BHAGAVAD-GITA 14:6

[Guest guest]

BHAGAVAD-GITA 14:6

 

tatra sattvam nirmalatvat

prakasakam anamayam

sukha-sangena badhnati

jnana-sangena canagha

 

WORD FOR WORD

 

tatra--there; sattvam--the mode of goodness; nirmalatvat--being purest

in the material world; prakasakam--illuminating; anamayam--without any

sinful reaction; sukha--with happiness; sangena--by association;

badhnati--conditions; jnana--with knowledge; sangena--by association;

ca--also; anagha--O sinless one.

 

TRANSLATION

 

O sinless one, the mode of goodness, being purer than the others, is

illuminating, and it frees one from all sinful reactions. Those

situated in that mode become conditioned by a sense of happiness and

knowledge.

 

PURPORT

 

The living entities conditioned by material nature are of various

types. One is happy, another is very active, and another is helpless.

All these types of psychological manifestations are causes of the

entities' conditioned status in nature. How they are differently

conditioned is explained in this section of Bhagavad-gita. The mode of

goodness is first considered. The effect of developing the mode of

goodness in the material world is that one becomes wiser than those

otherwise conditioned. A man in the mode of goodness is not so much

affected by material miseries, and he has a sense of advancement in

material knowledge. The representative type is the brahmana, who is

supposed to be situated in the mode of goodness. This sense of

happiness is due to understanding that, in the mode of goodness, one

is more or less free from sinful reactions. Actually, in the Vedic

literature it is said that the mode of goodness means greater

knowledge and a greater sense of happiness.

 

The difficulty here is that when a living entity is situated in the

mode of goodness he becomes conditioned to feel that he is advanced in

knowledge and is better than others. In this way he becomes

conditioned. The best examples are the scientist and the philosopher.

Each is very proud of his knowledge, and because they generally

improve their living conditions, they feel a sort of material

happiness. This sense of advanced happiness in conditioned life makes

them bound by the mode of goodness of material nature. As such, they

are attracted toward working in the mode of goodness, and, as long as

they have an attraction for working in that way, they have to take

some type of body in the modes of nature. Thus there is no likelihood

of liberation, or of being transferred to the spiritual world.

Repeatedly one may become a philosopher, a scientist or a poet, and

repeatedly become entangled in the same disadvantages of birth and

death. But, due to the illusion of the material energy, one thinks

that that sort of life is pleasant.

 

Copyright 1983 The Bhaktivedanta Book Trust International. Used with

permission.