Continuing his teachings
Swamiji presented the summary of the chapter today.He said the 14th chapter, like theprevious chapter, falls within the third shadkam of the
Bhagavat Gita; the third
groupof six chapters and I had
pointed out that in the third shadkam,
Sri Krishna concentrates on Gyana yoga. And therefore we find the topic of Gyana yoga, theessential teachings of the Upanishads,
condensed in these chapters, especially the 13th, 14th and 15th chapters. In
the 16th and 17th chapters, we will see later, Sri Krishna deals with Gyana-yoga friendly
virtues.

Gyana yoga is the pursuit of self-knowledge or atma Gyanam. Though, these three chapters are relatively small, they are very significant chapters and this is known as Gunathraya vibhaga yoga and in this chapter, Sri Krishna deals with the three gunas as the stepping-stones and through these three gunas he takes us to the gunathitha atma. Using the three gunas as stepping stones and going to the gunathitha atma, is the subject matter of this chapter and therefore, it is called guna thraya vibhaga yoga.

Shlokas
# 1-4:

And in the first four verses of this chapter, Sri Krishna gives an introduction in which he mentions the subject matter of atma Gyanam as the liberating wisdom and therefore the greatest knowledge. All the other disciplines of knowledge are called apara vidya; inferior knowledge; whereas this is the knowledge, which is called para vidya in the upanishad and raja vidya in the 9th chapter; this knowledge is the greatest knowledge because this alone releases a person from samsara. All the other disciplines of knowledge will make me only smaller and smaller because the more I study I come to know how little I know. So instead of growing bigger in terms of knowledge, I only feel smaller and smaller as I study more, further. This is the only wisdom, which makes me own the fact that, I am Brahman, the biggest. Therefore, Sri Krishna says this is a liberating knowledge, which gives liberation while living and is called jivan-mukti; and it also gives liberation after death, which is then called videh mukti. And by videha mukti we mean freedom from punarjanma or cycle of birth and death.

Thus
having introduced the subject matter, later Sri Krishna gives the foundation
for the teaching and in that foundation he briefly mentions the process of creation.
He points out that God is the cause of the creation, and God consists of two
aspects, consciousness aspect and the matter aspect or Chetana and achetana.

In
the 7th chapter, Chetana
tatvam was called para prakrti; achetana tatvam was called apara prakrti.

In
the 13th chapter, Chetana
tatvam was called purusha and achetana tatvam is called
prakrtihi.

And
in the upanishads, chetana tatvam is
called brahman and the achetana
tatvam is called Maya.

These two principles together are called Ishvara and he is anadi and from this Chetana- achetana mishram alone the entire universe has originated, including every individual as well. And from this we can easily infer that every individual also must be a mixture of Chetana – achetana tatvam because as the cause is, so the effect will be. As the parents are so the children will be. So based on the same principle, I, the individual, is also a mixture of purusha and prakrti; brahman and maya; chetanam and achetanam. Otherwise, technically, I am atma-anatma mishraha.

And
from this we can infer that anatma
is a part of the mind, which is born out of prakrti, as such it will have the
three gunas, which
belong to prakrti.

So
prakrti is responsible for the origination of my anatma part and
therefore; my anatma part will
have three gunas and that anatma part is the
body-mind complex, otherwise also called ahamkara. So the body-mind complex is equal
to the anatma part is
equal to the ahamkara
part, which is sagunaha, endowed with
the three gunas, because it
is a product, originating from the prakrti.

And
similarly I have got a purusha aspect also; the chetana aspect
also; which is called the atma
aspect; which is nirgunam
in nature and this nirguna
atma is technically
called sakshi. Therefore saguna ahamkara plus nirguna sakshi; Saguna matter plus nirguna consciousness,
is the individual.

Saguna means with guna or properties and nirguna means without guna; or properties or attributes. The pure ahamkara also cannot interact in the world. Pure sakshi also cannot interact in the world. All the interactions are done by the mixture of sakshi + ahamkara.

And
the whole aim of this teaching is I should learn to own up more and more of my higher
sakshi svarupam, which is
the persistent and permanent nature of mine and I should not be over obsessed
with my inferior ahamkara
materialistic nature. Not that ahamkara should be neglected, because without ahamkara, pure sakshi cannot transact.
So ahamkara is needed;
but obsession
with ahamkara will lead to
all types of problem. And therefore instead of seeing myself as ahamkara, I should
learn to see myself as sakshi, now
transacting through ahamkara.
For this purpose, Sri Krishna talked about the creation and the essence of this
topic is, I am also a mixture of saguna and nirguna
aspects.

And having presented this foundation, Sri Krishna begins the teaching from the 5^th verse onwards. He talks about the three gunas of ahamkara, to show that all the three gunas are causes of bondage; we need to know how to make use of them properly, like anything in the creation. If I know how to handle things, it can help me grow; if I do not know how to handle, the very same thing will cause problems.

You
take fire, it is a blessing or a curse; it depends upon whether I know how to handle
fire. Electricity is a blessing or curse? By itself it is neither; but if I do
not know how to handle it, it becomes a
curse. Similarly, the three gunas also; if I do not know how to
make use of them, they can become binding chains. Word Guna has a second meaning, they is ‘ropes’ or “chains”
that bind me.

Shloka’s 5-18
(Analysis of Ahamkara)

And
therefore I should have a thorough understanding of the three gunas. So from 5th
verse, up to 18th verse, we get an analysis of the three gunas, essentially
an analysis of the ahamkara;
because ahamkara has the
three gunas. And for the convenience of our study, Sri Krishna classifies
this analysis into five parts.

First he gives the
lakshanam or
definition of the three gunas.

Second he gives the
mode of bondage; how each guna
binds us. This is called bandana prakaraha.

Third, he gives the
lingam, indication
to find out which guna
is dominant in me.

Fourth is Gathi,
which means post-death travel; the travel after life.

Fifth is phalam, the
consequences of the predominance of each guna.

Sri
Krishna gives the definitions: satva is prakashatmakam; rajas is raghatmakam, tamas
is mohanatmakam.

Satva
is that disposition of the mind, which makes the mind knowledge friendly. So
satva makes the mind endowed with that disposition, which is knowledge
friendly, which makes the mind a bright mind;

So
he is disposed to the acquisition of knowledge; whereas rajo guna makes the
mind karma friendly; activity friendly; a disposition, which is suited for
dynamism.

Whereas tamo guna makes the mind unfit for, inimical to both others, thus it is neither knowledge friendly nor activity friendly. Such a disposition of mind is called Satva, rajas and tamas are propensity-based definition that indicate disposition of one’s mind.

Then
the next one is the mode of bondage. How does it bind? When my mind is knowledge
friendly, naturally I become a bookworm; all the time interested in operating
the Gyanendriyas; not karmendriya-active
person; and therefore I look for an infrastructure, which is conducive to more
and more study.

A
learning person will first look for those things.  This becomes a bondage when such a conducive
atmosphere is not available; then this person becomes restless and unhappy. This
is the bondage caused by satva guna.

Whereas
rajo guni does not like
library or knowledge.

He
wants to do a lot of things; and therefore he looks for activity friendly
atmosphere; and, when such an atmosphere is there; that mind is very happy and
if that is not there he becomes mad.

And
tamo Guna is looking for sleep and if it is not available he gets mad.

These
are the three types of bandana prakaraha.

Then
the lingam, the
indication of the three gunas;
this is a corollary we get from the previous discussions.

When
satva is dominant then Gyanam increases; reading increases; study increases; thinking
increases; it is an indication of satva vritti.

Whereas
when activity increases, it is an indication of rajo vritti and when
sleep and sleepy condition increases, it is an indication of tamo vritti.

And then Sri Krishna talked about the gathi after death. When a Satva dominant person dies he goes to higher lokas; when a Rajas dominant person dies he is born in the manushya loka; because manushya loka is meant for Karma. When tamo guna dominant person dies that person goes down; hence, urdhva gathi, madhyama gathi and adho gathi.

And
finally, the consequences of these three gumas were also pointed out; that is the phalam or the
consequences in this life. When satva guna increases, Gyana vriddhi occurs; when rajo guna increases,
the ambition and activities increase; and when tamo guna increases,
nidra and negligence
in life increases and his life will be closer to an animal. So thus,  all five topics Sri Krishna discusses from the
5th verse up to 18th.

Shlokas 19 and
20

And then comes the crucial two verses #19 and 20, in which Sri Krishna talks about transcending the three gunas. And for transcending the three gunas one will have to make use of the three gunas. Just as a fruit requires skin for ripening and once it is ripened, it does not require the skin and naturally the skin is shed.

Similarly,
the entire spiritual sadhana is a gradual
journey from tama pradhana
life to raja pradhana
life to satva pradhana
life to gunathitha life. And
how does the scripture accomplish that? The scripture prescribes lot of karma
to a person who is now tama pradhana. And what type of karmas? It prescribes Sakama karma.

Selfish
activities to fulfill worldly and materialistic desires; In fact scriptures
encourage such desires; because it wants to inject desires in the tamoguna person, who
is always sleepy and refuses to get up and wants to make him rajo guni.

