Baghawad Gita, Chapter 14 Summary
Continuing his teachings
Swamiji presented the summary of the chapter today.He said the 14th chapter, like theprevious chapter, falls within the third shadkam of the
Bhagavat Gita; the third
groupof six chapters and I had
pointed out that in the third shadkam,
Sri Krishna concentrates on Gyana yoga. And therefore we find the topic of Gyana yoga, theessential teachings of the Upanishads,
condensed in these chapters, especially the 13th, 14th and 15th chapters. In
the 16th and 17th chapters, we will see later, Sri Krishna deals with Gyana-yoga friendly
virtues.
Gyana yoga is the pursuit of self-knowledge or atma Gyanam. Though, these three chapters are relatively small, they are very significant chapters and this is known as Gunathraya vibhaga yoga and in this chapter, Sri Krishna deals with the three gunas as the stepping-stones and through these three gunas he takes us to the gunathitha atma. Using the three gunas as stepping stones and going to the gunathitha atma, is the subject matter of this chapter and therefore, it is called guna thraya vibhaga yoga.
Shlokas
# 1-4:
And in the first four verses of this chapter, Sri Krishna gives an introduction in which he mentions the subject matter of atma Gyanam as the liberating wisdom and therefore the greatest knowledge. All the other disciplines of knowledge are called apara vidya; inferior knowledge; whereas this is the knowledge, which is called para vidya in the upanishad and raja vidya in the 9th chapter; this knowledge is the greatest knowledge because this alone releases a person from samsara. All the other disciplines of knowledge will make me only smaller and smaller because the more I study I come to know how little I know. So instead of growing bigger in terms of knowledge, I only feel smaller and smaller as I study more, further. This is the only wisdom, which makes me own the fact that, I am Brahman, the biggest. Therefore, Sri Krishna says this is a liberating knowledge, which gives liberation while living and is called jivan-mukti; and it also gives liberation after death, which is then called videh mukti. And by videha mukti we mean freedom from punarjanma or cycle of birth and death.
Thus
having introduced the subject matter, later Sri Krishna gives the foundation
for the teaching and in that foundation he briefly mentions the process of creation.
He points out that God is the cause of the creation, and God consists of two
aspects, consciousness aspect and the matter aspect or Chetana and achetana.
In
the 7th chapter, Chetana
tatvam was called para prakrti; achetana tatvam was called apara prakrti.
In
the 13th chapter, Chetana
tatvam was called purusha and achetana tatvam is called
prakrtihi.
And
in the upanishads, chetana tatvam is
called brahman and the achetana
tatvam is called Maya.
These two principles together are called Ishvara and he is anadi and from this Chetana- achetana mishram alone the entire universe has originated, including every individual as well. And from this we can easily infer that every individual also must be a mixture of Chetana – achetana tatvam because as the cause is, so the effect will be. As the parents are so the children will be. So based on the same principle, I, the individual, is also a mixture of purusha and prakrti; brahman and maya; chetanam and achetanam. Otherwise, technically, I am atma-anatma mishraha.
And
from this we can infer that anatma
is a part of the mind, which is born out of prakrti, as such it will have the
three gunas, which
belong to prakrti.
So
prakrti is responsible for the origination of my anatma part and
therefore; my anatma part will
have three gunas and that anatma part is the
body-mind complex, otherwise also called ahamkara. So the body-mind complex is equal
to the anatma part is
equal to the ahamkara
part, which is sagunaha, endowed with
the three gunas, because it
is a product, originating from the prakrti.
And
similarly I have got a purusha aspect also; the chetana aspect
also; which is called the atma
aspect; which is nirgunam
in nature and this nirguna
atma is technically
called sakshi. Therefore saguna ahamkara plus nirguna sakshi; Saguna matter plus nirguna consciousness,
is the individual.
Saguna means with guna or properties and nirguna means without guna; or properties or attributes. The pure ahamkara also cannot interact in the world. Pure sakshi also cannot interact in the world. All the interactions are done by the mixture of sakshi + ahamkara.
