Each guna binds a person in one way or another, because each guna requires a particular set up.  Satva guna requires a setup conducive to knowledge and tranquility, rājo guna requires a setup conducive to activity and tāmo guna requires a setup conducive to sleep.  A particular set up that is favorable for sattva guna, is not favorable for rājo guna.  As a boktha we divide the set up into favorable and unfavorable, developing strong rAga and dveSha.  To change the set up, we become a kartA.  But the setup is never satisfactory, so we constantly try to change the setup.  But we never own by our infinite nature.  SaguNa body mind complex keeps us so busy that we are not allowed to think of nirguNa sakshi.  The three guNas constantly change, requiring constant change in the setup, resulting in a person being in eternal struggle.  The only remedy is transcending the three gunas and ahamkara.  AhaMkAra can never be made nirguNa as the three guNas are bound to be there.  NirguNa mind does not exist, as mind is subject to the three guNas.  The only remedy is to switch the identification from SaguNa ahaMkAra to nirguNa consciousness. 

Consciousness is beyond the body, but it is not physically beyond.  Consciousness is not affected by body mind complex, even though it is in and through the body.  This is similar to light is in and through an object, but it is not affected by the object.  The disturbances of the mind do not affect the consciousness.  I am that consciousness, beyond the three guNas and not affected by the body mind complex.  The day I know that my pUrNatvam is not determined by the setup is the day I am free.  An intelligent person changes himself rather than changing the setup.

AnAtma is the doer.  To emphasize this, Lord Krishna says that there is no doer other than anAtma.  Only when we recognize this fact, we will be free from the struggles of life.  This is jivanmukti and this can be obtained only by knowledge or jñānam. 

Verse 20

Having gone beyond these three gunas which are the cause of rebirth, a person becomes free from birth, death, old age, and sorry and attains immortality.

Three guNas represent the three bodies, five koshas and the entire anatma.  This body is a given by the lord, for gathering the knowledge that I am the body, but I have the body for temporary use.  The three guNas have given me this body, they will also give me my next body.  The three guNas are the cause of repeated acquisition of bodies.  When a person disidentifies form the body, that person is free from all the problems belonging to the body.  Body is mortal is not a problem; but I am mortal is problem.  Vedanta does not remove the idea that the body is mortal but teaches that I am not the mortal body but the immortal I, the atma behind the mortal body.  The body being born, growing, decaying and dying are not a problem; it is the nature of the body.  It becomes a problem for sorrow when I refuse to accept that nature.  ShAkShi jñānam gives me objectivity with regards to my own  body.  Once this objectivity comes, the intensity of the problem comes down.  The body will have to go through the condition, but you develop a different perspective and the events of life may not appear to be a tragic events.  This is similar to the sunlight making the stars as though they do not exist.

JIvan mukti is making life’s problem insignificant by changing the perspective through knowledge.  As a result of this knowledge, the mortality of body is not a problem.  We can attain immortality by shifting the identification from the mortal body to immortal atma.  This is jivan mukthi and also called guNatheetha.

Verse 21

Arjuna asked – Oh Lord!  With what characteristics does a person who is beyond these three guNas appear?  What is his conduct?  And how does he go beyond these three guNas?

Arjuna is inspired by the Lord’s teachings and asks three questions:

1. The first question is what are the characteristics or indicators of a person who has transcended the three guNas?  Will there be any change in his physical body?   Will there be any extraordinary powers? 
2. The second question is how does he conduct himself and interact with other people? 
3. The third question is how does he transcend the three guNas?  Is it a physical journey?

When sattva guṇa is dominant jñānendryas will be more operational, whereas rājo guṇa is dominant, karmēndriyas will be more functional; whereas when tāmo guṇa is dominant, neither jñānendryas nor karmēndriyas will be operational.  Tamo guna will suppress jñānendrya and make them dull.  Tamo guna will also suppress karmēndriyas also and there will be no activities.  A tamasic person should not go to vedanta vichAra, but start with sakama karma, then to niṣkāma karma, progress to Upasana and then only to vedanta.

The fourth topic is gathi or what direction each of dominant personalities will travel.

Verse 14

If a person dies when sattva is predominant, then, he attains those pure worlds belonging to the upsAakas of great deities.

If a sattva guna pradhāna ajñāni dies, he will go to higher and purer loka or punya predominant loka.    When a jñāni dies, his bodies merge with prabañcha and a jñāni does not travel after death.

Verse 15

Having died when Rajas is predominant, one is born amidst those who are attached to action.  Likewise, having died when tamas is predominant, one is born in the wombs of deluded being.

A rājo guna dominant person will be reborn in a loka in which people are given lot of karma, that is manuṣhya loka.  In the higher lokas and lower lokas you can’t acquire new karma phalāḥṃ you can only exhaust karma phalāḥṃ.  Only in manuṣya loka, a person can both acquire and exhaust karma phalāḥṃ.

When a tāmo guna predominant person dies, that person is reborn in lower planes of existence.  It can be lower lokas or they will be born as animals or plants where they will have no free will to acquire fresh karma. 

Verse 16

Scriptures say that the result of sattvic action is pure punya.  The result of rajasic action is sorrow.  Whereas the result of tamasic action is ignorance.

These verses discuss phalāḥṃ of each guna.  Sattvic person’s actions are free from anxiety, tension and there will be harmony and peace. There will be spiritual growth.

For a person is rajasic, there will be lot of activities, anxiety, tension, intolerance, stress and strain. There will be hurtful chain reaction among rajasic personalities.  Even communication may breakdown after a while, and it will be a broken environment.  There will be materialistic prosperity without spiritual growth and peace.

For a tamasic person, human life is wasted, and ignorance is perpetuated.  Ajñānam or ignorance is the result of tamasic karma. 

Verse 17

Knowledge is born out of sattva.  Greed is born out of rajas.  Negligence and delusion along with ignorance are born out of tamas.

Out of sattva guna jñāna is born, because jñānendryas are bright and operational.  Knowledge increases by leaps and bounds. 

When rājo guna is dominant there will be greed and ambition.  Tāmo guna will result in forgetfulness, omission delusion conflict and indecisiveness.  Perpetuation of ignorance will continue for a tamasic person..

Verse 18

Sattvic people go up.  Rajasic people remain in the middle.  Tamasic people, abiding by the functions of the lowest guna go down.

Sattva guna predominant person goes to higher loka.  Rājo guna predominant person neither goes up nor goes down, and they stay stagnant.  Tamo guna predominant person travel downward.  Higher, middle and lower lokas refer to the quality of the lokas and not the physical location.

Verse 19

When the seer understands the doer to be none other than the gunas and knows the self which is beyond the gunas, he attains My nature

There is no escape from the bondage created by the three gunas; only the mode of bondage will be different.  Sattva guna is addicted to knowledge predominant environment.  A rājasa guna is addicted to activity predominant environment. AhaMkAra can never be free from gunas.  It can only change the predominance of the gunas.   The only way is to claim the higher nature of I, the sAkshi chaithanyam.  SAkshi need not become guna free, because it never has any guna.  So, there is no question of how to become guna free.  You become guna free when you shift your identification from the lower I, the ego, ahaMkAra, anatma to higher I, consciousness, sAkshi chaithanyam, Atma.  As long as I identify myself with body mind complex, I will be saguna ahaMkAra and I can never escape from saMsAra. The only solution is to know and identify with the higher nature and own up the higher nature.