And
once a person has got into sakama
karma, then the scriptures, gradually change his status.

At
first his rajo
guna is tamo guna or tainted
rajo guna, the first
phase. Then satva guna
tainted rajo guna should be the
next phase.

What is the difference between the two? Both rajo gunas will activate a person. It will make the person extremely ambitious; it will whip up the ambition but the difference will be initially all desires are personal and selfish-oriented; that means the beneficiary of my activity will be only I, or my family.

Whereas
when that rajo
guna is converted
to the higher rajo guna, sakama karma will
be converted into nishkama karma, which
means the beneficiaries of my activity will be more and more people. Not only my
family alone, but also others will also be benefited.

As the beneficiaries increase, sakama karma is getting converted into nishkama karma. This is travel from tamo guna; from lower rajo guna to higher rajo guna. To use the 4th chapter language, one goes from guna shudra to guna vaishya to guna kshatriya. Guna kshatriya is a person whose life and activities will benefit the entire community and even the nation.

Once a person has lived a guna kshatriya life, which is otherwise called karma yoga, then the scriptures ask you to graduate you to the next stage of a satva guna pradhana life; after the peak of activity, gradually one has to withdraw; from Grihastha ashrama to vanaprastha ashrama may occur

And at this stage alone, the scriptures talk about more of upasana and less of karma. So upasana is the sadhana which converts an extroverted active person into a quiet and withdrawn; and self or atma oriented person. Thus, upasana sadhana makes me a satva pradhana purushaha.

When
I become a satva pradhana purusha, the
activities are gradually dropped, and one does not feel any guilt because he
has contributed to the society sufficiently.

He
is not a selfish person he has contributed for so many years. Now he can turn to concentrated spirituality. And not only that,
physically also, this person becomes incapable of more activity, by this time.

Thus tama pradhana to raja pradhana to satva pradhana
he has reached; by following karma yoga and upasana.

Then, the satva guna to nirguna travel, is a totally
different type of travel. There is no corridor connecting satva guna
and nirguna. Tamo guna
can be changed to rajo guna, rajo
guna
can be changed to satva guna; but, satva guna can never be converted into nirguna. If satva guna
is converted, it will again become tamo guna
or rajo guna only. There is no corridor connecting guna
thraya and Nirguna or gunathita and therefore the only sadhana available is
Gyanam.

So after a person becomes a satva guna pradhana, karma yoga is dropped, upasana is dropped, because they have done their job by making me satva guna pradhana. In fact satva guna pradhana person is called sadhana chatushtaya sampanna adhikari. Then he has to move to Gyana yoga. That Sri Krishna tells us clearly.

As I said the crucial word in that 19th verse is Vetti; meaning,
he comes to know. And Sri Krishnadoes not say how to get the knowledge, because he has already said
that in the 4^th chapter. Knowledge does not automatically happen.  No knowledge, for that matter, can happen
naturally.  If you sit quietly in
meditation, knowledge does not happen. Then, what should you do?

Gyanina
yoga means going
to a guru. sthrothriya brahmanishta
guru means systematic study of the Vedanta. Not a casual now and then listening to some satsanga here and
there, and all of them are meant to inspire you, inspiration is different;
teaching is different. Dayananda Swamiji says: Preaching is different; teaching is different.

And
systematic study of scriptures includes shravanam,
mananam and nidhidyasanam,
for a length of time, and there afterwards removing all the doubts by proper
mananam or analysis and thereafter internalization of the teaching. So through shravna, manana
and nidhidhyasana, I become
gunathitha.

Now the question is: How do I become gunathitha by shravanam? As I said, the body, mind complex will be eternally saguna, it would not become nirguna. Then what do I do through Gyana yoga? I learn to dis-identify from the body by knowing the fact that body is only an incidental instrument I am using for worldly transactions exactly like the spectacle and when I remove the spectacles, I am not gone, but I am not able to see the people, similarly when the body mind complex is not there, I do not disappear, but I also do not have the medium to interact with the people; and we do experience such a situation daily; When; during the deepsleep state. And in sleep the body mind complex is temporarily used and then it will be dropped, I should take the instrument as myself.

Then,
if I am not the body mind complex, who am I? For that Sri Krishna gave the
answer:

in Shloka 14:
20.

I am not the body, but I am the experiencer of the body; I am not the mind; I am the experiencer of the mind; and therefore, all the known attributes belong to the known body mind complex only. This is a very important law. You should remember. Any experienced attribute, belong to the experienced object. If I seegreen color, the color belongs to the eye or the object? The seen color belongs to the seen object; it does not belong to the seer eye. Whatever color I am seeing, they all belong to the objectified-attribute that belong to the objectified-substances; no attribute belongs to the objectifier-I. And therefore all the gunas belong to the body mind complex. “I” am free from all the three gunas. So you do not contact the gunathitha atma, you do not become the gunathitha atma, you own up the fact that I was gunathitha; I am gunathitha, and I will be gunatitha. For how many days, will I be Gunathitha? I am incapable of becoming saguna. So this transformation in the I takes place and this knowledge based transformation is called mokshaha or jivan mukti.

So after death, will I have urdhva gathi or madhyama gathi or atho gathi? If I have satva guna I will have urdhva gathi; if I have rajo guṇa I will have madhya gathi; if I have tamo guna I will have atho gathi. However,if I am Nirguna, I will have no gathi. Aham agathihi asmi. I am agathihi, because I cannot move from one place to another, because I am the atma, the chaitanyam, which is all pervading, in Me the consciousness, the saguna matter appears and in Me the consciousness the saguna matter resolves. And I am never affected by the three gunas. This is called moksha.

And
naturally Arjuna is curious to know what will be the lifestyle of such a gunathitha person,
and therefore he asked three questions in the 21st verse,

Shloka 14:21:

The three questions are: What are the indications of the gunathitha? Characteristics of gunathitha and then what is the conduct of the gunathitha: acharaha, and the method of becoming gunathithah.

And
Sri Krishna gives the answer, the indication is that the very knowledge makes
the mind less and less reactive to the situation because the mind has become an
enlightened mind and an enlightened mind learns to have the right attitude
towards the saguna creation. And
what is the right attitude? Understanding that the the proportion of the gunas varies from
individual to individual therefore no human being can be like me. And therefore
there is no question of compatibility. So looking for compatibility is the worst
thing that you can do and even if by chance there is any compatibility between
two persons, it cannot be for long, because both have dynamic and changing
mind; and therefore differences are natural in anatma. Association and dissociation are
natural in anatma. Birth,
growth, declension and death are natural in anatma. And therefore I cannot change the
anatma, I should
only change my attitude. And this changing of the attitude takes place gradually
only because the old behavior continues.

And through Nidhidhyasanam, which is called dwelling upon the teaching; I reduce my reactions gradually. Now, when the reactions reduce, knowledge does not Improve; Knowledge does not become brighter, but knowledge seems to improve, because the reactions are decreasing. Just like on a paurnami day, the moon seems to be brighter and brighter in the evening, but you know that moon is not becoming brighter but as the sunlight recedes, sunlight is an obstacle to the brightness of the moon; As the sun light recedes, the moon seems to be brighter and brighter; similarly my reactions come down as a result of the assimilation; as a result nidhidhyasanam.

And
as I had said before, we can see the decrease in reaction at three levels: frequency
of unhealthy reactions, like frustration, like fear, like insecurity, anger,
etc. the frequency of these comes down. Do not expect a flashy transformation.
It is not going to happen immedately. It is a gradual assimilation.

Not
only frequency comes down, the intensity of the reactions also come down. The
decrease in the intensity occurs at three levels; manasam, vachikam, and kayikam. That is
why when there is extreme reaction, there is butterfly in the stomach. Before
writing an examination, the stomach may get upset and with it mind, speech and
body as well. Therefore Arjuna, mental intensity comes down and later even
verbal and physical reactions come down.

So
this is reduction in intensity and finally there is a reduction in the recovery
period also; previously once I got angry it continued for days; but now it
comes down in hours; and then it comes down to minutes; then it comes down to
seconds; so I get a mental resilience to bounce back, even though I reacted
violently, I am able to forget that and continue with my life. So thus nidhidhyasanam, converts
Gyanam into Gyana nishta,
reducing the violent reaction. But we should remember, reactions can never
become zero. Zero reactions are only in the case of a table, the chair, etc. they
do not have it; they do not get angry. So our mind is a live mind; therefore we
can reduce the frequency, intensity, recovery period, but it can never become
zero. Once I reach this state my meditation or nidhidhyasanam becomes
slightly different; and that nidhidhyasanam is that I should not be too much obsessed with the
mind and its reactions; because to be over obsessed with the mind, is again
identification with the mind. That is ahamkara; and therefore, I reduce the reaction and
thereafterwards, I learn to distance from my mind, and I do not worry too much
about the reacting mind. That is reaction to the reaction.

So
every Gita student has to
face two reactions; one is the natural reaction to the situation; and the
second is reaction to the fact that I reacted, leading to depression.

So, after a some time, I drop my secondary reactions as well; I am not over-obsessed with the reaction of the mind. And I say that I do not have any reaction because I am now the witness of the reacting mind. So one should first reduce the reactions and then give up the reactions to the reactions.

