विवेचन सारांश

Our Faith is based on our Inherent Trait

Arjuna is asking Bhagavān to clear his confusion about the state of people who are doing sacrifices in the yajnas and ignoring the ordinance of the Śāstras.

Arjuna wanted to know under what category their shraddha is being included- Sattvik, Rajasic or Tamasic, because whatever yajnas they perform, it is being done with utmost faith though not following the ordinance of the Scriptures.

Sri Krishna Paramātmā has already explained in the 15th chapter about the three gunas in details and how they influence the worldly state of affairs.

Bhagavān speaks about the three types of Shradhha. Based on the nature / inherent character of the person, shraddha is born in a person. If a person's nature is Sattvik, then his faith is Sattvik. If the nature of the person is Rajasic, then his Shraddha is Rajasic, and if the nature of the person is tamasic, his shraddha is tamasic.

if we look at the worldly affairs going on like disturbance in Bangladesh, people are killing innocent people out of hatred and ignorance. The behavior of these people is cruel. Their nature is termed as tamasic. Only tamasic people can be so selfish and cause harm to others.

Compared to those tamasic people, People with Rajasic or Sattvik nature cannot harm others and behave cruelly with their fellow human beings. Scriptures followed by the sattvik or Rajasic people do not encourage harm to fellow human beings. They always encourage truth, justice and harmony.

Paramātmā  starts explaining the reason for existence of three types of Shraddha. He says the shraddha of a person is depicted by his antahkaran or mind.

Nature of the person decides the shraddha. In his every act we can find the kind of faith existing in him. 
For eg: If one believes in tantra and mantra Sādhanā, then it works; otherwise it does not. 

Krishna Bhagavān now tells Arjuna about the Gods worshipped by the three types of people.

People often get confused how to identify these three types of people. Whether they are Sattvik, Rajasic or Tamasic.

• Sattvik people worship True Gods.
• Rajasic people worship Yaksha for obtaining siddhi or fulfilling their desires.
• Tamasic people worship Rakshas, Preta and Bhuta to create harm to others . They perform yajnas only for evil purposes.

We can easily identify the tamasic person based on who they worship. If a tamasic person wants to become a better person, he should immediately stop practising this type of worship.

Bhagavān talks about the state of people who have knowingly ignored the ordinances of the Śāstras.

For eg:- while doing pooja at home, sometimes we replace some of the pooja items when we do not easily obtain them. If we cannot obtain mango leaves easily, we try to replace with some other leaf. It should be avoided. Procedures of pooja should be done as per prescribed procedure. We should not pressurize the priest to simplify the procedures for our convenience. 

We should preserve our Sanatana Dharma.Take for example, the current situation in Bangladesh. Hindu people are being targeted and being killed as they are in minority. This issue is being subdued in the name of secularism. People of other religions can talk about in secular terms but even some of the Hindu people also ignore it and not take it seriously. This should be avoided. When the incident is clearly done with religious sentiments, people should talk about it and start creating pressure on authorities to stop attacking the minority populations based on the religion. When all the Hindu people start showing their solidarity, then those religious fanatics will reduce their attacks on the minority Hindus with some sense of fear of being attacked by the people in the world. Hence it is our duty to create awareness about the wrong doings of some of the religious fanatics in the world and spread these news so as to summon some support from other sects of people instead of keeping quiet over the issue.

We should also create awareness to our children about our sacred religious scriptures and the ordinances of Śāstra to them so that they can understand the value system and take a stand when injustice is being done to any community in the world. 

There used to be 3 major religions till now- Christians, Muslims and Hindus. A fourth group of people called atheists is being formed now, majorly from the Christian's and Hindus. We should feel happy to be called a Hindu .But many of the Hindus are feeling shy to put tilak on our head, worship our Gods and talk about our scriptures. This is a major concern to the Hindu community. We should educate our children on these issues and counsel them to follow certain religious preaching so that we stand together as one and can thwart the negative influences of the religious fanatics. We should make our children recite slokas from Ramayana, Mahabharata and Gītā to empower and enrich them with good Saṃskāra. We can encourage like minded people to watch Pujya swamyji's youtube channel for vivechan on Mahabharata.

Regarding the 5th sloka, Bhagavān  speaks about the practices that should be avoided.

The following should be avoided:-
AŚāstra =  not taught in the scriptures.
ghoran = terrific practices that are not in the scriptures.

Fasting for Ekadashi or for any specific pooja that is done with a sankalpa, should be concluded the next day at the maximum, and not done for many days continuously. Any pooja being done should be for personal good/ gratification or for the community welfare. It should not be done to show off, for hypocrisy or egotism. If the yajna or Tapa is done with the above characters, then it leads to attachment, desires and lust which will lead to the down fall of the person both ethically and spiritually.

