Gita Overview Mumbai 14.11-16 How knowledge became redefined as the quest for power not truth

Transcript

This is an AI-generated transcript and may contain some errors.
Here with the 14th chapter, we discussed the first part of the 14th chapter, where Krishna first glorifies the knowledge that he is going to give. Then he talks about how the soul gets entangled to material existence. And then after that, he talks about how the three modes bind us.
So, that basic defining characteristics he talked about. So, now we will discuss about how those modes influence us and when a particular mode is predominant, what are the characteristics that manifest in a particular person? Sarva-dvaare shuddhe he smin, Sarva-dvaare shuddhe he smin, Prakashya upajayate, Prakashya upajayate, Gyanam yada tada vidyad, Gyanam yada tada vidyad, Vivruddham sattva mithyuta, Vivruddham sattva mithyuta. So, here there are two words, Gyanam and Vidyad.
They are two distinct. Gyana is referring to the dwara. So, when the Sarva-dvaare shuddhe he smin, when the doors to the body, that is the senses, they are illumined, Prakashya upajayate, when illumination arises in them, what is the illumination? That illumination is of knowledge.
So, when such a situation happens, at that time, you should know Arjuna. So, you should know that refers to Vidyad. So, there are two, Gyanam and Vidyad may seem synonyms, but they are different things.
When knowledge arises, you should know that at that time, Vivruddham sattva mithyuta, at that time the board of goodness is predominant. Now, in a sense, light or illumination is connected only with the sense of the eye. Light goes into the eye and if light goes into the air or the mouth, it does not make any difference.
So, here when Krishna is talking about Sarva-dvaare shuddhe Prakashya, he is using Prakashya not in a literal sense, but in a representative sense, in a slightly somewhat metaphorical sense where Prakashya represents the knowledge of discrimination. That means there are the senses. Now, what should go inside the senses, what should come out of the senses that essentially determines our interaction with the world.
How do we interact with the world? It is a lot of things may happen inside our heart, but it is primarily through our karmendriyas and gyanendriyas that we interact with the world. So, in the mode of goodness, that interaction of the soul with the world is rooted in knowledge, is based on knowledge and essentially, I didn’t mention earlier because I have talked about this in Ayurveda classes. What are the modes? The modes are the subtle forces that shape the interaction between matter and consciousness.
I repeat this. What are the modes? The modes are the subtle forces that shape the interaction between matter and consciousness. And how does this happen? This happens through the subtle body.
So, the modes primarily act on the subtle body, on the mind and through that. So, if we have, this is the soul, this is gross matter and between the subtle matter. So, subtle matter is the root by which spirit and gross matter interact.
So, that is root means the pathway. So, if from say here to go downstairs, the root is the staircase. But when I want to go down, the root alone is not adequate.
Along with the root, there has to be some force which pushes me down or pushes me up. So, there has to be a root and there has to be a force, then there is motion. So, between matter and consciousness, when there is an interaction, the root for that is subtle matter and the force that brings about that interaction is, are the modes.
Now, the modes act primarily through the subtle body. So, that means if I push somebody over here, pushing won’t cause that person to go down, it will just be pushed over here only. So, where the root is, that’s where the primarily the force has to act.
Then there will be some sort of movement. So, the modes act primarily on the mind. Now, we may say that even it is said that even gross objects are in the three modes.
For example, we may say that certain animals are in goodness, passion, ignorance. Certain places are in goodness, passion, ignorance. What that essentially means is that those places induce a particular kind of force on, I will just write this down, those particular objects exert a particular kind of force on the living entity.
So, that’s why when I say if a brothel is in the mode of ignorance and what does that mean? That means that in that place, see sex itself need not be in the mode of ignorance. Sex is characteristic of the mode of passion. When sex is done, flouting the principles of dharma and that time it becomes an activity of the mode of ignorance.
So, you remember earlier today morning I mentioned that actually dharma has to be foundational for everything. So, that’s why brothels, they are considered to be brothels or bars and such places are considered to be in the mode of ignorance. So, busy metropolitan cities, city stations or bus stops or squares or marketplaces, they are considered to be in the mode of passion.
Say libraries and other places of education or natural scenic spots, they are in the mode of goodness. The temple of course is transcendental. So, what does this mean when we say the places are there in particular? It means that at that particular place the vibrations are such that they exert that kind of force on the mind.
So, now I can even be in a place like say CST station where people are just rushing around, trains are going here and there and there are announcements and there is so much noise and buzz and it is possible that I can still stay in goodness but the circumstances will push me towards passion. So, like that. So, what are the modes? The modes are the subtle forces that shape the interaction between gross matter you can say, gross matter and consciousness through the root of subtle matter.
So, example, the root is like the staircase and modes are the forces that push us up, forces that push up and down. Now, when we talk about the modes, this is in the realm of concept. Now concept does not necessarily mean that it is unreal.
Generally, in normal language you say this is a concept and this is object. So, object means that which you can see, touch, tangible, anything that is gross is called as the object and anything which is abstract is called as a concept. So, are the modes concepts or are they objects? Concepts, yeah.
