Sublime, Sublimate

“This famous and marvelous Sanskrit poem occurs as an episode of the Mahabharata, in the sixth—or Bhishma—Parva of the great epic. It enjoys immense popularity and authority in India, where it is reckoned as one of the “Five Jewels” —Pancharatnani—of literature.

In plain but noble language, it unfolds a philosophical system which remains to this day the prevailing Brahmanic belief, blending as it does the doctrines of Kapila, Patanjali and the Vedas.

So lofty are many of its declarations, so sublime its aspirations, so pure and tender and its piety, that Schlegel, after his study of the poem, breaks forth into an outburst of delight and praise towards its unknown author.” –Sir Edwin Arnold, the translator of Bhagavad Gita, 1885

Sublime is an adjective. When something is described as sublime as described by Sir Edwin Arnold referring to Bhagavad Gita it means inspiring awe, because it is filled with life’s lessons in almost all spheres of life of human being.

Sublime means when something that is worthy of adoration, exalted, noble, lofty, worthy of reverence, something that stands on high pedestal because it has high moral value, it has intellectual content, expressed with clarity and beauty that it demands or commands one’s attention, when something contains or embodies supreme things, awe-inspiring, magnificent.

Do people have sublime qualities? Sublime also describes a person’s attitude, quality, behaviour that is almost unparalleled, extreme, arrogant.

Sublime also functions as a verb meaning when a solid substance changes into vaporized form when heated but forms a solid form when cooled, to refine a substance. The liquid forms can sublime away.

Some people’s thoughts could be sublimed, to make something nobler, higher, greater, purer. When you read or discover the greatest works of greatest people, you will be sublimating yourself.

The derived forms of the verb sublime are sublimed and subliming but has more than one meaning: Psychologically, sublimate refers to diverting one’s energies such as sexual or an impulse and urge to other activities, to the acceptable ways and morals; making something more subtle or refined, removing impurities; in chemistry, changing form solid to vapour, vaporize and condenseand vice versa.

‘Every problem, even yours, is loaded with possibilities. You can turn your mountain into a gold mine. Try “posibilitizing.” Believe that every time one door closes, another will open. Sublimate your problem. That means believing that every adversity holds within it the seeds of an undeveloped possibility.’

Tough Times Never Last, But Tough People Do! By Robert H. Schuller Sublimated also functions as an adjective meaning to something exalted or purified. Sublimated lives are venerated!