Gita 14.05 – See the modes-induced feelings as alien, not our own

Transcript

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Thank you. Bhagavad Gita 14.5 So, this is the 14th chapter.
This is the verse that introduces the three modes. Sattvam, Vajasthamayati, Goodness, Passion, and Ignorance. These are three modes born of material nature.
And, Nibbandhamati. Arjuna, you are very powerful, so powerful that it is very difficult for any enemy to overpower you or to shackle you. But, these modes are so powerful that they shackle all living beings.
They shackle even you, Arjuna. Of course, at one level, Arjuna is transcendental, so he is not shackled by the modes. But, while speaking the Bhagavad Gita, he has been arranged by the Lord to be under illusion.
And he is not talking to Krishna like an enlightened soul talking to another enlightened soul. He is talking like a seeker talking to a seer. So, the body and the embodied get tied together.
The embodied soul gets tied to the body. This bondage is imperishable. It goes on forever.
And, it is very difficult to give up. It is very difficult to break through. And the way to break through this bondage is by purification, which will be talked about various means of what we will be talking about.
And ultimately, bhakti will be recommended in 14.26. So, here, the important point is to recognize the universality of the principle of devotion and the universality of the bondage that exists in material existence for those who do not adopt that principle of devotion. That means, Krishna will say later in the Bhagavad Gita that nobody in the three worlds is free from this bondage of modes. He says even the devatas are not free from the modes what to speak of humans.
So, the point of that declaration is to underscore that we are all bound in material existence. And the way out of this bondage is something which we have to search individually. That means that the soul of course needs the grace of Krishna, but it is the soul’s responsibility to seek the grace of Krishna.
It is the soul’s responsibility to use the mercy of Krishna to fight against the modes. So, the analysis of the modes which is given in the 14th chapter, in the 17th chapter and in the 18th chapter of the Bhagavad Gita and the concept of modes in facts pervades the large part of the Vedic canon. It is very much a fundamental feature in the Vedic worldview.
The analysis of the modes is meant to convince us of the gravity of our material bondage. There is a whole sophisticated apparatus or sophisticated method by which bondage takes place. And this bondage which takes place by the sophisticated method is not at all easy to give up.
And an unnamed enemy, an unidentified enemy, an unknown enemy is much more difficult to deal with. When an enemy is known, named, identified, then the enemy becomes much more real and tangible and counterable. Of course, after that it has to be countered.
So, by knowing that there are three modes of material nature, which shape our feelings, the modes bind us by shaping, influencing and even controlling our feelings. So, when we don’t feel like connecting with Krishna, when we don’t feel like remembering him, when we don’t feel like practicing bhakti, we need to know these are not our feelings proper. These are not the feelings of the soul proper.
These are the external impositions that the mind has made upon us and with which the mind is deluding us. And similarly, when we feel infatuated with sense gratification, when it starts attracting us irresistibly, at that time also we should know this is not my desire. I as a soul have no desire to enjoy dead matter.
I can get no pleasure in that. And whatever surge of desire that I’m feeling right now for this particular pleasure, this surge of desire is an alien imposition on me by the modes and it will be there for some time and it will go. So, rather than I accepting this desire as mine and indulging in it, let me instead stay distant, stay calm and stay connected with Krishna by which I can stay fixed in my principles.
Just as a ship that is on a course, when a wave comes and the wave tosses, the ship makes sway from its way. But if the ship stays fixed, the wave will go and then the ship will move onwards on its way. Similarly, the wave-like attacks of the modes will come and go.
And if we don’t let ourselves be unduly affected by them, then we will also stay safe. That’s why Krishna says, avyabhicari bhakti. The mode will toss, but we don’t give in to the modes.
Instead, we hold on to Krishna. And although when the modes influence our feelings, we may not feel devotional, but still we can, using our intelligence, hold on to Krishna. Krishna, I’m feeling undevotional, I’m feeling anti-devotional, please protect me.
With sincere prayers like these, we can call out to Krishna, beg him to help us. And then by his grace, when we hold on to him, hold on to his remembrance, his service, then the wave-like attack of the modes will subside and we will emerge stronger, more convinced about the reality of our spiritual identity, the glory of spiritual connection with Krishna and the illusoriness of the perceptions created by the modes. And the process of meditation, by giving us opportunity and by thrusting upon us the responsibility of continuously trying to fix the band in Krishna, gives us an excellent forum for witnessing the attack of the modes, witnessing the potency of remembrance of Krishna to ward off the attack of the modes and thereby deepening our realizations of the truths of Krishna