Our body mind complex is made up of three gunas, and ahaMkAra is part of body mind complex.  As a result, we can’t escape the three gunas and we are forced to live with the three gunas and saguna ahaMkAra.  To handle the ahaMkAra, we must understand ahaMkAra and which guna is dominant in us and how the three gunas behave.  We must understand how the three gunas impact our material life and spiritual life. 

Definition:

• Satvic guna is a personality inclined to learn more and more; predisposed to acquire more knowledge.
• Rajo guna is a personality that tends to act more; tends to do more; and wants to use karmēndriya more than JñAnendriya;
• Tamo guna is a personality always in doubt, not sure what to do; in eternal conflict, delusion and procrastination.

How each guna bind:

• Satvic mind has a knowing tendency and naturally addicted to introspect, which is conducive to learning.
• Rajasic mind always wants to do something or other.  And for that it needs infrastructure and karmēndriya.  Rajasic mind is addicted to karma
• Tāmo guna mind is not sure about what infrastructure it needs.  It is attached to negligence and carelessness.

Verse 10

Sattva manifests by overpowering rajas and tamas.  Rajas (manifests by overpowering) sattva and tamas.  Tamas (manifests by overpowering) sattva and rajas, Oh Arjuna!

Everything in creation is a product of prakriti and therefore everything has all three gunas, but the proportion is not uniform.  Before creation, the three gunas were in equal proportion.  After the creation, the distribution of the three gunas is disturbed and they are not in the equal proportion.  Tāmo guna will be dominant in an inert object.  Plant has a little bit more of sattva and rājo guna, but it doesn’t have the capacity to learn and has a limited capacity of action like growing.  Animals have more dominant rājo and sattva guna than plants.  Humans have more rājo guna and sattva guan than animals.   All human beings do not have the same proportion of gunas; some of them have more sattva guna, some of them have more rājo guna and some have more tāmo guna.

For satvic person, satvic guna is dominant overpowering, rājo guna and tāmo guna.  For a rajasic person, rājo guna is dominant overpowering sattva guna and tāmo guna.  For a tamasic person tāmo guna is dominant, overpowering sattva guna and rājo guna. 

However, a person’s dominant guna (personality) can be transformed, but the rate of transformation may be different from person to person.  All sadhanas in scriptures are meant for transforming gunas.  Most people are born as tāmo guna predominant person (e.g. babies sleep more).  Life has to start with  karma and that is why scriptures prescribe karma yoga before jñāna yoga.

Rājo guna is of two types: 

1. RTS:  Rājo guna backed by Tāmo guna and followed by sattva guna.  Such a person will be selfish for the fulfilment of his own desires.  Scriptures say start with selfish activities.
2. RST:  Once selfishly active, convert this order to Rājo guna, followed by sattva guna and then followed by Tāmo guna. For this person, actions are selfless actions.  The activities are beneficial to more people, not just for himself. 

When the mind has become a mature mind, then convert the rajasic tendencies to satvic tendencies.  Convert to a sattva guna dominant mind, followed by rājo guna and then followed by Tamo guna.  RTS to RST to SRT.  Inactivity to selfish activity to selfless activities to inquiry is our journey.  When a person comes to the stage of inquiry, that person has already contributed to society through karma yoga and he should not have any feeling of guilt. 

Progress from Guna Sudhra (less active) to guna vaishya (Selfishly active) to guna kShatriya  (Selflessly active) to Guna brAhmaNa  (Pursuit of knowledge.

Verse 11:

When the light of knowledge grows in all the sense organs in this body, then, one should know that sattva is predominant.

Lord Krishna is now entering the third topic, that is lingam:  Indication or characteristics of gunas.   How do we know which guna is dominant in us?

The five sense organs provide knowledge of external world.  In a sattva guna dominant person, these five sense organs are bright, alert and have a great absorbing capacity. 

Verse 12

Greed, activity, commencement of works, restlessness, and craving – these appear when rajas is predominant, Oh Arjuna!

When rājo guna is dominant, that person will always be active and not have time for inquiry.  They will initiate many activities and projects  Their mind is ever restless and impatient.  They also expect the same amount of speed from the people around them.  Rajasic activities are very important for materialistic growth of a country. 

Verse 13

Dullness, inaction, negligence and delusion – these appear when tamas is predominant, Oh Arjuna!

In a tamasic person, all the sense organs are dull.  He is neither contemplative nor active.  Both sattva guna and rājo guna are dominated by tāmo guna.  He is negligent and careless.  Does not know what he wants to do.  Neither he can decide, nor will he take others advice. 

Based on these lingam or indicators, we should infer the predominant guna in ourselves.  Use this inference to gradually improve our character and gunas.

Every individual is made up of two part – sakshi part, higher nature and ahaMkAra, the lower nature; the higher nature made up only consciousness or atma; the ahaMkAra, the lower part, is made up of body mind complex and enjoys reflected consciousness, because of which it becomes sentient.  This is similar to a mirror which has two parts – the reflected light and the object in front of the mirror.  Sakshi is neither the body nor the reflected consciousness, but the original consciousness.  The lower nature is saguna ahaMkAra and higher nature is nirguna sakshi.  AhaMkAra is made up of prakriti.  AhaMkAra is bound by the three gunas – satvic, rajasic or tamasic – only the proportion of each guna changes.  That changes in proportion changes the type of bondage and samsara.  AhaMkAra cannot escape the three gunas.  We will have to renounce the three gunas and own up to higher nature.  However, Lord Krishna states that to own up higher nature, we should use the three gunas – similar to a pole vaulter using the pole to cross the bar and then drop the pole.

Verse 6

Among them sattva is bright and harmless due to its purity.  It binds by causing attachment to pleasure and by causing attachment to knowledge, Oh, Arjuna!

In the following verses, Lord Krishna describes the three gunas.  The analysis of three gunas will be discussed in the following topics:

1. Definition of each guna
2. Mode or method of bondage
3. Indication of clue to find out which guna is predominant in one person
4. Course of travel taken by a jiva after death, based on each guna.
5. Consequence of the domination of each guna in this life

In verse 6 Lord Krishna discusses sattva lakshasam and bandhanam, in verse 7, he discusses rājasa lakshanam and bandhanam and in verse 8, he discusses tamasic lakshanam and bandhanam.

A sattva pradhana mind will have clarity, because it is not polluted by tamasic guna.

When sattva guna is influenced by tāmo guna, the mind will be turbulent.  But when sattva guna is not influenced by tāmo guna, the mind will be bright and calm, and have clarity in thinking. If rājo guna pollutes sattva guna, the mind will become restless.  When rājo guna does not influence sattva guna, mind will be free from tension, stress, strain, and restlessness. 

So, sattva guna is tranquil, bright and calm.  But sattva guna is also bondage because a satvic mind seeks seclusion and tranquility.  To be secluded and tranquil, external forces must be controlled. But external forces are difficult to control and when there is no seclusion, the satvic mind becomes disturbed and the quietude becomes raga.  Sattva guna leads to noble dependence.  A satvic mind is attached to tranquility and knowledge and is bound by greed for more knowledge or apara vidya.  A satvic mind suffers from intellectual samsara. 

