Equanimity

Equanimity refers to freedom from the dualities of attachment and aversion and thus transcendence of the three material modes. This implies an inherent evenness of temper and a disposition which is not disturbed even in the most trying circumstances. In order to attain this, one must be a master of self-control by having his senses engaged in devotional service. Once one engages in devotional service he automatically acquires all these good qualities, such as forgiveness, truthfulness, self-control, calmness, fearlessness, non-violence, equanimity, charity, austerity, satisfaction and the rest. The characteristics of the man who has transcended the modes of nature by devotional service are outlined in detail in the latter part of Chapter Fourteen of the Gita: Such a man is established in equanimity. "The Supreme Personality of Godhead said: He who neither hates nor desires the development of the three qualities of illumination, attachment, and delusion, who is transcendentally situated, remaining neutral through all the reactions of the qualities, thinking that they may work, but that he is transcendental; he who looks equally upon happiness and distress, upon a pebble, a stone, or a piece of gold, who is equal toward the desirable and the undesirable, steady and well-situated in defamation or in adoration: he is said to be transcendentally situated, when he treats equally both honor and dishonor, both friend and enemy, and is not engaged in material activities. That is the position of transcendence over the three modes of Nature." (Gita, 14.22-25)