Bhagavān  tells us to avoid all the above characters which are tamasic in nature as they lead us to ignorance and cycle of life & death.

It is said that good is drawn to good and bad to the bad. Those imbued with sattva guna are attracted to the Divine as they perceive qualities of goodness. Bhagavān gives examples of people with demoniac qualities. HE says some people perform strict austerities not mentioned in the scriptures but are motivated by hypocrisy and egotism. Desire and attachment impels them to torment their body, thus hurting the Bhagavān who dwells within them. 

In Sloka 15 of Chapter 15, Bhagavān says
sarvasya cāhaṃ hṛdi sanniviṣṭo
mattaḥ smṛtirjñānamapohanaṃ ca,
vedaiśca sarvairahameva vedyo,
vedāntakṛdvedavideva cāham (15.15)
The purport is Bhagavān is seated in everyone’s heart and it is from HIM that all activities are initiated.

It is important to know that such people who torment the Bhagavān within themselves, are demoniacal. One should know what one should do as per the scriptures or what one should not do. 

This sloka brings forth a question of how one knows which guna one belongs to. The mind has three Gunas:

There are three Vrittis in the mind corresponding to the three Gunas.

The purpose of this sloka is to tell that people's preferences for food and actions like yajna and tapah are also according to their dispositions. By observing the food habits of people, one can judge to which guna the person belongs.

There are 3 types of food; sattvic, rajas, and tamas.

People in the mode of goodness eat sattvic food that promotes life span, strength, health, happiness, and satisfaction. Such sattvic food is juicy, nourishing and substantial.

The food one eats and one's personality is related. The Bhagavad Gītā also explains that the act of eating per se should be an offering to Bhagavān:
yatkaroṣi yadaśnāsi, yajjuhoṣi dadāsi yat,
yattapasyasi kaunteya, tatkuruṣva madarpaṇam (9.27)
'Arjuna, whatever you do, whatever you eat, whatever you offer as oblation to the sacred fire, whatever you bestow as a gift, whatever you do by way of penance, offer all that to Me'

Rajasic foods increase passion, agitation, and restlessness. Foods that are bitter, sour, salty, spicy, hot, and chilled come under this category. The common example is Fast food.

Food that is not consumed within 3 hours of cooking (1 yam) turns from sattvic to tamasic. Foods that are stale, putrid, overcooked, and impure are dear to people disposed to a mode of ignorance.

In these slokas, Bhagavān has given us important insights and information on different types of food that one can consume and what are the benefits or disadvantages of doing so. It is up to us to make our decision about what to eat. Thoughts influence our shraddha and karmas. So, we must keep our thoughts pure and sattvic. Sattvic thoughts and minds that help us continue on our spiritual journey can be developed by consuming sattvic food.

The session concluded with a reciting of Namasmarana followed by Questions and Answers.

Questions and Answers:

Neelu ji
Q: It is said we are chosen by God when we are attending Gītā classes. I am repeating the 4 dams. Of late, I have been missing classes and somehow I have become irregular. Is God angry with me?
A: No, HE is not angry. God tests everyone once in a way. He is testing if you can manage your time well or not. What is required is time management and if it is daunting for you, attend some classes in managing time. Then try to be the best version of yourself and ask for help from Bhagavān. HE does everything.

Chandrashekhar ji
Q: Does swabhava evolve in this life also? Does it change?
A: Yes, swabhava or the intrinsic nature of a person also evolves in this life. For example, a 5-year-old will face the effect of punar janma karma (past life), but for a 50-year-old it is the present life also. If we are in Sattvic company, swavabhava changes to Sattvic.

Rudra ji
Q: If we take all types of food, Sattvic, Rajasic, and Tamasic, which category are we?
A: You are in all three; sometimes in one, sometimes in the others.

Geeta ji
Q: We are told we must teach our scriptures and our dharma to them. Children ask for justification for everything. What do we do?
A: We all have limited knowledge and not possible to answer all questions. It is best to answer as per our knowledge and capacity and for other questions you can refer to an expert in the area who is knowledgeable and well equipped to answer.

GoplaKrishna ji
Q: How do we relate the title of Chapter 17 to all the slokas therein?
A: The titles of all the 18 chapters In Bhagavad Gītā were given by VedVyasji. He selected the titles according to the main theme in each chapter. It does not mean that every sloka in the chapter will have the mention of the title.

Suman ji
Q: We are habitual eaters of non-vegetarian food. We enjoy eating them. How can we stop and withdraw from eating them?
A: You can try to withdraw slowly step by step. Make the quantity small. Then try to eat on alternate days. As far as taste is concerned, it changes. As a child, you may have liked eating something that you don't like today or you start eating something that you hated eating as a child. Just take small steps and make efforts to withdraw.