Shlokas 22-27:

This
is called Gyana nishta
that Sri Krishna tells us about in verses 22 to 27. In the 22nd verses, he is
talking about the absence of reaction to the reaction. In one of the guru
purnima talks, I have dealt with this topic very, elaborately. Reaction to the
reaction is a greater samsara
and a Gyani does not react to the reaction. And thereafter as a Gyana nishta I
am not obsessed with my mind and its tendencies.

And
then the second question was how does he conduct himself in life. Sri Krishna emphasizes
that the Gyani has equanimity of the mind; his mind is free from violent
reactions and even if there are small reactions, he does not react to those
reactions. So samatvam is his acharaha.

Final
question of Arjuna was how to become gunathitha? The answer is Knowledge is gained
with the bhakthi to the Lord; surrender to the Lord and by the grace of the Lord.
May you get Gyanam and that Gyanam is the only solution.

Through Bhakthi you do not get liberation. Through bhakthi you get a conducive atmosphere for knowledge and a conducive personality as well; and then through knowledge you will attain mokshaha. So with this the answers to Arjuna’s question are complete and the 14th chapter is over.

Take Away:

Ahamkara has the
three gunas.

Therefore
saguna ahamkara plus nirguna sakshi; Saguna matter plus
nirguna
consciousness, is the individual.

Dayananda
Swamiji says: Preaching is different; teaching is different.

I
learn to dis-identify from the body by knowing the fact that body is only an
incidental instrument I am using for worldly transactions exactly like the
spectacle and when I remove the spectacles, I am not gone, but I am not able to
see the people, similarly when the body mind complex is not there, I do not
disappear, but I also do not have the medium to interact with the people;

I
am the atma, the
chaitanyam, which is all pervading, in Me the consciousness, the saguna matter
appears and in Me the consciousness the saguna matter resolves. And I am never affected by the three gunas. This is
called moksha.

With Best
Wishes,

Ram Ramaswamy

Shloka 14:21

14.21 Arjuna said O Lord, by what signs is one
(known) who has gone beyond these three alities? What is his behaviour, and how
does he transcend these three alities?

Continuing his teachings
Swamiji said today,after elaborating about the three gunas, and how
they bind a human being, Sri Krishna pointed out the method of becoming gunathitha which is
the only means to liberation and that method was given to us in the two
important verses of 19 and 20. The anatma cannot become gunathitha while the atma is ever gunathitha; and
through knowledge and by using the saguna anatma
as a medium of transaction, I come to know that I am everthe gunathitha.

Now, Arjuna raised a question in the verse # 21 that we saw in the last class. His question has three parts: the first part is gunathitha lingam; the second part of the question is gunathitha acharaha; and the third part of the question is gunathithava sadhanam. Gunathitha lingam means what is the indicator by which I can know whether I have become gunathitha?

The
second question is what are the gunathithaha acharaha
or the way of the life, or the conduct of the gunathitha purusha or the Gyani?

The
third question is: What are gunathithatva
sadhanam or the
means by which one can become a gunathithaha?

Sri
Krishna now gives the answer in the following verses.

Shloka # 14.22:

14.22 The Blessed Lord said O son of Pandu, he
neither dislikes illumination (knowledge), activity and delusion when they
appear, nor does he long for them when they disappear.

In the first two verses, that is 22 and 23, Sri Krishna answers the first question related to gunathitha lingam; then in verses, 24 and 25, he talks about the gunathitha acharaha, the conduct, and then in the 26th verse, Sri Krishna answers the last question gunathithatva sadhana.

Regarding the indicator to know whether I am gunathitha or not, Sri Krishna says a gunathitha is one who is detached from his own body-mind complex. So gunathitha is one, who is detached from this own body-mind complex, and therefore, he is able to look at his own body-mind complex as part of the world and therefore he enjoys objectivity with regard to his own body-mind complex. So this objectivity, freedom from too much worry and anxiety with regard to one’s own body-mind complex is the indication of gunathitha. This Gyani, or this gunathitha, because of his very source of sadhana, enjoys a better health at the body and mind level, because he has gone through karma yoga, upasana yoga, etc. and therefore his mind is predominantly a satvic mind. A Gyani’s mind is a predominantly satvic mind, which he has attained through sadhana. And because of the very same sadhana, Gyani has got a strong mind, a refined mind, and a mind, which is free from violent reactions. In fact that is the definition of the satva pradhana mind and therefore, the reactions are less, to life’s situations, and even if there are reactions in the mind, they are milder and even if they are milder reactions, he has the capacity to recover quickly from them, as well. Thus a Gyani enjoys a healthy mind. But he knows that even if I enjoy a healthy mind as a result of the sadhanas, a 100% healthy mind is not possible even as there is no possibility of a 100 % healthy body.

Gyani
accepts the fact that his mind is subject to the fluctuations of the three gunas. Even
towards such a mind, Gyani does not violently react or get upset. And
therefore, he has got objectivity with regard to his own mind, and therefore,
if the mind has got certain problems, Gyani always has a healthy response.

What do you mean by healthy response? He is neither too indifferent nor inactive. At the same time if mind has certain disturbances he is not going to be over-reactive to that situation. He remembers the fact that the conditions of the mind have nothing to do with my purnathvam, because I am the atma who is different from the mind.

And
therefore Sri Krishna says his mind
enjoys prakasham, that is predominantly satva
guna although Raji
Guna and Tamo Guna also occur. Even a Gyani’s
mind has satva, rajas and tamo gunas; the only
difference is that his mind is dominantly satvic. He realizes that his mind is
not 100% satvic. For that
matter, no mind is 100% satvic.
He realizes that there are times when tamo guna is predominant; and other times when  rajo guna is predominant. However, most of the time, he is satvic. And
because of this the appreciation he
does not hate his mind, based on its guna.

Furthermore,
he is neither attached to satva guna or rajo guna or tamo guna, nor does he
hate any of them; he knows these three gunas are inevitable compositions of everything including my
own mind. And therefore he is able to accept his own mind. Accepting one’s own body and accepting one’s own mind is the indication of gunathithatvam.

Shloka 14.23:

14.23 He who, sitting like one indifferent, is
not distracted by the three alities; he who, thinking that the alities alone
act, remains firm and surely does not move;

Sri
Krishna explains the same idea in this verse again. What do you mean by the acceptance
of one’s own body-mind-complex; or objectivity, or a healthy response?

Generally, the problem an agyani faces is extreme response to situations. One extreme response is total indifference. It is a tamasic response. When the physical body has got some disease or sickness, imagine I do not feed the body at all; I am not careful at all, indifferent or carelessness or inaction is one extreme response, which is called tamasic response.

Then there is another extreme response, the moment the doctor says that you will have to go through the blood test, this fellow presses the panic button, this fellow is extremely worried about the body, the moment the body is sick, he imagines only the worst possible disease; would it be cancer etc?

So one extreme is inaction; another extreme is reaction. What is a
healthy response; it is neither inaction nor reaction, but healthy action to
improve the situation. If the body has some problem, there is no panic; at the
same time there is no complacency as well; what needs to be done, I do.

Similarly, the mind is there; it is not going to be all the time
sama, the mind will have disturbances and that I have to handle, neither
inaction nor reaction, but whatever can be done to improve.

While the mind can be infinitely improved there is no question of
100% perfection of the mind, No Jivan muktha has got 100% perfect mind, just as
he does not have 100% perfect body.

And therefore Sri Krishna says: Gyani appears as though he is indifferent, because when the body falls sick he does not violently react to the sickness, it appears as though he is indifferent to his health. But Sri Krishna says he is not indifferent; he is “as though” indifferent; as though indifferent, means there is no violent reaction but at the same time, there is no inaction also; whatever is to be done; he will do to the body; therefore, udasinavat means he is balanced with regard to his own body mind complex.

So even with the fluctuation of the three gunas he is not disturbed.

Then what is his attitude when these three gunas
are there and fluctuate?

Even with this knowledge he remains balanced; without self-criticism, without self-judgment and without a low self-image. He remains with a balanced mind; So this objectivity with regards one’s own body and mind, is the indication of the gunathitha or a Gyani.

.

Shloka 14.24:

14.24 He to whom sorrow and happiness are
alike, who is established in his own Self, to whom a lump of earth, iron and
gold are the same, to whom the agreeable and the disagreeable are the same, who
is wise, to whom censure and his own praise are the same;

So
with the previous two verses, Sri Krishna has answered the first question. Now
he answers the second question.

The second question is: How does he respond to the worldly situation? And answer is the same. Just as the body mind complex is made up of the three fluctuating gunas, the entire world is also made up of the three gunas alone and therefore you will have to interact with people who are satvic, which will be a happy interaction and you will have to interact with rajasic people, who are all the time tense and angry and irritable and you will also have to interact with those people who will not move at all. After half an hour of repetition, they will just ask what did you say? You will have to wait for eons for them to complete any job.  

