Gita Chapter 14 Introduction - Prelude to the upcoming Gita Satsangh

[Guest guest]

Namaste Satsanghis:

 

Our dear Srimathi Radheji will be posting the Gita verses from Chapter 14 from

next Sunday. She will soon provide you the details of how she will be organize

her postings which will include the transliterated verses, translation,

commentaries of Swami Chinmayananda and Swami Gambirananda (Sankara Bhashya).

This introduction of chapter 14 will hopefully motivate you to join the Satsangh

by providing your thoughtful insights, questions and comments.

 

With my warm regards,

 

Ram Chandran

 

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The Triple Gunas, Sattva, Rajas and Tamas

 

Bhagavadgita classifies the gunas (the primary qualities of Nature) into three

in number: sattva, rajas and tamas. The above described qualities of Nature

exist in all beings, including human beings, in various degrees of concentration

and combination. Depending upon their relative strengths and combinations, they

determine the behavior of human beings, their actions and attitude and their

attachment to the objective world in which they live.

 

Several verses in Chapter 7 describe how the gunas create bondage through desire

for sense objects leading to attachment with them and keep the human beings

under the perpetual control of Prakriti (7.13). The gunas are born from Prakriti

and at the same time the Divine does not reside in them (7.12). In the Divine

Consciousness gunas remain in a state of perfect balance. If and when the

balance is disturbed, the process of creation begins and the world of beings

come into existence possessing these gunas in different proportions. Under their

influence human beings lose their ability to know themselves correctly and they

also fail to recognize their True Divine Nature. The gunas are responsible for

the diversity of nature. Because of association with the gunas (qualities), the

division of reality and unreality take birth.(Chapter 13, verse 21). When the

gunas are manifested in creation, the individual souls come under their

influence and begin their onward journey into the world of Samsara (cycle of

birth and death).

 

The Gita Satsangh of Chapter 14 will discuss in greater details the description

and definition of the three gunas. Sattva is pure, without impurities,

illuminating and free from sickness. It binds the soul through attachment with

happiness and knowledge. Rajas is full of passion born out of intense desire and

attachment. It binds the soul through attachment with action. Tamas is the

darkness representing total ignorance full of delusion. Lord Krishna reveals

matters pertaining goodness, passion and nescience which everything in the

material existence is influenced by. He gives pertinent details on the essential

characteristics of each individually, their cause, the level of their potency,

how they influence a living entity affected by them as well as the signs of one

who has risen above them. Here he clearly advises to relinquish oneself from

ignorance and passion and adopt the path of pure goodness until acquiring the

ability to transcend them.

 

The Triple Gunas, Sattva, Rajas and Tamas is born of ignorance and delusion. It

binds the soul through recklessness, indolence and sleep. The gunas whether it

is sattva or rajas or tamas, are part of Prakriti and are responsible for our

illusion and all suffering on earth. The Gita therefore aims to make us free

from these qualities completely by guiding us to understand the nature of these

qualities and how they tend to keep us in bondage and illusion. Even cultivation

of " sattva " is not an end in itself. It is the only the means to overcome

passion and ignorance and thereby to achieve self-realization through the

purity of the mind. A correct understanding of the three qualities of Nature,

is thus very essential to overcome the bondage to earthly life and attain the

Supreme Self. By knowing the distinction among the three qualities and by

developing the quality of sattva in abundance one can purify ones mind and

establish tranquility of mind through right worship, study, knowledge, speech,

devotion, faith, behavior and sacrifice.