Baghawad Gita, Class 185: Chapter 19, Verses 13 to 19

Shloka # 14.13:

O descendant of the Kuru dynasty, when tamas
predominates these surely [i.e. without exception.-M.S.] come into being: non-discrimination
and inactivity, inadvertence and delusion.

Greetings,

Continuing his teachings
Swamiji said today,
analyzing the three Gunas Sri Krishna has
dealt with three topics: Lakshanam; Bandha Prakaraha; and Lingam.

Finally Sri Krishna discussed the topic of lingam, the indicator to find out which particular guna is dominant in us. And there, he pointed out that when satva guna is dominant Gyanendriyas will be more operational, whereas when rajo guna is dominant, karmendriyas will be more functional; whereas when tamo guna is dominant, neither Gyanendriyas nor karmendriyas will be operational. I hope you remember that Gyanendriyas means instruments responsible for knowledge and karmendriyas means instruments responsible for activity; therefore Sri Krishna said in the 13th verse, Tamo guna will suppress the Gyanendriyas and therefore all the Gyanendriyas will be dull. And similarly when Tamo guna is predominant, it will suppress the karmendriyas also, and there will be no dynamism and there will be no activity and there will be no ambition as well and laziness will dominate. Therefore a tamo guni should never attempt to directly become satva pradhana. For, him only Karma can help where he has to start with Sakama Karma then graduate to Nishkama Karma. 

Now Sri Krishna is going to
discuss the fourth topic, Gathihi, what happens to Each Guna pradhana jiva
after death?

Shloka # 14.14:

When an embodied one undergoes death while
sattva is exclusively prodominant, then he attains the taintless worlds of
those who know the highest (entities).

Here Satvagati is discussed.
Dehabhrta in shloka means Jivatma; Pralayam means death. Suppose a Jivatma dies
when Satva is dominant in it, is it a Gyani or Agyani?

Now, a Gyani does not travel
at all. His sukshma sharira does not travel at all. He just dissolves. So,
here, we are dealing with an Agyani (Satva Guni). He will go to higher lokas.
He will enjoy greater level of happiness. He reaches Loka of great Upasakas; of
Saguna Ishvara Upasakas; so he has upward travel.

Shloka # 15:

When one dies while rajas predominates, he is
born among people attached to activity. Similarly, when one dies while tamas
predominates, he takes birth among the stupid species.

Here travel of Rajo guna and
Tamo guna Pradhana Jivatma is discussed.

Rajo Guna Pradhana Jivatma,
after death, will be reborn in a loka where people are given to karma or
Manushya Loka or Bhu Loka. In Upper Lokas one can only exhaust Punya karmas but
one cannot earn Punya or Papa Karmas. It is the same with lower Lokas as well.

Now if a Tamo Guna Pradhana
Jivatma dies, he will be reborn in lower planes of existence; the seven lower
lokas are: athala,
vithala, suthala, rasatala, mahatala, talatala and pathala; either the people
will go to the lower lokas,
or even if they are born in Bhu loka,
they will not get manushya
janma where free will and buddhi are there; but they will be born as animals or
plants where also they will never have a freewill to acquire fresh karmas and
that is why they are called mudhayoni.

Thus Gathihi of the three
Gunas has been discussed.

Shloka # 16:

They say that the result of good work is pure
and is born of sattva. But the result of rajas is sorrow; the result of tamas
is ignorance.

Here Sri Krishna comes to the
fifth topic of Phalam of each Guna.

Now,
Gathihi is consequence after death whilePhalam is consequence felt in this life itself.

A
Satvik person’s activities are Punyam (balance, tranquility, purity etc); one
can feel shanti when in front of such a person while his house is a home.

Rajasik
person has great activity; but there is tension, anxiety and intolerance. Sri
Krishna says Dukham is present; flare ups occur; Himsa is present; it is not a
happy home; it is just a house. Home means a place where there is harmony
amongst its members. In a house, material prosperity may be there but inner
peace does not exist. Nimmadi ( tamil word for inner peace) is not there. In a
Satvic person material accomplishments are fewer but there is greater inner
peace.

Tamasic
person; here ignorance is perpetuated; advantage of human birth is lost; they
live like animals.

These
are the three Phalams of each respective guna. Thus fifth topic is also over.

Shloka # 17:

From sattva is born knowledge [Knowledge
acired through the sense-organs.], and from rajas, verily, avarice. From tamas
are born inadvertence and delusion as also ignorance, to be sure.

So
the same idea is repeated in this verse also. That is the consequence of the predominance
of the three gunas in this life
itself.

Out of satva guna Gyana is born, because when satva guna is dominant, the Gyanendriyas are all operational and bright, and therefore the learning capacity; the absorbing capacity; the retaining capacity; the building up capacity, everything is high. Therefore, knowledge increases in leaps and bounds, whether it is material knowledge or even spiritual knowledge; for both knowledge; satva is required. So sattvatsanjayate Gyanam.