So,
these three types of people will be there eternally in the world; and not only
that; one and the same person, himself or herself, will not be satvic all the time,
or rajasic all the time, and therefore the people in your own family will
change. And that is why they said with regard to marriage: Do not choose based
on the character because nobody’s character will remain the same; Marriage is dharma based and not
compatibility based according to our Shastra, because compatibility is impossible; and even if there
is a compatibility, husband is also changing, wife is also changing, after a
few years, the compatible couple would have changed sufficiently to become an
incompatible couple.

Therefore
different people are different, and the situations are also made up of the
fluctuating prakrti; therefore situations will change. And Gyani accepts this
fact of the creation and the very acceptance gives him a balanced state of mind.

.

And
therefore Sri Krishna says Gyani is one who always abides in his higher nature
that is Guna athita.

So he always abides in gunathitha atma svarupam. And what do you mean by abiding in atma? Abiding in the atma means not forgetting the fact that I am gunathithaha. Self-abidance is not forgetting one’s real nature. Just as a sangita vidhvan, whatever song he sings, one corner of the mind is aware of the tampura sruti. It is not that he thinks of sruti alone;  it is just that in one corner of the mind he is aware of the sruti and whenever there is a doubt he will go behind and check up. So, just as a musician is aware of the sruti, Gyani is aware of the sruti. What is sruti, here? Vedaha and what is the teaching of the sruti? It is that, I am not the changing guna. While the body is saguna and world is saguna, I am different from both the saguna body and saguna world. This constant awareness is called svasthaha.

And
because of this awareness, he is samadukhasukha. There is no resistance to favorable and
unfavorable situations,
which are inevitable in life. Now desha, kala and prarabhdha, these three things will
affect our life all the time. Desha: if you are in
a tropical country, you are affected
by weather.

Kala, the time will affect the situation, the body will grow older and the people around will grow older.

Finally
our own prarabhdha karmas will
also affect us.

So
the prarabhdha will also fluctuate
and they are bound to bring sukham and dukham. Health and ill health; financially better or adverse
situation; they are bound to happen; and when such situations come; he is samaha. Samaha, is not indifference to
the situation, nor is it overreaction to the situation but it is doing whatever
can be done to
improve the situation, all done with poise.

Therefore
samadukhasukha; he
will have neither
raga nor dvesha, because
things will come and go; gold will come; gold will go; wealth will come, wealth
will go.

Previously,
it was said that he was balanced towards sukham and dukham, now he says, he is
balanced towards the sukha dukha
sadhanams or things
that are the cause of sukham and dukham; pleasant and unpleasant situations.

He is balanced towards criticisms and glorification coming from people. Whatever you do some people will glorify; and there will be some other people to criticize, if you want 100% approval from all people, you can never do anything in life. Therefore, approval seeking is an indication of low self-image. And therefore a Gyani whatever be the course of action he has to take, he will see the pros and cons, the demerits and merits, and if he has to take opinion from known people, he will take, perhaps he will consult shastra, and thereafter, once he has decided a course of action, he will plunge into that; whatever be the opinion of others.

Sri
Rama has been
criticized; Sri Krishna has been criticized; Shankaracharya has been criticized. Nobody can escape the criticism of
others; and therefore do not be carried away by ninda and stuti. And
if somebody criticizes and enjoys in the process he says, you be happy, because
at least somebody is happy criticizing me.

So
he is one who is balanced in censure and praise.

Shloka 14.25

14.25 He who is the same under honour and
dishonour, who is eally disposed both towards the side of the friend and of the
foe, who has renounced all enterprise,-he is said to have gone beyond the
alities.

Samatvam is further explained here.

Again you cannot escape maanam or apamanam. Thus a a sambhandi may feel he is not respected.

The difference between Nindha sthuthi and Mana
apamana is: Ninda Sthuti is at verbal level while mana apamana is at
Kayika or body level.

Gyani is samaha or equanimous with both.

Again he is the same towards friends and foes.

While a Gyani does not have enemy, but there are people who look
upon Gyani as their enemy.

Towards both types of people, he maintains samatvam.

He has given up binding activities.

Arambhaha means all the binding activities; and parityagi means
the one who has given up. What do you mean by binding activity? A binding
activity is that by the fulfillment of which I consider that I will become purnaha. When
I expect purnatvam through an activity, it is a binding activity, because there
are expectations.

Non-binding activity is one which is done out of purnatvam. And therefore the success of the activity and the failure of the activity has nothing to do with my purnatvam. At the anatma level activities are going on; but whatever happens at the anatma level, aham purnaha asmi. Even the activity to improve your own body mind should not be a binding activity. I should remember I tried to improve the body and mind, but that also has nothing to do with my purnatvam.

With this awareness, I enjoy improving everything, including the
improvement of the body mind complex. Such a lifestyle is a game.

This is the life of a jivan muktha. For him,
whole life is a game; both the success and failure has nothing to do with my purnatvam.
 So, he has samatvam and freedom from
binding activities.

Shloka
14.26:

14.26 And he who serves Me through the
unswerving Yoga of Devotion, he, having gone beyond these alities, alifies for
becoming Brahman.

The third question as to what is the means of ‘becoming’ gunathitha
is answered here. In fact, Sri  Krishna
has already answered that question in verse No.19 and 20. He says Gyanam is the
only means of “becoming” (becoming within quotes) gunathitha.

Arjuna’s present question is what is the means of getting Gyanam;
or what is the means of becoming Gunathita. What do we
have to do?

Question can also be stated as how to attain Gyanam by which one
can become gunathitha.

And Sri Krishna says the means of Gyanam is bhakthi. So bhakthi yoga consisting
of karma and upasana, which we have, saw in the 12th chapter; that consists of
five levels of bhakthi.

That bhakthi yoga is the sadhana.

Suppose a person worships me with bhakthi yoga consisting of five levels as explained in the 12th chapter, and and he worships me with unflinching devotion he will certainly cross over the three Gunas.

And what do you mean avyabhichara bhakthi? For that
you have to go to the 7^th chapter, where he talked about arta bhakthi,
artharthi bhakthi and jignasu bhakthi.

That jignasu bhakthi is here called avyabhichari
bhakthi. A bhakthi through which I seek the Lord and Lord alone; through that
one who worships me that person will certainly cross over the three gunas.
In this Bhakti, he will be going through all levels of sadhana consisting
of karma, upasana and the finally vedanta
sravana, manana and nidhidhyasana.

Going through all these levels, he becomes eligible to become one
with Brahman.

Brahma
bhava means Brahma
svarupam. Brahma
svarupa means nirguna svarupam, because
Brahman is nirgunam. Nirguna svarupam means gunathithatvam.
Such a person will attain Gyana and become gunathitha.

With
this all the three questions are answered. Now Sri Krishna concludes the
teaching:

Shloka 14.27:

14.27 For I am the Abode of Brahman-the
indestructible and immutable, the eternal, the Dharma and absolute Bliss.

Here
Sri Krishna says: Arjuna, that Brahman which you want to attain which is gunathitha is none
other than I myself. So I myself am the embodiment of that Brahman.

What
type of Brahman am I? He is one who is immortal, free from decay, changeless
and free from all forms of modifications. One who is beyond time, and one who is reached through dharma. One who is the goal
of dharma. And the word dharma here means the vedic teaching. So, he is the one who is the destination of all the scriptural teachings and one who is
unmixed with sorrow or the ananda swarupa.

So such a changeless and ananda svarupam
Brahman,

I am, and that I, you will reach by following this sadhana.

So with this Sri Krishna concludes the teaching.

Thus is concluded the 14th chapter of the Gita, which is happily titled gunathraya vibhaga, the classification of the three gunas, satva, rajas and tamas, and also guna athitham brahma. Guna thraya, guna athitha vibhaga yoga.

Take Away:

The three gunas
and marriage:

Marriage
is dharma based and not compatibility based according to our Shastra, because
compatibility is impossible; and even if there is a compatibility, husband is
also changing, wife is also changing and after a few years, the compatible
couple would have changed sufficiently to become an incompatible couple.

With Best
Wishes,

Ram Ramaswamy

Shloka # 14.19

When the witness sees none other than the
alities as the agent, and knows that which is superior [i.e. different from.]
to the alities, he attains My nature.

Continuing his teachings
Swamiji said today,
Sri Krishna has analyzed the
three gunas elaborately
from verse No.5 to 18, and pointed out that each guna binds a
person in one way or the other. Now, each guna demands a particular set up. Thus:

if
it is satva guna, it demands
knowledge and a set up conducive for it.

If
it is rajo guna, it expects
activity and an infrastructure for activity.

If
it is tamo guna it wants to sleep
and wants a conducive atmosphere for sleeping.

Thus
each guna is a
demanding guna, asking for a
specific set up and if that set up is not provided, it throws lot of tantrums,
and the creates lot of mental disturbances. And therefore, I can never accept
the set up as a bhokta,
if it does not suit my particular guna and therefore there is a struggle. Pravrtti means looking
for a conducive set up and while Nivritti means getting away from the
unconducive set up. So, each guna
leads to lot of pravritti and Nivritti.

This,
favorable and unfavorable, classification is determined by the type of guna. So, a
particular set up, satva will consider as favorable. The very same set up, rajo guna will dislike.

