Gita Overview Mumbai 14.1-10 Characteristics of the three modes

Transcript

This is an AI-generated transcript and may contain some errors.
Hare Krishna.
Today we start with the 14th chapter of the Bhagavad Gita. This is gunatraya vibhaga yoga, the three modes of material nature. So in a sense, the connection between this and the previous chapter is implicit.
Implicit means that Krishna has been referring to the three modes throughout the Bhagavad Gita. And the first reference to the three modes comes in the second chapter of the Bhagavad Gita, when there is trigunya vishayaveda, trigunyabhavarjuna. So after talking about that, in 2.45, 46, that section he talks about it.
Then afterwards he says, again and again there is a reference to how one should become, he talks in third chapter about say, kamesha krodhesha, rajogul samudbhavaha. So repeatedly references are there to the three modes. So because in the Jnana section, the Jnana section is primarily based on analytical understanding.
So analytical understanding means that one tries to get a framework for fitting concepts. You get a system by which you can classify and categorise things. So to some extent he has done that in the previous chapter by talking about purusha prakriti and other four items.
So in this chapter, Krishna without any spur from Arjuna will continue the discussion. And he starts talking about the three modes. Now the critical reason for this is, he has talked about in 13.22, which I mentioned yesterday is the bija vakya.
He has mentioned there that what causes the bondage is gunasangha. So what is that guna and how does the purusha, our soul come in the sangha of that guna. That will be what we described in the 14th chapter.
And this 14th chapter will be setting the stage for the 15th chapter which will describe the tree that grows from that bija. That will be the 15th chapter. And then in the 16th chapter will be described the two extremities of that tree.
The divine and the demoniac nature. Now this tree is upside down. So those who are at the top of the tree are the nearest to the reality.
What is at the bija is the nearest to the reality. What is at the bottom is the furthest away. So the divine nature is in the upper side of the tree near the roots.
And the demoniac nature is at the bottom of the tree towards the lowest shoots that are there. And then the 17th chapter will talk about what lies between these two extremes. At the start of the 17th chapter Arjuna will ask a question that Krishna Yuga said that those who reject scripture, those who have no faith in scripture and act according to karma, they are demoniac.
So then Arjuna asks that there is another possibility that people don’t follow scripture but they have some kind of faith. So what happens to them? And the answer to that is it depends on which more they cultivate and how they live. So that will be talking about the intermediate people between the divine and the demoniac.
So those who have faith and follow scripture. Those who have not faith and don’t follow scripture but follow lust. Follow worldly desires alone.
And in between are those who have some kind of faith and follow some kind of rituals which are non-scriptural. So that will be talked about in the 17th chapter. And the 18th chapter will get the whole Bhagavad Gita together by summarising karma and gyana and ultimately culminating in bhakti.
So in a conceptual sense Krishna is basically giving an analysis of the various concepts that are there in the Vedic view of reality and an important concept is guna. And he has referred to it throughout. Now he will put the spotlight on it and explain it.
That is a conceptual connection. The linear connection is, this is an elaboration of 13.22 gunasangha. What are the gunas and how there is a sangha with the gunas.
So let’s start with 14.1. Any questions about this? Sri Bhagavan avaacha Param puya pravakshami Gyananam gyanam uttamam Yajnaatva munaya sarve Param siddhi mitogataha Param siddhi mitogataha Param is supreme, puya pravakshami. Pravakshami is speak, puya is again. So I am speaking this again to you.
What is it? Gyananam gyanam uttamam. This is the best of all knowledge. And Yajnaatva munaya sarve.
By understanding this knowledge what happened? Param siddhi mitogataha The great sages attained the supreme destination. So what is this gyananam gyanam uttamam? Although this is in one sense the analysis of three modes of material nature. But this analysis will culminate in the establishing the glory of bhakti.
And that is the most confidential knowledge which Krishna has talked about in 9.1 when he said that I am going to speak this knowledge to you. And again he is referred to in the 10th chapter also. Param bhuya pravakshami.
