What is the meaning of Gita 14.11: “The manifestations of the mode of goodness can be experienced when all the gates of the body are illuminated by knowledge”?
From Sitesh Goel
Transcript
This is an AI-generated transcript and may contain some errors.
Hare Krishna question from Sitesh Goyal Prabhu what is the meaning of the Bhagavad Gita 14.11 which says that the manifestation of the mode of goodness can be experienced when all the gates of the body are illumined by knowledge answer there is a metaphor over here which is the gates of the body so Krishna has referred to this earlier in the 5th chapter, 13th verse when he says the body is the city city of 9 gates so these are referred to the senses which have holes so we have the two excretory organs then we have the two eyes the two nostrils, the two ears and the mouth so now what this particular verse refers to once you understand the metaphor is that the senses interact with the world in various ways so we may look at some things which are good to look at some things which are bad to look at bad to look at means not just that they are displeasing they may seem pleasing some obscene images may seem pleasing to look at but they may have a bad effect on our consciousness so when something is illuminated when a doorway is illuminated then we will know what is there and we will know whether I should go in that way or I should not go that way so now what are the manifestations the mode of goodness Krishna has earlier described in the same chapter 14th chapter when he described the mode of goodness he says Prakasha and Sukha Jnana and Sukha Jnana Sanghena Badnadi Sukha Sanghena Chanaka so Jnana is knowledge Krishna has also referred to knowledge as being the source of illumination in the 16th verse of the 5th chapter 15th verse Adityavaj Jnanam it’s a common metaphor that the knowledge illuminates like the sun so here the point is that when a person knows what how to let the senses interact with the world that means what to look at, what to eat how to act with the senses then that person is in the mode of goodness so a person in the mode of ignorance may just see something which seems delicious and just gobble it down but a person in goodness will think is this good for my health is this offered to Krishna, will it cause me karma and then after that the person will eat so that means when the actions of the senses which are the doors so which door the body the actions of senses are guided by proper discrimination that means they are illumined by knowledge at that time the person is said to be in the mode of goodness at other times the person is not in the mode of goodness so the manifestation in the mode of goodness that is knowledge is, we can know that the manifestation is there, knowledge has been there when the gates of the body are illuminated by knowledge that means one acts with the senses in a knowledgeable way.
Thank you. Hare Krishna