Gita 14.18 – The modes present choices and propel us to choose

Transcript

This is an AI-generated transcript and may contain some errors.
And effects in terms of the immediate emotions that come upon us when we choose a particular mood. Thank you. Upwards go those who situated themselves in the mood of goodness.
Those who situated themselves in the mood of passion. They stay where they are. Jaganya is reproachable, reprehensible, undesirable.
Those who are situated in ignorance, they go down. So here Krishna is telling about how the different moods, being situated in different moods, puts us in different trajectories. The moods influence us internally but the way they influence us is to shape our outer perceptions and our decisions.
So if we consider a road which is leading to a crossroad. And on that crossroad there are three pathways. And we have to choose which path to take.
We might choose left, right or straight. So like that, three moods are like three pathways. But we could consider living in the moods to be like a path.
And one path will take us up. One path will take us more or less where we are. And one path will take us down.
Now up and down can refer eventually to the upper planets, the lower planets, the upper species or the lower species. But also it primarily refers to the movement of our consciousness. So we move upwards when our consciousness moves upwards.
Krishna says, whatever is our bhava, whatever is our emotional disposition, that will become our physical condition. So that is bhava bhavita. Moving further, Krishna states here that we will move upwards by cultivating goodness.
Or by letting ourselves be exposed to goodness and letting ourselves be shaped by goodness. Now we all have choices. But we need to understand these choices carefully.
So a normal crossroad, there we say there are three paths and we have to choose one of them. Then the onus is on us to choose. The moods influence is however much more subtle and obsidious.
The moods not only present choices but also push us to make particular choices. That means if we are influenced by tamoguna, then the tamasic path will appear much more attractive to us. And we will naturally be disposed towards choosing that path.
And we will feel inclined, inspired, impeded, depending on whichever the path is, goodness, passion, ignorance, whatever. We will feel pushed towards going in a particular direction. Making a particular set of choices.
And those choices will naturally have consequences. So nothing comes free in human life. Everyone wants freedom.
So freedom is not just the capacity to choose but also the capacity, more specifically the capacity to choose, to make the right choice, to choose correctly. So if somebody presents us a set of choices but propels us into making a particular choice, then that is not really choosing. Sometimes in some dictatorships, when the police round up a suspect, then they may nominally read the rights.
That you have a right to remain silent. But then if you threaten, if you don’t confess, then it will be gullipana. Your daughter will disappear forever.
Your wife will be in an accident. If the police itself starts threatening like this, then that person, the suspect, even if he is not a criminal, may give a confession under duress. And normal law courts, or good law courts, don’t accept confession under duress.
That means that a person who is presenting choices but is compelling to make a particular choice, is not really free. So like that, the modes give us a pseudo-freedom. And when we are under the clutches of mundane nature, we are free to do whatever we want.
An alcoholic may feel, I am free whether to drink or not to drink. But that freedom doesn’t last long. Despite having that so-called freedom, the alcoholic ends up drinking.
And drinking a lot. So the modes, Krishna tells us that there are consequences and whichever choice we make. And he tells that different paths will lead to different destinations.
This knowledge is very important for us to be able to make healthy choices. At the same time, we also need to remember that the onus is always on us to make the choices. No one else can make the choice for us.
And because no one else can make the choice for us, So, if we let ourselves be influenced by a lower mode, and then the mode will distort our thinking in such a way that a lower choice, a choice which is unhealthy, will seem to be healthy and attractive. And thus we will succumb to mistakes. So to avoid such things from happening, we need to be alert externally and internally.
Show what is the consequence of what I am going to choose. And this word underscores the consequential nature of whatever we do. But things don’t come free, things come with consequences.
And therefore, we are advised to choose wisely. And our devotional practices, when we keep them steady and strong, then they give us the requisite inner strength by which we can resist the presentation and propulsion by the modes. And presentation means how a particular mode may present itself externally.
And propulsion refers to how it pushes internally. So, devotion helps us to resist the outer presentation and the inner propulsion by the modes. And then we can make the right choices.
And thus we can ensure our growth, ensure our progress towards auspiciousness.