one who insults you.

d) To grant fearlessness to one who has harmed you.

Abstinence from punishing another is forgiveness.

In fact, one forgives oneself. For it is you who suffers the consequences of another’s misdeed, it is you who reaps the punishment because you are grieved; it is your mind which is troubled; it is you who suffers remorse and torment. Your mind harbours grudges for long periods of time. If you consider this carefully you will realise that all this is a punishment which you personally suffer.

Instead of bearing all this, why don’t you forgive and forget at the very outset. Do not torment and punish yourself thus. Do not cloak your mind and intellect in futile animosity. Forgive the other and be free!

Dhriti (धृति) – Fortitude

1. Dhriti is another name for patience.

2. Dhriti is the outcome of invigorating tej.

3. Dhriti is the consequence of deep faith.

4. He who possesses the attribute of dhriti never accepts failure, nor does he tire. Dhriti is possessed of great withstanding power.

5. The one who possesses this quality is never afraid of difficulties.

6. He never turns away from duty for even a minute.

7. He can give up his life, but never turns back from his chosen goal.

8. He is prepared to take a long time, even several years, to clarify a point.

9. He spends an entire lifetime in the endeavour to translate theoretical knowledge into scientific practice.

10. He endeavours with great shrewdness and tenacity to return the Lord’s body back to Him. And the Lord does not accept that body very easily!

The sincere aspirant is perseverant where others are concerned – but he has no patience for himself. He himself spends every possible moment in his ceaseless endeavours to tread the path of Truth. He cannot bear any delay. Where others are concerned, it is a different story – he has endless patience with them. Generally, the ordinary man endures his own idiosyncrasies but does not tolerate another’s transgressions. The aspirant of spiritual living on the other hand has tremendous forbearance regarding another’s misdemeanours, but cannot withstand even a single transgression of his own.

Shauch (शौच) – Purity

1. Purity.

2. Cleanliness.

3. An unsullied mind.

4. Ignorance is impurity; knowledge is true purity – shauch.

5. Ego is the blemish and the renunciation of ego is purity.

6. Shauch is purity of intellect.

7. Desire and attachment are impurities; their renunciation is shauch.

8. The absence of mental aberrations such as positive and negative thought processes is shauch.

If the mind is pure, the aspirant is able to take the Lord’s Name. If the intellect is pure, faith in the attributes of divinity is possible. When the mind-stuff is pure, then can the Supreme be received in the heart. When the impurity of ‘I’ is erased, the aspirant can abide in his essential Self.

Adroha (अद्रोह) – Absence of malice

1. One who threatens nobody.

2. One who does not clash with others’ concepts.

3. One who does not fight the ego of the other.

4. One who does not oppose the other’s desire.

5. One who does not give any advice unasked.

6. One who does not look down upon another.

7. One who works for the well-being of all.

8. One who does not even seek to impress another.

9. One whose ego does not come into conflict with the ego of others.

10. One who does not seek self establishment.

11. One who is devoid of enmity and hatred.

Such a one is known as an adrohi.

Na Atimanita (नअतिमानिता) – Absence of self importance

1. One who is permeated with the qualities of divinity, yet takes no credit for these.

2. One who is replete with divine qualities, yet does not take egoistic pride in these.

3. Such a one is elevated and noble and possesses great knowledge which he practises in his life; he is venerable – yet he is completely humble.

4. Despite such august qualities, he is without pride and gives recognition and respect to others.

5. It is he who loves, yet he eulogizes the one whom he loves.

6. He does everything himself, but he gives the credit to others.

7. He effaces himself to grant recognition to the other. He performs tasks for others, yet remains humbly out of sight.

8. That one is indeed unique – he is the Atma Itself, yet he lives as the most ordinary being.

9. It is indeed very difficult to understand him.

10. It is well nigh impossible to recognise him.

The Lord says, “O Arjuna! All these attributes elucidated by Me constitute the wealth of divinity. These are the attributes of divine beings. They are characteristics of the Lord Himself.

a) These are attributes of one who is on the Supreme path.

b) These are signs of the one who treads the path of the Supreme.

c) These are the mark of a Perfect Soul.”