Isn’t the mode of goodness alone enough for serving Krishna – during the churning of the milk ocean why were the other modes needed?

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Any other questions? So, in the churning of the milk ocean, wasn’t the mode of goodness in the devatas alone enough? Why is the mode of passion needed at all? See, there is no need to demonize the lower modes. Sleep is a basic bodily necessity. Now, there is no need to demonize sleep.
Actually, some people say sleeping is in the mode of ignorance. That’s an oversimplification. It is oversleeping that is in the mode of ignorance.
Sleeping is an activity. With what intention somebody is doing it, that is what is important. Somebody may be saying that the body is a tool which is meant to serve Krishna.
And when I sleep, then I can serve Krishna better. So, if somebody is sleeping in the mode of ignorance, and so I will not sleep enough. And then they sleep less and throughout the day they are in the mode of ignorance.
Because they are half asleep, they are dozing off. What is the use of that? So, basically, that is the physical necessity that needs to be taken care of. It is only when we, instead of seeing sleep as a means of bodily rest and rejuvenation, if we start seeing sleep as an escape route from life’s troubles, we see sleep as a means of pleasure, then sleep as a way of running away from reality, then it becomes a problem.
So, that’s when we do oversleeping. Because we are so fed up with life, and we don’t want to face life, so we just go to sleep again and again. So, sleep is also a basic biological necessity.
And although it’s in the mode of ignorance, but it doesn’t have to necessarily take us into the mode of ignorance. It is regulated. So, for doing any kind of creative activity, creation involves a mode of passion.
Now, if you want to organize, Janmashtami is coming up, you want to organize a big festival. At that time, you should be running around, do this, do this, this has not been done, do this properly. Now, at that time, a certain amount of mode of passion will come up.
Because creating anything new, building anything, managing anything major, it requires some amount of passion. But the test is that the passion doesn’t become the controlling or the defining force. Passion is regulated by goodness.
So, in Brahmana, Kshatriya, Vaishya, Shudra, these four categories of people, all of them have their own combination of goodness, passion, ignorance. Now, when we say Shudras are in the mode of ignorance, actually, even Shudras, if they are following Shudra Dharma, they also need a certain level of goodness. So, for them, the level of goodness will be different from the level of goodness which is there for a Brahmana.
But everybody needs a certain level of goodness. But what is the level of goodness? A Vaishya cannot be expected to function the same way as a Brahmana is going to function. Because their occupational role is different.
So, a Brahmana usually does not deal with money much. But a Vaishya has to deal in money primarily. So, for them, the balance of Satva Guna, Rajoguna, Tamoguna will be different.
But Satva Guna has to be there. And they will use Rajoguna and Tamoguna for the purpose of Dharma. So, it’s not that Rajoguna and Tamoguna are bad.
It is what is the purpose of our life. The purpose of our life is to serve Krishna. Then we can use Rajoguna and Tamoguna also for that purpose.
And if the purpose of our life is materialism, is worldly gratification, then even Satva Guna can be used for that. One of the greatest ironies of the 20th century was that Hitler was a vegetarian. You know, a person who killed 10 million human beings never ate animal flesh.
So, that was one, you could say, at one level, he is not eating meat was a Sattvic quality. His overall life was Rajasic and Tamasic. So, we don’t have to demonize the lower modes.
So, Krishna, Lord Vishnu in the Amrit Mantra Lila, he is demonstrating how the material, when it is worked harmoniously, that can give us something higher. So, the nectar that comes, so, all of them are required. So, goodness to do anything in this world.
If we have to function in this world, we have to interact with this world. And in this world, all the three modes are there. So, goodness, fashion, ignorance, both have to function in a harmonious way for some result to come out.
That is what is demonstrated in this fast time. That for the sake of Dharma, all three can be harmonized. How all three can be in harmony, that is what is demonstrated by the different modes, energizing or de-energizing different individuals in that fast time.