Category Archives: guna

Bhagavad Gita Verse 13, Chapter 4

03 Friday Feb 2012

Posted by in 4.13, akartaaram, api, avyayam, chaatur, guna, karma, kartaaram, maam, mayaa, srishtam, tasya, varnyam, vibhaagashaha, viddhi

≈ Comments Off on Bhagavad Gita Verse 13, Chapter 4

chaaturvarnyam mayaa srishtam gunakarmavibhaagashaha |
tasya kartaaramapi maam viddhyakartaaramavyayam || 13 ||

Four classes have been created by me, based on the division of guna and action. Even though I created them, know me as the non-doer and imperishable.

chaatur : four
varnyam : classes
mayaa : by me
srishtam : created
guna : guna
karma : action
vibhaagashaha : division
tasya : that
kartaaram : being the doer
api : even though
maam : me
viddhi : know
akartaaram : non-doer
avyayam : imperishable

Earlier, Shri Krishna mentioned that humans cannot avoid action at any cost. So how can we achieve liberation from bondage while still performing action? To that end, Shri Krishna advises us to act per our svadharma. By efficiently performing svadharma, we can liberate ourselves while performing actions. This is the “why” of karmayoga.

Knowing that one should perform one’s svadharma or duty in this world is core to karmayoga. But how does one know what is one’s svadharma? Shri Krishna addresses this point briefly in this shloka. He says that human beings are categorized into four classes or varnaas. These classes are based on the 3 gunaas, and the corresponding action that each guna prompts us to do.

The three gunas and their corresponding actions are as follows. Rajas is expressed as as activity or agitation. Tamas is expressed as lethargy or laziness. Sattva is expressed as knowledge and peace. So we have to perform self-analysis in order to understand how the gunaas behave within us and in what proportion to each other.

We will find that we will fall into one of these four categories. A brahmana who is predisposed to gaining knowledge, faith, sharing knowledge will usually have a prominence of sattva. A kshatriya who demonstrates courage, likes to organize and protect people, face challenges, take risks, try new things will have a prominence of sattva and rajas. A vaishya who likes to be creative and produce something will have a prominence of rajas and tamas. A shudra who likes to execute tasks but requires a lot of motivation will have prominence of tamas.

As we can tell, this shloka was heavily misinterpreted to support the incorrect notion that varna is determined by birth. There is no such thing. Just like we have career counselling in modern times, the Gita offered a scientific manner of selecting a career that is suitable for oneself both from a practical perspective, and also from a karma yoga perspective.

In the second part of the shloka, Shri Krishna reminds us that although he has set up this classification of varnaa, he is not the doer even in this act. It is maayaa alone that is acting in this world, whereas he is only the witness to its actions. We can think of ourselves as playing different parts in a cosmic play. Each part is different based on our svadharma.

Bhagavad Gita Verse 29, Chapter 3

06 Friday Jan 2012

Posted by in 3.29, akritsna, chaalayet, chapter 3 verse 29, guna, karmasu, kritsna, mandaan, prakriteh, sajjante, sammoodha, taan, vidah, vit

≈ Comments Off on Bhagavad Gita Verse 29, Chapter 3

prakritergunasammoodhaah sajjante gunakarmasu |
taanakritsnavido mandaankritsnavinna vichaalayet || 29 ||

People deluded by the gunaas of prakriti are attached to gunaas and action. The wise person does not disturb those fools who are of limited knowledge.

prakriteh : from prakriti
guna-sammoodhaah : people deluded by the gunas
sajjante : are attached to
guna-karmasu : gunas and karmas
taan : those
akritsna : limited
vidah : knowledge
mandaan : fools
kritsna : complete
vit : one who knows
vichaalayet : do not disturb

Shri Krishna uses this shloka to reiterate the difference between a wise person and an ignorant or foolish person. It is nothing but their degree of attachment to gunaas (forces of nature) and their actions. He also restates that wise people should not preach karmayoga to those who are attached to gunaas and their actions. Instead, they should lead by example.