Modes are concepts because they may be exhibited in different ways, they may be subjective, how they influence other people. So, they have many of the characteristics of what we could call as concepts. For example, we may say that okay, Sikhs have a conception of God, they have a particular concept of Dharma, Buddhists have a particular concept of Dharma.
So, concept means what is formed in the mind. That does not necessarily mean it is false, but the way the word concept is used, it is said that it is not as objectively real as what we consider gross objects to be. Now, this is the normal understanding.
Now, you may have heard this phrase mind over matter. Mind over matter means you should use your mind to control material things, that is the idea. So, now actually mind over matter may be a common phrase outside, but from the Vedic perspective, you cannot really have mind over matter because mind is also matter.
Mind is also matter. So, from our perspective, mind is also a thing. And that is why when we talk about concepts, because concepts are formed in the mind, that is why it is also a thing.
That is why in Jaiva Dharma, Bhaktivinod Thakur, Jaiva Dharma is a novel written by Bhaktivinod Thakur. And in that there is a conversation between a Muslim, between Maulvi Mulla and Vaishnava Goswami. And when they are having a discussion, so according to Islamic theology, the association of any material, any ascription or association of any material form to God is considered to be shirk.
Shirk means it is a great blasphemy of God. So, then they are having a discussion and he says, what is the basis of this idolatry? So, he says, no, there is a form of God which is given in scripture. And according to it, this form of deity is shirk.
But instead of ascribing a material form like this to God, isn’t it better to think of God in the mind itself? So, the Vaishnava Goswami replies, but even the thought in the mind is material. Even the thought in the mind is material. Because as long as I am in the material world and I am using the physical body and the material mind to think and act, I cannot avoid matter.
So, even the thought in the mind or the original consciousness of the soul can think purely. But when we are interacting with matter, when our consciousness is rooted into matter, then our thoughts also become material. So, now what do you mean by material thoughts? You remember yesterday I gave the example of a video game played with virtual reality.
So, now this person who is playing the video game, he has the capacity to look at other places and think independent of the virtual reality. But when that person is focussing on the virtual reality and thinking of the game that is being played over there, then all the thoughts that are connected with the virtual reality by which consciousness is rooted within the virtual reality, all those thoughts are also virtual. The person is not virtual.
The person is real. But the thoughts which are connected with that particular video game, especially those thoughts by which the person is getting completely engrossed in it, those thoughts are virtual. The origin of those thoughts is real.
That is a real conscious person. But those thoughts, because they are connected not with the actual reality, but with the virtual reality, they are also virtual. So, like that the ātmā is spiritual.
But the thoughts that the ātmā has, especially when those thoughts are connected with the material world, they are material. And that is why in the 13th chapter, in verse 7, we discussed how Krishna says, So, he classifies and even chetana as a transformation of the modes, as a transformation of the kṣetra. That means he classifies all these as a material because they are connected to the material world.
So, the point which I am making over here connected with our discussion is that when we are in the material world, we cannot avoid material thoughts. So, the best we can do is that our thoughts may be material, but we can choose them with the discrimination. So, in the material realm, those thoughts which elevate us spiritually, we can choose those thoughts and avoid those thoughts which degrade us further.
So, when that discrimination is present, at that time a person is said to be in the mode of goodness. So, now Krishna is telling that he is giving a very generic characteristic. Krishna is not telling, okay, these particular objects are in goodness or passion.
He will talk a little bit about it in the 17th chapter. He will talk about āhāra and tapa and those sort of things which are in the three modes. Here he is giving broad principles.
So, when we are conscious and discriminating, at that time we are in the mode of goodness. I am just writing an article. Pause is an action word.
Pause is an action word. Normally, we think pause means to not do any action. But actually sometimes inaction is the best action.
Sometimes if I am angry with someone and if I speak at that time, I can just make a mess of my relationship, complicate the problem. So, at that time, to pause requires a tremendous amount of willpower. So, pause is an action word.
And the capacity to pause actually can be, it does not always have to be, but can be a sign of the mode of goodness. Because I understand this time I should not speak because things will become worse. Similarly, when impulses start controlling us and they impel us towards some sort of sense gratification, at that time pause.
So, pause is an action word and that action is generally in the mode of goodness. Of course, if it is a perpetual pause, then it will be laziness and that will be in a mode of ignorance. But as they say in English, look before you leap, isn’t it? That is the exact opposite of the modern value, just do it.
So, just do it in the mode of passion and look before you leap is in the mode of goodness. So, Prabhupada will write later in one of the purports in the 14th chapter, that in the past progress was considered according to standards of mode of goodness. That means the more elevated the person in the mode of goodness, the person in the civilisation would be considered more progressive.
But now progress is determined by the mode of passion. That means the more wealthy, the more powerful, the more materially showy a person is, the more influential, more famous that person becomes. And this is evident even in the thought systems of people.
Around 2500 years ago, Plato and Socrates, they are considered to be the greatest among the thinkers of ways. And Plato said that knowledge is truth. When you acquire knowledge, then you come to understand what is truth.
