Bhagavatgita adetailed study chapter17 Three kinds of faith

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14.

dhevadhvijagurupraajnapoojanam Soucham aarjavam

 

brahmacharyam ahimsaa cha

Saareeram thapa uchyathe

 

The worship of devas, Brahmins, elders and

preceptors and the learned, cleanliness, guilelessness, celibacy and

non-violence are the austerities of the body.

 

Revering and worshipping the devas, as ordained by

the sastras, the Brahmins which means those who have mastered the sastras, and

elders and gurus, is the duty of a house holder who is aspiring towards spirituality.

 

 

Similarly

Soucham , cleanliness and aarjavam straight forward dealing,

celibacy and non violence form the

austerity to be observed at the body level. It is only at the physical level which

is stressed here as the austerity regarding speech and the mind is mentioned in

the following slokas.

 

15.anudhvegakaram vaakyam sathyam

priyahitham cha yath

 

svaaDhyaayaabhyasanam chaiva vaangmayam thapa

uchyathe

 

The speech that is inoffensive, truthful, pleasant

and beneficial together with regular

reading of scriptures constitute verbal austerities.

 

The speech should not offend others. It should be pleasant

but true.

 

The scripture says,

sathyam bhrooyaath priyam brooyaath na

brooyaath sathyam

apriyam

 

priyam cha na anrtham

brooyaath esha Dharma

sanaathanaH

 

One

should speak truth and should speak pleasingly. One should not speak unpleasant

truth. And also should not speak untruth which is pleasing. This is the ancient

Dharma.

 

A

well wisher should speak only the truth which is beneficial. Sathyam

brooyaath. He should speak lovingly. Priyam brooyaath. But he should not speak the truth if it is

not pleasant, na brooyaath sathyam apriyam, that

is., which is harmful. Apriyam

here means that which is not pleasant by way of doing harm. But untruth should

not be spoken just because it will please the listener, priyam cha

na anrtham brooyaath.

 

Mareecha

advised Ravana against his abduction of Seetha and Vibheeshana told him to

return Seetha. Both were well-wishers and spoke the truth that Ravana will be

destroyed by not listening to their advice. They spoke to him with love and

concern. This is the example of sathyam brooyaath priyam brooyaath

 

There

is a story that shows the meaning of na brooyaath sathyam apriyam. A cow was fleeing from men, who were

pursuing it wishing to kill, and it went round a hermitage where a sage was sitting outside

meditating. The pursuers came and asked the sage whether he saw a cow coming

that way. The sage replied that the eye does not speak and the tongue does not

hear. Thinking that he was mad the pursuers went away. What the sage meant

was that the eyes saw the cow but could

not speak and the tongue could speak but had

not seen the cow. Thus he did not speak the truth yet he neither spoke

untruth. This is a case of na brooyaath sathyam apriyam as it was

apriyam harmful to the cow.

 

Seetha

told the rakshasis, who asked her whether she knew Hanuman, that she did not

know. She spoke untruth but it was in accordance with dharma that one should

not cause harm to others even by telling the truth because ahimsa takes precedence

over all else.

 

Rama

similarly told Sumanthra, when Dasaratha was asking him to stop on their way to

the forest, to drive fast and tell the king later that he could not hear the

command to stop. This again was to avoid giving

pain to Dasaratha by prolonging the agony of separation.

 

Surpanakha told Ravana the untruth that she was trying

to bring Seetha to him and was punished by Lakshmana, which was pleasing to

Ravana but it brought him destruction. This is the case of priyam cha na

anrtham brooyaath, one should not speak an untruth just to please another.

 

16.manaHprasaadhaH soumyathvam mounam

 

aathmavinigrahaH

 

bhaavasamSudDhirithyethath thapo maansam uchyathe

 

Mental calmness, gentleness, silence, self control,

extreme emotional purity are the austerities of the mind.

 

manaH

prasaadhaH- the equanimity of mind, devoid of raga and dhvesha.

 

soumyathvam-

always

gentle and loving towards others.

 

mounam- silence regarding any subject other than the Lord. Since

it refers to mental austerity it means

thinking about the Lord only and banishing all the thoughts of the worldly affairs.

 

aaathma vinigrahaH- Control of senses through the mind.

 

bhaavasmaSudDhiH- as a result of the above,

purity of mind.

 

All the requisites mentioned in the above three

slokas refer only to saathvik kind of thapas, which is explained in the next

sloka.

 

17. SradDhayaa parayaa thaptham

thapaH thriviDham naraiH

 

 

aphalaakaankshibhiH yukthaiH

saathvikam parichakshathe

 

These threefold austerities of body, speech and mind

are done with supreme faith by those whose mind is integrated with no

expectation of result, it is known as saathvik.

 

18.sathkaaramaanapoojaarThamthapo

dhambhena chaiva

thath

 

Kriyathe thadhiha proktham raajasam chalam aDhruvam

 

Any

austerity undertaken for the sake of praise, pride or to be worshipped or with

ostentation is rajasik and it is not stable or permanent.

 

The

thapas done with a view of reaching a position

which will ensure praise and popularity is the way of pseudo yogis. Though they

observe the rules of the austerities as per the sasthras their purpose is not

aspiring for mukthi but for the worldly grandeur of being worshipped as holy men. Since they lack the necessary mental

equipoise of a saathvik yogi their success is short lived and they may lapse into

worldly life anytime if their popularity declines.

 

19. mooDagraaheNa aathmanaH

yathpeedayaakriyathe thapaH

 

parasya uthsaadhanaarTham vaa thath thaamasam

udhahrtham

 

The

austerity followed through obstinacy, tormenting oneself or others, that is

known as thamasik.

 

Some

indulge in yogic practices influenced by thamasik impulses and follow

austerities tormenting themselves. The thapas done by the asuras was of this

kind. The purpose of their thapas was to torment the world later by acquiring

supernatural powers. These are known as thaamasik. The violent methods of

worship like inflicting injury on the body falls under this kind of thapas.