विवेचन सारांश

The Three Innate Qualities of Prakriti

Sri Bhagwan restates the entire knowledge to Arjuna through various chapters of the Gita.

Why was this repetition required?

A mother keeps feeding a toddler despite the child continuously denies to eat. She runs behind him and goes on feeding him, until required amount of food is consumed. Here, she is aware of his needs better than the child. Sri Bhagwan also knows that Arjuna needed to hear this knowledge repeatedly to free himself from his delusion. One's wants and needs are not always same. For example, one wants to live in a lavish mansion but needs just a room. Similarly we want to meditate only for a few minutes but actually we need to do that for longer time to get its benefits.

Gita is an ocean of knowledge containing massive and intense philosophy. Various sages like Adi Shankaracharya, RamSukhdas ji, Vallabhacharya ji and many more, have elaborated on it in their commentaries. Even a single shloka is explained in several different ways by these knowledgeable persons. Gaining knowledge is easy, its application is difficult. In the12th shloka of chapter 12th the Supreme elucidated that knowledge is better than practice without awareness. Meditation on God is superior to knowledge and renunciation of the fruit of actions is even superior to meditation; Thus knowledge is truly useful only if it is applied in one's life.

Gandhiji found solution for all his problems from the Gita. So also if we apply the knowledge gained from the Gita in our life we too can find solutions to all our problems. Without application, knowledge only remains as words and is meaningless. Everyone experiences anger and various other emotions in one's life. Absence of the three bad qualities of desire, anger and greed are essential in the spiritual path; yet they can only be achieved slowly with practice. Hence even though difficult to achieve at once, one must persevere to apply the knowledge attained from Gita in one's life. Apart from the sacred scriptures, knowledge comes in various forms e.g. Maths, Science, Dance, Arts, Music, etc.

Shri Bhagwan proclaimed that this knowledge was superior to all the various forms of knowledge. Once the seeker has gained this ultimate knowledge he would be free from sorrow and would be detached from this Samsara (material and immaterial world of existence). The state of permanent happiness is free from sorrow, joy and fear of pain ultimately leading to bliss. The application of this Supreme knowledge leads to vairagya (renunciation) and ultimate liberation.

One becomes free of all attachments whereby the Jiva (living being) becomes one with the Supreme. This does not mean attainment of Swarga loka - which is free of sorrows and pain - as one has to take birth in the mortal world after exhausting their punya karmas (pious deeds), but this Supreme Knowledge would allow one to attain ultimate liberation, free of the cycle of birth and death.

Attachment is the cause of all sorrow and pain. Many people think of their friends and family sometimes even about their enemy when they are about to leave this mortal body.

This Ultimate knowledge leads one to detachment from pain when it is time to die or even when the world itself is destroyed.

The entire prakriti could be categorized into 3 Gunas (virtues) that are Sattva, Rajas and Tamas. Prakriti is made up of three gunas (virtues) or the three gunas make the prakriti. These gunas bind the Jiva to the body and to the world as they attract a mind to do various actions.

The three Gunas are as follows:

Every living being has all three gunas in different proportion. The dominant guna defines the personality of an individual.

A beautiful story from Ramayana sheds light on deeper understanding of these gunas.

Ravan, Kumbhakaran and Vibhishan are the principal characters in Ramayana. Once they were involved in performing severe austerities (tapasya) for Lord Bramha, who was pleased and appeared before them to ask for a boon. All of them asked for exactly the same boon "Sona".

Was it the same boon they asked?

Vibhishan was Sattvika, he asked for So Na, that is no sleep, to be awakened from ignorance, here sleep alludes to ignorance, illusion and desires. He wanted to understand the real purpose of his life and didn't want to waste it in useless pursuits like sleeping.

Ravan being a Rajasika, on the other hand asked for Sona (Gold) symbolic of power, name, material desires. He was able to control the demi gods. He is a good example to show that gaining superficial knowledge is insufficient. He had the knowledge of every sacred scripture, yet he kidnapped Sita Mata knowing fully well the powers of Shri Rama, due to excessive attachment to desires.

