Panchajanyam hrsheekesah-chapter19-adhyaya14-The threegunas

May 13, 2007

Chapter 19-ahdyaya14-The three gunas

The cause of the bondage of the individual soul who is free by nature is shown to be the its identification with the three gunas.In this chapter the interplay of three gunas and their effect on the individual soul is explained.Krishana starts the discourse by saying that knowing about the three gunas and their effects the wise become free from bondage.Hence he calls it jnanam utthamam, highest knowledge, resorting to which one attains a status of brahman and thereafter never riverts back to bondage.

In the previous chapter it is said that whatever being born is through the combination of the kshethra, prakrthi and the kshethrajna, purusha. Krishna now declares that the birth of the aggregates of beings so born, is brought about by the Lord Himself.

The prakrthi is the great womb of all beings and the Lord is the sower of the seed., the father of all beings.the three gunas, satthva rajas and thamas are born from Prakrthi and they bind the immutable self.

Then Krishna describes the three gunas.

thathra satthvam nirmalathvAth prakASakam anAmayam

sukhasangenabaDhnathi jnansangena chAnagha (BG 14-6)

Satthva is pure and hence nothing marring its purity shines in all its glory and produces , light and happiness.. Light denotes knowledge and happiness results due to the absence of illness,Amaya. Nevertheless satthva also binds the soul by creating an attachment ot happiness and knowledge. It makes one desirous of acquiring knowledge, secular and spiritual and causes rebirth to satisfy the desire, though this is preferable to desire born out of rajas and thamas.

rajO rAgAthmakam viddhi thrshNAsangasamudhbhavam

thannin baDhnAthi kounthEya karamsangenadhehinam (BG-14.7)

Rajas is of the nature of thrshNa, passion and sanga, attachment. ThrshNa is desire for sensual enjoyment and sanga is the attachment towards them, denoted by the term eeshanAthrayam, longing for wealth, wife and son and attachment towrds them. All the actions born out of rajas are towards securing these and causes bondage rsulting in several lives.

thamasthu ajnAnajam viddhi mohanam sarvadhehunAm

pramAdhAlasyanidhrAbhih thannibaDHnAthi bhAratha (BG-14.8)

Thamas is ignorance causing delusion , that is false knowledge, which deludes all beings into believing in what is errasneous. Thamas causes negligence, lethargy and sleep.Not to do what has to be done is negligence, pramAdha and it leads to lethargy, Alasya, resulting finally in inactivity inducing sleep.People overcome with thamas are seen to eat and sleep all the time. Even when thamas induces activity it is always deirected towards erranous action. While satthva induces attachment towards happiness, rajas creates attachment to action and thamas leads to negligence.

These three gunas are present in everyone and at different times each one of them subdues the others and becomes predominant depending on the previous karma and the present way of life.When satthva predominates the light of knowledge can be seen emerging from all the jnanendhruiyas. One becomes greedy, restless and possessed with longing when rajas becomes predomnant. When tahmas is surfaced, one become indolent and deluded. At the time of death if satthva predominates the departed soul reaches the worlds conducibe to self knowledge, is born among thodse attached to work if rajas is the uppermost. Those who leave the body when thamas predominate are born in the wombs of beings lacking in intelligence such as animals.The result of sAttvika action is pure , of rAjasik is pain and thAmasik action results inignorance.

Then Krishna describes the souls predominant in satthva who rise above as compared to rajasic ones who stay in the middlw while those with thamasic qualities go down in evolution. The one who has increased his satthva and rises above perceives that the agent of action is no other than the gunas and transcends the gunas and attains the state of Brahman., that is,becomes free from birth age, death and pain and attains immortality.

Here Arjuna comes out with a question. He wants to know the signs by which a man who hs transcended the gunas can be known and also the way to do it.

kairlingairsthreen guNAn EThAn atheethO bhavathi prabhO

kimAchraH kaTHam cha EthAn treen guNAn athivarthathE (BG_14.21)

Krishna starts giving the description of a guNAtheetha. One who has transcended the gunas has no attachment nor aversion for the effects of the three gunas and simply perceives them with an attitude of indifference knowing that the gunas are interacting with gunas.Since there is no identification with he body and the senses he simply observes the happenings whether pleasing or otherwise and does not feel joy or sorrow.

To him , who dwells in the self, pleasure and pain are the same and he treats a clod of earth, a stone or a piece of gold as having equal value..When one looks upon a friend and foe alike, praise and insult or honour and dishonour as the same , he has risen above the gunas.He rises above the body, mind and intellect and all these mentioned above are only related to the realms of the three, nmely , body, mind and intellect. Hence he is not affected by the opposites such as joy and sorrow.

In answer to the question of Arjuna as to the means of achieving the state of gunaAtheetha, Krishna says,

mAm cha yO vyabhichArENA bhakthiyogEna sEvathe

sa guNAn samatheethya EthAn brahmabhooyAyakalpathE(BG-14.26)

The one who with unswerving devotion serves the Lord transcends the gunas and becomes fit to attain the state of Brahman.

brahmaNOhi prathishTA aham amrthasya avyayasya cha

SASvathast ya cha dharmasya sukhasya aikAnthikasya cha (BG-14.27)

The reason for following the path of devotion is given by the Lord at the end of the chapter. The state of Brahman is immutable and immortal and "I am the source of all that is immortal and immutable and I am the source of eternal bliss, " says the Lord. In the chapter on bhakthiyoga it was mentioned that jnana is the result of bhakthi and in 7th adhyaya Krishna, mentioning about the four kinds of devotees who resort to Him , describes jnani as ' thEshAm jnanee nithyayukthaH eEkabhakthih viSishyathe,'(BG-7.17) the one who has unswerving devotion.

The central idea of this chapter is that seeking refuge with the Lord is the only means of transcending the gunas and the attainment of self-realisation as it is made out in the 7th adhyaya ,

dhaivee hyEshA gunamayee mama mAyA dhurathyayA

mAmEva ye prapdhyanthe mAyAm EthAm tharanthi thE.(BG-.7.14)

The maya is due to the threegunas and only those who resort to the Lord are able to transcend it.