In the previous episode, we had witnessed Bhagawan Krishna concluding the discussion on the “Atma Gunas” that we need to develop within ourselves, so as to walk the path of the “Bhakti Maargam”. With this, we come to the end of the discussion on the thirteenth “Adhyaaya” of the Bhagawad Gita and we’re only left over with another five more “Adhyaayas” still. We shall finish this within the next few episodes and directly commence the war proceedings henceforth, which is going to be very interesting and informative. Moving on thus with the commencement of the fourteenth “Adhyaaya”, Bhagawan says:
“Param bhooyam prabhakshyaami gnyaanaanaam gnyaanamuthamam!
Yagnyaatvaa munayah sarve paraam siddhimithom gathaaha!!
Satthvam rajas tama ithi gunaah prakrithi sambhavaaha!
Nivarthanthi mahaa baaho dehe dehi namavyayam!!”
So here, Bhagawan talks specifically about the three main “Gunas” – “Sathvam”, “Rajas” and “Tamas”. Bhagawan clearly explains to Arjuna thus, “Oh Arjuna! If you’ve to practise the “Atma Gunas”, you were saying that it is difficult for normal people like you, didn’t you? Now I’ll tell one more reason as to why it is difficult to bring the “Atma Gunas” into practice. Our “Deham” is made up of the three “Gunas” namely “Sathvam”, “Rajas” and “Tamas”. The domination of these three “Gunas” in us makes it very difficult for us to walk the path of “Bhakti Maargam”! We’ve to keep these three “Gunas” under check at all times!”
As Bhagawan says thus, Arjuna doesn’t understand anything what Bhagawan says. He asks back thus, “Oh Bhagawan Krishna! What are the three “Gunas” that you’re newly talking about now? Till this point you’ve mentioned so many hurdles that we’ve to cross over, so that we can walk the path of “Bhakti Maargam”. But suddenly where did these three “Gunas” come from? Please explain what they are and how they create hurdles for us!” As Arjuna asks thus, Bhagawan explains – “Oh Arjuna! Please understand this clearly – These three “Gunas” – the “Sathva Guna”, “Rajo Guna” and “Tamo Guna” are inbuilt within your body and nobody can separate you from these three “Gunas” at any point of time. If your “Sathva Guna” is dominating you, you will be very happy, calm, satisfied and very clear with what you’ve to do. However, this happiness in itself will drag you into the “Samsaara” and destroy you completely! Nex comes the “Rajo Guna”. This indicates your levels of desires and if your desires are not fulfilled due to some reasons, your anger and frustration levels start growing. This itself will drag you into the treachery of “Samsaara”. Third one is the “Tamo Guna”, which indicates laziness, sleepiness at all times, procrastination of actions, etc., which also will ultimately lead you into the treachery of the “Samsaara”!”
Saying thus, Bhagawan completes this discussion by saying, “Oh Arjuna! Even though all the three “Gunas” have the might to push you into the ocean of “Samsaara”, you should be careful here – You can trust upon the “Sathva Guna” and build upon it further. Because, if you’re getting dominated by the “Sathva Guna”, of course you will be happy and satisfied in whatever you do. But the clarity that you will possess in understanding and analyzing your own actions is very important to walk the path of “Bhakti Maargam”. You should clearly be able to differentiate what is right and what is wrong for yourself. For this, your “Sathva Guna” should dominate more than the other two. Of course, too much domination of the “Sathva Guna” is also dangerous, but you can still be able to walk the “Bhakti Maargam” path with this. The other two “Gunas” should be strictly kept under control, as anger, frustration and laziness are extremely dangerous to throw you out of the path of “Bhakti Maargam” completely!”
So for today, let us understand this point very clearly and with this, we get a fair idea of what the three “Gunas” are, and how they dominate us at every point in time. So, as per Bhagawan’s important advice, let us do all what it takes to enhance our “Sathva Guna”, so that it would be helpful for us to walk the path of “Bhakti Maargam”. With this, we come to the end of the brief discussion on the fourteenth “Adhyaaya” and we shall wait till the next episode to commence the discussion on the fifteenth! Stay tuned! 🙂
The Indian Dharma 