With
Rajo Guna, persons’s Lobha (greed, ambitions) are dominant. He has no Tripti.

With
Tamo Guna, Pramadha is born in person. Pramadha means he becomes delusional, he
has ommisions, conflicts, and is indecisive; and perpetuation of ignorance
continues.

Shloka # 18:

People who conform to sattva go higher up;
those who conform to rajas stay in the middle; those who conform to tamas, who
conform to the actions of the lowest ality, go down.

Here
Sri Krishna is talking of Gathihi topic again.

People
with Satva Guna go to higher Lokas. Six higher lokas are: bhuvah, suvah,
mahaha, janaha, tapaha, and satyam. Out 14 lokas, 6 are up, 7 are down. Do not ask about the missing one.

What
about the rajasic people? They neither go
up nor down, they remain in the manushya loka or bhu loka
and they stagnate; here plus point is that they have not come down; the minus
point is that they have not gone up; therefore both are there.

Those
who continue in the Tamo guna,
they continue downwards.

Incidentally
we should remember, when we say svarga loka is higher, patala
loka is lower etc.
the word higher and lower do not indicate any spatial location.

The
higher and lower discussed is a relative thing; it means in a different time and space. So, for the people who are
in America, higher is different from for those who are in India.

Therefore,
higher and lower have nothing to do with particular time and space, because
according to shastra, each loka has a
different time and space. So we can never locate another loka in terms of our
time and space. If you have to understand this, it is like our dream objects.
So you experience objects in dream, they are all located in dream-time and
space; you can never talk about the location of dream object in terms of this
particular time and space.

You can never locate the objects of one loka in the time and space of another loka. Then how do you say svarga is higher? There, the higher, does not mean spatial location at all. And similarly, time location also we cannot talk about and that is why in dream, you obtain months of experience, in terms of waking time, in 1-1/2 minutes. During that brief time itself, your grandson is married and had children and they also got married. Why so? because dream time is different from our time. That is why when we offer food etc. for the pitrus or devas, we do not have to feed them every 3 hours; as in this loka. For the deva lokas, our one year is just 1 day for them. That is why the word higher is not in terms of time and space but in terms of quality. higher loka means qualitative superior loka, which means the body and sense organs enjoyed by them is of a higher refinement. And similarly the sense objects also are of higher refinement. Like within the earth itself, in some country’s, everything is good, including water. They say in some other country, they can drink water directly from the tap. Here, even if you buy Bisleri, one has to suspect. Why? We are in this loka.

So, therefore, when we find the relative refinement within the bhu loka itself, what to talk of higher loka? where is this Loka? Svarga is here and now, you cannot say beyond the cloud, etc.  In fact, you are able to change this body even while here; suppose you can remove this physical body and put on Indra Shariram, then, here itself you can experience svarga, therefore the field of experience depends upon the type of medium that you use. So if you have got a top body, then you hear certain sound, which you do not hear now. Now even the normal sound is itself difficult to hear. If you have ‘dog-ears’; when everybody says it is silent for you it will be very noisy. And therefore remember, different lokas are different planes of experience. It has nothing to do with our time and space and that is why, by travelling in this loka, you can never reach svarga loka. Just as by taking the vehicle of the jagrat avastha, can you travel and reach the Kasi of the dream; there is no corridor or road connecting the jagrat prapancha and svapna prapancha; by travelling any amount of distance in svapna, you cannot reach jagrat avastha; by travelling any amount of distance in waking state, you cannot reach svapna loka, there is no corridor connecting these two lokas. Any amount of travel, you cannot reach svarga. For reaching svarga, what is the first qualification?

One has to die. With this body; in this time and this space and this vehicle, you can never, because it is in a totally different plane. Thus, they are all in terms of the quality, not in terms of spatial location.

Shloka # 14.19

When the witness sees none other than the
alities as the agent, and knows that which is superior [i.e. different from.]
to the alities, he attains My nature.

So
with the previous shloka Sri Krishna completes the analysis of the three gunas, which he started
from verse 5. Through this analysis, he revealed some fundamental points; the
first point is that nobody can escape from these three gunas. The body
mind complex is called the ahamkara, with the reflected consciousness, the cidabhasa.

This
ahamkara, which is my
lower I, which is called the ego, can never escape from these three gunas. Either I
have to be satva pradhana
or I have to be Rajo pradhana
or I have to be Tamo pradhana;
you can only reshuffle the gunas;
the ahamkara cannot
escape from the gunas.
That is point No.1.

And the second important point that Sri Krishna indicated is, whatever is the type of guna, bondage cannot be avoided. Because each guna binds a person and that is why the second topic discussed was as to how each guna binds a person. So, from that it is clear, each guna will bind; only difference is the method of binding would be different; like a person asking should I kill by shooting or cutting the head; which is better; this is better or that is better; the result is still death only. The mode of destruction may vary. Therefore all these three gunas are going to bind me, how the three gunas bind we saw, and a satvic ahamkara will naturally be addicted to a particular type of environment and if that is not available, it will be disturbed. And what is the environment we seek; one that is knowledge-friendly environment.