Bhuya eva maha baho shruno me paramam vachaha. So he has talked about bhakti twice explicitly in 9.1 and 2 and then again 10.1 and 2 he has talked about it. And now he is going to speak it once again.
But here the focus will not be on bhakti. The focus will be on the three modes. And then by establishing how powerful and how irresistible the modes are.
Then when he explains actually bhakti you can break free from this. That establishes the glory of bhakti. For example if I say I will give you this knife.
It is an extremely powerful knife by which you can cut anything and everything. Okay you say fine. But then I tell you that these are the ropes.
You know the biggest body builder in the world. He cannot cut this. You know all the knives that are produced by various people that cannot cut it.
So I go on and on describing the toughness of those ropes. And then I tell okay this is a knife. You can cut it with this.
Oh really that will help me to understand the glory of that knife better. So till now Krishna has talked about the glory of bhakti in various ways. He has explained comparatively by talking about how bhakti is an eternal result as compared to the demigod worship giving a temporary result.
How bhakti is easier to practise as compared to jnana. He has glorified it in different ways. Now the focus in the glorification of bhakti is on how intricate and how binding is the conditioning created by material nature.
How difficult it is to get liberated from that. And that he will elaborate in this chapter through the analysis of three modes. Manishpu was there some question yesterday that you wanted to ask which we left out? I will do that later.
I have not written it down. So I just wanted to give, Manishpu suggested I can give a summary of 27 to 35. Where is the PPT? Okay if I have to do it I will do it now only.
So before we go to chapter 14 overview let’s do a… So chapter 13 basically when Krishna talks about the overview we are talking about 27 to 35 now. So what he does in 27 he says there are two types of or rather everything is a combination of matter and spirit. Then 28-29 he describes see everything material equally to attain liberation.
Then 30, what is 30th verse? So see, what does it mean to see everything material equally? That he is going to elaborate. So he says actually see that spirit is the non-doer. That’s why I don’t blame anyone.
That’s how we will see everything equally. See that spirit is the non-doer. Then 31st is… So then see that all variety originates in spiritual similarity.
So ultimately different people, Duryodhana may be your enemy and Yudhishthira may be your brother. But all this is happening because of material conditionings. So don’t get deluded by that.
See that all variety originates in spiritual similarity. See that the soul always remains transcendental and doesn’t get entangled and doesn’t act. So then 33 describes how the soul doesn’t get entangled.
34 describes how the soul doesn’t get, how the soul doesn’t act. And 35 describes, knowing all this, gaining this jnana jakshu will give liberation. So basically Krishna is summarising whatever he has discussed in the 13th chapter over here.
So the whole idea of the jnana section is that seeing variety at the material level creates desires within us. And when desires are created then we act in a way that entangles us. So when we don’t act according to those desires, because we don’t see the variety caused by illusion, then we will not get bound.
Should I move ahead or write it down? I’ll keep this on at the end of the class in case you want to write it down. Let’s go over to the 14th chapter now. An overview of the 14th chapter is, First, how the soul is conditioned.
Then, how this conditioning affects us. What is the effect of the conditioning on the soul? And last part is, how one can transcend the conditioning. So first is, 1 to 13 is gunasangha.
How the gunasangha happens. So first two verses, Krishna will glorify the knowledge that he is giving. Then he will describe next two verses, how the soul comes in contact with matter.
Then he will give an introductory description of the three modes. And he will tell the characteristics of each of the modes and what kind of primary attachment they create. So 5, 6, 7, I’ll go over this later.
So 5 is the introduction, 6, 7, 8 is on one verse about each of the modes. And 9th is a summary of how they cause bondage. Then 10 to 13 talks about how these modes are in conflict.
And by analysing what emotions we are experiencing right now, we can understand which mode is dominating us. So 10 talks about the conflict between the modes. 11, 12, 13 describes the characteristics of our psychology when a particular mode dominates us.
So after describing this, somebody says, Okay, if I live in a mode of ignorance, mode of passion, what will be the problem? So then describes the effect. So the effect is described in three terms. The long term effect is where we will go after death in 14, 15.
Then 16th is a medium term effect. What is the overall shaping of our psychology and personality that happens, which can be evident even in this life. And each mode creates an immediate effect also.