So, at the start of the scientific age in 16th century, there was a thinker Francis Bacon. He said, what is the truth does not matter. Knowledge is power.
His idea is that whatever gives us power, that is knowledge. And the purpose of knowledge is not to understand the truth, because his idea was what the truth is, nobody can know. What we can do is we can try to control things.
And actually, Francis Bacon was one of the primary thinkers who envisioned the age of technology. Even in Western civilisation, you know, the craftsmen and the intellectuals were considered to be two distinct categories of people. And the craftsmen were considered much lower and the intellectuals were much higher.
But through the idea that knowledge is meant to control things, technologists, those who could make mechanisms by which things could be controlled, they became elevated to the level of intellectuals. So, is this difference clear? See, the idea of knowledge is I have to think, analyse, classify and get to the truth. So, that is the understanding of knowledge.
So, and this is the characteristic in the mode of goodness. Later on, we will see that knowledge is also in three modes, goodness, passion, ignorance. So, knowledge in the mode of goodness is concerned with truth.
What actually is it? Is it like this? Is it like this? Try to understand what is the truth. So, now, even what is the truth, we may not get a conclusive understanding unless we take shelter of scriptural revelation. But still, the attempt to go towards the truth itself is indicative of goodness.
There is a story that Euclid, Euclid was a famous mathematician and especially he is considered a pioneer of geometry. So, Euclid was teaching geometry to his students and one student came along and he was talking about the mathematical theorems and things like that. So, he says, what is the use of this? One of the students asked.
So, Euclid called one of his servants, give him a dime. He says, without a dime, he does not see the use of any knowledge. Dime means money.
So, if there is no money in it, he cannot see any use for this knowledge. So, this whole idea that knowledge is meant for some materially utilitarian gain, either it is for directly controlling the nature around us or as it is more commonly, for earning a living. Before the start of the, before say the almost the 1950s, there are many thinkers, even western civilisation and all of them said that the purpose of education is the development of the character.
The purpose of knowledge education is the capacity for thinking. The purpose of education is the understanding of the wonder of nature and that was the more, like this they all had different notions, but they were more sattvic in the sense that it is knowledge for the sake of illuminating and developing a person. But since the 1950s, that the whole economy became, no, the whole education became commercialised.
Actually speaking, before the, now I am talking about western civilisation, I will come to Indian Vedic civilisation little later, but I am just elaborating about how the society has gone towards the mode of passion. So, education was primarily a religious or a philosophical pursuit. In the Vedic culture, the Gurukuls were primarily meant for spiritual education.
Along with that, they also gave some material education, but they were intrinsically connected with spiritual education. Even in the west, the centres of learning, traditionally were the seminaries, which were established by the churches. So, actually, if you look at most of the universities, either in America, which are famous now or in Europe, they were all started by the churches, either the Protestants started it or the Jesuits started it.
Jesuits are the scholarly wing of Catholic Christians. So, all these universities were actually meant for primarily theological learning. Until 500 years ago, theology was considered to be the queen of all branches of learning.
Because among all branches of knowledge, God was considered to be the highest object to be known. And the subject which enables us to know God, that was considered the highest. But, so actually, when the educational institute is producing theologians, producing philosophers, producing thinkers, then there is very little commercial motive in that education.
Now, either for the students who are going in or for those who are supporting that education. Now, it is more either of, as I said, philanthropic and illuminating motive is there. But when through the ideas of Francis Bacon and subsequent thinkers, the knowledge was redefined as not the quest for truth, but the quest for power.
At that time, the universities from that, this was in the 16th century and it was a gradual process that happened. But over a period of time, the purpose of the universities was changed not to the understanding of the truth, but to the development of technology for gaining better control. And because the universities largely became centres for catering to the interests of the industry, the education became more and more commercialised.
And in fact, now today, if people are going to talk about their colleges, one of the prime attractions which a college doubts and which students look for is, what is the salary that I am going to get if I get a degree from this college? And the whole principle behind education getting commercialised is that this education which we have has got practically nothing to do with truth. That is not the purpose at all. The purpose of the education is just earning, learning for earning.
That is all. There is nothing more. And why has this happened? Because in the mode of passion, knowledge gets redefined from what? To what? The quest, it is not the quest for truth, but the quest for power, yes.
And now, surely for material things also education is required. Somebody has to do management, somebody has to operate technology. The education is required for that and that education is also important.
But that is not considered the highest of all education. And that is not considered to be the success of education. Nowadays, in many schools, they are having value education as one additional subject.
But actually, originally the purpose of education was values. So, now value education is just an additional one subject that comes up later. So, now today, if a president or a president of a nation or the chancellor of a university or they exhort the students, you must study well, otherwise you will not get a job.
That is considered a perfectly valid reasoning. And nobody asked the question, okay, is studying meant just for getting a job? And what happens because of this is education gets devalued further. Because when education is only for the purpose of learning, then if somebody has some good business skills, then those people can find that I can earn without education also.
