Then the Pairs of Opposites No Longer Shake Us
Then one is no longer struck by the pairs of opposites — heat and cold, praise and blame.
Do I soar at praise and crumble at blame, handing my whole day's mood to others' words?
📝Reflection
Dvandva means "things paired in twos" — the opposites that always come together, like heat and cold, pleasure and pain, praise and blame. An-abhighāta means "not being struck." Patañjali sees that the fruit of a steady, easeful posture does not stay in the body alone. One who has trained an unshaken posture is not easily shaken by life's paired opposites either. Our minds mostly live getting struck by these pairs — soaring at a word of praise, sinking into the ground at a word of blame. But one with a settled center knows both waves are passing. To be unshaken is not numbness but a deep root that does not go under beneath the waves.
🌱Apply It Today
At praise or blame today, before soaring or sinking, tell yourself once: 'this too is one wave of a passing pair.'
This verse is read as universal humanistic wisdom, not religion — no faith is promoted, and the reflection is 100% original ONGO content.
