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Category Archives: mohaat

Bhagavad Gita Verse 60, Chapter 18

18 Thursday Jul 2013

Posted by in 18.60, chapter 18 verse 60, ichhasi, karishyasi, karmanaa, kartum, kaunteya, mohaat, nibaddhaha, svabhaavajena, svena

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svabhaavajena kaunteya nibaddhaha svena karmanaa |
kartum nechhasi yanmohaatkarishyasyavashopi tat || 60 ||
 
Being bound by your own duty arising out of your nature, O Kaunteya, you will helplessly do that which you do not want to do now, due to delusion.
 
svabhaavajena : arising out of nature
kaunteya : O Kaunteya
nibaddhaha : being bound
svena : own
karmanaa : duty
kartum : do
na : do not
ichhasi : want
yat : which
mohaat : delusion
karishyasi : do
avashaha : helpless
api : certainly
tat : that
 
As Sant Jnyaneshwar says in his commentary, it is impossible for the westward current in a river to flow eastward, and a seed planted in fertile land to not germinate. There are other such examples in the world which illustrate the impossibility of suppressing one’s own natural tendencies. Bookies that are sentenced to prison start operating gambling dens inside the prison itself. Unethical businessmen who get elected into political office sell election seats to the highest bidder.
 
Shri Krishna continues to convince Arjuna that the decision to quit the war will not work. Arjuna is the perfect embodiment of a kshatriya, a warrior, possessing all the qualities listed earlier in the chapter. Quitting the war would temporarily have suppressed his fighter instinct, but only temporarily. In due course of time, the force of his vaasanaas, the force of his mental impressions would have impelled him to fight the war he had fled. Worse still, shutting off his fighter instincts through coercion would have driven him to insanity.
 
Arjuna would probably have been convinced about the need to fight the war, since it was clear that he could not walk away from fulfilling his duty, and that he could not forcefully choke his inherent warrior instincts. If we were to take this argument to its conclusion, it means that we are helpless under the influence of our natural tendencies. But there has to be way out of this, otherwise there is no scope for liberation. Shri Krishna answers this doubt through an illustration in the next shloka.

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Bhagavad Gita Verse 25, Chapter 18

13 Thursday Jun 2013

Posted by in 25.18, aarabhyate, anapekshya, anubandham, chapter 25 verse 28, himsaam, karma, kshayam, mohaat, paurusham, taamasam, ucchyate

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anubandham kshayam himsaamanapekshya cha paurusham |
mohaadaarabhyate karma yattattaamasamucchyate || 25 ||
 
That which is begun in delusion, without considering its consequence, loss, harm and capability, that action is called taamasic.
 
anubandham : consequence
kshayam : loss
himsaam : harm
anapekshya : without considering
cha : and
paurusham : capability
mohaat : in delusion
aarabhyate : begun
karma : action
yat : which
tat : that
taamasam : taamasic
ucchyate : is called
 
Shri Krishna now explains the nature of a taamasic action, listing its characteristics. As an example, a lot of new college graduates start a career path just because they get a lot of money, but they do not fully learn about the impact on their health, whether there is any ethical compromising going on etc. They also do not stop to think whether they have the aptitude, capability, training and passion for their role. Whenever we begin any action without fully understanding its impacts and consequences, that action becomes taamasic.
 
On similar lines, many people invest money in new ventures without having done the due diligence on the business plan, understanding the market and so on. They do not take into account the potential loss of their investment, since they only focus on the potential game. Furthermore, they do not assess whether their new venture could harm the economic, political or natural environment. Even if they know what the harm is, they conveniently choose to overlook those facts. Such kind of action is also called taamasic action.
 
The root of taamasic action is taamasic knowledge, which creates a highly perverse sense of attachment towards certain object, person, situation or end goal, that everything else becomes inferior and worthless. The underlying connectedness or unity of things is forgotten. Even a simple thing like cutting our face when shaving is a taamasic action, which has happened because our mental noise shifted our focus and attention away from the action. Similarly, whenever we eat food that is tasty but creates negative long term health impacts, whenever we give importance to our tongue, we are committing a taamasic action.

Bhagavad Gita Verse 7, Chapter 18

27 Monday May 2013

Posted by in 18.7, chapter 18 verse 7, karmanaha, mohaat, niyatasya, parikeertitaha, parityaagaha, sannyaasaha, taamasaha, tasya, upapadyate

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niyatasya tu sannyaasaha karmano nopapadyate |
mohaattasya parityaagastaamasaha parikeertitaha || 7 ||
 
Indeed, the giving up of an obligatory action is not appropriate. Giving it up out of delusion is declared to be taamasic.
 
niyatasya : obligatory
tu : indeed
sannyaasaha : giving up
karmanaha : action
na : not
upapadyate : appropriate
mohaat : out of delusion
tasya : it
parityaagaha : to give up
taamasaha : taamasic
parikeertitaha : is declared
 
Shri Krishna moved the discussion on karma yoga ahead by categorizing the three types of tyaaga, which means giving up or renunciation. He says that when we give up an obligatory action, when we do not perform an obligatory action out of delusion, out of incorrect or error prone knowledge, such renunciation is known as taamasic tyaaga or taamasic renunciation. He says that such behaviour is inappropriate and is not in line with the teachings of karma yoga. Not doing one’s duty is forbidden in karma yoga.
 
Where do one’s obligatory duties come from? They come from one’s stage in life or aashrama, and one’s profession or varna. A householder is obliged to attend to the needs of his spouse, his parents and his children. If he does not attend to his sick parents, or does not help with his child’s homework, it is termed as taamasic behaviour. A businessman should strive to generate healthy profits from his business, and donate a portion of his wealth to charity. Not doing so is also considered taamasic.
 
Moha or delusion can create all kinds of negative tendencies in us, as we have seen in prior chapters. It can cause heedlessness and carelessness where we do not pay proper attention to the task at hand. It can cause laziness and idleness where our body becomes inert and dull, where we do not want to get up from bed. It is hard to get oneself out of a state of moha. Unless someone who is not taamasic intervenes, we will remain in a state of tamas for a long time.