242. All are influenced by gunas

 

Krishna explained about the three gunas or characteristics of nature viz. Satva, Rajo and Tamo on various occasions in the Bhagavad Gita. He declares that no living being on earth or the higher celestial abodes of this material realm is free from the influence of these three gunas (18.40). This implies that at any given point of time we are under the influence of one guna or another.

 Krishna cautioned (3.27-3.29) that karmas (actions) in all situations are performed by the gunas; one who is deluded by ahankaar thinks 'I am kartha (doer)'. One who knows that gunas interact with gunas is not attached. Gunas have the ability to hypnotize us and under their influence we are attached to the functions of gunas. In chapters seventeen and eighteen, some functions of gunas like worship, food, yagna, tapah (of body, speech and mind), daan (charity), knowledge, karma, kartha, intellect, dhruti (fortitude) and happiness, were explained.

 Krishna gave a way forward and encouraged us to transcend these gunas to be guna-ateeth who are alike in happiness and distress; who are established in the self; remain the same amidst pleasant and unpleasant events; accept both criticism and praise with equanimity; remain the same in respect and insult; treat both friend and foe alike; and abandon all delusions of karta (14.24-14.25).

 While the nature of karta depends on the guna under whose influence the karta is at a given point of time, Krishna explained that the guna-ateeth abandons the delusion of karta altogether. Similarly, in the context of sukh (happiness), the types of happiness vary depending on the guna. But for a guna-ateeth, there is no preference for a particular sukh nor resistance to any dukh. In a nutshell, it is realising that life is an interplay of gunas.


Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

11. Pain Follows Pleasure.

Image
Transcending polarity/duality (Dwandwa-atheeth) , is another master key in the Gita.  Krishna advises Arjun repeatedly in different contexts, to attain this state.  The common question that intrigues humanity is 'How does unpleasantness/pain come to us even when we strive to make sincere efforts to attain pleasure'. Instead of looking deeper within, we reconcile ourselves by saying that maybe our efforts aren't sufficient. However, ahankaar coupled with hope, motivates us to restart the process of pursuing pleasure and this goes on till the end of life. Understanding of Dwandwa-atheeth answers this question. In the manifested world, everything exists in relation to its polar opposite (Dwandwa) . Birth is the polar opposite to death; pleasure is to pain; win-lose; profit- loss; attach-detach; praise-criticism; conditional love-hate; and the list goes on. The rule is, when we chase one of these, its polar opposite automatically follows. If we lift the stick fro...
Read more

1. Start with Ahankaar

Image
Bhagavad Gita is a 700 verse conversation between Lord Krishna and Warrior Arjun in the battle field of Kurukshetra.  Just before the start of war, Arjun gets the feeling that war would kill many of his friends and relatives and argues that this is bad from many points of view.  Arjuns dilemma eminates from his presumption that " I am doer" - Aham karta and is also known as Ahankaar . This Ahankaar keeps us telling that we are distinct, but reality is different. Though ego is usually given as meaning to Ahankaar , but ego can be taken as one of many manifestations of Ahankaar . The entire conversation is about this Ahankaar , be it directly or indirectly and Krishna gives various paths and milestones (yardsticks) to get rid of it. If we take Kurukshetra war as a metaphor, all of us enter into a situations, like Arjun did, in our daily lives be it in family, work place and interms of health, wealth, relationships etc. As long as one lives, these dilemmas are natu...
Read more

108. Transcending Anger

Image
Krishna says, "For those who are free of desire and anger, mind controlled, and self realised, are completely liberated both in this world and in the beyond" (5.26). The question is how to be free from the malady of desire and madness of anger. Every cyclone has a calm eye or centre. Similarly, our cyclone of desire and anger too has a desireless and wrathless centre within us and it's about reaching that centre. This requires courage to drop 'I' which is the basic ingredient of desire.   One effective technique offered is to re-live and witness a situation from the past where we were gripped by desire or anger. Repeat the same with the improved awareness that, 'the self is the self in all beings and different people perceive One Reality in different ways.'  Indian traditions call life ' Leela ' i.e. just a play and there is nothing worth taking seriously. The second technique is to live for 7-10 days as if we are in a drama taking noth...
Read more