Similarly
rajasic ahamkara is going to
seek another type of set up; it will be attached to; it will be addicted to; if
not, it is going to be unhappy. You ask him to remain in a room for a long time;
he will break down the wall.

Similarly
tamasic person; expects his own environment; and therefore all the three gunas are going to bind;

And therefore
what is the solution; the only solution is I should transcend the three gunas. I should
transcend the three gunas;
I should become guna
athitha; that is the only solution.

Now the question is: How can I become guna athithaha? guna athithaha, is another word for Nirguna, remember. Now here alone, we face the problem. Ahamkara is nothing but the body-mind complex with the reflected consciousness and therefore ahamkara can never become guna athithaha. So the distressing news is that ahamkara can never escape from the three gunas. Ahamkara by a process of change can become only a satva guna pradhana to rajo guna pradhana to tama guna pradhana; therefore ahamkara cannot become guna athithaha.

Now
the next question is other than ahamkara, is there another entity in me? What is the other entity
other than the body-mind complex and the reflected Consciousness?

What
else is there? Do not say there is nothing. If there should be a reflected
consciousness, (if the mirror and reflected face are there, there must be something
other than the mirror and the reflected face); what is that? It is the original
face, without which reflection is impossible. That original one, is called the
chit, the original consciousness which I called sakshi chaitanyam; the higher nature of the
personality.

And
this higher I, the sakshi has got what
guna; or Consciousness
has got which guna?

The consciousness fortunately or unfortunately is free from all the gunas and therefore, the higher I, is nirgunaha; and therefore the question is can the sakshi become gunathithaha? That is the question; What did we ask first? Can ahamkara become guna athithaha? The answer was ahamkara couldn’t become gunathithaha.

Now
the question is: Can Sakshi become guna athithaha? What will be the answer?

If
you say it cannot, it is wrong; if you say, it can, it is also wrong. You
cannot say that Sakshi cannot become
guna athitha, you
cannot say sakshi can become guna athitha, because
there is no question of becoming guna athitha, because Sakshi is already guna athitha;
therefore it need not become guna
athithaha.

So,
ahamkara cannot become
guna athithaha, sakshi need not
become guna athithaha and
therefore who becomes guna
athitha. Nobody becomes guna
thitha; therefore the very question how to become guna athitha is
wrong.

OK.
Now I have understood. Now tell me: how to become guna athithaha? If
you insist upon an answer to that question, I can give you only a compromised
version of the answer: you become guna athithaha, by
shifting your identification from ahamkara to sakshi. You become guna athihaha,
“become” in quotation, you become guna athithaha, when you shift your identification from the lower I; the ego to the
higher I; the consciousness; From anatma to atma;
from body to consciousness; from kshetram to KshetraGnya. As long as I take myself to be the bodymind complex, I will be saguna ahamkara. As long as
I identify, with my body-mind complex, I will be saguna ahamkara, and as
along as I am saguna ahamkara, I can never escape from samsaara.

Therefore the
only way is, to shift the identification from the body-mind-complex to the sakshi chaitanyam.
Instead of saying I am the body with a sakshi, you have to practice, reversing the statement; saying, I
am the sakshi, with an incidental and temporary body given by the Lord.

And,
incidentally, for the sake of transaction, there is nothing wrong in
identifying; but this is done with an awareness; just like an actor identifies
with the role; with the awareness that I am not the role.

So therefore you need not disclose this outside, but you remember the fact that I am ever the guna athitha sakshi, and I am functioning in the world through the saguna ahamkara, and as long as I am playing the role, I have to do everything properly, and therefore the only solution is knowing the higher nature and identifying with it.

And
therefore, in these two verses; which are the most important verses of the 14^th
chapter, namely 19 and 20th, Sri Krishna tells you can become guna athithaha
only by knowing your higher nature and it is not enough that you know, but you
should learn to identify with your higher nature; and look upon the ahamkara as a temporary
vesha. Make your
life into a drama with the ahamkara role. ahamkara is only the vesha. Ahamkara atma viveka is going to be discussed in the next two verses.

Take Away:

When
we say svarga loka is higher,
patala loka is lower etc.
the word higher and lower do not indicate any spatial location.

The
higher and lower discussed is a relative thing; it means in a different time and space.

All
the three gunas bind us. And
therefore the only solution is I should transcend the three gunas.

How
to transcend is addressed below:

As
long as I take myself to be the bodymind complex, I will be saguna ahamkara. As long as
I identify, with my body-mind complex, I will be saguna ahamkara, and as
along as I am saguna
ahamkara, I can never
escape from samsaara.

Therefore
the only way is to shift the identification from the body-mind-complex to the sakshi chaitanyam.
Instead of saying I am the body with a sakshi,
you have to practice, reversing the statement; saying, I am the sakshi, with an
incidental and temporary body given by the Lord.

With Best
Wishes,

Ram Ramaswamy