And many times it happens that people go through 15-20 years of education, and then they get employed as subordinates in a company that has been started and is owned by somebody who is not even a graduate. So, why? Because the Vaishyas are not meant to be so highly educated. So, education was meant to produce Brahmanas.
And now I will reconnect this with Varanashram. See, the purpose of knowledge was originally search of truth and that is the pursuit of the Brahmanas. The capacity to control things, the expertise in that is the expertise of the Shudras.
You remember I mentioned this earlier, every one of the Varanas has its own speciality. Does anyone remember what are Brahmanas good at controlling? What are Vaishyas, Shudras, all of them good at controlling? Om, Varana and expertise. So, Brahmanas are actually their expertise is in ideas.
Ideas, concepts, thoughts, analysis. Kshatriyas control people. Vaishyas, animals.
Of course, they produce money, but animals and plants, crops, they also take care of crops. And Shudras control things. So, artisans, those who manipulate things like cobblers, either they are outcasts or they are considered Shudras because they are operating on things.
So, now what happened by the equalisation of knowledge, by redefining knowledge as a quest for control, the Brahmanical activity was used for a Shudra pursuit. So, the Brahmanical study, education is Brahmanical primarily, but that was used for controlling things. And that’s why today’s people who are educated in today’s society are not very well refined for independent thinking or for self-employment.
After getting all the education, people have to look for a job. If I have to just start earning myself, it’s very difficult. What will I do? How will I earn myself? So, our current education doesn’t make people, doesn’t groom people to become Vaishyas.
It rarely grooms people to become Vaishyas, Kshatriyas or Brahmanas, extremely rarely. So, people become Shudras by this education. And Shudras are not very good at generating money.
And similarly, Brahmanas are also not very good at generating money. They are not good at handling money. They can handle ideas.
So, that’s why we will see today that many people who are intellectuals, they often feel if they are truly intellectually orientated, they feel very unfulfilled in their life. Because I’m doing nothing with my intellect. On the other hand, if they don’t have an intellectual nature, they just have a money-making mind.
They got into the studies just because of money-making. Then they get frustrated otherwise, because they say I got so much education, but I am working under somebody who is earning so much more than me and who has so much less education than me. So, what happens is people’s interest, if it is in earning money, the education doesn’t really groom them for that very well.
And if they really want to pursue knowledge, it doesn’t suit them for that also. Unless somebody wants to go into the field like research and paper publication and book writing, then the person can do some sort of educational pursuits. But even that has to be connected with practical things.
Even in universities, when people get funds, they get funds for not just idealistic projects where we want to understand the truth. The money comes where? Money comes primarily for the projects. Actually, three things.
Even if people want to do some PhD projects or further research, the money comes primarily from the defence, the weapons industry. It comes otherwise from the consumer industry. So, the consumer industry, the weapons industry is basically, we see aahar, nidra, bhaya, maithun, it is bhaya, defending.
And the consumer is basically basically creating better arrangements for aahar, nidra and maithun. So, what happened is the intelligence has become a servant of eating, sleeping, mating, defending. Instead of using the intelligence to go beyond eating, sleeping, mating, defending, intelligence is used to improve eating, sleeping, mating, defending.
That is the misfortune of Kalyuga. So, when there is proper discrimination, at that time, the person or the consciousness of the person is said to be in goodness. So, what should I see this thing or not? Should I talk like this or not? Should I hear this or not? You may have seen those three monkeys.
So, that is actually to some extent indicative of goodness. But those monkeys do not know what is positive to do. So, what we should not do is easy to tell, but it is difficult to apply unless we give them something positive to do.
So, that positive actually Bhagavata tells us, Prabhupada tells us, it is actually a devotional activity. The activity is connected with Krishna. But in principle, when there is a discrimination to know what to do and what not to do, then that is characteristic of the mode of goodness.
So, today we see that, for example, the internet is misused for a lot of things, which only corrupt people’s minds. So, yes, in general, technological facilities, they should not be given indiscriminately to everyone. They should not be given indiscriminately to everyone.
See the difference, we know that, we sometimes compare that now there are nuclear weapons, there are better weapons in the past. For example, there was the, Prabhupada would say, Brahmastra, so precise in attacking. So, yes, there was technology in the past, there was technology in the present, but there is a fundamental difference.
Vedic technology was supplicative, modern technology is manipulative. Now, what is the difference between supplicative and manipulative? Supplication means prayer, worship. So, Vedic technology was acquired using prayers and supplication.
Even when the demons want something, how do they get it? They actually pray, they worship, they do tapasya and that is how they get it. So, Vedic technology is supplicative. Supplication basically means prayer.
Modern technology is manipulative. Manipulative means we try to manipulate, fool around with nature and try to find out how we can do things better, how we can improve things. So, because of this difference in Vedic technology, just the acquisition of the technology, whether it is a Brahmastra or whether it is some Siddhi or whether it is some power, there is an implicit acknowledgement that there is some higher power.
And I have to gain power from that higher power or higher being or whatever it is. Now, I may still have a manipulative motive eventually. After gaining power, I may want to overthrow that person.
