Commentary on the Bhagavadgita : 16 - Swami Krishnananda.

 ==============================================================

==============================================================

Saturday, January 22, 2022. 8:00.PM

Discourse 41

The Fourteenth Chapter: Rising Above the Three Gunas

POST-16.

===============================================================

Lobhah pravrttir arambhah karmanam asamah sprha, rajasyetani jayante vivrddhe bharatarsabha (14.12) : 

When rajas becomes active, there is greed in the mind of a person. There is a sense of possessiveness—“I want this; I want that”— and the person is never satisfied with anything. The more we have, the more we want; that is called greed, and it is one of the characteristics of rajoguna. Always starting new projects but not being able to bring them to conclusion, never ceasing activity, and going on creating occasions for activity till the end of one's life, with desire at the back of all these projects of action, these are supposed to be the basic qualities of rajoguna.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Aprakaso'pravrttis ca pramado moha eva ca, tamasyetani jayante vivrddhe kurunandana (14.13) : 

When tamas predominates, what happens? There is no light in front of oneself. There is no radiance or hope on the horizon at all and, therefore, there is no inclination to do anything. There is an inactive tendency in the person. As mentioned already, there is always the committing of mistakes whenever any kind of initiative is taken. There is delusion at the back of all these things. That is the essential nature of tamoguna.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Yada sattve pravrddhe tu pralayam yati dehabhrt, tadottamavidam lokan amalan pratipadyate (14.14) : 

If a person leaves this body while sattva is predominant, then that person reaches higher worlds such as heaven, and even regions above heaven. 

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Rajasi pralayaṁ gatva karmasangisu jayate, tatha pralinas tamasi mudhayonisu jayate (14.15):

 But if a person dies while rajas is predominant in the mind, he is then reborn into conditions of intense labour, work and attachment. Mūḍhayoniṣu jāyate: If one dies while tamas is predominant, he will be reborn in a subhuman species as some kind of animal; and even if he is born as a human being, he will be a non-utilitarian individual with no understanding and no consciousness of the purpose of life—the kind of person who is usually called idiotic.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Karmanah sukrtasyahuḥ sattvikam nirmalam phalam (14.16) : 

The result of meritorious deeds, which are sattvic in nature, is purity, internal illumination, and satisfaction. If actions are rajas-ridden, pain is the result that follows. If actions are done under the influence of tamas, there is some increase in one's own ignorance. This is because every action done under the influence of tamas, due to its being motivated by ajnana, or ignorance, will be only capable of producing an effect which will be another form of ajnana.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

To be continued .....

===============================================================