One absorbed in truth remains unmoved whether honored or insulted, for both praise and blame belong only to the body, not to the self
Locates praise and blame firmly on the body's side of the self-and-body distinction, explaining why a realized person is described as indifferent to social reputation without effort.
Chapter 17 catalogues the observable marks of a person absorbed in truth, and one of the clearest is indifference to being honored or insulted. The reasoning given is structural rather than merely attitudinal: honor and insult are things that happen to a social identity attached to a particular body — a name, a reputation, a status — and the self this text is concerned with was never that identity to begin with. Because the self is not the recipient of praise or blame, staying unmoved by either requires no discipline once the identification with body and role has actually dissolved; the equanimity described is a natural consequence, not a performance maintained against temptation.
Ashtavakra Gita
Written about in
- What the Ashtavakra Gita says about wanting to be admired
The reasoning is structural rather than moral. Honour and insult land on a name, a rank, a face — all of them the body's social situation. If you are not that, being unmoved takes no discipline at all.