For example, when I am covered by the mode of ignorance, I start feeling lazy. When I am overcome by the mode of passion, I start feeling lusty or greedy. So that immediate effect is also talked about.
And then 18th verse gives us a broad summary of the post-mortem journey of the soul. And then 19 to 27 essentially talks about how to transcend the modes. So there, Arjuna will ask a question specifically, how one can transcend.
And then Krishna will describe the answer elaborately. So when we come to that answer, I will give further classification within this, of how the answer develops. Arjuna asks three questions.
And then Krishna answers each of those three questions progressively. We will discuss that when we come to it. So now, in this purport, this is the next purport, Srila Prabhupada mentions philosophical speculation as different from mental speculation.
So this is a philosophical speculation. We can come to the conclusion of devotional service. So let’s look at the next verse.
idam jnanam upashrityam mam sadharmyam agatah sarge pinopajayante pralayena vyathanti ca idam jnanam upashrityam So Krishna is using a very significant word to describe it. He is just saying that one who, it doesn’t say just acquire this knowledge, just take shelter of this knowledge. I have to take shelter of this knowledge.
Philosophy is not just for analysing and memorising and verbalising. It is for actually enabling us to take shelter of Krishna. So idam jnanam upashrityam So we see with philosophy, with this knowledge.
mam sadharmyam agatah Such a person will attain my nature. And what will happen when he attains my nature? He says that he will not take birth again. Not only that, he says such a person will not also be afflicted when there is destruction.
pralayena vyathanti ca Because if you have transited the modes, then even when death comes, you will not be so much affected because you will understand that it is not the soul that is going to be destroyed. It is only the body that will be destroyed. So now Krishna will start by describing how the soul comes within the modes.
So okay, this is the glorious knowledge, but how does it all start? mamayonirmahadramah tasmin garbham dadhamyaham sambhava sarvabhutana tato bhavati bharata So mamayonirmahadramah So in general, the Bhagavad Gita as well as the broad Vedic scriptures talk about the soul’s material existence as anadi. Anadi means beginningless. So now this doesn’t mean literally speaking that it doesn’t have a beginning.
The soul does come into material existence at some particular time. But it has been so long that it is called as anadi. It is practically impossible to trace the beginning.
So in ISKCON at one particular point there was a controversy called the fall of the jiva. So there were some two devotees who were good Sanskrit scholars and they studied the previous Acharya’s books and they felt that the position that the soul has come from the spiritual world cannot be sustained by a study of the previous Acharya’s books. And then at that time there was a Prabhupada seems to have made a strong statement that the soul wasn’t the spiritual world, the soul fell from there.
So at that time these two devotees were asked about their understanding. So they published a book saying that actually the soul was not in the spiritual world. And then they quoted from different Acharya’s from our Sampradaya, outside the Sampradaya and they made a book.
And then ISKCON basically published a book to respond to that, that is there in the Vedabhaya is called Our Constitutional Position, Our Original Position. And they also gave exhaustive quotes from various sources explaining how the position that Srila Prabhupada has maintained can also be sustained based on scriptures. So basically eventually those two devotees they left ISKCON.
And they were told that you can be in ISKCON but if you want to preach you cannot talk about this position within ISKCON. They were properly practising Krishna Consciousness in other ways. But then they said that this is the position that the Acharyas have given us.
And then they said that if you are going to contradict Srila Prabhupada then you cannot be within ISKCON. So their point was that we are not contradicting Srila Prabhupada. Because Srila Prabhupada himself made multiple statements about it.
So in a sense Srila Prabhupada has made multiple statements. When he was specifically asked he said that it is achintya, how exactly it happened. But overall Srila Prabhupada said that it has happened.
So their idea was it is one thing to say that Srila Prabhupada has made some statement that I cannot agree with. That itself is quite a bold statement to make. But then their idea was that because Srila Prabhupada was speaking to a very neophyte audience so to encourage them he made a statement that is not scriptural.