And therefore, as a bhokta, I divide the set up into favorable and unfavorable and I want to adjust and fine-tune the set up and therefore, I develop strong raga and dvesha; and to change the set up, I have to become a karta. As a bhokta I am not satisfied; and therefore I want to change the set up and to change the set up I have to become a karta. And having done a few things, I again look up at the set up as a bhokta and still find no satisfaction. And this goes on; dissatisfied bhokta becomes a karta and again he becomes bhokta and again he begins a karta; in short, he is never allowed to think of his higher nirguna sakshi svarupa. The three gunas keep this person busy with the body complex alone.

Thus
the three gunas tie me up to
the physical body, never allowing me to think of the possibility of something
else.

Thus, the saguna physical body, the saguna mind and the saguna set up, keeps me so busy all the time, that I can never think of the Nirguna-I and this is caused by the three gunas, which keeps me in deha abhimana, and therefore Sri Krishna said the sakshi-I is tied down to the physical body and is never allowed to think of the all-pervading Brahma svarupam; and I am made to think only of my limited ahamkara svarupam.

This
is called the guna dragging the
Sakshi to the ahamkara level and by
adjusting the set up you are never going to improve the situation, because
there is no such thing called an ideal set up at all.

Thus, with the three gunas constantly fluctuating, set up also fluctuates. There is constant expansion/contraction of mind (you do not have to ask itself) now satvik, now rajasic, now tamasic, and therefore this person is in eternal struggle; and this a few people understand and the only remedy is transcending the triguna ahamkara; transcending the triguna body mind complex or anatma is the only remedy.

And how do you transcend the saguna ahamkara. As I said in the last class, ahamkara can never be made Nirguna. Because ahamkara, is body-mind complex and it is made up of prakrithi and therefore the three gunas are bound to be there.

Even
the MahaGyani will
have a satvic, rajasic or tamasic mind. A nirguna mind does not exist at all. Is Gyani’s
mind is saguna or nirguna? Do you have
doubt?

Even
Bhagavan’s mind, Maya, is trigunathmakam, thus,
the mind will be saguna,
body will be saguna,
and therefore there is no question of converting anatma into nirguna or
transcending the guna.
Then what about the sakshi? You cannot
make the sakshi nirguna either because
it need not be made Nirguna,
because it is already Nirguna.
Therefore the only remedy is switching the
identification from saguna ahamkara to nirguna sakshi. This is called atmanatma viveka and knowing the fact that I am not the body with consciousness, but I
am the consciousness with a temporary body. I am not a body; it is a temporary
bodywith permanent consciousness,
or I am the permanent consciousness with a temporary body. And as atma, the sakshi, I am ever
Nirguna, I am ever
akarta, and I am ever
abhokta and this Gyanam
alone is the solution.

And
therefore transcending the gunas is equal to atma Gyanam. And atma Gyanam means
guru mukhathaha
vedanta shravana manana
nidhidhyasanam.  You have to have shastra guru upadesha and know that
I am ever the Nirguna
sakshi.

And
what is that sakshi chaitanyam?

It
is one beyond the three gunas,
which includes the physical body, which includes the mind, which is beyond the
body-mind complex, beyond the anatma. So consciousness is beyond the material body.

Now
the next question is what do you mean when we say beyond. Because we normally
we use the word beyond to convey something farther in distance. If I say that
particular house is beyond the car, a physical distance is understood.
Similarly, we may

Misunderstand,
when we say that Sakshi is beyond the
body, as though sakshi is something
that is somewhere in the clouds. So here beyond does not mean physically
remote.

Then what is the meaning of the word beyond? It is in and through the body mind complex, but not related to or affected by the body-mind complex, just as the light principle is beyond my hand; here beyond means that light is in and through the hands, pervades the hands, but whatever happens to the hand, light is not affected.

In
Sanskrit it should be translated as asangatvam. The sakshi,
the consciousness, is in and through the trigunatmaka shariram; it enlivens the trigunatmaka shariram; but it is not tainted by it.

Hence the shloka that says, the diseases of the body do not belong to the consciousness; the disturbances of the mind do not belong to the consciousness, this asangatvam, is said here as param and that sakshi chaitanyam I am.

Thus,
this person recognizes the consciousness

which
is beyond the three gunas
as himself.

And the day I know my purnatvam is not dependent on the set up, that day I stop all my struggles to change the set up. Changing the set up for practical purposes is different. If the table is in this place, and if you change to the other side, and it is convenient for working, that is a different thing, when I change the set up to improve my image, then that is called samsara, once I discover that I am purna sakshi, I do not expect a change in the set up for my improvement. I am perfectly satisfied with myself; whether the set up is satvic set up, or rajasic set up or tamasic set up. He is one who is not moved by set up.

And
therefore drashta, an
intelligent person changes himself, rather than set up. He discovers that
higher I, the sakshi-I, the gunathitha-I.

And
here, in the word is anupashyati,
anu means in keeping with the teaching of guru and shastra. This
discovery will never come independently, if I am left to myself, without shastra; I will
continue my mistake of changing the set up all the time hoping that one day
everything will be ideal. Wife will be exactly as I expect here to be, the son will
be exactly as I expect him to be; the roads will be exactly as I want to be; he
will be working towards the ideal set up, without questioning his pursuit. Shastra alone gives
a jolt and asks: Did you ask or did you think whether there is some other method
of discovery of fulfillment? And therefore that insight, the shastra and guru
alone will give. So the intelligent seeker recognizes this fact.

He
also recognizes the fact that all the karmas belong to the anatma; that the
anatma will be
eternally a karta. There is no
retirement for anatma.
Retirement is what? taking up some other work and not only that, if anatma really
retires, it will become sick also. Therefore, Anatma has to be eternally a karta and if you
have to transcend kartrtvam,
we have to come to atma
alone.

Sri
Krishna uses a double negative language here. He wants to say that anatma is the karta, anatma being the
body mind complex. If you put it in positive language, it will be Anatma alone is
Karta. In negative
language, there is no karta other
than anatma. Both are
the same. Anatma alone is
karta, is equal to, there
is no karta other than anatma. And who am
I? atma or anatma? I am the atma; therefore
eternally akarta and abhokta.

The
day a human being recognizes this fact; Only then, he will be free from the
rat-race called life; the eternal journey of bhokta; not satisfied;
therefore, becomes karta;
improves the status of bhokta;
improved but not totally satisfied; again becomes karta, again becomes
bhokta, and at the
time of death also if you ask, are you satisfied: You say I am satisfied, But!
Only one small thing; Something or the other will be there. Since the ahamkara dies with
dissatisfaction, the dissatisfied ahamkara again take birth and continue the struggle. Thus, the
never ending journey of  punarapi
jananam, punarapi maranam
occurs. The struggle will end like the poori when it is in the oil, it will be
running around.

And
as it runs it expands and once it has become purnam, full, then you will find that it is atmana eva atmaiva thushta,
it will be floating there itself; it has become purnam. And that is why it is called puri; puri is shortened
form of purnam.

Similarly the day I discover I am the purna sakshi; the running about for purnatvam will stop. Thereafter also I may run around, but not for purnatvam but it is out of purnatvam. If I am acting for purnatvam, there is eternal anxiety and I cannot sleep properly. If I am acting out of purnatvam, there is no anxiety.

And therefore Sri Krishna says: The one who has discovered the sakshi, he attains Ishvara bhavam. Sri Krishna says madbhavam, he being the Lord, it is Ishvara bhavam; Ishvara Bhavam means Ishvara Svarupam. Ishvara Svarupam means purnatvam.

And
therefore Madbhavam means purnatvam, means jivan mukti.

The
most important point to be noted here is that Sri Krishna says this purnatvam is only
through knowledge. So the word Vetti should be underlined. Vetti means the one who knows; discovers
purnatvam. And
therefore how many paths are there for Moksha? Sri Krishna says even if there
are many other yogas (karma,
bhakti, Kundalini,..) and we are willing to accept all other yogas, and they
are all for preparation of the mind; the ultimate discovery of purnatvam is only
through vedanta shravana, manana,
nidhidhyasana; otherwise
called Gyana yoga.

Next is a very important verse. This verse is very important not
only in the 14^th chapter, but in the entire Bhagavat Gita as
well.

Shloka
14: 20:

14.20 Having transcended these three alities
which are the origin of the body, the embodied one, becoming free from birth,
death, old age and sorrows, experiences Immortality.

In this shloka the Gyana phalam is clearly mentioned. Here dehi
means this jiva, this individual, with the help of the knowledge learns to dis-identify
from the three gunas. Athitya means transcending;
here transcending means dis-identifying from the three gunas;
and the three gunas represent the three sharirams,
the five koshas, in short, the entire anatma. Instead of claiming I am
the body, I say that I have a body; gifted by the Lord for the temporary use.

