Gita 14.05 Modes are a combination of matter that trigger emotion which matter in isolation doesnt

Transcript

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Bhagavad Gita 14.5 sattvam rajas tamaiti guna prakriti sambhavan nibad nanti mahabaho dehe dehinam avyayam from this verse onwards Krishna begins the description of the three modes of material nature he starts by identifying them in the first line sattvam rajas tamaiti goodness, passion and ignorance sattvam rajas tamaiti guna prakriti sambhavan these are the gunas the modes which arise from prakriti sambhavan from material nature they arise nibad nanti mahabaho mahabaho they bind oh Arjuna they bind who do they bind? mahabaho is a word used to describe Arjuna dehe dehinam avyayam dehe unto the body dehinam the embodied soul imperishably so Krishna talks about two aspects of the modes they arise from matter and they bind the soul to matter sometimes there is a python which may be hiding in a forest and then python comes out and stretches out itself and folds itself around a tree or around a creature and then catches that creature so the python may rise from the ground, catch the creature and again pull it down to the ground like that we as souls are spiritual beings but at the same time we are also in the present presently in the material world and from this material world arise the modes so we could say that there are two functions or two aspects, two features of the modes one is you could see their constitutional or compositional aspect and the other is their functional or consequential aspect so in terms of constitution or composition the modes arise from material nature so from material nature they emerge Krishna talks about the relationship between the modes and material nature earlier in 7.44 when he says so made of the three modes is Maya the illusory energy which is formidable so essentially what Krishna is saying over here is that Maya the energy that causes illusion she is comprised of the modes so now what is the relationship between Prakriti and Maya Maya is the energy that causes illusion about Prakriti that makes us believe that through Prakriti we will be able to enjoy through Prakriti we can seek and savor pleasure through Prakriti we can fulfill our longings for happiness that is the promise of Maya and how can this promise be fulfilled well it can’t be it cannot be fulfilled because the soul by nature is spiritual and it can only get some pleasure in the illusion of pleasure not in experiencing actual pleasure so therefore what we need in our life is to recognize that the patterns created by the modes which arise from material nature they are what is the source of illusion so in that sense we could say the modes are like colors now colors are made of matter but at the same time colors have a force which is far greater than matter that actually we cannot have the role of matter being denied so if there were no composition elements to make the colors the colors would not exist and yet once the colors combine together and create a particular image that image is far different from whatever we may see in terms of the objects so the combination of the colors creates images that are far different from merely the colors the product of that combination can create emotions within us which the mere colors cannot evoke and thus there is something special about those images so similarly for us we need to understand that actually it is important that the modes they arise from material nature so in that sense material nature is the source so they arise from material nature at the same time they can have an effect on us which the material nature itself may not be able to have just like say red color may not attract much emotion within us but when red color is in a painting which indicates blood is spilling out from person’s body that may trigger horror within us when that red color is in an image which indicates that it’s a delicious apple that may trigger our taste buds desire within us so the combination can create emotion that cannot be created in isolation combination of elements can trigger emotion that may not be triggered by the elements in isolation so it is through this emotion created by combination that the modes create illusion and the modes cause bondage so that the modes are in themselves the strongholds of spiritual through which illusion pours out into our consciousness and thus bind the living being Nibadnanti Mahabaho Oh Arjuna you may be extremely powerful but still that does not mean that you alone can get over illusion in this world the force of illusion is extremely powerful and getting over that force is extremely difficult and just as there’s a great warrior it’s difficult to tie that poor warrior up the warrior will be strong enough and skilled enough to try to strive to escape any bondage that might be there similarly, the soul it requires a it requires a formidably expert form of illusion to bind that soul and such a form of illusion is fostered by the modes so by talking about the modes in these two terms in terms of their composition and in terms of their consequence in terms of their where they come from and where they take us they come from material nature and they take us deeper into material nature, into material consciousness Krishna gives us a prelude to the nature of this chapter which will describe how the different modes function and ultimately describe how we can transcend the effects of the modes