Just to encourage them. Oh you are in the spiritual world, you will go back to the spiritual world again. So they said that now once we start relegating one of Srila Prabhupada’s statements as not being true as being meant for a neophyte audience then we start relativising his statements and then where does it end? So more important than the specific issue was the principle of relativising Srila Prabhupada’s statements.
So the issue over here is that there can be when we study scriptures we will find that certain questions require a certain level of spiritual evolution to understand. Without being adequately advanced we cannot comprehend certain things. So that is why rather than absolutising any one position what one has to do is one has to let time pass and make spiritual advancement then one will get a clearer understanding.
So sometimes some devotees may make some statements you may hear in some Bhavatam class that the souls were in Mahavishnu, the souls were in Brahmajyoti, the souls were here, the souls were there. So even now you see within a stone there is a sort of spectrum of opinions about this issue and it is also Srila Prabhupada when he was asked this question Srila Prabhupada essentially said that it is inconceivable in the sense that he said that you know the famous example that there is a tall fruit on a tree and a bird came and sat on the tree, the same branch so when the bird came and sat and the bird flew away and the fruit fell so now did the fruit fall because the bird was there and the bird moved away or because the fruit fell that’s why the bird moved away or the two were just unconnected events and that happened at the same time. So now it is very difficult to find a causal link in such cases.
Similarly Srila Prabhupada gave this example and he said actually Jaydev Maharaj wrote an article about it. Don’t figure it out, get out. Don’t figure it out, get out.
Ravindra Siruprul gives a very interesting explanation for the Sanadi and that sound based on scripture he says that we know the point that time flows faster and faster here as compared to in the higher planets so for example Brahmaji’s one movement was how long over here? One year during that kidnap, abduction of the Gopas that pastime is Brahma Vimuhandila so now if you imagine this relativity of time visualise it as a pyramid so the top of the pyramid is very narrow and as the pyramid moves downward it becomes broader and broader. So now through this particular pastime of Brahma Vimuhandila which is given in the Bhagavatam which is commented on in the same way by Jiva Goswami and in the same way by Srila Prabhupada. The point is clear that time flows slower over there and faster over here so now if you visualise this pyramid as extending beyond Brahma Loka right through the material universe to the spiritual sky then one flash of a moment in eternity in the spiritual world would become millions of years over here so from the perspective of the spiritual world the soul never falls down because there it’s only like a fraction of a moment and from the perspective of this world actually the soul has been so long away that he just, it’s like anadhi for him so in case you want to read this further in Back to Godhead there is an article called Conceiving the Inconceivable so I’ll read that later I won’t go into, do I have it here so that is a reasonable explanation for what has happened why I am referring to this is some principles on understanding the origin of the conditioned soul so all this is known from Srila Prabhupada to the Acharyas to his teachers, they know this is how we resolve paradox, they know how one can fall from a place no one falls from enter into a nirguna that has always been and return to a place where no one ever actually left one never actually left so you are talking from two different perspectives one falls from a place no one falls from what does that mean? from the perspective of the spiritual world when the scriptures, if somebody makes a statement if you find a statement in scripture that nobody falls from the spiritual world what that indicates is the fall is just from the spiritual world’s point of view just for a fraction of a moment, so no one falls from there and return to a place no one actually left because we never fell, we never returned in a sense but as long as in the world it is so long for us a place, enter into a nirguna that has always been this ignorance is anadi from our perspective so essentially rather than splitting hair over how it exactly happened, the more important thing is to get out of it and that is made very clear by our acharyas that if you practise the process of devotional service we can return back to Krishna, there is no ambiguity about that so whether we are in Krishna whether we are in Vaikuntha or in Brahmajyoti or with Mahavishnu or wherever else, that doesn’t matter what is important is that we can return back to the spiritual world so in the Bhagavad Gita Krishna doesn’t explicitly talk about the fall of the jiva when he talks about how the soul becomes entangled, he primarily starts by talking about how the soul’s contact with matter begins and how that leads to the entanglement of the