And
what is the purpose of this temporary use? Not for eating, the body is given by
the Lord to a human being only for gathering knowledge. What is that knowledge?
The knowledge is that, I am not the body and I have this body only for my
temporary use. This is called athitya. In Taitariya Upanishad, it was said all these three gunas belong to dehasamudbhavan. Samudbhavaha means karanam, and deha means body. So
dehasamudbhava
means the cause for the physical body, and cause for the body means cause for janma, because janma
is defined as acquisition of
a new body. Therefore the three gunas have given me this body and the three gunas alone will
give me the next body also. And what type of body will be given will depend
upon the guna. Thus, Satva guna
will give a higher body. It will still be a perishable body.

Rajo guna will again
give body alone and not moksha.

Thus
all the three gunas are the
cause of the body; cause of punar janma.

Thus
the Gyani dis-identifies from the three gunas, which are the causes of repeated acquisition of bodies.

And when a
person dis-identifies from the gunas and the body, he is free from all the problems, which
belong to the body.

When I identify with the body; the body’s problems are my problem. When I identify with the car, and if it is brand new car, every small scratch is like a scratch on my heart; It is my car; the conditions of the object of abhimana become my own condition. Similarly, the bodily conditions will be my conditions when I identify with the body and therefore when the body is mortal, I say I am mortal. Body being mortal is not a problem, as hundreds of bodies are mortal and dying daily; just read the obituary columns.

So mortality of the body itself is not problem. Death itself is not the problem, because hundreds and millions of death we are seeing and hearing about.

The problem is my
thinking that I-am-mortal.

Mortality
is not the problem; I-am-mortal is the problem. And Vedanta does not
remove the mortality of the body; vedanta removes the
idea that I-am-mortal. And how does it remove the idea; by teaching me the fact that I am not the mortal body,
but I am the immortal-I, behind the
mortal-body.

And
therefore, vimuktah
means he is free from all the problems of the body. What are the problems of
the body; the first problem is janma, it is birth; birth itself is a problem in
the sense, initially one has to be in solitary confinement, one has to remain
in the womb of the mother, and coming out of womb is a problem for both the
mother and the baby, and once there is janma, the inevitable consequence of maranam is the next
problem, then there are people who say: Swamiji I am not frightened of death
and then they add my only prayer is that I should die instantly. I just should just
pop off in sleep. So those people who say I am not afraid of Maranam, they are
afraid of jara, meaning old
age with all its consequent problems. I need not describe and remind you of all
those problems.

The
body being born, grows, decays and dies, these steps are really speaking not
problems, and they are the nature of the body. Just as heat is the nature of
the fire; it is svarupam of the fire, similarly, the cold is the nature of Ice.
Similarly vikaraha, asthi,
jayathe, vardathe, viparinamathe;
the vikara, means
modification is the nature of body. And a nature becomes a problem if I refuse
to accept the nature of a thing as it is. Resistance to the fact is sorrow.
Imagine I complain fire is hot, fire is hot, fire is hot; that is foolishness.
Similarly, body’s vikara
becomes a problem, when I resist the vikara.

And
I will resist the modification if I have got strong abhimana in the body.

Abhimana removes my
objectivity; Identification removes my objectivity. I will say let
everybody else die except people from my house, because that is nature.

That’s
why Sri Krishna warned in the second chapter shloka 2.27, when I discover the
fact that I am the sakshi; I learn to
look at my body objectively. And the moment I get the objectivity I accept this
body does not have any specialty; Therefore this body is like any other body,
therefore it has to grow and it has to go. Thus, the sakshi Gyanam gives me
objectivity with regard to my own body. Therefore old age is a fact; it is welcome;
even if it is not welcome, at least I have no resistance; And along with old age,
joint will say that I am here, I am here, and the ear will hear less, eye will
see less; buddhi is always a problem; therefore these things are natural. I objectively see and accept. And once the
objectivity comes, the intensity of the problem comes down. This is called
Abhibhava method; you do not remove the problems of the body; the body would
have to go through its condition. But you develop a different perspective and
from the new perspective problems will not appear to be a major tragedy in
life. Like when the sun rises, what happens to the stars? We knowthere are stars during the daytime too.
But what happens; starts are as thoughremoved,
because of the powerful sunlight. So what does the sunlight do; it doesnot destroy the stars, but it makes
the stars as though non-existent by making theirlight extremely insignificant. Similarly, I am the Sakshi Gyanam, will
not change thephysical conditions;
will not change the family members, all the prarabhda conditions will be there, but I develop
a new perspective from which they are not worth talking about.

That’s why they give the example of Anjaneya. Anjaneya thought that crossing the ocean is big task. But the moment he thought of Rama, the ocean became a small pool of water; the ocean did not change its size; but because of the remembrance of the Lord, he got the extra strength and from that standpoint, the big ocean became small; Similarly, all the powerful rakshasas. became mosquitoes. So, even if they bite, it is not felt.

What
preparation do you need for destroying the mosquito? You do not require any
great effort. You effortlessly destroy. Therefore this knowledge gives me a new
perspective; from which all the so-called problems are insignificant pinpricks.
And therefore vimuktaha;
they are not worth talking about.

And this is called Jivan mukti. So jivanmukti is making the lives’ problems insignificant; and changing the perspective through knowledge is called Jivan mukthi.

And a result of this knowledge, not only the mortality of the body is not a serious problem for him; he has also owned up to his immortal nature and therefore he attains immortality. And, again, what is meant by, attaining immortality? Is it the ahamkara that attains immortality or the sakshi that attains immortality? Ahamkara or body cannot become immortal. Atma need not become immortal. Attaining immortality is shifting my abhimana identification from the mortal body to the immortal atma. This is called Jivan mukthi. And this is also called gunathithatvam. Therefore, Gyani is called here gunathithaha.

Shloka 14:21

14.21 Arjuna said O Lord, by what signs is one
(known) who has gone beyond these three alities? What is his behaviour, and how
does he transcend these three alities?

Lord’s
teaching inspires Arjuna. And naturally he wants to know more about that Gyani
who becomes a gunathitha. And
therefore Arjuna asks the Lord:

So what are the characteristics of the indicators (Lingam) of a person, who has transcended the three gunas successfully. Exactly as he asked in the 2nd chapter: Will there be any change in his physical body; whether he will be slim or fat, or will there be a halo around him; because in the pictures, you see a halo on Gyani’s back. Arjuna also is curious to know whether there will be any such indications.

Second question: How does he conduct himself? How does he relate to the people? How does he interact with the people; because a Gyani also lives in the same society; therefore will there be a change in his language; Will he start talking in Sanskrit suddenly? how will he walk?  How does he eat? We have all kinds of misconceptions.

We
have a misconception that there should be external change such as a shaven head
etc.

We
should look for what is inside the head rather than what is outside.

There is no mysticism connected to Vedanta. Any thing mystical belongs to non-vedantic subject. Vedanta has no mysticism, even an iota of it. This confusion even Arjuna has; therefore his question as to how does he conduct himself. This the second question: What are his Characteristics? How does he conduct himself?

And
the third question is how does he transcend the three gunas? Is it a
physical journey, some people expect some kind of a physical journey for
moksha; going to some other loka, some people expect
a transformation in time. And some people expect some kind of a sudden flashy
event. So there is no event called liberation; there is no time-wise transformation;
there is no spatial journey, it is nothing but a clean understanding of an ever-obtaining
fact. What is the fact? Fortunately, that I am ever free. So therefore, he asks
the question. How does he transcend the three gunas? So this is Arjuna’s question for
which Sri Krishna now gives the answer in the following verses.

Take Away:

A nirguna mind does not exist at all Therefore the only remedy to transcend the three gunas is switching the identification from saguna ahamkara to nirguna sakshi. This is called atmanatma viveka and knowing the fact that I am not the body with consciousness, but I am the consciousness with a temporary body.

Therefore
transcending the gunas
is equal to atma Gyanam.

And
when a person dis-identifies from the gunas and the body, he is free from all the problems, which
belong to the body. When I identify with the body; the body’s problems are my
problem.

So
jivanmukti is
making the lives’ problems insignificant; and changing the perspective through
knowledge is called Jivan mukthi.

There
is no mysticism connected to Vedanta.

With Best
Wishes,

Ram Ramaswamy

Shloka # 14.13:

O descendant of the Kuru dynasty, when tamas
predominates these surely [i.e. without exception.-M.S.] come into being: non-discrimination
and inactivity, inadvertence and delusion.

Greetings,

Continuing his teachings
Swamiji said today,
analyzing the three Gunas Sri Krishna has
dealt with three topics: Lakshanam; Bandha Prakaraha; and Lingam.

Finally Sri Krishna discussed the topic of lingam, the indicator to find out which particular guna is dominant in us. And there, he pointed out that when satva guna is dominant Gyanendriyas will be more operational, whereas when rajo guna is dominant, karmendriyas will be more functional; whereas when tamo guna is dominant, neither Gyanendriyas nor karmendriyas will be operational. I hope you remember that Gyanendriyas means instruments responsible for knowledge and karmendriyas means instruments responsible for activity; therefore Sri Krishna said in the 13th verse, Tamo guna will suppress the Gyanendriyas and therefore all the Gyanendriyas will be dull. And similarly when Tamo guna is predominant, it will suppress the karmendriyas also, and there will be no dynamism and there will be no activity and there will be no ambition as well and laziness will dominate. Therefore a tamo guni should never attempt to directly become satva pradhana. For, him only Karma can help where he has to start with Sakama Karma then graduate to Nishkama Karma. 