Verse 7

Understand Rajas to be of the nature of passion and to be cause of desire and attachment.  It binds the Self by causing attachment to activity, Oh Arjuna!

A rajasic mind is highly extroverted and wants to relate to things and people.  Each guna plays its own role in our life and each one of them is required for life.  We need all three gunas to attain moksha.  Rājo guna has an ambitious mind and desires for possessions.  Mind is full of desires – selfish desires and selfless desires.  A rajasic mind wants to hold on to all possession.  Rājo guna desires for things not yet possessed and attaches to things already possessed. 

Karma is required for karma yoga, after that one must shift to jñāna yoga.  The problem with rajasic person is he can’t shift to jñāna yoga.

Verse 8

Understand tamas to be born of ajñānam and to be the deluder of all beings.  It binds by causing negligence, indolence, and sleep, Oh Arjuna!

Tāmo guna was born out ajñānam or prakriti.  The predominance of tāmo guna suppresses sattva guna and rājo guna.  Since sattva guna is suppressed, there is no clarity or goal in life but there is delusion.  Even when there are goals, there is no clarity of goals.   A tamasic person is either asleep or sleepy; as he does not do any karma, he does not acquire punyam or pavam.  This is not as good as it sounds because animals also do not acquire pavam or punyam.

Verse 9

Sattva binds one to pleasure.  Rajas binds one to action.  Whereas tamas binds one to negligence by veiling the discriminative power, Oh Arjuna!

Each guna binds by creating an addiction.  Sattva guna is addicted to knowledge and tranquility.  Rājo guna is addicted to karma.  Doing karma is not a problem but addiction to karma is samsara.  Each of the guna create samsara:

• Rajasic creates samsara by doing karma.  Doing karma is wonderful, but addiction to karma is a problem.
• Sattvic creates samsara by gaining knowledge.  Gaining knowledge is wonderful, but addiction to knowledge is a problem.
• Meditating is wonderful, but addiction to meditation is problem by covering clarity.  (Tamasic).

The first four verses are introductory verses, dealing with self-knowledge.  Self-knowledge is liberating wisdom.  The third and fourth verses discuss creation; every product in creation is a mixture of two parts – purusha and prakriti; or called brahma and maya; or father and mother; Whenever we talk of Eeswara, that Eeswara is a mixture of the two.  Since the cause of creation is a mixture of two principles, the effect is also a mixture of two.  Therefore, we all are also a mixture of consciousness principle and matter principle; This analysis will be the subject matter of Chapter 14.  

Verse 5

Sattva, Rajas and tamas – these are the three gunas born out of prakriti.  They fasten the changeless Self in the body, Oh Arjuna!

Bhagavan is a mixture of consciousness and matter principles therefore we are also a mixture of the two.  The physical body is the material principle, and it is prakriti tatvam.  The mind also comes under prakriti tatvam.  Purusha tatvam is consciousness principle.  The five features of consciousness:

• Is not a part, product or property of the body or any object.
• Is an independent entity which pervades the body and makes it existent
• extends beyond the body or object.
• survives the fall of the body or object
• surviving consciousness is not recognizable because of the absence of reflecting medium

This consciousness principle is me.  Pure consciousness principle which is nirguna (attribute-less) and nirvikāra (changeless) and witness principle called sakshi tatvam or my higher nature.  It is witness to all the changes that is happening.  Body/mind principle by itself is inert in nature; but because it is pervaded by consciousness, it has borrowed consciousness.  This is similar to hot water – water is not inherently hot, but it is hot because it borrows the heat from the fire or agni principle. 

Sakshi is the original consciousness.  Body mind complex is endowed with borrowed consciousness.  This body mind complex (prakriti) with borrowed consciousness (chithAbAsha) is called ahamkArA.  Whenever we use the word I, it includes the body with borrowed consciousness and sakshi with original consciousness.  Sakshi part of mind is nirguna, nirvikāra and Sathya chaithanyam.  The AhamkArA aspect of the mind is saguna, savikāra and mithya.  You should be able to differentiate nirguna sakshi and saguna ahamkArA. AhamkArA is our lower nature and sakshi is our higher nature.  As long as you claim your AhamkArA, samsara can’t be avoided.  The only way of getting out of samsara is by transcending from lower AhamkArA nature and owning up to your higher sakshi nature. 

AhamkArA is a mixture of prakriti and purusha.  Prakriti has three gunas, and hence ahamkArA also has three gunas – satvic, rajasic and tamasic.  Each of these gunas binds a person with consequences.  That is why this chapter is called gunathrayâ vibhāga yogaha. 

Guan has two meaning – property or rope. or shackle.  So guņa is a rope that binds you to samsara.  One has to break the shackles of each guna and seek moksham.

At the time of creation, the three gunas were in equilibrium or in equal proportion.  At the equilibrium stage there is no creation.  At the time of creation, this equilibrium is disturbed. After creation, everyone and everything are a mixture of three gunas, but in different proportions.  Even the most inert object has the three gunas, but in different proportions. 

In Satvic character is jñāna pradhāna personality and intellectually motivated.  This person will be internally oriented, introverted; loves silence; when this silence is disturbed, a satvic mind is upset and that creates samsara.  A satvic mind travels from finitude to finitude

In a rajasic character karma pradhāna will be activity oriented; highly turned outward; likes noisy activities; a rajasic mind is upset when there is no person is around or face silence, creating duḥkam and samsara.  A rajasic mind ravels from finitude to finitude.

In Tamasic guna creates inertia or suppression of both jñāna and karma; suppresses both sattva and rājo gunas.  For a tamasic character, there is no scope of progress at all.   Remains in finitude and does not travel. 

All three gunas creates bondage and mixed with pain and sorrow.  All three gunas create dependence.  All three gunas also create athripthi karathvam.  A satvic person wants to get more and more knowledge.  He goes on acquiring knowledge, but any amount of knowledge he gathers, his knowledge limitation does not go away.  This creates intellectual samsara.  A rajasic person suffers samsara in terms of activities, as he wants to accomplish more and more.  For liberation, we will have to use the three gunas as stepping stone and then transcend them.

This is similar to a pole vaulter.  A high jumper uses the pole to reach the top and lets the pole go when he reaches the top of his jump; if he doesn’t, he will not finish the jump; but if he does not use the pole, then he will not be able to do the jump at all.  So an intelligent person needs to use the pole to reach the top and then let go of the pole.  Similarly, we need to embrace AhamkArA (all three gunas) to reach moksham but let go the three gunas and AhamkArA once we get jñānam. 

We also need all three gunas to live our life.  We need to use tāmo guna for rest and relaxation.  Rajasic guna is required for karma yoga.  Satvic guna is required for jñāna yoga.  But we should remember our real nature is sakshi which is free from all three gunas.  A one who is free from all three gunas is a liberated person.

In the last ṣatkam of Bhagavat Gita, the first three chapters – chapters 14, 15 and 16 – mainly focus on jñāna yoga. 

Nethi Nethi method:  Whatever I experience, I am not; by negating everything I experience, then I left out with is the experiencer, who can never be the object.  Arrive at the subject by negating every object.  By negating everything saguna, what is left will be nirguna atma.  This chapter is saguna, nirguna inquiry.  Everything that has gunas or attributes, they all are anatma or object.  In this chapter, the subject Brahman is presented as attribute less.  The subject matter of this chapter is I am gunathethaha and not gunathrayâṃ. 

