Commentary on the Bhagavadgita : 46-8 - Swami Krishnananda.

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Wednesday, July 27, 2022. 20:45.

Discourse 46: The Seventeenth Chapter Begins – The Threefold Character of Faith : 8.

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Yat tu prattyupakārārthaṁ (17.21): If we give in charity because something will come out of it, because if we give something a double benefit will follow—that cannot be regarded as real charity, because we expect something from the good that we do. It cannot be called a really good deed. 

Phalam uddiśya vā punaḥ: Because we always concentrate on what follows from this little sacrifice that we have performed, it is not real sacrifice.


Dīyate ca parikliṣṭaṁ: If we give charity with great difficulty, reluctantly, niggardly, throw it at the face of a man and say, “Go! Don't come again!” it is not charity. Dīyate ca parikliṣṭaṁ is when we give charity with great reluctance and sorrow inside. “Hey, the wretchedest thing has come. Here. Go!” We must offer help with delight in our heart, with satisfaction in our mind, seeing divinity in things, as God manifests in that person who is requiring assistance from us. The kind of charity that is done with an eye on fruit, or what we expect from somebody else, and is done with reluctance, is rajasic charity.


Adeśakāle yad dānam apātrebhyaś ca dīyate, asatkṛtam avajñātaṁ tat tāmasam udāhṛtam (17.22): 

If we offer something in a wrong place, at a wrong time and to a wrong person, without understanding the pros and cons of it, if it is totally out of place and unwarranted—that kind of gesture on our part, the work that we do, the charity, whatever we do which is blunderous in its effect, should be considered as tamasic. That is the worst kind of charity.


In the verses that follow, we shall be taken to a very lofty thought of the highest kind of contemplation on the Supreme Being. Om Tat Sat will be described—what it means, and how we have to meditate upon it. We shall discuss its meaning, etc., 


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

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Discourse 47: The Seventeenth Chapter Concludes – The Meaning of Om Tat Sat


We are now on the concluding portion of the Seventeenth Chapter of the Bhagavadgita.


oṁ tat sad iti nirdeśo brahmaṇas trividhaḥ smṛtaḥ

brāhmaṇās tena vedāś ca yajñāś ca vihitāḥ purā (17.23)


tasmād om ity udāhṛtya yajñadānatapaḥkriyāḥ

pravartante vidhānoktāḥ satataṁ brahmavādinām (17.24)


tad ityanabhisaṁdhāya phalaṁ yajñatapaḥkriyāḥ

dānakriyāś ca vividhāḥ kriyante mokṣakāṅkṣibhiḥ (17.25)


sadbhāve sādhubhāve ca sad ityetat prayujyate

praśaste karmaṇi tathā sacchabdaḥ pārtha yujyate (17.26)


yajñe tapasi dāne ca sthitiḥ sad iti cocyate

karma caiva tadarthīyaṁ sad ityevābhidhīyate (17.27)


aśraddhayā hutaṁ dattaṁ tapas taptaṁ kṛtaṁ ca yat

asad ity ucyate pārtha na ca tat prepya no iha (17.28)

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The Supreme Being—Brahman, the Absolute—is designated as Om Tat Sat in a threefold definition or description. Knowers of the Vedas, known as Brahmanas, and the Veda mantras, and the yajnas or sacrifices, are all purified and consecrated by the recitation of this mystic symbol Om Tat Sat. The threefold description of Brahman as Om, Tat and Sat is always recited in all religious performances—during the study of the Vedas, at the conclusion of sacrifices or yajnas, and whatever rituals that Brahmanas, that is, the knowers of the Vedas, may undertake. Sacrifices (yajna), charities (dana), austerities (tapas), are undertaken by people according to the rules and regulations of the scriptures and as laid down by knowers of Brahman, beginning with the chanting of Om: om ity udāhṛtya yajñadānatapaḥkriyāḥ. Whenever we commence any holy act, we say Om. We never see people commencing a worship without chanting Om first. Whether it is a prayer, a meditational session, a worship or a svadhyaya, all this commences with an inward recitation of Om.


To be continued ....


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