Category Archives: raajasaahaa

Bhagavad Gita Verse 4, Chapter 17

24 Wednesday Apr 2013

Posted by in 17.4, bhootaganaam, chapter 17 verse 4, devaan, http://schemas.google.com/blogger/2008/kind#post, janaahaa, pretaan, raajasaahaa, saattvikaa, taamasaa, yajante, yaksharakshaamsi

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yajante saattvikaa devaanyaksharakshaamsi raajasaahaa |
pretaanbhootaganaamshchaanye yajante taamasaa janaahaa || 4 ||
 
Saatvic individuals worship deities, raajasic individuals worship the yakshas and the raakshasas, others, taamasic individuals, the pretas and band of bhootas.
 
yajante : worship
saattvikaa : saatvic individuals
devaan : deities
yaksharakshaamsi : yakshas and raakshasas
raajasaahaa : raajasic individuals
pretaan : pretas
bhootaganaam : band of bhootas
cha : and
anye : others
yajante : worship
taamasaa : taamasic
janaahaa : individuals
 
Shri Krishna says that people who have faith can be placed in three categories. Those that worship deities such as Lord Ganesha, Lord Shiva and so on are saatvic. Those that worship materialistic spirits or yakshas such as Kubera the lord of wealth are raajasic. Those that worship ghosts and demons are taamasic. Hearing this, we may say that we only worship deities. We never worship anything else. Therefore, we may conclude that we are highly saatvic individuals.
 
But as we have seen in karma yoga, the attitude with which we perform an action is equally important as the action itself. Imagine that three people visit the same temple at the same time and pray to the same deity. One person may pray because he wants his daughter to get married. One may pray to knock off his business competitor. Another may pray so that he attains liberation in this life. Outwardly, they may seem to be doing the same action, but there is a world of difference in their attitude. This difference in attitude is symbolically conveyed in the shloka using terms such as ghosts and demons.
 
So, analyzing our actions is not as easy as observing what we do. We also need to note our attitude behind our actions. As we saw earlier, our nature or svabhaava determines our attitude and our actions. To uncover the texture of our faith, we first need to uncover our attitudes and motivations, which requires a high degree of awareness. To get better and doing so, Shri Krishna covers a gamut of actions in this chapter so that we can practice observing our attitude as well as our actions, observe what we do and why we do it.

Bhagavad Gita Verse 18, Chapter 14

23 Saturday Feb 2013

Posted by in 14.18, adhaha, chapter 14 verse 18, gacchanti, gunavrittisthaahaa, jaghanya, madhye, oordhvam, raajasaahaa, sattvasthaa, taamasaahaa, tishtanti

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oordhvam gacchanti sattvasthaa madhye tishtanti raajasaahaa |
jaghanyagunavrittisthaa adho gacchanti taamasaahaa || 18 ||
 
Those established in sattva go upwards, those in rajas stay in the middle. Those under the influence of the lowest guna, established in tamas, go downwards.
 
oordhvam : upwards
gacchanti : go
sattvasthaa : established in sattva
madhye : middle
tishtanti : stay
raajasaahaa : established in rajas
jaghanya : lowest
gunavrittisthaahaa : influence of guna
adhaha : downwards
gacchanti : go
taamasaahaa : established in tamas
 
Parents are always watchful of their children’s behaviour, because the values that are inculcated in childhood stay with us throughout our life. If parents notice that their child is lazy and remains idle all the time, they will first motivate him through selfish desires. They will teach him that if he studies hard and works hard, he will be able to buy fast cars, electronic gadgets, a big house and so on. Once he has risen from a tamasic state to a rajasic state, and has made enough money, his parents will encourage him to slowly start transitioning from rajasic action to selfless, sattvic actions like donating money to charity, volunteering and so on.
 
Shri Krishna gives us a similar roadmap for our evolution in this shloka. He says that once we have determined our degree of rajas and tamas, we should consciously perform the actions necessary to uplift our mental state. If we are primarily tamasic in nature, we should perform rajasic actions. If we are primarily sattvic in nature, we should perform sattvic actions. He also puts the responsibility of self improvement squarely on our shoulders. No other person can make this happen. The will to self improve must come from within.
 
Let us imagine for a moment that we are able to uplift ourselves to the level of sattva, where we are able to remain in a sattvic state for a majority of the day, as a consequence of performing sattvic, selfless actions. Is this our goal, or is this yet another milestone in our spiritual journey? The thirteenth chapter taught us that we have become the individual soul, the jeeva, the Purusha, by forgetting our true nature as the eternal essence. We have further become entangled in Prakriti by identifying with a mind and body that are under the influence of the gunas. Once we are able to stay in sattva, and minimize the effects of rajas and tamas, how do we then disentangle ourselves from Prakriti? Shri Krishna picks up this topic next.