Verse 1

The Lord said – Once again I shall impart that supreme knowledge which is the greatest among all forms of knowledge and gaining which all sages have reached the supreme goal from here.

When the subject matter is subtle and deep, it must be repeated.  That is the reason Krishna repats the topic of atma jñānam from another angle. 

In this verse, first greatest indicates first greatest subject matter, which is atma or brahman; the second greatest indicates the benefits. Because this is the only knowledge that gives the greatest benefit moksha.  Mundaka Upanishads calls this para vidhya; In the 9^th chapter this is called raja vidhya.  By gaining this greatest wisdom, all the seekers attain mokśa.

Verse 2

Resorting to this knowledge, they have attained the same nature as Mine.  They are not born even during creation; nor do they suffer (death) during dissolution.

By acquiring this knowledge, the seekers have attained oneness with me, dropping their jivatvam and attaining eeswaratvam.  Eeswara is Poornatvam, always complete and free from insecurity.  A jñāni also attains this poornatvam, always complete and free from insecurity, no regret regarding the past and no anxiety towards the future.  This is jivan mukthi.  After death, they attain videha mukthi, that is freedom from puranapi jananm and puranabi maranam.  They are not afflicted by the pain caused by mortality. 

Verse 3

The great prakriti is My womb.  I place the seed in that.  There upon takes place the origination of all beings, Oh, Arjuna!

Having introduced the subject matter in the first two verses, Krishna is summarizing the process of creation in verses 3 and 4.  In the 13^th Chapter, Krishna described creation.  He said that before creation, there were two principles:  Purusha and Prakriti, both are anädi.  The four difference between purusha and prakriti are:

• Purusha chethanam prakriti is achethanam.
• Purusha is nirguna tatvam; prakriti is saguna tatvam.
• Purusha is nirvikāra, no modification, prakriti is savikaraha.
• Purusha is Sathya tatvam, prakriti is mithya, does not have independent existence.

The mixture of purusha and prakriti is eeswara and eeswara is cause of creation.  Purusha is compared to a male principle and prakriti is symbolized to female principle.  This comparison shows that the two principles put together alone can be the cause of creation.  If this mixture is the cause of creation, therefore,  all the products will have the features of the mixture, that is the features of purusha and prakriti.  Every individual is a mixture of purusha and prakriti tatvam.  If we do not recognize this nature, then we will not know how to handle ourselves. 

Once the conception is complete, the purusha and prakriti principles need not do anything, and the conceived baby grows appropriately.  Similarly, evolution happens.  Everything originates thereafter naturally.

Verse 4

Oh Arjuna!  Whatever forms are born in all the wombs – for all of them the great prakriti is the womb.  I am the father who provides the seed.

Krishna says I am the universal father and Maya is the universal mother.  What is the difference between the universal couples and the human couples.  Human couples can produce only human children.  Whereas the universal couple give birth to all species.  Whatever species of living being is born, the original cause is prakriti, the Maya.  We are all children of purusha and maya.  Therefore, we will also have the features of the mixture.

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 5^th 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 4^th 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

Shloka 14:21

14.21 Arjuna said O Lord, by what signs is one
(known) who has gone beyond these three alities? What is his behaviour, and how
does he transcend these three alities?

Continuing his teachings
Swamiji said today,after elaborating about the three gunas, and how
they bind a human being, Sri Krishna pointed out the method of becoming gunathitha which is
the only means to liberation and that method was given to us in the two
important verses of 19 and 20. The anatma cannot become gunathitha while the atma is ever gunathitha; and
through knowledge and by using the saguna anatma
as a medium of transaction, I come to know that I am everthe gunathitha.

Now, Arjuna raised a question in the verse # 21 that we saw in the last class. His question has three parts: the first part is gunathitha lingam; the second part of the question is gunathitha acharaha; and the third part of the question is gunathithava sadhanam. Gunathitha lingam means what is the indicator by which I can know whether I have become gunathitha?

The
second question is what are the gunathithaha acharaha
or the way of the life, or the conduct of the gunathitha purusha or the Gyani?

The
third question is: What are gunathithatva
sadhanam or the
means by which one can become a gunathithaha?

Sri
Krishna now gives the answer in the following verses.

Shloka # 14.22:

14.22 The Blessed Lord said O son of Pandu, he
neither dislikes illumination (knowledge), activity and delusion when they
appear, nor does he long for them when they disappear.

In the first two verses, that is 22 and 23, Sri Krishna answers the first question related to gunathitha lingam; then in verses, 24 and 25, he talks about the gunathitha acharaha, the conduct, and then in the 26th verse, Sri Krishna answers the last question gunathithatva sadhana.

Regarding the indicator to know whether I am gunathitha or not, Sri Krishna says a gunathitha is one who is detached from his own body-mind complex. So gunathitha is one, who is detached from this own body-mind complex, and therefore, he is able to look at his own body-mind complex as part of the world and therefore he enjoys objectivity with regard to his own body-mind complex. So this objectivity, freedom from too much worry and anxiety with regard to one’s own body-mind complex is the indication of gunathitha. This Gyani, or this gunathitha, because of his very source of sadhana, enjoys a better health at the body and mind level, because he has gone through karma yoga, upasana yoga, etc. and therefore his mind is predominantly a satvic mind. A Gyani’s mind is a predominantly satvic mind, which he has attained through sadhana. And because of the very same sadhana, Gyani has got a strong mind, a refined mind, and a mind, which is free from violent reactions. In fact that is the definition of the satva pradhana mind and therefore, the reactions are less, to life’s situations, and even if there are reactions in the mind, they are milder and even if they are milder reactions, he has the capacity to recover quickly from them, as well. Thus a Gyani enjoys a healthy mind. But he knows that even if I enjoy a healthy mind as a result of the sadhanas, a 100% healthy mind is not possible even as there is no possibility of a 100 % healthy body.

Gyani
accepts the fact that his mind is subject to the fluctuations of the three gunas. Even
towards such a mind, Gyani does not violently react or get upset. And
therefore, he has got objectivity with regard to his own mind, and therefore,
if the mind has got certain problems, Gyani always has a healthy response.

What do you mean by healthy response? He is neither too indifferent nor inactive. At the same time if mind has certain disturbances he is not going to be over-reactive to that situation. He remembers the fact that the conditions of the mind have nothing to do with my purnathvam, because I am the atma who is different from the mind.

And
therefore Sri Krishna says his mind
enjoys prakasham, that is predominantly satva
guna although Raji
Guna and Tamo Guna also occur. Even a Gyani’s
mind has satva, rajas and tamo gunas; the only
difference is that his mind is dominantly satvic. He realizes that his mind is
not 100% satvic. For that
matter, no mind is 100% satvic.
He realizes that there are times when tamo guna is predominant; and other times when  rajo guna is predominant. However, most of the time, he is satvic. And
because of this the appreciation he
does not hate his mind, based on its guna.

Furthermore,
he is neither attached to satva guna or rajo guna or tamo guna, nor does he
hate any of them; he knows these three gunas are inevitable compositions of everything including my
own mind. And therefore he is able to accept his own mind. Accepting one’s own body and accepting one’s own mind is the indication of gunathithatvam.