And
the whole aim of this teaching is I should learn to own up more and more of my higher
sakshi svarupam, which is
the persistent and permanent nature of mine and I should not be over obsessed
with my inferior ahamkara
materialistic nature. Not that ahamkara should be neglected, because without ahamkara, pure sakshi cannot transact.
So ahamkara is needed;
but obsession
with ahamkara will lead to
all types of problem. And therefore instead of seeing myself as ahamkara, I should
learn to see myself as sakshi, now
transacting through ahamkara.
For this purpose, Sri Krishna talked about the creation and the essence of this
topic is, I am also a mixture of saguna and nirguna
aspects.
And having presented this foundation, Sri Krishna begins the teaching from the 5th verse onwards. He talks about the three gunas of ahamkara, to show that all the three gunas are causes of bondage; we need to know how to make use of them properly, like anything in the creation. If I know how to handle things, it can help me grow; if I do not know how to handle, the very same thing will cause problems.
You
take fire, it is a blessing or a curse; it depends upon whether I know how to handle
fire. Electricity is a blessing or curse? By itself it is neither; but if I do
not know how to handle it, it becomes a
curse. Similarly, the three gunas also; if I do not know how to
make use of them, they can become binding chains. Word Guna has a second meaning, they is ‘ropes’ or “chains”
that bind me.
Shloka’s 5-18
(Analysis of Ahamkara)
And
therefore I should have a thorough understanding of the three gunas. So from 5th
verse, up to 18th verse, we get an analysis of the three gunas, essentially
an analysis of the ahamkara;
because ahamkara has the
three gunas. And for the convenience of our study, Sri Krishna classifies
this analysis into five parts.
First he gives the
lakshanam or
definition of the three gunas.
Second he gives the
mode of bondage; how each guna
binds us. This is called bandana prakaraha.
Third, he gives the
lingam, indication
to find out which guna
is dominant in me.
Fourth is Gathi,
which means post-death travel; the travel after life.
Fifth is phalam, the
consequences of the predominance of each guna.
Sri
Krishna gives the definitions: satva is prakashatmakam; rajas is raghatmakam, tamas
is mohanatmakam.
Satva
is that disposition of the mind, which makes the mind knowledge friendly. So
satva makes the mind endowed with that disposition, which is knowledge
friendly, which makes the mind a bright mind;
So
he is disposed to the acquisition of knowledge; whereas rajo guna makes the
mind karma friendly; activity friendly; a disposition, which is suited for
dynamism.
Whereas tamo guna makes the mind unfit for, inimical to both others, thus it is neither knowledge friendly nor activity friendly. Such a disposition of mind is called Satva, rajas and tamas are propensity-based definition that indicate disposition of one’s mind.
Then
the next one is the mode of bondage. How does it bind? When my mind is knowledge
friendly, naturally I become a bookworm; all the time interested in operating
the Gyanendriyas; not karmendriya-active
person; and therefore I look for an infrastructure, which is conducive to more
and more study.
A
learning person will first look for those things. This becomes a bondage when such a conducive
atmosphere is not available; then this person becomes restless and unhappy. This
is the bondage caused by satva guna.
Whereas
rajo guni does not like
library or knowledge.
He
wants to do a lot of things; and therefore he looks for activity friendly
atmosphere; and, when such an atmosphere is there; that mind is very happy and
if that is not there he becomes mad.
And
tamo Guna is looking for sleep and if it is not available he gets mad.
These
are the three types of bandana prakaraha.
Then
the lingam, the
indication of the three gunas;
this is a corollary we get from the previous discussions.
When
satva is dominant then Gyanam increases; reading increases; study increases; thinking
increases; it is an indication of satva vritti.
Whereas
when activity increases, it is an indication of rajo vritti and when
sleep and sleepy condition increases, it is an indication of tamo vritti.
And then Sri Krishna talked about the gathi after death. When a Satva dominant person dies he goes to higher lokas; when a Rajas dominant person dies he is born in the manushya loka; because manushya loka is meant for Karma. When tamo guna dominant person dies that person goes down; hence, urdhva gathi, madhyama gathi and adho gathi.
