Bhagavatam-daily 294 – 11.13.27 – Contemplate one’s observer position to cultivate dispassion

Thank you Krishna is here continuing his analysis of material existence and he says that the three states of consciousness which we often refer to like this these are actually the three vrittis they are the three vrittis informations, tendencies, modes of the intelligence not modes in the sense of gudans but modalities of functioning of the intelligence and the soul is beyond these three and the soul is transcendental it is in the rope of a sakshi sakshi means witness in English the word is often used as eyewitness so an eyewitness account has its own special credibility now when we talk about a witness this is slightly in a different sense not in the sense that one who is actually there and seeing the action but here philosophically it is used in the sense of being an observer that means the soul is actually not the participant in the action and is actually distinct from all the action that is happening so here the word witness is used not so much in the point of giving a reliable testimony of what happened as is the role of an eyewitness say in a case but here the word witness is used in the sense of being a witness as contrasted with a participant so we think that we are doing things but if we look at the core of our at the fundamental reality underlying things then the body-mind mechanism functions in certain ways yes we can by our desire and our discipline trade in particular ways but overall the body-mind mechanism functions in its own way so that means that the soul once it is put in the particular body the soul has to more or less act according to the situation of that body the soul cannot change that much it simply has to act under the spell of its particular bodily situation and for example a dog has to move but a dog cannot move and a lion cannot chirp or twitter like a bird similarly we humans cannot fly by natural means nor can we swim like aquatics so recognizing that that it is the modes that are acting and we are actually observers distinct from the action this helps us to get a sense of detachment and distance from the feverishness that frequently characterizes material existence frequently we are caught in the spell of material nature caught by its pulls and pushes and we run here and there thinking that the desire is induced by material nature or our desires so now in this framework of analysis of the modes what is the relevance of the three states of consciousness so later on in the 25th chapter Krishna of the same level kanto Krishna will state that the state of jagruti, wakefulness is in goodness the state of dream is in passion and the state of dreamless sleep is in ignorance now from the point of view of the spread of consciousness we know that the consciousness originates from the soul and from the soul it radiates into the body and through the subtle body into the gross body so when the consciousness is radiated through the soul through the subtle body into the gross body that is the state of jagruti when the consciousness is radiated through the subtle body but not into the gross body that is the state of swapna and when the consciousness is not radiated outwards at all then there is no activation of it in the subtle body during in this state that is the state of deep dreamless sleep so now we will say that is it that wakeful state is always in goodness isn’t it that there are different people who while awake do different kinds of activity so how can the wakeful state be generalized and called as sattvic the point is that there are levels of classification just as if you look at the 17th chapter according to venas that indicates it means that certain level of goodness because of which person would be able to do worship so similarly just to be awake just to be awake in the human form of life That itself is a ground of goodness.
So here, as compared to that, being in a dream state is in passion. And being in a deep sleep state is in ignorance. So, that means if a person who is doing tamasic activities while awake is in goodness-ignorance, the person who is in sattvic activities is in goodness-goodness.
Now the important point of this verse is that the jiva is satchitvena. There are various things which we are induced to do. Feelings come and we feel impelled to actions.
But all these are foreign to us. And we are at our core, spiritual. Understanding this enables us to break free from the captivation and dis-identification that binds us to material existence.