Shloka 14.23:

14.23 He who, sitting like one indifferent, is
not distracted by the three alities; he who, thinking that the alities alone
act, remains firm and surely does not move;

Sri
Krishna explains the same idea in this verse again. What do you mean by the acceptance
of one’s own body-mind-complex; or objectivity, or a healthy response?

Generally, the problem an agyani faces is extreme response to situations. One extreme response is total indifference. It is a tamasic response. When the physical body has got some disease or sickness, imagine I do not feed the body at all; I am not careful at all, indifferent or carelessness or inaction is one extreme response, which is called tamasic response.

Then there is another extreme response, the moment the doctor says that you will have to go through the blood test, this fellow presses the panic button, this fellow is extremely worried about the body, the moment the body is sick, he imagines only the worst possible disease; would it be cancer etc?

So one extreme is inaction; another extreme is reaction. What is a
healthy response; it is neither inaction nor reaction, but healthy action to
improve the situation. If the body has some problem, there is no panic; at the
same time there is no complacency as well; what needs to be done, I do.

Similarly, the mind is there; it is not going to be all the time
sama, the mind will have disturbances and that I have to handle, neither
inaction nor reaction, but whatever can be done to improve.

While the mind can be infinitely improved there is no question of
100% perfection of the mind, No Jivan muktha has got 100% perfect mind, just as
he does not have 100% perfect body.

And therefore Sri Krishna says: Gyani appears as though he is indifferent, because when the body falls sick he does not violently react to the sickness, it appears as though he is indifferent to his health. But Sri Krishna says he is not indifferent; he is “as though” indifferent; as though indifferent, means there is no violent reaction but at the same time, there is no inaction also; whatever is to be done; he will do to the body; therefore, udasinavat means he is balanced with regard to his own body mind complex.

So even with the fluctuation of the three gunas he is not disturbed.

Then what is his attitude when these three gunas
are there and fluctuate?

Even with this knowledge he remains balanced; without self-criticism, without self-judgment and without a low self-image. He remains with a balanced mind; So this objectivity with regards one’s own body and mind, is the indication of the gunathitha or a Gyani.

.

Shloka 14.24:

14.24 He to whom sorrow and happiness are
alike, who is established in his own Self, to whom a lump of earth, iron and
gold are the same, to whom the agreeable and the disagreeable are the same, who
is wise, to whom censure and his own praise are the same;

So
with the previous two verses, Sri Krishna has answered the first question. Now
he answers the second question.

The second question is: How does he respond to the worldly situation? And answer is the same. Just as the body mind complex is made up of the three fluctuating gunas, the entire world is also made up of the three gunas alone and therefore you will have to interact with people who are satvic, which will be a happy interaction and you will have to interact with rajasic people, who are all the time tense and angry and irritable and you will also have to interact with those people who will not move at all. After half an hour of repetition, they will just ask what did you say? You will have to wait for eons for them to complete any job.  

So,
these three types of people will be there eternally in the world; and not only
that; one and the same person, himself or herself, will not be satvic all the time,
or rajasic all the time, and therefore the people in your own family will
change. And that is why they said with regard to marriage: Do not choose based
on the character because nobody’s character will remain the same; Marriage is dharma based and not
compatibility based according to our Shastra, because compatibility is impossible; and even if there
is a compatibility, husband is also changing, wife is also changing, after a
few years, the compatible couple would have changed sufficiently to become an
incompatible couple.

Therefore
different people are different, and the situations are also made up of the
fluctuating prakrti; therefore situations will change. And Gyani accepts this
fact of the creation and the very acceptance gives him a balanced state of mind.

.

And
therefore Sri Krishna says Gyani is one who always abides in his higher nature
that is Guna athita.

So he always abides in gunathitha atma svarupam. And what do you mean by abiding in atma? Abiding in the atma means not forgetting the fact that I am gunathithaha. Self-abidance is not forgetting one’s real nature. Just as a sangita vidhvan, whatever song he sings, one corner of the mind is aware of the tampura sruti. It is not that he thinks of sruti alone;  it is just that in one corner of the mind he is aware of the sruti and whenever there is a doubt he will go behind and check up. So, just as a musician is aware of the sruti, Gyani is aware of the sruti. What is sruti, here? Vedaha and what is the teaching of the sruti? It is that, I am not the changing guna. While the body is saguna and world is saguna, I am different from both the saguna body and saguna world. This constant awareness is called svasthaha.

And
because of this awareness, he is samadukhasukha. There is no resistance to favorable and
unfavorable situations,
which are inevitable in life. Now desha, kala and prarabhdha, these three things will
affect our life all the time. Desha: if you are in
a tropical country, you are affected
by weather.

Kala, the time will affect the situation, the body will grow older and the people around will grow older.

Finally
our own prarabhdha karmas will
also affect us.

So
the prarabhdha will also fluctuate
and they are bound to bring sukham and dukham. Health and ill health; financially better or adverse
situation; they are bound to happen; and when such situations come; he is samaha. Samaha, is not indifference to
the situation, nor is it overreaction to the situation but it is doing whatever
can be done to
improve the situation, all done with poise.

Therefore
samadukhasukha; he
will have neither
raga nor dvesha, because
things will come and go; gold will come; gold will go; wealth will come, wealth
will go.

Previously,
it was said that he was balanced towards sukham and dukham, now he says, he is
balanced towards the sukha dukha
sadhanams or things
that are the cause of sukham and dukham; pleasant and unpleasant situations.

He is balanced towards criticisms and glorification coming from people. Whatever you do some people will glorify; and there will be some other people to criticize, if you want 100% approval from all people, you can never do anything in life. Therefore, approval seeking is an indication of low self-image. And therefore a Gyani whatever be the course of action he has to take, he will see the pros and cons, the demerits and merits, and if he has to take opinion from known people, he will take, perhaps he will consult shastra, and thereafter, once he has decided a course of action, he will plunge into that; whatever be the opinion of others.

Sri
Rama has been
criticized; Sri Krishna has been criticized; Shankaracharya has been criticized. Nobody can escape the criticism of
others; and therefore do not be carried away by ninda and stuti. And
if somebody criticizes and enjoys in the process he says, you be happy, because
at least somebody is happy criticizing me.

So
he is one who is balanced in censure and praise.

Shloka 14.25

14.25 He who is the same under honour and
dishonour, who is eally disposed both towards the side of the friend and of the
foe, who has renounced all enterprise,-he is said to have gone beyond the
alities.

Samatvam is further explained here.

Again you cannot escape maanam or apamanam. Thus a a sambhandi may feel he is not respected.

The difference between Nindha sthuthi and Mana
apamana is: Ninda Sthuti is at verbal level while mana apamana is at
Kayika or body level.

Gyani is samaha or equanimous with both.

Again he is the same towards friends and foes.

While a Gyani does not have enemy, but there are people who look
upon Gyani as their enemy.

Towards both types of people, he maintains samatvam.

He has given up binding activities.

Arambhaha means all the binding activities; and parityagi means
the one who has given up. What do you mean by binding activity? A binding
activity is that by the fulfillment of which I consider that I will become purnaha. When
I expect purnatvam through an activity, it is a binding activity, because there
are expectations.