And
finally, the consequences of these three gumas were also pointed out; that is the phalam or the
consequences in this life. When satva guna increases, Gyana vriddhi occurs; when rajo guna increases,
the ambition and activities increase; and when tamo guna increases,
nidra and negligence
in life increases and his life will be closer to an animal. So thus, all five topics Sri Krishna discusses from the
5th verse up to 18th.
Shlokas 19 and
20
And then comes the crucial two verses #19 and 20, in which Sri Krishna talks about transcending the three gunas. And for transcending the three gunas one will have to make use of the three gunas. Just as a fruit requires skin for ripening and once it is ripened, it does not require the skin and naturally the skin is shed.
Similarly,
the entire spiritual sadhana is a gradual
journey from tama pradhana
life to raja pradhana
life to satva pradhana
life to gunathitha life. And
how does the scripture accomplish that? The scripture prescribes lot of karma
to a person who is now tama pradhana. And what type of karmas? It prescribes Sakama karma.
Selfish
activities to fulfill worldly and materialistic desires; In fact scriptures
encourage such desires; because it wants to inject desires in the tamoguna person, who
is always sleepy and refuses to get up and wants to make him rajo guni.
And
once a person has got into sakama
karma, then the scriptures, gradually change his status.
At
first his rajo
guna is tamo guna or tainted
rajo guna, the first
phase. Then satva guna
tainted rajo guna should be the
next phase.
What is the difference between the two? Both rajo gunas will activate a person. It will make the person extremely ambitious; it will whip up the ambition but the difference will be initially all desires are personal and selfish-oriented; that means the beneficiary of my activity will be only I, or my family.
Whereas
when that rajo
guna is converted
to the higher rajo guna, sakama karma will
be converted into nishkama karma, which
means the beneficiaries of my activity will be more and more people. Not only my
family alone, but also others will also be benefited.
As the beneficiaries increase, sakama karma is getting converted into nishkama karma. This is travel from tamo guna; from lower rajo guna to higher rajo guna. To use the 4th chapter language, one goes from guna shudra to guna vaishya to guna kshatriya. Guna kshatriya is a person whose life and activities will benefit the entire community and even the nation.
Once a person has lived a guna kshatriya life, which is otherwise called karma yoga, then the scriptures ask you to graduate you to the next stage of a satva guna pradhana life; after the peak of activity, gradually one has to withdraw; from Grihastha ashrama to vanaprastha ashrama may occur
And at this stage alone, the scriptures talk about more of upasana and less of karma. So upasana is the sadhana which converts an extroverted active person into a quiet and withdrawn; and self or atma oriented person. Thus, upasana sadhana makes me a satva pradhana purushaha.
When
I become a satva pradhana purusha, the
activities are gradually dropped, and one does not feel any guilt because he
has contributed to the society sufficiently.
He
is not a selfish person he has contributed for so many years. Now he can turn to concentrated spirituality. And not only that,
physically also, this person becomes incapable of more activity, by this time.
Thus tama pradhana to raja pradhana to satva pradhana
he has reached; by following karma yoga and upasana.
Then, the satva guna to nirguna travel, is a totally
different type of travel. There is no corridor connecting satva guna
and nirguna. Tamo guna
can be changed to rajo guna, rajo
guna
can be changed to satva guna; but, satva guna can never be converted into nirguna. If satva guna
is converted, it will again become tamo guna
or rajo guna only. There is no corridor connecting guna
thraya and Nirguna or gunathita and therefore the only sadhana available is
Gyanam.
So after a person becomes a satva guna pradhana, karma yoga is dropped, upasana is dropped, because they have done their job by making me satva guna pradhana. In fact satva guna pradhana person is called sadhana chatushtaya sampanna adhikari. Then he has to move to Gyana yoga. That Sri Krishna tells us clearly.
As I said the crucial word in that 19th verse is Vetti; meaning,
he comes to know. And Sri Krishnadoes not say how to get the knowledge, because he has already said
that in the 4th chapter. Knowledge does not automatically happen. No knowledge, for that matter, can happen
naturally. If you sit quietly in
meditation, knowledge does not happen. Then, what should you do?