Now Sri Krishna is going to
discuss the fourth topic, Gathihi, what happens to Each Guna pradhana jiva
after death?

Shloka # 14.14:

When an embodied one undergoes death while
sattva is exclusively prodominant, then he attains the taintless worlds of
those who know the highest (entities).

Here Satvagati is discussed.
Dehabhrta in shloka means Jivatma; Pralayam means death. Suppose a Jivatma dies
when Satva is dominant in it, is it a Gyani or Agyani?

Now, a Gyani does not travel
at all. His sukshma sharira does not travel at all. He just dissolves. So,
here, we are dealing with an Agyani (Satva Guni). He will go to higher lokas.
He will enjoy greater level of happiness. He reaches Loka of great Upasakas; of
Saguna Ishvara Upasakas; so he has upward travel.

Shloka # 15:

When one dies while rajas predominates, he is
born among people attached to activity. Similarly, when one dies while tamas
predominates, he takes birth among the stupid species.

Here travel of Rajo guna and
Tamo guna Pradhana Jivatma is discussed.

Rajo Guna Pradhana Jivatma,
after death, will be reborn in a loka where people are given to karma or
Manushya Loka or Bhu Loka. In Upper Lokas one can only exhaust Punya karmas but
one cannot earn Punya or Papa Karmas. It is the same with lower Lokas as well.

Now if a Tamo Guna Pradhana
Jivatma dies, he will be reborn in lower planes of existence; the seven lower
lokas are: athala,
vithala, suthala, rasatala, mahatala, talatala and pathala; either the people
will go to the lower lokas,
or even if they are born in Bhu loka,
they will not get manushya
janma where free will and buddhi are there; but they will be born as animals or
plants where also they will never have a freewill to acquire fresh karmas and
that is why they are called mudhayoni.

Thus Gathihi of the three
Gunas has been discussed.

Shloka # 16:

They say that the result of good work is pure
and is born of sattva. But the result of rajas is sorrow; the result of tamas
is ignorance.

Here Sri Krishna comes to the
fifth topic of Phalam of each Guna.

Now,
Gathihi is consequence after death whilePhalam is consequence felt in this life itself.

A
Satvik person’s activities are Punyam (balance, tranquility, purity etc); one
can feel shanti when in front of such a person while his house is a home.

Rajasik
person has great activity; but there is tension, anxiety and intolerance. Sri
Krishna says Dukham is present; flare ups occur; Himsa is present; it is not a
happy home; it is just a house. Home means a place where there is harmony
amongst its members. In a house, material prosperity may be there but inner
peace does not exist. Nimmadi ( tamil word for inner peace) is not there. In a
Satvic person material accomplishments are fewer but there is greater inner
peace.

Tamasic
person; here ignorance is perpetuated; advantage of human birth is lost; they
live like animals.

These
are the three Phalams of each respective guna. Thus fifth topic is also over.

Shloka # 17:

From sattva is born knowledge [Knowledge
acired through the sense-organs.], and from rajas, verily, avarice. From tamas
are born inadvertence and delusion as also ignorance, to be sure.

So
the same idea is repeated in this verse also. That is the consequence of the predominance
of the three gunas in this life
itself.

Out of satva guna Gyana is born, because when satva guna is dominant, the Gyanendriyas are all operational and bright, and therefore the learning capacity; the absorbing capacity; the retaining capacity; the building up capacity, everything is high. Therefore, knowledge increases in leaps and bounds, whether it is material knowledge or even spiritual knowledge; for both knowledge; satva is required. So sattvatsanjayate Gyanam.

With
Rajo Guna, persons’s Lobha (greed, ambitions) are dominant. He has no Tripti.

With
Tamo Guna, Pramadha is born in person. Pramadha means he becomes delusional, he
has ommisions, conflicts, and is indecisive; and perpetuation of ignorance
continues.

Shloka # 18:

People who conform to sattva go higher up;
those who conform to rajas stay in the middle; those who conform to tamas, who
conform to the actions of the lowest ality, go down.

Here
Sri Krishna is talking of Gathihi topic again.

People
with Satva Guna go to higher Lokas. Six higher lokas are: bhuvah, suvah,
mahaha, janaha, tapaha, and satyam. Out 14 lokas, 6 are up, 7 are down. Do not ask about the missing one.

What
about the rajasic people? They neither go
up nor down, they remain in the manushya loka or bhu loka
and they stagnate; here plus point is that they have not come down; the minus
point is that they have not gone up; therefore both are there.

Those
who continue in the Tamo guna,
they continue downwards.

Incidentally
we should remember, when we say svarga loka is higher, patala
loka is lower etc.
the word higher and lower do not indicate any spatial location.

The
higher and lower discussed is a relative thing; it means in a different time and space. So, for the people who are
in America, higher is different from for those who are in India.

Therefore,
higher and lower have nothing to do with particular time and space, because
according to shastra, each loka has a
different time and space. So we can never locate another loka in terms of our
time and space. If you have to understand this, it is like our dream objects.
So you experience objects in dream, they are all located in dream-time and
space; you can never talk about the location of dream object in terms of this
particular time and space.

You can never locate the objects of one loka in the time and space of another loka. Then how do you say svarga is higher? There, the higher, does not mean spatial location at all. And similarly, time location also we cannot talk about and that is why in dream, you obtain months of experience, in terms of waking time, in 1-1/2 minutes. During that brief time itself, your grandson is married and had children and they also got married. Why so? because dream time is different from our time. That is why when we offer food etc. for the pitrus or devas, we do not have to feed them every 3 hours; as in this loka. For the deva lokas, our one year is just 1 day for them. That is why the word higher is not in terms of time and space but in terms of quality. higher loka means qualitative superior loka, which means the body and sense organs enjoyed by them is of a higher refinement. And similarly the sense objects also are of higher refinement. Like within the earth itself, in some country’s, everything is good, including water. They say in some other country, they can drink water directly from the tap. Here, even if you buy Bisleri, one has to suspect. Why? We are in this loka.

So, therefore, when we find the relative refinement within the bhu loka itself, what to talk of higher loka? where is this Loka? Svarga is here and now, you cannot say beyond the cloud, etc.  In fact, you are able to change this body even while here; suppose you can remove this physical body and put on Indra Shariram, then, here itself you can experience svarga, therefore the field of experience depends upon the type of medium that you use. So if you have got a top body, then you hear certain sound, which you do not hear now. Now even the normal sound is itself difficult to hear. If you have ‘dog-ears’; when everybody says it is silent for you it will be very noisy. And therefore remember, different lokas are different planes of experience. It has nothing to do with our time and space and that is why, by travelling in this loka, you can never reach svarga loka. Just as by taking the vehicle of the jagrat avastha, can you travel and reach the Kasi of the dream; there is no corridor or road connecting the jagrat prapancha and svapna prapancha; by travelling any amount of distance in svapna, you cannot reach jagrat avastha; by travelling any amount of distance in waking state, you cannot reach svapna loka, there is no corridor connecting these two lokas. Any amount of travel, you cannot reach svarga. For reaching svarga, what is the first qualification?

One has to die. With this body; in this time and this space and this vehicle, you can never, because it is in a totally different plane. Thus, they are all in terms of the quality, not in terms of spatial location.

Shloka # 14.19

When the witness sees none other than the
alities as the agent, and knows that which is superior [i.e. different from.]
to the alities, he attains My nature.

So
with the previous shloka Sri Krishna completes the analysis of the three gunas, which he started
from verse 5. Through this analysis, he revealed some fundamental points; the
first point is that nobody can escape from these three gunas. The body
mind complex is called the ahamkara, with the reflected consciousness, the cidabhasa.

This
ahamkara, which is my
lower I, which is called the ego, can never escape from these three gunas. Either I
have to be satva pradhana
or I have to be Rajo pradhana
or I have to be Tamo pradhana;
you can only reshuffle the gunas;
the ahamkara cannot
escape from the gunas.
That is point No.1.

And the second important point that Sri Krishna indicated is, whatever is the type of guna, bondage cannot be avoided. Because each guna binds a person and that is why the second topic discussed was as to how each guna binds a person. So, from that it is clear, each guna will bind; only difference is the method of binding would be different; like a person asking should I kill by shooting or cutting the head; which is better; this is better or that is better; the result is still death only. The mode of destruction may vary. Therefore all these three gunas are going to bind me, how the three gunas bind we saw, and a satvic ahamkara will naturally be addicted to a particular type of environment and if that is not available, it will be disturbed. And what is the environment we seek; one that is knowledge-friendly environment.

Similarly
rajasic ahamkara is going to
seek another type of set up; it will be attached to; it will be addicted to; if
not, it is going to be unhappy. You ask him to remain in a room for a long time;
he will break down the wall.

Similarly
tamasic person; expects his own environment; and therefore all the three gunas are going to bind;

And therefore
what is the solution; the only solution is I should transcend the three gunas. I should
transcend the three gunas;
I should become guna
athitha; that is the only solution.

