Gita 14.21 When the disease is subtle, we need education to perceive the symptoms of sickness and health

Transcript

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Bhagavad Gita 14.21 Kailinga is… This is Arjuna’s asking the question, Arjuna Vacha. Kailinga is… By what symptoms? By what symptoms? Among the three modes, How can one know by the symptoms, by what symptoms can one know that one has transcended the modes? What is the achar? What is our conduct? What is the means to transcend the modes? So Arjuna is asking a logical question that will come and should indeed come to anyone who hears about the three modes. Krishna started by talking about Nibadnanti Mahabaho at 14.5. He started by saying how Dehe Dehinam These are the inexhaustible bonds by which all living beings are bound, the embodied souls are bound.
Krishna used the word Dehinam in the first verse Sattvam Vajasthamaiti Gunaprakriti Sambhavan Nibadnanti Mahabaho Dehe Dehinam Aaveyam And then he concluded by also using a similar word Dehinam That Gunaane Taanati Tattrin Dehi Deha Samudbhavam Tenutyu Jaradukhe Vimukto Amrutam Asnute Dehi Deha Samudbhavam That for the embodied soul the modes which are born with the body the transcendent one will become free from the cycle of birth and death. So if you compare the modes to an infection then it’s like we go to a doctor or we go to a medical seminar or a medical doctor friend and that friend describes the symptoms of a disease and then tells that when one is healed from this disease one will feel healthy and energetic. Now if as the person, as the doctor is describing the symptoms of the disease we start recognizing ourselves in that description and then when we hear I have this disease and oh this is curable then naturally the desire will come to know how can I cure myself? How can I be cured? And sometimes if some disease is subtle then say for example there are some diseases where we start we can perceive immediately that something is wrong somebody has a cough, somebody has a running nose somebody has a flu that causes weakness and increases body temperature then these are something which are easily perceivable for us when we have it and for others also when we have it and for others when they have it also basically some diseases are easily perceivable some diseases are not so easily perceivable say for example if we have an iron deficiency or if we have a vitamin B12, D3 deficiency now just by looking at a person we cannot make out that they have an iron deficiency of course a person with a trained eye might be able to make it out by looking at the skin color treatments or the nail colors if there is anemia they may be able to make out but it’s not so easy and even if we take some treatment if we have say low RBC count or less iron then we may take some iron pills and again how will we come to know that actually we are healthier of course if we take iron regularly we may well find that we are feeling healthier that actually we have become more positive in the sense that our energy level has increased but that may be a subtle increase and if our energy level is increasing daily or weekly there is a small margin we may not even realize it so only when we go to a doctor and do a medical test and the doctor reads the finding the medical test then they may assure so your health is better now your iron level has come back to normal so the point is that when the disease is subtle the healthy state may also be subtle and not easily perceivable so similarly Arjuna is asking questions because the infection by the modes is subtle so he is asking firstly how can I know that I have transcended the modes of course we can perceive the times when we feel greedy lobha is a characteristic of the mode of passion when we feel lethargic deluded by desire for intoxication indulging in intoxication so we can perceive certain things and by that we may conclude oh now I am affected by this and that’s a valid way of looking at things also no doubt but the point is that we all are striving to transcend the mode and Krishna has still now described how one may be affected by the modes but Krishna has not described exactly the symptoms of one who has transcended the modes so we can perceive our own consciousness and Krishna is asking Arjuna Arjuna is asking Krishna that if I transcend the modes how will I know about it what will be the symptoms in my consciousness what will be the kind of emotions that I will be experiencing and kimachar so the second part would be kimachar what would be the behavior this can refer to our own behavior also that how will I behave or more appropriately we can also say this can refer to other people because we can’t really look into other people’s consciousness to know what kind of emotions they are experiencing what we can see is how they are behaving now from their behavior we may infer to some extent what their consciousness is like so because we can’t look at people’s hearts and people’s feelings directly Arjuna is asking if someone else has transcended the modes how will I know it what kind of behavior should I see in them kimachar both the questions can of course be seen generically both for us as well as for everyone else and then most importantly katham jaitam strin gunan ativartate now how can I transcend the modes if a doctor describes the sick state and its symptoms and then he describes the benefit of the healthy state and the most important thing that is required is how to go from the sick state to the healthy state what is the medicine what is the treatment so katham jaitam Arjuna is asking what is the means by which the three modes can be transcended what is the means by which one can come to the level of spiritual consciousness and spiritual existence so that these three questions together will be answered by Krishna in the subsequent verses of this chapter 14.22-25 these four verses answer the first two questions we could say the first two verses answer the kailinga’s the next two verses answer kimachar and the verse after that 26th verse answers katham jaitam we will discuss these answers in our future sessions