What Saints and Sinners Have in Common

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What Saints and Sinners Have in Common

by Victor D DiCara (Vraja Kishor das)

The Pious/ Saints:

Seventh Chapter Text 15

 

Na mam dushkritino mudhah prapadyante naradhamah |

Mäyayäphrita-jnäna äsurim bhävam äshritäh ||15||

 

The impious do not supplicate Me, for they are either beasts of burden, or not

truly cultured, or their knowledge knows only illusion, or else they take on

the characteristics of demons.

Prapadyante - To supplicate

Though God is everywhere, illusion prevents us from perceiving Him. That

illusion (maya) can be surmounted (taranti) by sincere supplication

(prapadyante) of the Lord. Although it seems simple enough we still do not

sincerely and wholeheartedly petition God for his sanctuary (na mam

prapadyante). Why not? This verse identifies four personality types that impede

us from genuine supplication:

Mudha - The beast of burden

A mudha is a donkey, an animal who works extremely hard for meager reward.

Humans also tend to immerse our heart and mind in hard labor for material gain.

Unfortunately, this can absorb us in a short-circuit of materialism, and we can

hardly ever thinks of God or anything transcendental, much less sincerely

supplicate the Lord for His asylum from illusion.

Naraadhama - Those not truly of human culture

The previous archetype, mudha, described a personality much like an animal.

However, humans often rise to take interest in culture and the finer arts. A

naraadhama appears to be a cultured human being (nara) yet remains base

(adhama), for he is unable to detect that the inner aim of art and culture is

to cultivate the spirit through wisdom. The external trapping of culture

without it's internal trappings distracts us from transcendental matters, and

from sincere supplication of the Lord.

Mayayapahrita-gyana -Those who know only illusion

The previous archetype, naraadhama, identified one who does not detect that the

essence of culture is knowledge. There are others, however, who do seek to

develop knowledge, yet pursue only knowledge of the phenomenal world. This

verse identifies them as mayayapahrita-gyana - those whose knowledge (gyana)

encompasses (pahrita) only the world of illusions (maya). Though studying

intently, we can manage to ignore the conscious spirit within all specimens of

observation and thus seldom think of God or receive any impetus to petition His

deliverance from the illusions that fascinate us.

Asurim bhava ashrita - Those who take on the nature of demons

The previous archetype, mayayapahrita-gyana, identified one whose knowledge

thirsts only for the temporal. Another personality type does seek to understand

the eternal, but in a fashion that voids all individuality and personality.

Krishna identifies this personality type as asurim bhavam ashrita - "taking the

nature of demons.Demons" are classically defined as enemies of God who

actively try to kill Him. The asurim bhava ashrita personality type is so named

because it seeks to strip from the Supreme all personality and individual

consciousness; effectively seeking to "kill" the Supreme. Those who conceive of

the Supreme as impersonal find no impetus to supplicate an entity which has no

ears to hear their prayer, no heart no commiserate with them, and no mercy to

bestow upon them. Thus they too do not take shelter of the Lord (na mam

prapadyante) and thus cannot cross beyond (taranti) the barrier of illusion

(maya).

The Impious/ sinners:

Seventh Chapter, Text 16

 

Catur-vidhä bhajante mäm janäh sukritino 'rjuna |

Ärto jijnäsur arthärthi jnäni ca bharatarshabha ||16||

 

Four types of pious personalities do worship Me: the distressed, the needy, the

inquisitive, and the wise.

 

The four personality types described in the previous verse (four who do not

turn to God) get mirrored into this verse as four types of persons who do turn

to God. In comparing the two verses, the most important words are dushkriti and

sukriti. The previous verse described four dushkriti -impious personalities

(lit. "wrong doers"). This verse talks of four sukriti -pious personalities

(lit. "right doers").

 

What do both the pious (sukriti) and the impious (dushkriti) have in common?

The four categories of instinctual human drives:

 

1. Kaama - The need for pleasure and comfort.

2. Artha - The need to achieve, especially financially.

3. Dharma - The need to differentiate right from wrong, truth from untruth.

4. Moksha - The need for utter relief from all distress.

 

Both the pious and impious are pushed by these four human impulses, yet they

strive to satisfy them in fundamentally opposite ways.

Kaama - The need for pleasure and comfort

An impious person (dushkriti) tries to satisfy his drive for pleasure and

comfort by exerting a great effort to secure the objects he desires. The

previous verse therefore terms him a mudha (hard-laborer). A pious person

(sukriti) also wants pleasure and comfort, but feels he should seek the help of

God in achieving his objects of desire. This verse terms such a man "arto" (the

distressed). When an impediment to pleasure and comfort causes him distress,

his piety (sukriti) urges him to turn to God for help. The classical example of

such a personality type is Gajendra.

Artha - The need to achieve

In pursuit of accomplishments, an impious man turns his attention to the outer

shell of culture; fine arts, mannered behavior, refinement in technology, etc.

The previous verse terms him naraadhama - one who appears cultured, yet still

remains base by the true standards of culture. A pious man also feels the need

of accomplishments in the fine arts, etc. The distinction, however, is that his

piety causes him to seek help from God. This verse terms him "arta-arthi," one

who desires accomplishments, wealth, prestige, etc. The classical example of an

arta-arthi personality is Dhruva Maharaja.

Dharma - The need to differentiate right from wrong, truth from untruth.

Both the pious and the impious want to know dharma - they try to discover what

is right and what is not, what is true and what is not. An impious man

(dushkriti) acquires whatever such knowledge he can through his own deductive

experimentation and inference. The previous verse terms him

mayayaapahrita-jnana - one who knows only of illusion, for he cannot know more

than the illusionary world his instruments and deductions perceive. A pious

person who seeks to understand right and wrong, truth and untruth (dharma)

augments his investigations by seeking the help of the Supreme. He thus avails

of countless ancient scriptures and contemporary saintly teachers. This verse

terms such a person "jijnasu," the inquisitive. The classical example of a

jijnasu personality is Shaunaka Rishi and the Sages of Naimisharanya, who

sought to understand dharma by study of scripture and inquiry from enlightened

teachers.

Moksha - The need for utter relief from all distress

Although we do not customarily picture an impious person as one who desires

moksha (liberation), it is a fact that all human beings, both pious and

impious, feel this human impulse to be utterly relieved of all distress. There

is, though, a vast difference in how the pious and the impious conceive of and

strive for liberation. An impious person seeks moksha by what the previous

verse terms "adopting the nature of a demon" (asuram bhavam ashrita). Impious

persons thus envision moksa as something destructive or oblivious. It is not

surprising to find our impious sides pushing us to alcohol and drug-induced

oblivions, or to angry, destructive patterns of behavior and forms of music.

Ironically, this is all brought about what seems to be a lofty impulse:

liberation (moksha). Not all impious people are base. Some may seek moksha

through higher means, even spiritual means, but their efforts are always marked

by a nihilist tendency that wants to reduce (perhaps "smash") everything down

to a void or a "one" and strip away from liberation all traces of anything

familiar, such as personality, form, name, etc. The pious also feel the drive

to moksha. This verse terms them "jnani" - the wise. In the Bhagavad-Gita's

context, a "wise" person is one who perceives that he is an eternal being

distinct from the temporary and ever-changing environment he is within. He also

senses that his connection with that environment imposes on his eternal

characteristics. He therefore desires moksha - to be liberated from that

ever-changing, and thus distressful, world. While impiety seeks the aid of

destruction and nihilism, piety seeks moksha through devotion to the Supreme

Personality, as the next text denotes in the term eka-bhakti.