Like Vrikasur, he wanted to gain power for Shiva and then take Uma away from him. So, even the supplicative method can be used for manipulative purposes. But the broad mentality was that this is primarily supplicative.
I understand that there are higher powers and by their grace I can get certain things. Now, the modern technology is primarily manipulative in the sense that we disconnect any higher, any acknowledgement of any higher power and just try to understand the mechanisms and try to control the mechanisms. So, now even this manipulative technology can be used for supplicative purposes.
In the sense that we can use internet for sharing Krishna consciousness, we can use devices for our devotional purposes. But there is a primary mentality that is associated with particular things. So, in general, the modern technology creates the feeling of being an independent controller.
I can control things. So, that is characteristic of the mode of action. So, when people are made to pander to their lowest instincts and they are facilitated in this by the provision of technology, then things become extremely perverse.
So, I wrote an article about how Kalyuga is so dangerous. So, actually Kalyuga, it is a whole topic. I will just mention it briefly because you have brought this topic.
We are going to discuss this a little later. So, what happens is today there is always a conflict between virtue and vice. Virtue means good and vice means bad.
So, in Kalyuga in modern times, not just in Kalyuga, but in Kalyuga in modern times, vice is intellectually rationalised, culturally glamorised and technologically facilitated. So, intellectually rationalised means that this is the right thing to do. This is the right thing to do.
For example, now when people have illicit sex, one consequence can be that there is unwanted pregnancy. Then actually abortion is cold blooded murder. So, what is the intellectual rationalisation offered for that? We want man and woman to be equal and if nature has made woman unequal to man, then actually that pregnancy by which woman becomes unequal, that is biological slavery and abortion is the means to biological liberation.
Such a perverse idea. So, what is this? This is intellectual rationalisation. So, in the past also Ajay Amil saw some Shudrani and Shudra doing some obscene things.
So, that was considered to be obscene, that was considered to be degraded. But today in movies when there are obscene scenes, what are they called? Bold scenes. So, what is happening? Who wants to be bold? Who does not want to be bold? It is not actually to be obscene in public is not boldness, that is shamelessness.
But the intellectual rationalisation of boldness is of the shamelessness is boldness. So, when things are intellectually rationalised and people start thinking this is the nice thing to do, then it becomes culturally glamorised also. Culturally glamorised means, see actually even in Bollywood till 50 years ago, not 50 maybe 80-90 years ago, when there were some sort of dramas and movies, the female roles would also be played by males.
But because it was understood in Vedic culture that no dignified woman would want to exhibit herself in public. That is how it was traditionally. But over a period of time, as the influence of Kali Yuga came up, actually things became more and more degraded.
Till now, the women who exhibit themselves in public become glamorous and they become the ideals for other women to become like. And then, technologically facilitated, that is what you are mentioning. Because of say, the correct acting as a Shudra.
So, people have Shudra instincts and it is made easy for them to act on the Shudra instincts. That is what makes things very perverse. So, is that clear? Let us move forward.
We have discussed a lot about the future also, especially about passion and ignorance. So, Krishna describes, rajasya etan jayante, when mode of rajya guna is predominant, vivruddhe, jayante, these are born. And he is using and referring to Arjuna as Bhartarsha.
The rest of the Bhartas do not get consumed by this mode of passion. The first characteristic of the mode of passion is yoga. Mode, mode, mode, mode.
So, actually, in the 1970s and 1980s, there was a slogan, greed is good. Greed is good. Greed, get more, get more, get more.
And then, that greed sort of led to the trammeling of ecological resources. And now, they have redefined it, green is good. Green is good, be eco-friendly.
But actually, the idea that greed is good, you should have more and more and more, that is a characteristic of the mode of passion. And that keeps one perpetually dissatisfied, perpetually dissatisfied. Why do people stay dissatisfied? Because in today’s society, the best of everything is presented constantly as the ideal for everyone to compare.
So, the best cars, the best cell phones, the best looks, the best bodily shapes. When you see the perfect male specimen, perfect female specimen, then everybody starts comparing themselves with that, and everybody starts feeling insecure. So, this lobha, everybody has lobha.
But actually, in today’s culture, that lobha is systematically induced. In fact, the whole advertising industry is a lobha generating industry. It is a greed inducing industry.
So, gratitude comes when we feel satisfied with what we have. When we look at what we have and feel, there are so many other people who do not have, Krishna has given me so much and I will feel grateful. But if I am constantly being bombarded with images of all that I do not have, then it is impossible to be grateful.
So actually, gratitude and greed are antithetical emotions. And that is why today’s society, people find gratitude very difficult. Because they just cannot think of what all I have, because they are always thinking of what all I do not have.
Now, lobha and because of that, pravrttir, pravrttir-ar, pravrtti means activity. Activity according to us, it is pravrtti and nivrtti. So, people act according to their pravrtti very vigorously.
That itself is not bad. But arambhakarmanam, they keep starting new, new things. Arambham means start off.
So, endeavour, sarvarambha parityagya, they do all sorts of arambha in karma, mundane activities. And asyamahaskruha, asyamahaskruha means uncontrollable desire. Desire that just does not exist.
