The Threefold Faith

[Guest guest]

Bhagavad Gita

 

XVII. THE THREEFOLD FAITH (Shraddhatraya-Vibhaga Yoga)

 

ARJUNA SAID:

 

1. Whoso Worship, setting aside the ordinance of the scripture,

endued with faith - what faith is theirs ? Is it Sattva, or Rajas, or

Tamas ?

 

THE BLESSED LORD SAID:

 

2. Threefold is that faith born of the individual nature of the

embodied - Sattvic, Rajasic and Tamasic. Do thou hear of it.

 

3. The faith of each is in accordance with his nature, O Bharata. The

man is made up of his faith; as a man's faith is, so is he.

 

4. Sattvic men worship the Gods; Rajasic the Yakshas and the

Rakshasas; the others - Tamasic men - the Pretas and the hosts of

Bhutas.

 

5. Those men who practise terrific austerities not enjoined by the

scripture, given to hypocrisy and egotism, endued with the strength

of lust and passion;

 

6. Weakening all the elements in the body - fools they are - and Me

who dwell in the body within; know thou these to be of demoniac

resolves.

 

7. The food also which is dear to each is threefold, as also worship,

austerity and gift. Do thou hear of this, their distinction.

 

8. The foods which increase life, energy, strength, health, joy and

cheerfulness, which are savoury and oleaginous, substantial and

agreeable, are dear to the Sattvic.

 

9. The foods that are bitter, sour, saline, excessively hot, pungent,

dry and burning, are liked by the Rajasic, causing pain, grief and

disease.

 

10. The food which is stale, tasteless, putrid and rotten, refuse and

impure, is dear to the Tamasic.

 

11. That worship is Sattvic which is offered by men desiring no

fruit, as enjoined in the Law, with a fixed resolve in the mind that

they should merely worship.

 

12. That which is offered, O best of the Bharatas, with a view to

reward and for ostentation, know it to be a Rajasic worship.

 

13. They declare that worship to be Tamasic which is contrary to the

ordinances, in which no food is distributed, which is devoid of

mantras and gifts and which is devoid of faith.

 

14. Worshipping the Gods, the twice-born, teachers and wise men -

purity, straightforwardness, continence and abstinence from injury

are termed the bodily austerity.

 

15. The speech which causes no excitement and is true, as also

pleasant and beneficial and also the practice of sacred recitation,

are said to form the austerity of speech.

 

16. Serenity of mind, good-heartedness, silence, self-control, purity

of nature - this is called the mental austerity.

 

17. This threefold austerity, practised by devout men with utmost

faith, desiring no fruit, they call Sattvic.

 

18. That austerity which is practised with the object of gaining good

reception, honour and worship and with hypocrisy, is said to be of

this world, to be Rajasic, unstable and uncertain.

 

19. The austerity which is practised out of a foolish notion, with

self-torture, or for the purpose of ruining another, is declared to

be Tamasic.

 

20. That gift which is given - knowing it to be a duty to give - to

one who does no service, in place and in time and to a worthy person,

that gift is held Sattvic.

 

21. And that gift which is given with a view to a return of the good,

or looking for the fruit, or reluctantly, that gift is held to be

Rajasic.

 

22. The gift that is given at a wrong place or time, to unworthy

persons, without respect or with insult, that is declared to be

Tamasic.

 

23. " OM, TAT, SAT " : this has been taught to be the triple

designation of Brahman. By that were created of old the Brahmanas and

the Vedas and the sacrifices.

 

24. Therefore, with the utterance of 'Om', are the acts of sacrifice,

gift and austerity, as enjoined in the scriptures, always begun by

the students of Brahman.

 

25. With 'Tat', without aiming at the fruits, are the acts of

sacrifice and austerity and the various acts of gift performed by the

seekers of moksha.

 

26. The word 'Sat' is used in the sense of reality and of goodness;

and so also, O Partha, the word 'Sat' is used in the sense of an

auspicious act.

 

27. Devotion to sacrifice, austerity and gift is also spoken of

as 'Sat'; and even action in connection with these is called 'Sat'.

 

28. Whatever is sacrificed, given, or done and whatever austerity is

practised, without faith, it is called 'asat', O Partha; it is naught

here or here-after.