Category Archives: raajasee

Bhagavad Gita Verse 34, Chapter 18

22 Saturday Jun 2013

Posted by in 18.34, arjuna, chapter 18 verse 34, dhaarayate, dharmakaamaarthaan, dhritihi, dhrityaa, paartha, phalaakaankshee, prasangena, raajasee, yayaa

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yayaa tu dharmakaamaarthaandhrityaa dhaarayaterjuna |
prasangena phalaakaankshee dhritihi saa paartha raajasee || 34 ||
 
But, that fortitude by which one holds on to duty, sensual pleasure and wealth, O Arjuna, desiring reward as their occasion arises, that fortitude is raajasic, O Paartha.
 
yayaa : by which
tu : but
dharmakaamaarthaan : duty, sensual pleasure and wealth
dhrityaa : fortitude
dhaarayate : one holds on
arjuna : O Arjuna
prasangena : as the occasion arises
phalaakaankshee : desiring reward
dhritihi : fortitude
saa : that
paartha : O Paartha
raajasee : raajasic
 
Pursuit of duty, sensual pleasure, wealth and liberation, dharma, artha, kaama and moksha, are considered the four goals, the four purushaarthas, of a human life. Over time, the importance and even awareness of liberation as a goal was lost. Most of us pursue the first three goals only. Shri Krishna says that the fortitude or the will power that enables us to pursue these three goals is termed as raajasic dhriti, raajasic fortitude. It is termed raajasic because it is oriented around the attainment of the goal, and also, the personal reward that comes to us when that goal is accomplished.
 
On college campuses, we always know of a few people that spend the entire day in the canteen, and do not attend even a single class. But somehow, many of them study for a few days prior to their exams, just enough so that they pass their tests. Some of them get very good at playing the guitar so that they can impress others. Yet others are spending their time buying and selling shares online. In all these cases, they seem to have a will power that only works when there is an occasion for pwesonal reward that is in line with their world view, their raajasic jnyaanam. The will power, the fortitude does not work all the time, especially for anything selfless or altruistic.
 
Another way to look at fortitude is to assess the type of thoughts that our intellect holds on to, and the type of thoughts it rejects. In the prior example, all three types of students know that a lecture is going on daily. Such a thought will arise in their mind every day, like it arises for every other student in the campus. However, the intellect chooses not to act upon that thought, and conequently, no action follows from a discarded thought. Instead, thoughts about sensual pleasure and accumulation of wealth are held on to, and are acted upon. Everything happens at the level of the mind and the intellect, and that is why the mind is given so much importance in the Gita.

Bhagavad Gita Verse 31, Chapter 18

19 Wednesday Jun 2013

Posted by in 18.31, adharmam, akaaryam, ayathaavat, buddhihi, chapter 18 verse 31, dharmam, kaaryam, paartha, prajaanaati, raajasee, yayaa

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yayaa dharmamadharmam cha kaaryam chaakaaryameva cha |
ayathaavatprajaanaati buddhihi saa paartha raajasee || 31 ||
 
That by which one improperly understands the difference between dharma and adharma, what should be done and what should not be done, O Paartha, that intellect is raajasic.
 
yayaa : by which
dharmam : dharma
adharmam : adharma
cha : and
kaaryam : what should be done
cha : and
akaaryam : what should not be done
eva : also
cha : and
ayathaavat : improperly
prajaanaati : one understands
buddhihi : intellect
saa : that
paartha : O Paartha
raajasee : raajasic
 
A soldier goes through weeks of bootcamp training. A chef takes decades to hone her craft. Surgeons are in their thirties before they perform their first official operation. A musician can take a lifetime, and still have room to grow. In all these cases, we see that it takes years to fully understand what and how to perform actions in one’s career. Unless such knowledge is gained through a competent teacher, and years of one’s life are put in, the quality of our work output will never reach perfection.
 
Shri Krishna says that the science of action, the karma yoga, needs to be studied with similar dedication and guidance. Unless we learn what is our dharma, what is our duty towards this world, we will be swimming in an ocean of ignorance. Are our actions ethical? Are they carried out for selfish ends or are they performed selflessly? Are they entangling us further in worldly affairs, or are they taking us closer to liberation? We need to understand karma yoga, the science of action, to clearly understand all this.
 
Therefore, one who has not received this knowledge will always be unclear about what is dharma and what is not. Consequently, they will always be confused whether to act or not. Confusion will creep in if we forget our dharma and get swayed by egoism and attachment. Arjuna’s attachment to his family members, the Kauravas, triggered this confusion with regards to his duty as a warrior. Shri Krishna had to teach him the science of karma yoga to remove this confusion. So then, whenever our intellect gets confused about whether to act or not, we can assume that it is raajasic, tinged with selfishness.

Bhagavad Gita Verse 2, Chapter 17

22 Monday Apr 2013

Posted by in 17.2, bhavati, chapter 17 verse 2, dehinaam, raajasee, saatvikee, shraddhaa, shrunu, svabhaavajaa, taam, taamasee, trividhaa

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Shree Bhagavaan uvaacha:
trividhaa bhavati shraddhaa dehinaam saa svabhaavajaa |
saatvikee raajasee chaiva taamasee cheti taam shrunu || 2 ||
 
Shree Bhagavaan said:
Threefold is the faith that comes from the nature of the embodied ones, saatvic, raajasic and taamasic. Listen about that from me.
 
trividhaa : three fold
bhavati : is
shraddhaa : faith
dehinaam : embodied ones
saa : they
svabhaavajaa : come from nature
saatvikee : saatvic
raajasee : raajasic
cha : and
eva : also
taamasee : taamasic
cha : and
iti : in this manner
taam : about that
shrunu : listen
 
Arjuna began this chapter by posing the following question. If one does not have access to the scriptures but uses their faith to guide their lives, what kind of a position is that? Shri Krishna does not answer that question directly. The entire chapter, in fact, is the answer to that question.
 
It is not an easy question to answer because faith differs from person to person. We can say that we trust our faith, our conscience, to guide us towards performing right actions. But the faith of a terrorist is different than faith of a saint. If we do not have guru to guide us, we cannot assess our faith objectively. So how should we tackle this issue?
 
Shri Krishna gives us a starting point to help us. We first need to understand what he means when he says that faith comes from svabhaava or nature. What exactly is meant by nature here? Nature refers to the collection of samskaaraas or impressions that are present in a person, a “dehin” or embodied one, from birth until death. Whenever we perform an action and get its result, both the action and result are ingrained in our mind in the form of an impression. This impression is called as samskaara. Whenever we repeat the action and get the same result, the impression is further ingrained and strengthened. If we repeat it often enough, it becomes a habit. It could be a good habit such as respecting our elders, or a bad habit such as smoking.
 
So this nature, this collection of samskaaraas or impressions, is where our faith comes from. Now let’s go back to Arjuna’s question. In the absence of scriptures, in the absence of a rational, logical means to check our actions, what will happen if we use our faith instead? If someone swears loudly at us in the middle of the street, we will respond instinctively at that point rather than using logic or reason. We may punch the person who yelled at us, or we may ignore him. It depends on the makeup of our nature.
 
Now, based on the makeup of our nature, we can classify our faith into three types: saatvic, raajasic and taamasic. But it is difficult to do so directly. We will have to infer the nature of faith through something else. Shri Krishna tells Arjuna to listen, since he will explain how to do this.