So, to some extent, the addictions, they take birth in passion and then they drag the person down. And how addictions can entangle people is, is actually one of the greatest modern tragedies. You might have heard of organising like Alcoholics Anonymous.
So, these are people who are uncontrolled in alcohol, alcoholics, and they try to come together and they acknowledge the power of God. They have got first steps by which they try to become free from alcohol. So, actually, Alcoholics Anonymous was just one.
Now, there are men, there are over a dozen anonymous organising links. There are Smokers Anonymous, Drug Addicts Anonymous, Overeaters Anonymous. Overeating is a big problem for many people.
There is a whole, whole concept of sex addiction. Sexaholics Anonymous. And what is the word? Video games, I don’t know what is the name for that anonymous.
Then there is TV Addiction Anonymous. And there are so many addictions which have been artificially generated through the modern society. So, Asha Maha Spiruha, Asha means uncontrollable desire.
So, addiction is primarily characterised by an uncontrolled craving, which one cannot give up. So, there is craving, there is awareness of the consequence, but still there is continuation of that. There is craving, I want to do it.
If you don’t want to do it, you will get into trouble. There is awareness of consequence, but still continuation of that. So, that is the craving.
And that actually is engendered by the mode of Asha. Then Krishna will tell about the mode of ignorance. So, Krishna has said in the previous two verses, in eleventh verse, he used the word Prakash.
And in the twelfth verse, he used the word Pravrutti. So, now he is describing a Prakash or a Pravrutti. So, Prakash means illumination or discrimination.
And Pravrutti means action. So, in ignorance, there is neither discrimination nor action, just lethargy. So, now, ignorant people may also act.
They may act in destructive ways. But that is actually not action according to Pravrutti. That is just a distorted wild action.
So, to a large extent, video games are characteristic of the mode of ignorance. In the 1980s, in America, when the video games were becoming popular, some concerns were expressed that if children get too addicted to video games, then that will disturb their, will distract them from studies and that will disturb their normal functionality. So, to allay, to suppress these concerns, the makers of video games started a new genre called educational video games.
And they started this and there are children, there are educational video games which are claimed that they will accelerate your student journey. And in the company which started this, they called it Einstein video games. Einstein is like the icon of super intelligent person.
And when they started that off, even children from the age of 3, 4, they are given video games to play with. And then they start playing with it. And then many surveys have been done afterward.
They have found that actually there is no documented evidence that playing those sort of video games enhances the learning capacity of the children. Rather, it affects things, them adversely in two ways. First is that the children, one of the major aspects of growing is learning to interact with others.
Even doing simple things, playing ball, when somebody hits and then I hit back, coordinating things, carrying things, doing things with one’s hands and legs, especially in a team, in a group, that is a very important part of growing. But that is completely left out. And the second more dangerous thing is that when the children get habituated to those high tech video games, then their capacity to concentrate, when the teacher is teaching in class, it becomes severely diminished.
Because there are two primary things that absorb them. Either at home they are playing video games or they are watching TV. In TV, they are watching cartoons.
And both the video game world and the cartoon world seems to be much more colourful and attractive than the teachers. And actually, the end result is that the learning capacity gets substantially reduced, not increased. But this video games for children is a multi-billion dollar industry, huge, huge.
And there is no evidence of any learning happening. But it is actually the promotion of Tamoguna. And children become so terribly addicted to this.
Video games are a huge craze nowadays. And it has all become commercialised. Within the video games, there will be certain characters.
And within those characters who are the heroes in the games, they will advertise certain products. And then the children become so, they are very receptive because they love those characters who are there in the video games. And then they say, okay, let us take Big Macs.
Let us eat this. Let us go there. Then those brands also get imprinted within the mind.
So, it is Pramada Mohe Vacha. And this mode of ignorance, the way it is influencing people is terrible. Now, Krishna here describes when a particular mode is predominant.
So, when we do not like to think, we do not like to do anything, just be lethargic. So, that is characteristic of the mode of ignorance. Now, Krishna will describe further, okay, if one lives in a particular mode, then what will be the consequence of it? First, he will describe the long-term consequence in terms of where one will go after death.
So, when sattva is pravruddha, pravruddha and vruddha is the same thing. Vruddha means old, but vruddha can also mean prosperous, like samruddhi. Samruddhi is prosperity.
So, vruddha and pravruddha means when that is predominant. So, Krishna uses the word pravruddha several times for death. In the 16th chapter also, he will use pravruddha.
So, pravruddha means death. So, the soul who is embodied, if he dies at that time, tad uttam vidam lokam. Vidam means those who are vidvan, known.
Uttam vidam, those who are knowledgeable. He will attain that amalan lokam, that pure lokas. So, this is not referred to liberation, this refers to the heavenly planets.
So, by living in the mode of goodness, one will ascend to the higher planets. Then he will talk about what happens to the people who are in the other modes. So, that means somebody dies at night? No, no, no.
