Bhagavatgita a detailed study chapter14 The three gunas

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Bhagavatgita a detailed study Chapter14- The three

guNas

 

 

Sree bhagavaan uvaacha

 

1. param bhooyaH pravakshyami

jnaanaanaam jnaanam

Utthamam

 

Yath

jnaathvaa munayaH sarve paraam siddhim itho gathaaH

 

The Lord said

 

I

will again tell you about the knowledge which is the highest of all knowledge,

knowing which, all sages have attained perfection.

 

Krishna simply reiterates what has been telling so far because the highest knowledge

could not be imparted easily in one utterance. Even the mundane knowledge has

to be dinned in to the minds of students by constant repetition and it is more

in respect of the knowledge through which everything else is known, eka vijnaanena sarva vijnaanam.

 

munayaH translated as sages does not mean the rshis in the

forest who have already attained the state of realization but it means those

who are wise enough to understand and contemplate the reality and attain the

final stage of realization. The word muni means mananaath muniH, one

who studies and contemplates on the

truths contained in the Vedas.

 

 

The

cause of the bondage of the individual soul who is free by nature is shown to

be its identification with the three

gunas. In this chapter the interplay of three gunas and their effect on the

individual soul is explained. Krishna 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 reverts back to bondage.

 

 

 

2. Idham jnaanam upaaSrithya mama saaDharmyam

aagathaaH

 

Sarge api

na upajaayanthe praLaye na vyaThanthi cha

 

Acquiring

this knowledge they have attained My Being and they are not born again when

creation starts and also not affected at the time of annihilation.

 

When

they acquire knowledge by study and contemplation, they attain the stage where

the identification of themselves with the Supreme Self is complete because

they perceive the Lord as their inner self. mama saadharmyam means saayujyam, that is the union with the

Lord.

 

The

Upanishad describing the jeevathama and paramathma says,

 

Samaane vrkshe purusho nimagno

 

aneesayaa Sochathi muhyamaanaH

 

jushtam yadhaa paSyathi anyam eesam asya

 

mahimaanamithi veetha SokaH (mund.3.1.2)

 

This

is the subsequent passage to the oft quoted one in Mundaka upanishat, `dhvaa suparNaa sayujaa sakhaayaa,'

describing two birds in close friendship perched on the same tree, meaning

jeevaathma and Paramathma.

 

The

meaning of the above passage is this. The individual soul, purusha, on the same

tree with the Supreme Self, meaning the body,

is immersed in grief, deluded by ignorance. But when he sees the other

bird, the Supreme Self, realizing that he is not separate from Him, becomes

free from delusion. This is what is meant by mama saaDharmyam aagathaaH.

 

The next passage is as

follows:

 

Yadhaa paSyaH pasyathe rukmavarNam

 

Karthaaram eesam purusham brahma yonim

 

Thadhaa vidhvaan puNya paape viDhooya

 

niranjanaH parama saamyam upaithi (Mund.3.1.3)

 

When

the one who has seen the Lord effulgent as gold, the cause of the creator

Brahma then the wise one becomes free

from his merits and demerits which cause future births and attains unity with

the Lord.

 

This

is the supreme knowledge acquiring which one does not rivert to the cycle of

birth and death again.

 

 

At

the time of dissolution all beings merge in the Supreme and when the creation stars again they

emerge as they were before creation, with their karma and vasanas in tact. Thus

the pralaya or dissolution serves as a temporary relief from samsara for

sinners and saints alike. But those who acquire the knowledge and have attained

union with the Lord are not born again at the beginning of sarga, creation.

Consequently they are not affected by the pralaya, which here means .death.

..

 

In

the previous chapter it is said that whatever

is 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.