Gita 14.05 – The modes comprise objective reality and color subjective perception

[Talk in Toronto, Canada]

Transcript

This is an AI-generated transcript and may contain some errors.
Bhagavita, 14.5 So, Krishna is speaking here about the three modes of material nature and he speaks that all living beings are bound by these modes. He names the modes Sattva, Raja and Tama.
So, Viti, these three modes, Gunaha, Prakriti, Sambhava. So, there are different ways in which the relationship of the modes with material nature is talked about. So, here it is Gunaha, Prakriti, Sambhava.
They arise from material nature. So, it is as if the modes are the products and Prakriti is the source. I have heard other places in the Gita, they said that Bhagavata Krishna says that it is made of the three modes of material nature.
That material nature is made of the three modes. This bhava, this nature is made of Tribhir Guna. Next verse also 7.14, the same point is stated.
Daiviyahesha Gunamayi This maya, this material nature, material energy is made of the modes. So, there is this two way relationship between the modes and the nature that is talked about. That modes arise from Prakriti and Prakriti comprises the modes.
Prakriti is composed of the modes. So, what is the reality? You know, if we consider a painting, we could say that the painting is made of colors. And if we consider the canvas itself, we could also say that the colors manifest on the canvas.
You know, different canvases may have different colors. So, the point is not the what comes from what because the relationship we could say is co-stimulating. It is Prakriti has as its building block the modes.
But the modes also manifest through particular manifestations of Prakriti. The whole science of Sankhya is quite subtle. And the stress on it is in analyzing material nature, but analyzing material nature not just for the sake of analyzing material nature.
It is analyzing material nature for the sake of understanding how consciousness interacts with it and how consciousness should interact with it. So, how consciousness interacts with material nature is descriptive. And how consciousness should interact with material nature is prescriptive.
That means, say we see some delicious food item and then immediately saliva is secreted. So, that is saliva secretion is simply a biological, physiological result of a visual stimulus. Of course, it may not be only visual, it may be olfactory also, it may be smelling it also.
But either way, apart from the physical reaction to a physical stimulus, there is also an effect on our consciousness where we start craving for it. Now, suppose somebody is in a particular situation. Say a woman is pregnant and at that time there is morning sickness or whatever.
When the sight of food itself instead of causing saliva might cause nausea. It can happen to people when they are not well and their stomach is upset or otherwise they are sick. So, the same stimulus which causes the secretion of saliva and causes attraction in one situation can cause nausea and almost aversion in another situation.
So, this is how we observe, this is descriptive. That this is a description of the interaction of matter with consciousness. So, when we see a particular material object, say food, it causes a particular stimulus, that particular stimulus causes a particular reaction.
कारे कारण कर्तुत्वे हेतु प्रकृत्विच्छते तुरुश सुख दुखाना मोग्तुत्वे हेतु विच्छते Krishna says in the Bhagavad Gita that the motions of material nature, the changes within material nature, whatever transformations happen, they happen because of prakriti. कारे कारण कर्तुत्वे The cause and effect, these happen in the realm of material nature, but the cause and effect, whatever emotions they produce within us, they are because of प्रकृत्विच्छते तुरुश सुख दुखाना मोग्तुत्वे हेतु विच्छते Because of the desire to enjoy. So, the secretion of saliva that happens when we see a delicious food item, that is there when the person has the desire to eat food.
When the person does not have any desire to eat food, that will not happen. The interaction of, this is how material nature interacts with consciousness, that is prescriptive. Now, there can be a prescriptive dimension to this also.
That when we see a particular thing and a particular stimulus hits our senses, registers in our consciousness, what should our reaction be? So, for example, we may decide that suppose we avoid meat and then we say we are vegans or vegetarians, whatever. And then we are conscious of the kind of violence and brutality that animals are subjected to in the process of the manufacture of meat. Then, when we see the particular, when we see meat, we might remember what we may have seen in some documentary like Meet Your Meat.
And that might cause revulsion. No, I don’t want to eat this. Or if somebody is getting the desire for eating meat, the person can avoid the desire, resist and reject the desire.
Why? By remembering the sight of that kind of brutality and ghastly violence that is perpetrated on animals for the sake of satisfying our palate. So, of course, this is a negative prescription. It’s a negative prescription to push off the desire for meat.
There could be a positive prescription. Something doesn’t taste all that good. But by remembering that it is going to have a good effect on my health, you may decide to eat it.
Mothers may tell their kids, eat your broccolis. Broccoli is often a metaphor for food that is healthy but not particularly palatable. So, by remembering the health benefits, we may resist its poor taste or tastelessness.
And we decide to eat it. So, by understanding these three modes of material nature, that there are objects in this. Ultimately, we could see the modes as building blocks of material nature.
And we could see the modes in terms of the effect they have on our consciousness. They are something which emerges from material nature. So, when we are talking about certain colors.
Colors comprise a particular landscape, a particular picture, a particular landmark. Along with that, certain colors may also stimulate certain emotions within us. Say, if we see a red color, we might remember the sight of blood that we might have seen recently when we were wounded or someone close to us was wounded and bleeding.
Or it might remind us of when our beloved gave us a red rose or we gave them a red rose. That means red is a feature of the painting and red is also a perception in our consciousness which triggers certain emotions. So, similarly, the modes, they are building blocks of material nature.