soul so this is, in a sense, he is talking about so now connecting this with what we know from the Annal philosophy when the soul, by some desire to enjoy separate from Krishna, comes to material existence and that time, as we know, Mahavishnu through his glance, that is called a Shambhu injects the soul into the material world and then they come in contact and they get the various bodies so that stage of how they come from there to here and where they come from the Bhagavad Gita doesn’t talk about that, Bhagavad Gita talks about once there is a contact, how things develop from that point of view so let’s start with that does Jiva Goswami ensure in Bhakti Sandarbha? see, the Sandarbha Sanskrit itself is very difficult to understand and further, not only the Sanskrit is difficult to understand his reasoning is also very very tight so that section of the Bhakti Sandarbha is open to multiple understandings so actually it was these devotees Satyanarayan Prabhu and Kundali Prabhu who came up with this idea they were actually translating the Sandarbha itself for the BBT and at that time they felt that this translation was this was a version of Jiva Goswami let me complete that when these devotees were doing the translation there was a multiple devotee committee that was actually doing the translation so Gopi Paranand Prabhu was there and some other devotee scholars were also there so Gopi Paranand Prabhu and other scholars felt that actually it’s not unambiguous over there because when you look at the Sanskrit the Sanskrit is not unambiguously saying that the soul was never with the Jiva if you look at the English translation as of now the Bhakti Sandarbha has been translated only by Satyanarayan Prabhu so what he has done he basically gave it as the soul has fallen from the spiritual world so Bhanu Maharaj has just now completed the translation and he has shown actually that it is not necessarily that way that is one way of understanding it but that is not the only way of understanding it that is one of the challenges because Sandarbha is a very intricate philosophical analysis so some sections can be open to multiple interpretations so we cannot say for sure that that is Jiva Goswami’s position that the soul was never in the spiritual world there is only one understanding of that position if that had been his unambiguous position then there would not have been so much debate but that is not the unambiguous interpretation of his position translation of his position so now so here you will see the multivalency of Sanskrit language in the sense that here the word Brahma normally we use the word Brahma to mean Brahma Jyoti or spirit here the word Brahma means matter prakriti and that becomes very clear from the context mama yonir, mahad brahma the great womb that I impregnate so Brahma is the great womb that I impregnate and then by that dadha, tasmin garbham dadhamyaham I impregnate that, I give over there and by that sambhavah is born, becomes possible sarvabhutanam, all living beings all living beings come into existence by that I will discuss this verse with the next verse sarvayonishu kaunteya murtaya sambhavantiya murtaya sambhavantiya tasam brahma mahad yonir aham bija pradaha pita bija pradaha pita so this is a well known verse and it tells about how all living beings are ultimately the children of Krishna there I am Krishna saying aham bija pradaha pita so maternally it is like the mother whom Krishna impregnates with the souls and then all the living beings are born so again the point in these two verses which we can relate is sarvabhutanam and here is sarvayonishu so Krishna is giving a universal vision over here he is not talking about specifics this is one of the features of the Bhagavad Gita which contrasts with many of the other religious books the Bhagavad Gita in the broadness of its vision it includes everyone and not just all human beings but all living beings sarvabhutayishu sarvayonishu and Sri Prabhupada would quote this verse to explain how all species are born by the contact of God and matter and God and prakriti so now what is this referring to obviously Krishna is saying aham bija pradaha pita I am the seed so just as when a man and a woman come in contact with each other at that time the man provides the seed and the woman provides the womb and together through their combination the embryo appears and the child is born similarly the seed that Krishna provides is the atma and that is provided in material nature and in the material nature just as a child grows in the mother’s womb so in material nature provides the body, body grows around it and then the various living beings are born so essentially the soul is placed in material nature by the arrangement of the Lord and then once the soul is placed in the material nature and the soul starts emerging as a living being then the soul comes under the influence of the three modes that he will talk about in the next verse so Krishna mentions the three modes together for the first time here in the Gita as far as I remember so he says these are born from Prakriti and Nibadnanti they bind Arjuna you are Mahabahu, you are very powerful but even you are bound, all living