See, is this referring to timing? Person living in the mode of goodness, if that person dies at night, then what about that? Actually, Krishna is not talking yada in terms of the time. He is talking about the psychology of the person, the consciousness of the person. These are general characteristics.
Krishna is not talking anything specific in terms of external material characteristics. He is primarily focussing on psychology only. So, in a sense, there will be a cumulative effect of the way the person has lived throughout his life.
The person has lived in goodness, then the person, then he will be more or less in goodness at the moment of death. There might be some great fear at the time of death and something like that might be there. But overall, the cumulative effect of the cultivation of goodness will be that the person will be in relative goodness.
Then Krishna will talk about the other two modes. Rajasipralayam gattwa, karmasangeeshu jayate, tatha pralinas tamasi, mudhayoni shujayate. So, rajasipralayam, to die in the mode of passion, karmasangeeshu jayate.
Karmasangeeshu means these earthly planets, those who are attached to karma. Actually, he will be born in this earthly planets. Now, to some extent, karmasangeeshu can also refer to the heavenly planets because there also people are attached to karma.
Indra is not really attached to jnana or tapasya or anything. He is interested in karma only. If one does, if one does the karma kanda activity very well, then the person may go to heaven also.
Heaven is not a place in goodness. It is also in passion. Actually, the upper planet is prabhupada.
That is why he will mention uttam vidam lokam, brahma loka, jnana loka. Svarga loka is also in the mode of passion to some extent. And if one lives strictly according to dharma, not dharma in terms of parao dharma, but in terms of karma kanda dharma, then the person can go to the karmasangeeshu as heavens also.
And then mudhayonishu jayate. If one lives in tamoguna, mudhayonishu means ignorant. Ignorant species.
Prabhupada translates this as animals. It can also refer to the lower planets. The person has practically no spiritual awareness.
So, when nature basically acts like Krishna, Krishna says yatha mam prapadyante, so nature also says similar. Okay, if you want to live in ignorance, then why do you need a human body for? Human body is meant for cultivating knowledge. Then I will give you a body which will be suited for living in ignorance.
And accordingly, the person gets an animal body. Now, after that Krishna will describe, do lower planets have enjoyment? There will be a variation. When we talk about lower planets, it is not that all the lower planets have enjoyment.
Now, there is sutra, atara, viddhal, prarata, rasadha, mahakar, pata, like that. So, among the lower planets also, the upper ones are places of enjoyment. But as you go lower, lower down, then it is not that all are places of enjoyment.
And especially, below all these four planetary systems, there is the narakloka, 27 narakas above. And those are places of terrible suffering. So, when Krishna will later on tell that adho gacchanti tamasaha, at that time when he is referring to adho, it is not just the pataras, it is below that to the narakas.
Lower planets can include all these. But in general, when we talk about upper and lower, first of all, upper and lower is not simple geography. Because if I just say upper, if I am in India, I say upper, the earth is round.
And if I am in America, I say upper, the two are just two different directions. So, upper is not just simplest geographically upper. There is a vertical dimension in Vedic cosmology, which is related with karmic qualification.
The vertical dimension is related with karmic qualification. When I say upper, now, in a circular sphere, what do I really mean by upper? So, it is not referring to Bhuloka, it is referring to Bhumandala. When I have to say, talk about upper, the reference point for upper and lower is not Bhuloka, it is Bhumandala, the whole planetary system, not the specific planet.
So, within that, the upper and lower is primarily in terms of better and lesser facilities for environment. So, it is not that all lower planets have good facilities for enjoyment. Sutra is exception.
If the lower planets also had very good facility for enjoyment, then the demons would not want to conquer swarga all the time. Swarga is much better. And the demons are not the only residents of the lower planets.
They are also in the upper among the lower planets. As they go down, down, down, the conditions are not so much enjoyable. And in general, when you say that person goes down, that does not refer to the person going to a destitute enjoyment.
It generally refers to a person going to a destination where they will suffer. So, that can refer to the lowest among the lower planets or it can refer to the Narakas also. It does not refer to Sutar, Vikal, those sort of planets, planetary systems.
So, in Satvaguna, one will perform Sukrut Karma. And what will be the result of that? Nirmalam. One will become purified.
So, acting in goodness, acting according to discrimination will purify us. And Krishna says, rajasas tu phalam dukkham. When one acts in passion, the result is misery.
Actually, what is this misery? Multiple miseries are there. In the long run, the karmic consequences will be there. But even in the short run, when a person lives in passion, there is a constant restlessness, dissatisfaction, anxiety that is there.
It just agitates and drains the person. So, rajasas tu phalam dukkham. It’s a very good Sutra.
Rajasas tu phalam dukkham. When as soon as the person becomes greedy, as soon as the person becomes lusty, now there is misery over there. When people, most of the time, there have been many surveys also done, where people have sex.
It is not that they are enjoying when they have sex. Actually, they are not talking about spiritually minded, even materialistic people. Over a period of time, they just get bored with sex.
So, that’s why many times in movies and in pornography, the whole people get enjoyment when the shock bar is raised. Shock bar means to do something new, something dazzling. And that’s why people get into more and more perversities in sex and violence.
