Commentary on the Bhagavadgita : 46-6 - Swami Krishnananda.

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Wednesday, July 19, 2022. 20:40.

Discourse 46: The Seventeenth Chapter Begins – The Threefold Character of Faith : 6.

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"Manah-prasadah saumyatvam maunam atma-vinigrahah
bhava-sanshuddhir ity etat tapo manasam uchyate." (17.16): .

There is also mental tapas. The discipline of the mind is mental tapas—calmness, composure, satisfaction, happiness, contentment inside. Such a person is always happy, contented, and asks for nothing. “Everything is well with me. I want nothing. I am always very happy. I need nothing.” This kind of inner satisfaction is called -

Manah-prasadah.

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saumyatvam :

—we must be very composed in our behaviour, delightful for people to see, not putting on an agitated look. If we are very graceful in our behaviour, it is saumyatvaṁ.

We should not speak unless it is necessary to speak. Where it is necessary to speak, we speak. Where it is not called for on our behalf to speak, we do not speak. There are people who butt in. If two people are speaking, a third man comes and butts in, and says something else and spoils the entire talk. We should not interfere. We should not speak at all unless it is obligatory on our part to speak at a given moment. It is necessary for us to speak at this moment; therefore, we speak. When speaking is unwarranted and we can keep quiet, we should hold our tongue, and maintain peace in our mind. That is maunam.

atma-vinigrahah :

is self-control—the restraint of the lower self by the higher self. Concentrating on the Universality of our selfhood puts a restraint or check on our lower, instinctive self. That is ātmavinigrahaḥ.

bhava-sanshuddhir :

: Our motive should always be pure. When we do an action, we must have a pure motive for the benefit of somebody. It does good to some person; it is doing good to at least one person, if not more. And if it does good to the whole of humanity, to the entire mankind, very good. It does good to the family, to the community, to the nation, or at least it does good to one person—that much is indicative of a pure motive. But if it is a concentration of the mind on our own personal, selfish welfare—let anything happen to others, we are not at all concerned with what is happening in the atmosphere around, but we very much are concerned with our own personal, physical welfare—if we are so selfish, then there is impurity in the mind. The unselfishness that characterises our motive is bhāvasaṁ-śuddhiḥ. This is mental tapas. Thus, we have here a description of three kinds of austerities—physical, verbal and mental.

Sattvic tapas is attended with intense faith that it will bring the noble fruit of inner spiritual illumination, and not because it will bring some material benefit. Spiritual aspiration is always a movement of our consciousness towards the higher values of life which are God-oriented in every way and, therefore, the question of expecting some material benefit out of our performance is totally out of point. If this tapas or worship is done with no such eye on fruit that is material in its nature, and is undertaken for the salvation of our soul finally, then the worship or tapas is considered to be sattvic.

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"Shraddhaya paraya taptam tapas tat tri-vidham naraih

aphalakankshibhir yuktaih sattvikam parichakshate."(17.17): 

Fickle-minded people with no concentration whatsoever, with no understanding, with no knowledge of what they are doing at all, who are idiotic in their attitude and cause suffering to themselves as well as to others, and perhaps even harm other people—if that kind of undertaking is our desire, we should be considered as tamasic. 

Satkāramānapūjārthaṁ tapo dambhena caiva yat, kriyate tadiha proktaṁ rājasaṁ calam adhruvam: 

If we do sacrifice for respect, for gaining recognition from people, and for ostentation, it is rajasic; but if we do it for harming people, if our sacrifice is not motivated by pious intentions, then it is tamasic.

To be continued ....

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