Non-binding activity is one which is done out of purnatvam. And therefore the success of the activity and the failure of the activity has nothing to do with my purnatvam. At the anatma level activities are going on; but whatever happens at the anatma level, aham purnaha asmi. Even the activity to improve your own body mind should not be a binding activity. I should remember I tried to improve the body and mind, but that also has nothing to do with my purnatvam.

With this awareness, I enjoy improving everything, including the
improvement of the body mind complex. Such a lifestyle is a game.

This is the life of a jivan muktha. For him,
whole life is a game; both the success and failure has nothing to do with my purnatvam.
 So, he has samatvam and freedom from
binding activities.

Shloka
14.26:

14.26 And he who serves Me through the
unswerving Yoga of Devotion, he, having gone beyond these alities, alifies for
becoming Brahman.

The third question as to what is the means of ‘becoming’ gunathitha
is answered here. In fact, Sri  Krishna
has already answered that question in verse No.19 and 20. He says Gyanam is the
only means of “becoming” (becoming within quotes) gunathitha.

Arjuna’s present question is what is the means of getting Gyanam;
or what is the means of becoming Gunathita. What do we
have to do?

Question can also be stated as how to attain Gyanam by which one
can become gunathitha.

And Sri Krishna says the means of Gyanam is bhakthi. So bhakthi yoga consisting
of karma and upasana, which we have, saw in the 12th chapter; that consists of
five levels of bhakthi.

That bhakthi yoga is the sadhana.

Suppose a person worships me with bhakthi yoga consisting of five levels as explained in the 12th chapter, and and he worships me with unflinching devotion he will certainly cross over the three Gunas.

And what do you mean avyabhichara bhakthi? For that
you have to go to the 7^th chapter, where he talked about arta bhakthi,
artharthi bhakthi and jignasu bhakthi.

That jignasu bhakthi is here called avyabhichari
bhakthi. A bhakthi through which I seek the Lord and Lord alone; through that
one who worships me that person will certainly cross over the three gunas.
In this Bhakti, he will be going through all levels of sadhana consisting
of karma, upasana and the finally vedanta
sravana, manana and nidhidhyasana.

Going through all these levels, he becomes eligible to become one
with Brahman.

Brahma
bhava means Brahma
svarupam. Brahma
svarupa means nirguna svarupam, because
Brahman is nirgunam. Nirguna svarupam means gunathithatvam.
Such a person will attain Gyana and become gunathitha.

With
this all the three questions are answered. Now Sri Krishna concludes the
teaching:

Shloka 14.27:

14.27 For I am the Abode of Brahman-the
indestructible and immutable, the eternal, the Dharma and absolute Bliss.

Here
Sri Krishna says: Arjuna, that Brahman which you want to attain which is gunathitha is none
other than I myself. So I myself am the embodiment of that Brahman.

What
type of Brahman am I? He is one who is immortal, free from decay, changeless
and free from all forms of modifications. One who is beyond time, and one who is reached through dharma. One who is the goal
of dharma. And the word dharma here means the vedic teaching. So, he is the one who is the destination of all the scriptural teachings and one who is
unmixed with sorrow or the ananda swarupa.

So such a changeless and ananda svarupam
Brahman,

I am, and that I, you will reach by following this sadhana.

So with this Sri Krishna concludes the teaching.

Thus is concluded the 14th chapter of the Gita, which is happily titled gunathraya vibhaga, the classification of the three gunas, satva, rajas and tamas, and also guna athitham brahma. Guna thraya, guna athitha vibhaga yoga.

Take Away:

The three gunas
and marriage:

Marriage
is dharma based and not compatibility based according to our Shastra, because
compatibility is impossible; and even if there is a compatibility, husband is
also changing, wife is also changing and after a few years, the compatible
couple would have changed sufficiently to become an incompatible couple.

With Best
Wishes,

Ram Ramaswamy

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.

Continuing his teachings
Swamiji said today,
Sri Krishna has analyzed the
three gunas elaborately
from verse No.5 to 18, and pointed out that each guna binds a
person in one way or the other. Now, each guna demands a particular set up. Thus:

if
it is satva guna, it demands
knowledge and a set up conducive for it.

If
it is rajo guna, it expects
activity and an infrastructure for activity.

If
it is tamo guna it wants to sleep
and wants a conducive atmosphere for sleeping.

Thus
each guna is a
demanding guna, asking for a
specific set up and if that set up is not provided, it throws lot of tantrums,
and the creates lot of mental disturbances. And therefore, I can never accept
the set up as a bhokta,
if it does not suit my particular guna and therefore there is a struggle. Pravrtti means looking
for a conducive set up and while Nivritti means getting away from the
unconducive set up. So, each guna
leads to lot of pravritti and Nivritti.

This,
favorable and unfavorable, classification is determined by the type of guna. So, a
particular set up, satva will consider as favorable. The very same set up, rajo guna will dislike.

And therefore, as a bhokta, I divide the set up into favorable and unfavorable and I want to adjust and fine-tune the set up and therefore, I develop strong raga and dvesha; and to change the set up, I have to become a karta. As a bhokta I am not satisfied; and therefore I want to change the set up and to change the set up I have to become a karta. And having done a few things, I again look up at the set up as a bhokta and still find no satisfaction. And this goes on; dissatisfied bhokta becomes a karta and again he becomes bhokta and again he begins a karta; in short, he is never allowed to think of his higher nirguna sakshi svarupa. The three gunas keep this person busy with the body complex alone.

Thus
the three gunas tie me up to
the physical body, never allowing me to think of the possibility of something
else.

Thus, the saguna physical body, the saguna mind and the saguna set up, keeps me so busy all the time, that I can never think of the Nirguna-I and this is caused by the three gunas, which keeps me in deha abhimana, and therefore Sri Krishna said the sakshi-I is tied down to the physical body and is never allowed to think of the all-pervading Brahma svarupam; and I am made to think only of my limited ahamkara svarupam.

This
is called the guna dragging the
Sakshi to the ahamkara level and by
adjusting the set up you are never going to improve the situation, because
there is no such thing called an ideal set up at all.

Thus, with the three gunas constantly fluctuating, set up also fluctuates. There is constant expansion/contraction of mind (you do not have to ask itself) now satvik, now rajasic, now tamasic, and therefore this person is in eternal struggle; and this a few people understand and the only remedy is transcending the triguna ahamkara; transcending the triguna body mind complex or anatma is the only remedy.

And how do you transcend the saguna ahamkara. As I said in the last class, ahamkara can never be made Nirguna. Because ahamkara, is body-mind complex and it is made up of prakrithi and therefore the three gunas are bound to be there.

Even
the MahaGyani will
have a satvic, rajasic or tamasic mind. A nirguna mind does not exist at all. Is Gyani’s
mind is saguna or nirguna? Do you have
doubt?

Even
Bhagavan’s mind, Maya, is trigunathmakam, thus,
the mind will be saguna,
body will be saguna,
and therefore there is no question of converting anatma into nirguna or
transcending the guna.
Then what about the sakshi? You cannot
make the sakshi nirguna either because
it need not be made Nirguna,
because it is already Nirguna.
Therefore the only remedy is switching the
identification from saguna ahamkara to nirguna sakshi. This is called atmanatma viveka and knowing the fact that I am not the body with consciousness, but I
am the consciousness with a temporary body. I am not a body; it is a temporary
bodywith permanent consciousness,
or I am the permanent consciousness with a temporary body. And as atma, the sakshi, I am ever
Nirguna, I am ever
akarta, and I am ever
abhokta and this Gyanam
alone is the solution.