beings are bound by this that actually these modes the living entity is eternal but when the soul is in the body actually the soul becomes bound by these modes so the material nature binds the powerful living entity who is imperishable with these three modes now Krishna will describe the characteristics so two characteristics of this mode it is said to be Nirmala why is it Nirmala? because of Prakashaka and Anamaya, Nirmala means it is uncontaminated it is called uncontaminated because it is illuminating when we are situated in this mode we become illuminated what is that illumination? that will be knowledge, we will describe that later in 11th verse and Anamayam, it frees one from sins Nirmalatva because of Prakashaka and Anamayam and this results in bondage also, two kinds of bondage so Sukha Sanghena and Jnana Sanghena bondage because of knowledge and because of happiness so actually speaking the Prakasha gives Sukha and Anamaya gives Jnana Prakasha gives Jnana and Anamaya gives Sukha sufferings come because of sinful reactions so when we don’t have sinful reactions we experience happiness and the illumination gives knowledge that means the very virtues of this mode also become the sources of bondage that means that when a person is situated in this mode, the person feels basically relaxed more comfortable, more intelligent than others and because of that feeling there is a kind of superiority and satisfaction which causes bondage so, Prabhupada will give the example of the shackles of different kind and the iron shackles and there are golden shackles, so they are still shackles so these are golden shackles, the mode of goodness then we will talk about the mode of passion we will discuss a little bit more about the modes when we come to the details so Rajo is the mode of passion so Raga is attachment it is born of desire in fact the word Atmakam means it is made of so the essence of it is the Atma of this Rajo Guna is Raga, attachment and so when there is attachment to something then I want it more and more you are attached to alcohol so you want it more and more and that wanting is the bondage of alcohol, that is the addiction so that Raga leads to Trushna and that causes and actually there is actually a bondage at the level of psychology psychology means I start feeling the craving, I want this and there is a bondage in terms of practically what I have to do to get it what I have to do to get it that is Karma, I have to work so when I want to get material things, I have the Trushna then that naturally makes me work and it is well known that one of the as per modern sociology that addiction is one of the best predictors of crime when a person becomes addicted then it is generally quite likely that because the person will not be able to satisfy the addiction by legal, honest means, the person will start becoming criminal so addiction is at the level of Trushna and then what happens is at the practical level there is vikarma, so when Krishna says so karma is used in a generic sense it can be karma or it can even be vikarma so now when we say Kshatriyas are in the mode of passion Brahmanas are in which mode? Goodness and Kshatriyas? Passion Vaishyas? Ignorance and Shudras? Ignorance that is true at the same time if all of them are following Dharma then the principle of following Dharma itself is a principle of goodness so it is not that anybody say for example today if there is a politician that politician, he may be doing political activities he may be having Ishwara Bhavanya, the desire to control but that in and of itself does not make him in passion that does not make him a Vedic Kshatriya because the characteristic of Vedic Kshatriya is that the person is actually following Dharma so we will see this later in the 17th chapter also Krishna will talk about how those who are in goodness worship the Devatas yante satvika devam aksharakshamsirajasam pretan bhutaganam shanya yante tamasajana in 17.4 he says that those in goodness worship the Devatas, those in passion worship the Yakshas and Rakshasas and those who are in ignorance worship the Bhutas now we know that actually those in goodness worship Vishnu those in passion worship Brahma, those in ignorance worship Shiva but Krishna is telling over here those who worship the Devatas are in goodness so what does it mean? Actually even the worship of Shiva or the worship of Durga, any form of Vedic worship requires some level of goodness without that they will not do in that worship only just adherence to scripture itself is a kind of goodness so similarly just doing the Kshatriya occupational duty doesn’t make a person a Kshatriya the person has to have the basic adherence to scripture at least at some level, then that person is classified within Varanashram without adherence to Varanashram whatever be the occupational duty that one is doing that person is considered as a Amalaksha or a Yavana in the Bhagavatam 10th canto when Kaali Yavana is attacking Kaali Yavana is described as the king of large number of Yavanas but although he is acting as the king he is not called a Kshatriya over there he is still called as a Yavana he is acting as a king but he is called as a Yavana