Why should they do so? The teacher in a school does not condemn or ridicule a student’s ignorance about mathematics. He fully well knows that the student is in very early stages of his curriculum. With enough time and practice, the student will evolve into a higher level of math understanding.

Similarly, a wise person does not condemn or judge anyone, knowing that everyone is at a different level of spiritual evolution. “Judge not, that ye be not judged” as the Bible says in Matthew 7.1.

As a point of clarification, let us reexamine the message of the last 2 shlokas, which was that most of us mistakenly think that the “I” is the doer. We had seen that it is a tough statement to swallow, so let’s look at a common question that arises when one hears this statement. “I am a well renowned surgeon. I just completed a successful triple-bypass surgery. So if I did not do it, who did?”

There was a team of three “agents” that performed the operation – the surgeon’s mind, body and intellect. The mind gathered data from the five senses and presented it to the intellect. The intellect, based on past experiences and knowledge, took decisions. These decisions were sent to the surgeon’s body, specifically the fingers, which performed the operation.

The real “I”, which is the eternal essence, was a witness of this entire surgery. But the principle of the ego or ahamkaara created a mix-up between the real-I and the three agents: mind, body and intellect. Reversing this fundamental mix-up is the ultimate goal of karmayoga, in fact, of any yoga.

Bhagavad Gita Verse 28, Chapter 3

05 Thursday Jan 2012

Posted by in 3.28, chapter 3 verse 28, guna, gunesh, iti, karma, mahaabaaho, matvaa, na, sajjate, tattvavit, tu, vartanta, vibhagayoh

≈ Comments Off on Bhagavad Gita Verse 28, Chapter 3

tattvavittu mahaabaaho gunakarmavibhaagayoh |
gunaa guneshu vartanta iti matvaa na sajjate || 28 ||

But he who knows the truth, O mighty-armed, about the divisions of gunaas as well as their functions, recognizes the interplay of gunaas (everywhere). Having known this, he does not get attached.

tattvavit : knower of truth
tu : but
mahaabaaho : O mighty-armed
gunaa : gunas
karma : functions
vibhaagayoh : distinction
gunaa : gunas
guneshu : in gunas
vartanta : act
iti : this
matvaa : having known
na : does not
sajjate : get attached

Previously, we learned about the ignorant individual who is deluded by the notion that he is the doer. But then, what does the wise person know that the ignorant one does not? Shri Krishna explains that point here.

The wise person is termed a “tattva-vit” – one who knows the truth – by Shri Krishna. The truth, as we saw earlier, is that all actions in this world are performed by prakiriti. And prakriti is comprised of the three gunaas and their respective functions, termed in this shloka as “guna-karma-vibhaaga”. But how exactly do we know that prakriti causes the actions, not the “I”?

Our sense organs are like agents that send messages to the mind when they perceive an object. For instance, if you hold a rose in your hand, the eyes, skin and nose send different signals to the mind. The mind creates a holistic picture from all those signals – “this is a red rose” – and sends it to the intellect. The intellect analyzes that information and makes a decision – “buy this rose”, having consulted its memory of past experiences with roses.

This means that perception, thinking, decision-making – all these functions are part of prakriti, operating based on laws set by prakriti. The “I” is the eternal essence, different from prakriti.

So therefore, if one knows that he is not the doer, and that things are happening of their own accord, he does not get attached to anything in this world. He becomes a witness or a “saakshi”, just like someone watching a play does not get attached to one actor or another. Another example is the process of digestion. We are not attached to it because we know that we are not the doer in that instance. The notion that everything is an interplay of gunaas may seem abstract and theoretical. One can only gain a first-hand experience of this truth in deep stages of meditation.

This teaching is beneficial in our day-to-day lives as well. If we contemplate on this teaching, it has the effect of thinning our ego. Once that happens, it makes us very humble and reduces several negative emotions like fear, anger, stress and so on. Now, we may fear that this teaching makes us lackadaisical. On the contrary, it makes thinking clear and actions more efficient by getting rid of negative emotions that drain our mental energy.