And
therefore transcending the gunas is equal to atma Gyanam. And atma Gyanam means
guru mukhathaha
vedanta shravana manana
nidhidhyasanam.  You have to have shastra guru upadesha and know that
I am ever the Nirguna
sakshi.

And
what is that sakshi chaitanyam?

It
is one beyond the three gunas,
which includes the physical body, which includes the mind, which is beyond the
body-mind complex, beyond the anatma. So consciousness is beyond the material body.

Now
the next question is what do you mean when we say beyond. Because we normally
we use the word beyond to convey something farther in distance. If I say that
particular house is beyond the car, a physical distance is understood.
Similarly, we may

Misunderstand,
when we say that Sakshi is beyond the
body, as though sakshi is something
that is somewhere in the clouds. So here beyond does not mean physically
remote.

Then what is the meaning of the word beyond? It is in and through the body mind complex, but not related to or affected by the body-mind complex, just as the light principle is beyond my hand; here beyond means that light is in and through the hands, pervades the hands, but whatever happens to the hand, light is not affected.

In
Sanskrit it should be translated as asangatvam. The sakshi,
the consciousness, is in and through the trigunatmaka shariram; it enlivens the trigunatmaka shariram; but it is not tainted by it.

Hence the shloka that says, the diseases of the body do not belong to the consciousness; the disturbances of the mind do not belong to the consciousness, this asangatvam, is said here as param and that sakshi chaitanyam I am.

Thus,
this person recognizes the consciousness

which
is beyond the three gunas
as himself.

And the day I know my purnatvam is not dependent on the set up, that day I stop all my struggles to change the set up. Changing the set up for practical purposes is different. If the table is in this place, and if you change to the other side, and it is convenient for working, that is a different thing, when I change the set up to improve my image, then that is called samsara, once I discover that I am purna sakshi, I do not expect a change in the set up for my improvement. I am perfectly satisfied with myself; whether the set up is satvic set up, or rajasic set up or tamasic set up. He is one who is not moved by set up.

And
therefore drashta, an
intelligent person changes himself, rather than set up. He discovers that
higher I, the sakshi-I, the gunathitha-I.

And
here, in the word is anupashyati,
anu means in keeping with the teaching of guru and shastra. This
discovery will never come independently, if I am left to myself, without shastra; I will
continue my mistake of changing the set up all the time hoping that one day
everything will be ideal. Wife will be exactly as I expect here to be, the son will
be exactly as I expect him to be; the roads will be exactly as I want to be; he
will be working towards the ideal set up, without questioning his pursuit. Shastra alone gives
a jolt and asks: Did you ask or did you think whether there is some other method
of discovery of fulfillment? And therefore that insight, the shastra and guru
alone will give. So the intelligent seeker recognizes this fact.

He
also recognizes the fact that all the karmas belong to the anatma; that the
anatma will be
eternally a karta. There is no
retirement for anatma.
Retirement is what? taking up some other work and not only that, if anatma really
retires, it will become sick also. Therefore, Anatma has to be eternally a karta and if you
have to transcend kartrtvam,
we have to come to atma
alone.

Sri
Krishna uses a double negative language here. He wants to say that anatma is the karta, anatma being the
body mind complex. If you put it in positive language, it will be Anatma alone is
Karta. In negative
language, there is no karta other
than anatma. Both are
the same. Anatma alone is
karta, is equal to, there
is no karta other than anatma. And who am
I? atma or anatma? I am the atma; therefore
eternally akarta and abhokta.

The
day a human being recognizes this fact; Only then, he will be free from the
rat-race called life; the eternal journey of bhokta; not satisfied;
therefore, becomes karta;
improves the status of bhokta;
improved but not totally satisfied; again becomes karta, again becomes
bhokta, and at the
time of death also if you ask, are you satisfied: You say I am satisfied, But!
Only one small thing; Something or the other will be there. Since the ahamkara dies with
dissatisfaction, the dissatisfied ahamkara again take birth and continue the struggle. Thus, the
never ending journey of  punarapi
jananam, punarapi maranam
occurs. The struggle will end like the poori when it is in the oil, it will be
running around.

And
as it runs it expands and once it has become purnam, full, then you will find that it is atmana eva atmaiva thushta,
it will be floating there itself; it has become purnam. And that is why it is called puri; puri is shortened
form of purnam.

Similarly the day I discover I am the purna sakshi; the running about for purnatvam will stop. Thereafter also I may run around, but not for purnatvam but it is out of purnatvam. If I am acting for purnatvam, there is eternal anxiety and I cannot sleep properly. If I am acting out of purnatvam, there is no anxiety.

And therefore Sri Krishna says: The one who has discovered the sakshi, he attains Ishvara bhavam. Sri Krishna says madbhavam, he being the Lord, it is Ishvara bhavam; Ishvara Bhavam means Ishvara Svarupam. Ishvara Svarupam means purnatvam.

And
therefore Madbhavam means purnatvam, means jivan mukti.

The
most important point to be noted here is that Sri Krishna says this purnatvam is only
through knowledge. So the word Vetti should be underlined. Vetti means the one who knows; discovers
purnatvam. And
therefore how many paths are there for Moksha? Sri Krishna says even if there
are many other yogas (karma,
bhakti, Kundalini,..) and we are willing to accept all other yogas, and they
are all for preparation of the mind; the ultimate discovery of purnatvam is only
through vedanta shravana, manana,
nidhidhyasana; otherwise
called Gyana yoga.

Next is a very important verse. This verse is very important not
only in the 14^th chapter, but in the entire Bhagavat Gita as
well.

Shloka
14: 20:

14.20 Having transcended these three alities
which are the origin of the body, the embodied one, becoming free from birth,
death, old age and sorrows, experiences Immortality.

In this shloka the Gyana phalam is clearly mentioned. Here dehi
means this jiva, this individual, with the help of the knowledge learns to dis-identify
from the three gunas. Athitya means transcending;
here transcending means dis-identifying from the three gunas;
and the three gunas represent the three sharirams,
the five koshas, in short, the entire anatma. Instead of claiming I am
the body, I say that I have a body; gifted by the Lord for the temporary use.

And
what is the purpose of this temporary use? Not for eating, the body is given by
the Lord to a human being only for gathering knowledge. What is that knowledge?
The knowledge is that, I am not the body and I have this body only for my
temporary use. This is called athitya. In Taitariya Upanishad, it was said all these three gunas belong to dehasamudbhavan. Samudbhavaha means karanam, and deha means body. So
dehasamudbhava
means the cause for the physical body, and cause for the body means cause for janma, because janma
is defined as acquisition of
a new body. Therefore the three gunas have given me this body and the three gunas alone will
give me the next body also. And what type of body will be given will depend
upon the guna. Thus, Satva guna
will give a higher body. It will still be a perishable body.

Rajo guna will again
give body alone and not moksha.

Thus
all the three gunas are the
cause of the body; cause of punar janma.

Thus
the Gyani dis-identifies from the three gunas, which are the causes of repeated acquisition of bodies.

And when a
person dis-identifies from the gunas and the body, he is free from all the problems, which
belong to the body.

