Knowledge in the Mode of Darkness

[Guest guest]

In our Bhagavad Gita session a few weeks ago, we had an interesting discussion on these verses. Chapter 18. TEXT 22 And that knowledge by which one is attached to one kind of work as the all in all, without knowledge of the truth, and which is very meager, is said to be in the mode of darkness. Srila Prabhupada explained this to us as follows: The "knowledge" of the common man is always in the mode of darkness or ignorance because every living entity in

conditional life is born into the mode of ignorance. One who does not develop knowledge through the authorities or scriptural injunctions has knowledge that is limited to the body. He is not concerned about acting in terms of the directions of scripture. For him God is money, and knowledge means the satisfaction of bodily demands. Such knowledge has no connection with the Absolute Truth. It is more or less like the knowledge of the ordinary animals: the knowledge of eating, sleeping, defending and mating. Such knowledge is described here as the product of the mode of darkness. In other words, knowledge concerning the spirit soul beyond this body is called knowledge in the mode of goodness, and knowledge producing many theories and doctrines by dint of mundane logic and mental speculation is the product of the mode of passion, and knowledge concerned with only keeping the body comfortable is said to be in the mode of ignorance P. 813, BHAGAVAD GITA AS IT IS, by

SRILA PRABUPHADA Swami Chinmayananda's explanation is similar: An intellect smothered by the dulling effect of extreme tamas clings to one single effect as though it were the whole, never inquiring into its cause. Such seekers are generally fanatic in their faith and in their devotion, in their views and values of life. Sankara comments upon this word (ahaitukam) and declares it to mean "not founded on reason". The knowledge of the dull recognizes only the effects, but ignores their unavoidable causes. Looking through such a confused intellect loaded with fixed ideas, the dull not only fail to see things as they are, but invariably project their own ideas upon the world and judge it all incorrectly. The "knowledge" of the dull is thus circumscribed by its own concept of self-importance, and thus its vision becomes narrow (alpam) and limited. P. 79, GITA'S

WORDS OF GUIDANCE, by SWAMI CHINMAYANANDA Bhagavan exhorts us to fix our mind on the original form of Godhead, one should not divert attention to other forms of the Lord. Abandon all varieties of religion and surrender into Me. Always think of Me and become My devotee. Worship Me and offer your homage unto Me. Thus you will come to Me without fail. I promise you this because you are My very dear friend. Abandon all varieties of religion and just surrender unto Me. I shall deliver you from all sinful reaction. Do not fear. BHAGAVAD GITA CHAPTER 18: 65-66 The most confidential part of knowledge is that one should become a pure devotee of Krsna and always think of Him and act for Him. These words stress that one should concentrate his mind upon Krsna--the very form with two hands carrying a

flute, the bluish boy with a beautiful face and peacock feathers in His hair. There are descriptions of Krsna found in the Brahma-samhita and other literatures. One should fix his mind on this original form of Godhead, Krsna. He should not even divert his attention to other forms of the Lord. The Lord has multi-forms as Visnu, Narayana, Rama, Varaha, etc., but a devotee should concentrate his mind on the form that was present before Arjuna. Concentration of the mind on the form of Krsna constitutes the most confidential part of knowledge, and this is disclosed to Arjuna because Arjuna is the most dear friend of Krsna's. Now, in summarizing Bhagavad-gita, the Lord says that Arjuna should give up all the processes that have been explained to him; he should simply surrender to Krsna. One may perform a particular occupational duty according to his position in the social order,

but if by executing his duty one does not come to the point of Krsna consciousness, all his activities are in vain. One should be attracted by the beautiful vision of Krsna. His name is Krsna because He is all-attractive. One who becomes attracted by the beautiful, all-powerful, omnipotent vision of Krsna is fortunate. There are different kinds of transcendentalists--some of them are attached to the impersonal Brahman vision, some of them are attracted by the Supersoul feature, etc., but one who is attracted to the personal feature of the Supreme Personality of Godhead, and, above all, one who is attracted by the Supreme Personality of Godhead as Krsna Himself, is the most perfect transcendentalist. In other words, devotional service to Krsna, in full consciousness, is the most confidential part of knowledge, and this is the essence of the whole Bhagavad-gita.

Sponsored Link Mortgage rates as low as 4.625% - $150,000 loan for $579 a month. Intro-*Terms