There is a whole genre of extreme pornography, which is just involving brutality and bestiality and all sorts of horrible things. And people get used to that. People get hooked to that because at a material level, when people try to enjoy, actually, when people engage in sensual activities, it’s not that they do it because indulgence is so pleasurable.
They act because resistance is so unbearable. The difference between them. Now, how is Rajasas tu phalam dukkham? Explain this.
How is Rajasas? How does mode of passion lead to misery? So, people engage in sensual gratification, not because indulgence is so pleasurable, but because resistance is so unbearable. So, what happens is the mind starts torturing. Do it, do it, do it, do it.
And they just want to get relief from that torment. And that is why they indulge. So, what happens is, they mistake relief from torture to be pleasure.
So, all that happens is lust is there, greed is there, it is tormenting, do it, do it, get it. And when temporarily that torture stops, they think it is pleasure. But it is not actually pleasure.
It is just relief. And that is why if they want to go beyond the relief and get some pleasure, what they have to do, they have to increase the shock bar. Increase the shock bar means actually the kind of violence that is shown in many of these horror movies and things like that, it is very brutal at times.
And why do people need to see that kind of violence? Because the normal level of whatever exposure that is there, that does not satisfy them. So, what they have to do? To get pleasure, they have to increase the shock bar. The shock bar means, that means do more shocking things.
That is how they try to get some pleasure. And in this way, essentially rajasastu phalam dukkham. Actually, living in the mode of passion simply leads to misery.
Misery is in terms of, when will I get it? When will I get it? Even if I get it, it does not satisfy me. I have to get more, I have to get more. I gave a class on a topic, there is a book on this topic called Anxiety Epidemic.
People are living in such a terrible, relentless state of anxiety over every small thing. Why? There is what is called as choice paralysis. Choice paralysis means that if a person wants to go and purchase a t-shirt, you go into a shop and you find 200 t-shirts over there.
And then when you have to purchase a t-shirt, a t-shirt is not just something that you wear. A t-shirt is something that makes a statement about who you are. And then what happens is, they start thinking who am I? They do not think who am I in terms of whether I am the body or the soul.
They think who does my t-shirt reveal me to be. And this whole thing is, it is just a terrible mess. So, there is a whole book, there is an American psychologist, sociologist, he has written a book called Why Less is More.
So, he says basically that, I will conclude with this point, how rajasas tu phalam dukkham, it is important to analyse this. Rajasas is characterised by, as I said, greed, you want more and more. So, he basically classifies people into two broad categories.
He says, there are maximisers and there are optimisers. So, who are these maximisers? If I have to get anything, I have to get the best bargain in everything. They are the maximisers.
So, if they want to get a new cell phone, then they will enquire about all the schemes that are there with all the models. In this, I can make incoming like this, it can have outgoing like this, I can do this, I can do this, I can do this. And sometimes people can spend months in just trying to find out which cell phone I should get.
Now, in general, what happens with maximisers is they seek the best of everything. So, there are three consequences of this. First is that they spend huge amount of time in choosing every small thing, of time in choosing things.
And then what happens, they do not have time for other things. So, ultimately, the amount of time everyone has is limited. So, they do not have time for relationships, they do not have time for home, they do not have time for God.
They did a survey and they found that an average American, but the amount of time the average American spends in a shopping mall is 1000 times more than the amount of time he spends in the church. 1000 times. So, people say we do not have time.
It is not that they are working 24 hours a day. Because there is so much bombardment, you have to purchase this, purchase this, purchase this, they spend so much time. Now, they spend time.
Now, the second part is a positive consequence. So, as compared to optimisers, they get better bargains than optimisers. Because they spend so much time in doing research, they actually get good packages.
But the third problem is negative is they stay insecure that I might just have got a still better bargain. If I had investigated a little bit more. So, they stay perpetually dissatisfied.
So, because of this, although they get better, still they are not satisfied. They could have enquired a little bit more. And this really creates a huge amount of unnecessary drain of energy.
So, on the side of optimisers, what they understand? Okay, it is not that every single choice is a matter of life and death for me. There are choices that are functioning. Okay, just if I want this, I get this, move forward.
So, actually speaking, in Brahmacharya life, because there is so much standardisation, so, so much of our mental energy gets saved. You know, okay, I do this, you use this shaving cream, use this bath, bathing soap, use this, this, everything gets standardised, then our mental energy gets so much freed up for doing higher things. Actually, we say simple living, high thinking.
Now, these are both principles. But to the extent our living is simple, to that extent, there can be high thinking. When our living becomes complex, then all the thinking is about living only.
There is no time for thinking of something higher. So, in this way, people are suffering from so much anxiety. We call it stress, we may call it tension, we may call it by whatever name, but Rajas is Tupalam Vikham.
And wherever the modern western civilisation is coming up, this is a general characteristic. The characteristic is that people become stressful, people become anxiety, people become worried about things. So, what Krishna is telling over here is the consequences of the three modes and we will continue this tomorrow morning.
Thank you very much.