When I identify with the body; the body’s problems are my problem. When I identify with the car, and if it is brand new car, every small scratch is like a scratch on my heart; It is my car; the conditions of the object of abhimana become my own condition. Similarly, the bodily conditions will be my conditions when I identify with the body and therefore when the body is mortal, I say I am mortal. Body being mortal is not a problem, as hundreds of bodies are mortal and dying daily; just read the obituary columns.

So mortality of the body itself is not problem. Death itself is not the problem, because hundreds and millions of death we are seeing and hearing about.

The problem is my
thinking that I-am-mortal.

Mortality
is not the problem; I-am-mortal is the problem. And Vedanta does not
remove the mortality of the body; vedanta removes the
idea that I-am-mortal. And how does it remove the idea; by teaching me the fact that I am not the mortal body,
but I am the immortal-I, behind the
mortal-body.

And
therefore, vimuktah
means he is free from all the problems of the body. What are the problems of
the body; the first problem is janma, it is birth; birth itself is a problem in
the sense, initially one has to be in solitary confinement, one has to remain
in the womb of the mother, and coming out of womb is a problem for both the
mother and the baby, and once there is janma, the inevitable consequence of maranam is the next
problem, then there are people who say: Swamiji I am not frightened of death
and then they add my only prayer is that I should die instantly. I just should just
pop off in sleep. So those people who say I am not afraid of Maranam, they are
afraid of jara, meaning old
age with all its consequent problems. I need not describe and remind you of all
those problems.

The
body being born, grows, decays and dies, these steps are really speaking not
problems, and they are the nature of the body. Just as heat is the nature of
the fire; it is svarupam of the fire, similarly, the cold is the nature of Ice.
Similarly vikaraha, asthi,
jayathe, vardathe, viparinamathe;
the vikara, means
modification is the nature of body. And a nature becomes a problem if I refuse
to accept the nature of a thing as it is. Resistance to the fact is sorrow.
Imagine I complain fire is hot, fire is hot, fire is hot; that is foolishness.
Similarly, body’s vikara
becomes a problem, when I resist the vikara.

And
I will resist the modification if I have got strong abhimana in the body.

Abhimana removes my
objectivity; Identification removes my objectivity. I will say let
everybody else die except people from my house, because that is nature.

That’s
why Sri Krishna warned in the second chapter shloka 2.27, when I discover the
fact that I am the sakshi; I learn to
look at my body objectively. And the moment I get the objectivity I accept this
body does not have any specialty; Therefore this body is like any other body,
therefore it has to grow and it has to go. Thus, the sakshi Gyanam gives me
objectivity with regard to my own body. Therefore old age is a fact; it is welcome;
even if it is not welcome, at least I have no resistance; And along with old age,
joint will say that I am here, I am here, and the ear will hear less, eye will
see less; buddhi is always a problem; therefore these things are natural. I objectively see and accept. And once the
objectivity comes, the intensity of the problem comes down. This is called
Abhibhava method; you do not remove the problems of the body; the body would
have to go through its condition. But you develop a different perspective and
from the new perspective problems will not appear to be a major tragedy in
life. Like when the sun rises, what happens to the stars? We knowthere are stars during the daytime too.
But what happens; starts are as thoughremoved,
because of the powerful sunlight. So what does the sunlight do; it doesnot destroy the stars, but it makes
the stars as though non-existent by making theirlight extremely insignificant. Similarly, I am the Sakshi Gyanam, will
not change thephysical conditions;
will not change the family members, all the prarabhda conditions will be there, but I develop
a new perspective from which they are not worth talking about.

That’s why they give the example of Anjaneya. Anjaneya thought that crossing the ocean is big task. But the moment he thought of Rama, the ocean became a small pool of water; the ocean did not change its size; but because of the remembrance of the Lord, he got the extra strength and from that standpoint, the big ocean became small; Similarly, all the powerful rakshasas. became mosquitoes. So, even if they bite, it is not felt.

What
preparation do you need for destroying the mosquito? You do not require any
great effort. You effortlessly destroy. Therefore this knowledge gives me a new
perspective; from which all the so-called problems are insignificant pinpricks.
And therefore vimuktaha;
they are not worth talking about.

And this is called Jivan mukti. So jivanmukti is making the lives’ problems insignificant; and changing the perspective through knowledge is called Jivan mukthi.

And a result of this knowledge, not only the mortality of the body is not a serious problem for him; he has also owned up to his immortal nature and therefore he attains immortality. And, again, what is meant by, attaining immortality? Is it the ahamkara that attains immortality or the sakshi that attains immortality? Ahamkara or body cannot become immortal. Atma need not become immortal. Attaining immortality is shifting my abhimana identification from the mortal body to the immortal atma. This is called Jivan mukthi. And this is also called gunathithatvam. Therefore, Gyani is called here gunathithaha.

Shloka 14:21

14.21 Arjuna said O Lord, by what signs is one
(known) who has gone beyond these three alities? What is his behaviour, and how
does he transcend these three alities?

Lord’s
teaching inspires Arjuna. And naturally he wants to know more about that Gyani
who becomes a gunathitha. And
therefore Arjuna asks the Lord:

So what are the characteristics of the indicators (Lingam) of a person, who has transcended the three gunas successfully. Exactly as he asked in the 2nd chapter: Will there be any change in his physical body; whether he will be slim or fat, or will there be a halo around him; because in the pictures, you see a halo on Gyani’s back. Arjuna also is curious to know whether there will be any such indications.

Second question: How does he conduct himself? How does he relate to the people? How does he interact with the people; because a Gyani also lives in the same society; therefore will there be a change in his language; Will he start talking in Sanskrit suddenly? how will he walk?  How does he eat? We have all kinds of misconceptions.

We
have a misconception that there should be external change such as a shaven head
etc.

We
should look for what is inside the head rather than what is outside.

There is no mysticism connected to Vedanta. Any thing mystical belongs to non-vedantic subject. Vedanta has no mysticism, even an iota of it. This confusion even Arjuna has; therefore his question as to how does he conduct himself. This the second question: What are his Characteristics? How does he conduct himself?

And
the third question is how does he transcend the three gunas? Is it a
physical journey, some people expect some kind of a physical journey for
moksha; going to some other loka, some people expect
a transformation in time. And some people expect some kind of a sudden flashy
event. So there is no event called liberation; there is no time-wise transformation;
there is no spatial journey, it is nothing but a clean understanding of an ever-obtaining
fact. What is the fact? Fortunately, that I am ever free. So therefore, he asks
the question. How does he transcend the three gunas? So this is Arjuna’s question for
which Sri Krishna now gives the answer in the following verses.

Take Away:

A nirguna mind does not exist at all Therefore the only remedy to transcend the three gunas is switching the identification from saguna ahamkara to nirguna sakshi. This is called atmanatma viveka and knowing the fact that I am not the body with consciousness, but I am the consciousness with a temporary body.

Therefore
transcending the gunas
is equal to atma Gyanam.

And
when a person dis-identifies from the gunas and the body, he is free from all the problems, which
belong to the body. When I identify with the body; the body’s problems are my
problem.

So
jivanmukti is
making the lives’ problems insignificant; and changing the perspective through
knowledge is called Jivan mukthi.

There
is no mysticism connected to Vedanta.

With Best
Wishes,

Ram Ramaswamy

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