Excessive Rajasika guna could lead to losing control over mind and being attached to various desires e.g. a diabetic craves to eat sweets knowing fully well that they are forbidden or restricted.

Kumbhakaran being a Tamasika, asked for Sona (sleep) that is a wasting of the boon, as one cannot cherish one's desires while sleeping. This is a result of sheer ignorance.

All three gunas bind the soul with the world even the satvika guna.

Though the Sattvaguna is acquired by doing good deeds, it still leads to attachment. HE here mentioned that one guna cannot exist without the other, e.g. when one does yajnas, one would perform good karmas which can lead to happiness, but if one gets attached to this cause of happiness like wealth, children etc. he would be dependent on the outside world for his happiness whereas the one who finds happiness within oneself would attain eternal bliss.

An example would be of Swetaketu, who after gaining knowledge from the Gurukul, was full of pride. On returning home he was able to answer various questions posed by his father except on Brahmavidya where he was silent. Thus study in pursuit of knowledge is good but if one becomes attached to the results of gaining that knowledge and starts taking pride, it would lead to attachment making the atma bound to the materialistic world. One should aim to renounce even the Satvika guna and thus become Trigunatit (the one who has renounced the attachment formed due to the three gunas).

A person with attachment is Rajoguni but Shri Bhagwan also asks us to perform our duty (action). Doing karma is not an issue but attachment to the said karma causes Rajas. Here it is described as Trishna meaning extreme level of thirst, 'sangena' meaning attachment. Extreme desires are created leading to illusion like in the desert when thirsty you see a mirage.

However Rajas is not all bad, as some attachment may also be utilized as motivation. If a student starts learning physics, he may put in extra efforts as he knows that gaining good knowledge in it, could make him a professor. He can get respect from his students and all these thoughts can motivate him to work hard. However one should be alert, as it is a slippery slope where the excessive attachment towards the goals could lead the atman to be bound to the desire of achievements.

Here an example of Geeta class was given. All learners are asked to submit their voice recording for their trainer to evaluate their performance. If one student is very good at reciting the shlokas and gets appreciation from the trainer, he should not submit his recording for appreciation but for learning nor should he get discouraged from attending classes if he stops getting appreciation. His aim should be to learn Geeta.

Tamoguna is an indicator of ignorance. One can gain insights into people's dominant quality by asking few questions about their wishes.

If one describes that :

one wants to learn - Sattvaguna is dominant.

One likes to be active (sports, walk, etc) - Rajoguna is dominant.

One wants to only eat and sleep - Tamoguna is dominant.

Pramad means not doing something that is your duty to do or doing something which is not right. If one is supposed to cook for the family and not cooking when the entire family is hungry or like having an ice-cream before the dinner on a winter night.

Alasya means Laziness. Not taking actions on time or postponing actions, is called Alasya.

Every individual has some part of all three gunas but an individual can uplift himself from one guna e.g. Rajasik to another, like Sattvik or degrade himself to Tamasik. If a person is Rajasika and performs Seva in various organisations like Geeta Pariwar and performs social service, he will increase his Sattva guna, however if he gets into bad company he could become Tamasika.

The session was concluded with Sankirtan.



Question & Answer Session

Dilip ji

Question: In verse number 5 it was said all the Trigunas are born from Prakriti. Can it be explained what Prakriti means? Is it the natural environment?
Answer: Prakriti has been defined differently in many philosophies. In Vedanta it means Illusion. In sankhya it is not totally illusion but it cannot be seen nor felt but is completely manifested in the world.

Soumendra ji

Question: Is it possible to get Sattva guna in one lifetime?
Answer:  Sattva guna comes with practice and control of mind. It takes many lifetimes. Slowly the practice enables us to get knowledge of the Supreme and with that knowledge one can attain Liberation.

Question: So is it that we cannot get sattva guna in the present lifetime?
Answer:  If one had done sadhana in previous lifetimes one may acquire it in the present. But if one did not then he would have to take many births to get to that state of liberation.