because he is not having any faith in Vedic scriptures he is not following the basic principles of Varanashram so just the occupational duties just the performance of occupational duties doesn’t make a person a Kshatriya that means in the Varanashram, Brahmin, Kshatriya, Vaisheshudra all need to have some basic level of goodness by which they follow Shastra that basic level of goodness is what enables them to be within Varanashram and within that there is classification goodness is the foundation and when you have goodness, goodness that is the worship of the Devatas that is the worship of Vishnu when there is goodness, passion that is the worship of Brahma when there is goodness, ignorance that is the worship of Shiva and when there is passion itself then there is the worship of Yakshas and Rakshasas and there is just ignorance and then the worship of Bhutas similarly over here, when Krishna is telling that karma sangena dehinam so this karma can refer to karma or it can refer to vikarma if the person is basically following Vedic culture even in Vedic culture people have attachment we can give the example that Arjuna was attracted to Subhadra and then he did a lot of things to get married with her but how did he do that? he abducted her but everything was done according to Dharma he took the permission of Yudhishthira and then eventually when he carried her away he married her properly it was not like an illicit elopement that happens today where there is nothing to do with Dharma so actually even for that, that is called Gandharva Viva but that also happens within the precincts of Dharma so the point which I am making here is that Trishna can lead to Karma or it can lead to Vikarma depending on whether there is a basic platform of Dharma that the person is following or not so today when there is Trishna, when there is addiction that leads to, because there is no following of Dharma it will lead to be Karma so passion, when it is regulated by scriptural regulation then it has some element of some control because of goodness in it so Dharma acts as the control for passion of the Kshatriyas if there is no Dharma, then the Kshatriya’s passion goes completely out of control then Trishna will describe about the mode of ignorance tamastva jnanajam viddhi tamastva jnanajam viddhi mohanam sarvadehinam mohanam sarvadehinam pramadalasya nidrabhis pramadalasya nidrabhis tanni badnati bharata so tamastva jnanajam viddhi so this seems to be a little repetitious, ignorance is born of ignorance it seems like that isn’t it? tamastva jnanajam viddhi jnanajam means born of ignorance and tamastva is ignorance so what does it mean, ignorance is born of ignorance actually one is the mode of ignorance and the other is the ignorant condition of the living entity so when I am in ignorance, just like if I am in darkness, there is some small candle somewhere but I walk in such a way that I bump into that place where the candle is there, instead of lighting the candle it falls down and I get lost so when I am in ignorance, I act in such a way that it creates, fuels, facilitates further ignorance so tamastva jnanajam viddhi so when I am in an ignorant condition then the mode of ignorance catches me further and it binds me further, tamastva jnanajam viddhi mohanam sarvadehinam so it’s interesting, Krishna says that sarvadehinam, now you would say some people are in goodness, some are in passion, some are in ignorance, so why does Krishna say that mohanam sarvadehinam, it actually deludes all living entities, this is very significant because even the mode of ignorance is not entirely bad the mode of ignorance also performs a necessary function if say the mode of ignorance did not influence us, we would not be able to sleep we would not be able to sleep, of course sometimes the mode of ignorance influences us too much and we sleep when we don’t want to or when we shouldn’t sleep but we also need sleep if you think about sleep from a dispassionate point of view it’s quite a horrifying phenomenon imagine if somebody had a disease because of that disease everyday for 6-8 hours that person forgot who he was can you imagine, people get amnesia they forget who they are but if a person got a disease everyday for 6-8 hours he just forgets who he is and gets completely disconnected from reality he doesn’t know where he is, who he is, what he is what he is doing and sometimes he goes into an alternate reality where he imagines all kinds of strange things we would consider it to be like a serious psychiatric or psychological disorder but because it happens to everyone we think it’s common so from the biological point of view we say that sleep is essential because it sort of rests the person rests the physical organism and enables the person to get rejuvenated but in some cases actually sleep itself becomes quite stressful when people have nightmares when people are not able to sleep peacefully so actually speaking sleep is quite a mystery and Bhagavad Gita helps us to understand that Mohanam Sarvadehinam means that actually that moha that results because of sleep it is universal, all living beings require that but Krishna is not saying this causes bondage what he causes