Gyanina
yoga means going
to a guru. sthrothriya brahmanishta
guru means systematic study of the Vedanta. Not a casual now and then listening to some satsanga here and
there, and all of them are meant to inspire you, inspiration is different;
teaching is different. Dayananda Swamiji says: Preaching is different; teaching is different.
And
systematic study of scriptures includes shravanam,
mananam and nidhidyasanam,
for a length of time, and there afterwards removing all the doubts by proper
mananam or analysis and thereafter internalization of the teaching. So through shravna, manana
and nidhidhyasana, I become
gunathitha.
Now the question is: How do I become gunathitha by shravanam? As I said, the body, mind complex will be eternally saguna, it would not become nirguna. Then what do I do through Gyana yoga? I learn to dis-identify from the body by knowing the fact that body is only an incidental instrument I am using for worldly transactions exactly like the spectacle and when I remove the spectacles, I am not gone, but I am not able to see the people, similarly when the body mind complex is not there, I do not disappear, but I also do not have the medium to interact with the people; and we do experience such a situation daily; When; during the deepsleep state. And in sleep the body mind complex is temporarily used and then it will be dropped, I should take the instrument as myself.
Then,
if I am not the body mind complex, who am I? For that Sri Krishna gave the
answer:
in Shloka 14:
20.
I am not the body, but I am the experiencer of the body; I am not the mind; I am the experiencer of the mind; and therefore, all the known attributes belong to the known body mind complex only. This is a very important law. You should remember. Any experienced attribute, belong to the experienced object. If I seegreen color, the color belongs to the eye or the object? The seen color belongs to the seen object; it does not belong to the seer eye. Whatever color I am seeing, they all belong to the objectified-attribute that belong to the objectified-substances; no attribute belongs to the objectifier-I. And therefore all the gunas belong to the body mind complex. “I” am free from all the three gunas. So you do not contact the gunathitha atma, you do not become the gunathitha atma, you own up the fact that I was gunathitha; I am gunathitha, and I will be gunatitha. For how many days, will I be Gunathitha? I am incapable of becoming saguna. So this transformation in the I takes place and this knowledge based transformation is called mokshaha or jivan mukti.
So after death, will I have urdhva gathi or madhyama gathi or atho gathi? If I have satva guna I will have urdhva gathi; if I have rajo guṇa I will have madhya gathi; if I have tamo guna I will have atho gathi. However,if I am Nirguna, I will have no gathi. Aham agathihi asmi. I am agathihi, because I cannot move from one place to another, because I am the atma, the chaitanyam, which is all pervading, in Me the consciousness, the saguna matter appears and in Me the consciousness the saguna matter resolves. And I am never affected by the three gunas. This is called moksha.
And
naturally Arjuna is curious to know what will be the lifestyle of such a gunathitha person,
and therefore he asked three questions in the 21st verse,
Shloka 14:21:
The three questions are: What are the indications of the gunathitha? Characteristics of gunathitha and then what is the conduct of the gunathitha: acharaha, and the method of becoming gunathithah.
And
Sri Krishna gives the answer, the indication is that the very knowledge makes
the mind less and less reactive to the situation because the mind has become an
enlightened mind and an enlightened mind learns to have the right attitude
towards the saguna creation. And
what is the right attitude? Understanding that the the proportion of the gunas varies from
individual to individual therefore no human being can be like me. And therefore
there is no question of compatibility. So looking for compatibility is the worst
thing that you can do and even if by chance there is any compatibility between
two persons, it cannot be for long, because both have dynamic and changing
mind; and therefore differences are natural in anatma. Association and dissociation are
natural in anatma. Birth,
growth, declension and death are natural in anatma. And therefore I cannot change the
anatma, I should
only change my attitude. And this changing of the attitude takes place gradually
only because the old behavior continues.
And through Nidhidhyasanam, which is called dwelling upon the teaching; I reduce my reactions gradually. Now, when the reactions reduce, knowledge does not Improve; Knowledge does not become brighter, but knowledge seems to improve, because the reactions are decreasing. Just like on a paurnami day, the moon seems to be brighter and brighter in the evening, but you know that moon is not becoming brighter but as the sunlight recedes, sunlight is an obstacle to the brightness of the moon; As the sun light recedes, the moon seems to be brighter and brighter; similarly my reactions come down as a result of the assimilation; as a result nidhidhyasanam.