And the modes also, we could say, represent or encapsulate the kind of effect certain things have on our consciousness. Certain things are inherently in certain modes and certain things circumstantially affect us in certain ways, prompting us towards certain modes. This is the relativity of perception amidst the universality of reality.
That means there is an object out there. There is a beautiful young woman. A young man may see that woman as an object for enjoyment, as a beautiful sense object.
A baby, if that woman happens to be, that baby is her mother, the baby may see her as the embodiment of maternal love. A sage may see the beauty of the woman. But also remember that this is an exhibition of illusion.
This, if I get captivated by it and its captivating potency distracts me from spiritual reality and thus it manifests the power of illusion. Further, a tiger may see that woman, not at all in any sexual way, it may see it simply as a lunch box. So there is the objectivity of reality in terms of there is a woman out there, but there is a relativity of perception, how that woman is perceived by different people.
Similarly, there is the objectivity of reality that material nature comprises of the modes. Along with that, there is a relativity of perception that material nature, certain manifestations of material nature may have different effects on different people. Now, for the same woman, the sight of that woman in a young man might trigger Rajoguna, the mode of passion.
But if that woman is seen by a child who is afraid that I am lost, that turns out may calm the mind of the child down and that might trigger Satoguna, the mode of goodness. And that same woman, if she is not in good terms with her husband, the husband sees her, the husband’s quarrels in nature may get activated and it may trigger Tamoguna. So, this is how there is the objectivity of reality and there is the relativity of perception.
There is a woman that is the object of reality, but how she is perceived as a mother, as a alluring female, as an irritating spouse, that will vary from person to person. So, the same object can trigger Satoguna, Rajoguna, Tamoguna in different people. And the key thing for us, as spiritual seekers, is that we acknowledge that certain objects are in the mode of passion, but we don’t blame those objects for being that way.
We interact appropriately with them so that our consciousness rises upwards. So, therefore, spiritual seekers are recommended to look at the world, including sense objects in particular ways, by which they will not be adored by those objects. Their consciousness is not dragged down to the lower mode, but is elevated upwards towards the mode of goodness and beyond it towards transcendence.
The purpose of the study of the Bhagavad Gita, the purpose of understanding the system of the modes of material nature is to enable us to rise towards higher consciousness. As devotees, we are not interested primarily in the study of material nature, just for the sake of knowing material nature. The knowledge of material nature can be endless, because there is so much complexity in this world itself.
We could just take one blade of grass and we could have a PhD study of the blade of grass, or we could even have hundreds of people doing PhDs, hundreds of PhDs about one blade of grass. But the important thing is, what is the ultimate utility of that knowledge? The ultimate utility of all knowledge, the Bhagavad Gita explains, is Vedaistha Sarvai Ahameva Vedyo. By all the Vedas, I am to be known, that is one translation of this verse.
If we consider the Veda in a restrictive sense, the word Veda to refer to the books that are called Vedas. But the word Veda can also generically refer to knowledge. So the purpose of all knowledge is to know Krishna.
If we see from that perspective, then we will understand that, we will be able to see all knowledge in the light of it, whether it is serving the ultimate purpose of knowledge. यानं ययं यानगम्यं रिधि सर्वस्य विष्ठितम् In the Bhagavad Gita that, in the 13th chapter it says he is knowledge, he is the object of knowledge and he is the objective of knowledge. For us, when we look at beautiful things in this world, if we see them in a way that inspires us to move towards Krishna, then that is positive.
If we see them in a way that takes us away from Krishna, then that is negative. The first causes the evolution of our consciousness, the second causes the devolution of our consciousness. And depending on what triggers the evolution of our consciousness, we can expose ourselves to those stimuli or we need to adjust our perception of the stimuli out there in a way that it leads to the elevation and evolution of our consciousness, not the devolution and the degradation of our consciousness.
And that’s why exposure to direct devotional stimuli is extremely important. The more we are exposed to direct devotional stimuli, that is we are exposed to Krishna in his various manifestations, Krishna brings about both the evolution and the elevation of our consciousness. By surrendering to him, we can move closer to attaining him.
We can actually take deeper and greater shelter of him. And every time we connect with Krishna, every time we are exposed to Krishna, every time we connect with Krishna, what happens essentially is that our consciousness evolves and is elevated. We can pursue deeper realities because Krishna is the deepest reality.
We can pursue higher realities because Krishna is the highest reality. Krishna is the engine for excellence, for the evolution, elevation and expansion of our consciousness. And that’s why the different modes represent different levels of constrictions or expansions of our consciousness.
The mode of ignorance refers to a significant level of constriction of consciousness. The mode of passion refers to an intermediate level of constriction of consciousness. The mode of goodness refers to a less constriction, more expansion of consciousness.
After analysing this chapter towards the concluding 14.26, Krishna states that माम्चयोग्यभिचारेन भक्तियोगेन सेवते सगुणान समत्मियेतान ब्रह्मभूयाय कल्पते He says that it is by unflinchingly exposing ourselves to Krishna that our consciousness will get elevated. It is by consistently connecting with Krishna that we will grow in our spiritual life. We will be able to transcend the influence of the modes.
सगुणान समत्मियेतान ब्रह्मभूयाय कल्पते Such people, गुणान समत्मियेतान, they will go beyond the modes and ब्रह्मभूयाय कल्पते and attain the Brahman platform. For other devotees, if you focus on this principle of attaining the Brahman platform, then we all can move towards Krishna and ultimately attain Krishna by His green mercy, by His grace.