Gita 17.01 The Gita universalizes and contextualizes the analytical framework of the three modes

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Bhagavad Gita 17.1 The 17th chapter of the Bhagavad Gita is known as Shraddhatraya Vibhaga Yoga three divisions of faith and it focuses on explaining how faith can be in the three modes of material nature goodness, passion and ignorance so herein Krishna is asked by Arjuna a question that leads up from the conclusion of the previous chapter the question is those who neglect or reject Shastra they follow Shastra sorry they have some kind of faith they act with faith of some kind or something that is not given in Shastra what is the nature of their faith is it in the is it in goodness, passion or ignorance so here Arjuna is trying to understand situation of the people who are in between the two extremes talked about in the previous chapter 16th chapter was Daiva Asura Sampada Vibhaga Yoga the divine and the demonic natures and it concluded with describing how the demonic act in 16.23 those who reject Shastra and act according to their selfish desire kama they will get happiness neither in this world nor in the next they will not get any perfection any satisfaction or any auspicious destination and therefore Krishna recommends that to avoid such a terrible fate therefore we should act according to Shastra so the two extremes are the ungodly, the demonic who defy Shastra and act according to selfish desire and those who honor Shastra and harmonize Shastra with faith so now Arjuna asks the question what about the people in between they are not demonic they are not just grounded by selfish self destructive desire but they are not following Shastra also so they have faith in something which is a product of either their own imagination or their cultural conceptions which they have internalized so basically they are not following scripture Krishna is asked by Arjuna that what is the nature of their faith is it in goodness, passion or ignorance and here Arjuna is applying the analytical framework of the three modes of material nature that Krishna has talked about in the 18th chapter wherein he has stated that in the 14th chapter wherein he has talked about the three modes of material nature he has talked about what happens when a particular mode becomes prominent or happens when another mode becomes prominent so analysis from that frame is very prominent in the Gita and Krishna uses that frame of analysis to explain how different living beings are behaviorally influenced in different ways based on the modes that are operating on them so now he asks one way of looking at things is the divine and demoniac natures those who are if you consider if you go even before that in the 13th chapter Krishna has talked about the only desire for a gratification as the seed of material existence that desire is what binds us to material existence and then that desire becomes the seed of the tree that is described in the 15th chapter so one who understands this tree which is upside down that person knows the Vedas so now we can say that the two extremes of the tree are the divine nature and the demonic nature and correspondingly you can say that the divine nature are people who are situated in the mode of goodness the demonic nature the demonic nature is possessed by people who are situated in the mode of ignorance what about the large number of people who are in between who do not veer to either extreme who act according to their own ideas of what is right we all have some faith or the other but no one can live faithlessly in the sense that they have absolutely no faith so Krishna is asking that those people they may have come up with some idea of religion some idea of God based on, Arjuna is asking actually implying this question that they have come up with some idea of worship, some idea of God and they are following that faithfully then what is their situation are they because of having faith to be considered in the mode of goodness or are they because of their negligence or defiance of scripture to be considered in the mode of ignorance or are they to be considered somewhere in between we could say that the Bhagavad Gita is a behavioral handbook and a behavioral handbook means that it focuses primarily on analyzing the characteristics of appropriate behavior and inappropriate behavior Arjuna broke down before the war and was exhibiting inappropriate behavior and what was the appropriate behavior for him and why that is analyzed in the Bhagavad Gita and it has used various terms or various analytical frames for analyzing appropriate and inappropriate behavior so herein it is in a sense universalizing and contextualizing the frame of reference of the three modes so Krishna has analyzed behavior in terms of three modes that was 14th chapter and 16th chapter he has analyzed behavior in terms of the divine and demonic nature so now he is asking for integration of the two by that integration he is raising the question how best can we understand the position and eventually the destination of those who operate somewhere in the middle range between the extremes of defiance of scripture of working for godless selfish desire and working in harmony with scripture and the answer will be provided by Krishna in this chapter which we will discuss in due course