And
as I had said before, we can see the decrease in reaction at three levels: frequency
of unhealthy reactions, like frustration, like fear, like insecurity, anger,
etc. the frequency of these comes down. Do not expect a flashy transformation.
It is not going to happen immedately. It is a gradual assimilation.
Not
only frequency comes down, the intensity of the reactions also come down. The
decrease in the intensity occurs at three levels; manasam, vachikam, and kayikam. That is
why when there is extreme reaction, there is butterfly in the stomach. Before
writing an examination, the stomach may get upset and with it mind, speech and
body as well. Therefore Arjuna, mental intensity comes down and later even
verbal and physical reactions come down.
So
this is reduction in intensity and finally there is a reduction in the recovery
period also; previously once I got angry it continued for days; but now it
comes down in hours; and then it comes down to minutes; then it comes down to
seconds; so I get a mental resilience to bounce back, even though I reacted
violently, I am able to forget that and continue with my life. So thus nidhidhyasanam, converts
Gyanam into Gyana nishta,
reducing the violent reaction. But we should remember, reactions can never
become zero. Zero reactions are only in the case of a table, the chair, etc. they
do not have it; they do not get angry. So our mind is a live mind; therefore we
can reduce the frequency, intensity, recovery period, but it can never become
zero. Once I reach this state my meditation or nidhidhyasanam becomes
slightly different; and that nidhidhyasanam is that I should not be too much obsessed with the
mind and its reactions; because to be over obsessed with the mind, is again
identification with the mind. That is ahamkara; and therefore, I reduce the reaction and
thereafterwards, I learn to distance from my mind, and I do not worry too much
about the reacting mind. That is reaction to the reaction.
So
every Gita student has to
face two reactions; one is the natural reaction to the situation; and the
second is reaction to the fact that I reacted, leading to depression.
So, after a some time, I drop my secondary reactions as well; I am not over-obsessed with the reaction of the mind. And I say that I do not have any reaction because I am now the witness of the reacting mind. So one should first reduce the reactions and then give up the reactions to the reactions.
Shlokas 22-27:
This
is called Gyana nishta
that Sri Krishna tells us about in verses 22 to 27. In the 22nd verses, he is
talking about the absence of reaction to the reaction. In one of the guru
purnima talks, I have dealt with this topic very, elaborately. Reaction to the
reaction is a greater samsara
and a Gyani does not react to the reaction. And thereafter as a Gyana nishta I
am not obsessed with my mind and its tendencies.
And
then the second question was how does he conduct himself in life. Sri Krishna emphasizes
that the Gyani has equanimity of the mind; his mind is free from violent
reactions and even if there are small reactions, he does not react to those
reactions. So samatvam is his acharaha.
Final
question of Arjuna was how to become gunathitha? The answer is Knowledge is gained
with the bhakthi to the Lord; surrender to the Lord and by the grace of the Lord.
May you get Gyanam and that Gyanam is the only solution.
Through Bhakthi you do not get liberation. Through bhakthi you get a conducive atmosphere for knowledge and a conducive personality as well; and then through knowledge you will attain mokshaha. So with this the answers to Arjuna’s question are complete and the 14th chapter is over.
Take Away:
Ahamkara has the
three gunas.
Therefore
saguna ahamkara plus nirguna sakshi; Saguna matter plus
nirguna
consciousness, is the individual.
Dayananda
Swamiji says: Preaching is different; teaching is different.
I
learn to dis-identify from the body by knowing the fact that body is only an
incidental instrument I am using for worldly transactions exactly like the
spectacle and when I remove the spectacles, I am not gone, but I am not able to
see the people, similarly when the body mind complex is not there, I do not
disappear, but I also do not have the medium to interact with the people;
I
am the atma, the
chaitanyam, which is all pervading, in Me the consciousness, the saguna matter
appears and in Me the consciousness the saguna matter resolves. And I am never affected by the three gunas. This is
called moksha.
With Best
Wishes,
Ram Ramaswamy