bondage is the next part Pramad Aalasya Nidrabis Tannibadnati Bharata so in general ignorance, goodness, passion these are three features of material existence which correlate with maintenance, creation and destruction so these are universal essential, inescapable features of material existence but when they are in a disproportionate excess then they cause bondage so when Krishna has said in the previous verse Karma Sangena Dehinam this also comes bound by karma Krishna earlier himself said that you cannot stay without doing activity so activity is not bad when that activity is done out of a compulsion born from Krishna, then that leads to bondage similarly earlier he said Sukha Sangena Badnati, Jnana Sangena Badnati so Sukha and Jnana are not bad, we all want to be happy and we all need Jnana Arjuna is being told in Bhagavad Gita to give him Jnana so they are not bad, but when that Sukha is at the material level and keeps it at the material level or the Jnana is only about material things and doesn’t really reach to spiritual levels, then that causes bondage similarly, here when Krishna says Pramad Aalasya Nidra Bhees so everybody will be subjected to the mode of ignorance to some extent and that’s natural because of having a physical body but when we get into this influence disproportionately when there is madness, when there is laziness and when there is sleepiness that is what causes bondage Prabhupada’s wording also in that he says that one who sleeps more than 6 hours is affected by the mode of ignorance 6 hours is not like an absolute figure some people may need a little more sleep, some people may need a little less sleep the point here is that all of us can make out that sometimes when we sleep if we sleep too much, even after sleeping we don’t feel fresh we feel lethargic normally we may not feel like waking up immediately after we wake up, but when we are adequately rested after we just wash our face, then we feel rejuvenated but if we just sleep too much and lethargically because of boredom or frustration, because of not wanting to face life or whatever then that sort of sleep doesn’t really rejuvenate us so that is what Krishna is talking about that is what causes bondage now Krishna will summarise this in the next verse sattvaṁ sukhe sañjayati rajaḥ karmaṇi bhārata jñāna mā vṛttit tamah pramāde sañjayatyautā jñāna mā vṛttit tamah pramāde sañjayatyautā so sattva-guṇa binds by happiness raja-guṇa binds by karma and tamo-guṇa binds to madness so now we will discuss so here when Krishna is describing the focus is on the modes the focus is not on the individual person who is in a particular mode just like if you are studying medicine we may study the symptoms of a disease these are general characteristics that a diseased person has then we focus on a particular victim who has got the disease and then we study so in a sense both will be similar because we are studying the disease itself so in abstract we study the symptoms of the disease and in concrete we look at the person who is infected by the disease so first Krishna gives a description of the three modes itself now from the next 10 to 13 he will focus on individual psychology how the psychology of a person will be affected when that person is infected by a particular mode and to prepare the background for that he says that actually within an individual person the modes are always in conflict rajas tamas ca vibhūya sattvam bhavati bhārata rajah sattvam tamas caiva tamah sattvam rajas tatha tamah sattvam rajas tatha so rajas tamas ca vibhūya so conquering rajah and tamah sattvam bhavati sattvam becomes most powerful and rajah sometimes becomes powerful by conquering sattva and tamah and sometimes tamah becomes powerful by conquering sattva and rajah so there is this conflict within the mind which goes on between the modes and depending on which mode wins out which mode works out to be strongest that person acts accordingly and even at material level we will see sometimes this happens to us and even to materialistic people so today is Sunday, what should I do on Sunday maybe I have a lot of things which I want to read I want to increase my knowledge base so I can read and study I don’t get to enjoy I will go for a movie or I will watch TV or somebody may say all week I am working, I just sleep on Sunday so these are basically broad examples of goodness, passion, ignorance so now that person depending on maybe what his association is what his background is what his priorities are, person may choose one of these things so here we will see that when Krishna talks about these three modes it is not fatalistic it is not that a particular mode has to force itself on us we can choose which mode influences us that Krishna will talk about most emphatically towards the end of this chapter but here he says there is a conflict between the three modes constantly going on and if we observe our own psychology or we observe others, we can figure out which mode is influencing them right now so those characteristics of the individual psychology when it is affected by a particular mode, that we will discuss in the next three verses which we will discuss in the evening Thank you very much