Now the question is: How can I become guna athithaha? guna athithaha, is another word for Nirguna, remember. Now here alone, we face the problem. Ahamkara is nothing but the body-mind complex with the reflected consciousness and therefore ahamkara can never become guna athithaha. So the distressing news is that ahamkara can never escape from the three gunas. Ahamkara by a process of change can become only a satva guna pradhana to rajo guna pradhana to tama guna pradhana; therefore ahamkara cannot become guna athithaha.

Now
the next question is other than ahamkara, is there another entity in me? What is the other entity
other than the body-mind complex and the reflected Consciousness?

What
else is there? Do not say there is nothing. If there should be a reflected
consciousness, (if the mirror and reflected face are there, there must be something
other than the mirror and the reflected face); what is that? It is the original
face, without which reflection is impossible. That original one, is called the
chit, the original consciousness which I called sakshi chaitanyam; the higher nature of the
personality.

And
this higher I, the sakshi has got what
guna; or Consciousness
has got which guna?

The consciousness fortunately or unfortunately is free from all the gunas and therefore, the higher I, is nirgunaha; and therefore the question is can the sakshi become gunathithaha? That is the question; What did we ask first? Can ahamkara become guna athithaha? The answer was ahamkara couldn’t become gunathithaha.

Now
the question is: Can Sakshi become guna athithaha? What will be the answer?

If
you say it cannot, it is wrong; if you say, it can, it is also wrong. You
cannot say that Sakshi cannot become
guna athitha, you
cannot say sakshi can become guna athitha, because
there is no question of becoming guna athitha, because Sakshi is already guna athitha;
therefore it need not become guna
athithaha.

So,
ahamkara cannot become
guna athithaha, sakshi need not
become guna athithaha and
therefore who becomes guna
athitha. Nobody becomes guna
thitha; therefore the very question how to become guna athitha is
wrong.

OK.
Now I have understood. Now tell me: how to become guna athithaha? If
you insist upon an answer to that question, I can give you only a compromised
version of the answer: you become guna athithaha, by
shifting your identification from ahamkara to sakshi. You become guna athihaha,
“become” in quotation, you become guna athithaha, when you shift your identification from the lower I; the ego to the
higher I; the consciousness; From anatma to atma;
from body to consciousness; from kshetram to KshetraGnya. As long as I take myself to be the bodymind complex, I will be saguna ahamkara. As long as
I identify, with my body-mind complex, I will be saguna ahamkara, and as
along as I am saguna ahamkara, I can never escape from samsaara.

Therefore the
only way is, to shift the identification from the body-mind-complex to the sakshi chaitanyam.
Instead of saying I am the body with a sakshi, you have to practice, reversing the statement; saying, I
am the sakshi, with an incidental and temporary body given by the Lord.

And,
incidentally, for the sake of transaction, there is nothing wrong in
identifying; but this is done with an awareness; just like an actor identifies
with the role; with the awareness that I am not the role.

So therefore you need not disclose this outside, but you remember the fact that I am ever the guna athitha sakshi, and I am functioning in the world through the saguna ahamkara, and as long as I am playing the role, I have to do everything properly, and therefore the only solution is knowing the higher nature and identifying with it.

And
therefore, in these two verses; which are the most important verses of the 14^th
chapter, namely 19 and 20th, Sri Krishna tells you can become guna athithaha
only by knowing your higher nature and it is not enough that you know, but you
should learn to identify with your higher nature; and look upon the ahamkara as a temporary
vesha. Make your
life into a drama with the ahamkara role. ahamkara is only the vesha. Ahamkara atma viveka is going to be discussed in the next two verses.

Take Away:

When
we say svarga loka is higher,
patala loka is lower etc.
the word higher and lower do not indicate any spatial location.

The
higher and lower discussed is a relative thing; it means in a different time and space.

All
the three gunas bind us. And
therefore the only solution is I should transcend the three gunas.

How
to transcend is addressed below:

As
long as I take myself to be the bodymind complex, I will be saguna ahamkara. As long as
I identify, with my body-mind complex, I will be saguna ahamkara, and as
along as I am saguna
ahamkara, I can never
escape from samsaara.

Therefore
the only way is to shift the identification from the body-mind-complex to the sakshi chaitanyam.
Instead of saying I am the body with a sakshi,
you have to practice, reversing the statement; saying, I am the sakshi, with an
incidental and temporary body given by the Lord.

With Best
Wishes,

Ram Ramaswamy

Shloka # 14. 9:

14.9 O scion of the Bharata dynasty, sattva attaches one to happiness, rajas to action, while tamas, covering up knowledge, leads to inadvertence als

Continuing his teachings
Swamiji said today,
in the last few classes, we saw that our higher nature known as the sakshi svarupam is ever
nirgunam and
therefore is free from the influence of the three gunas; but our vyavaharika nature,
our lower nature, which is called ahamkara is a mixture of the body-mind complex, as well as the
reflected consciousness. And till the ahamkara consists of the body-mind complex and till the body-mind
complex is born out of prakrti, the ahamkara can never escape from the three gunas. And
therefore, our body-mind complex is made up of three gunas and the
ahamkara which
consists of this body-mind complex is the necessarily made up of these three gunas, and therefore,
we can never escape from them. We have to live with this saguna ahamkara. And once we
are forced to live with this ahamkara, it is better that we understand the ahamkara well, so
that we know how to handle it properly.

Science
is able to handle the nature more and more only because science has been able
to know nature more and more. Knowledge gives the capacity for better handling.
And therefore Sri Krishna says: you have to understand your own ahamkara very well.
For that, you must know what type of ahamkara you have; which guna is dominant, which guna is in middle; the second place, and which guna is the
lowest; better you understand and you also know how these gunas influence
your vyavaharika life; both
material life, as well as the spiritual life.

And
therefore Sri Krishna started an enquiry into the three gunas which we
divided into 5 topics: the first topic being the definition of the three gunas where he
gave the definition that satva guna is Prakashatmakam
and rajo guna is ragatmakam; and tamo guna is mohanatmakam. By the
word Prakashatmakam means, a
mind that is pre-disposed to the pursuit of knowledge. A mind with more and
more knowing tendencies, a mind, which wants to use Gyanendriyas more, is
called a satvika mind.

Whereas
rajo guna is said to
the ragatmakam, which
is a personality that has doing tendency, it is a dynamic mind, which wants to
use the karmendriyas more
than the Gyanendriyas.

And
therefore, karma pre-disposition or karma tendency is rajo guna lakshanam; knowledge
tendency is satva guna
lakshanam.

And
tamo guna is defined as
mohanatmakam, which
means a personality, which is always in doubt; always indecisive; always
procrastinating; always not sure what to do. A mind which is in eternal
conflict, delusion and procrastination and if you try to help them resolve the
conflict; not only you do not resolve their conflict they will put conflict in
your mind too. So powerful is their moha. So this constant vacillation tendency is the expression
of tamo guna, which we
called mohanatmakam. This is
the first topic, the definition.

Then
the second topic that we did was bandha prakara, how the three gunas bind a person which we can easily infer, a calm mind has
always a knowing tendency; learning tendency; therefore, naturally it is
addicted to any infrastructure which is conducive for learning. It always loves
learning infrastructure, which means quietude, which means seclusion, which means
silence, which means withdrawal, which means reduction of relationships, because
relationships requires extroverted-ness. And therefore, a calm mind is attached
to knowledge infrastructure whereas a rajasic mind hates knowledge infrastructure of quietude,
withdrawal etc.

A rajasic mind craves for a karma infrastructure. It wants to do something or the other; therefore it wants gadgets, it wants to go out, i.e. it wants an infrastructure in which karmendriyas can be active. And this is called bondage as it is addicted to such a set up and if such a set up is not available, that person feels like a fish out of water. He is unhappy and therefore, whether unhappiness is caused by silence, or whether unhappiness is caused by noise, unhappiness is unhappiness and Vedanta defines moksha as that state of mind, in which there is no unhappiness, be it in noise or in silence; it is not bound by either noise or silence. Therefore, sattva’s attachment is with Gyana while Rajo Guna is attached to Karma and tamo guna binds with nidra and alasya. It does not even know what it wants and is still groping in darkness. It also does not want to decide. Tamo Guna is attached to vagueness, negligence and carelessness.

Shloka # 14.10:

O scion of the Bharata dynasty, sattva
increases by subduing rajas and tamas, rajas by overpowering sattva and tamas,
and tamas by dominating over sattva and rajas.

The
third topic that Sri Krishna is going to deal with is the lingam or the
indicatory signs of whether one is satvic, rajasic
or tamasic; but
before entering into this topic Sri Krishna is taking a small diversion. The
10th verse is a diversionary verse.

It
is a deliberate diversion, as Sri Krishna considers it important.
Here Sri Krishna says everything and every being is made up of three gunas because
everything and being is born of prakrti. From an inert object to the most
intelligent human being, every blessed thing in the creation is the product of
prakrti and therefore everyone has all the three gunas.

But there is one difference and that difference is that even though everything is made up of three gunas, the proportion is not uniform. The proportion was uniform before the creation, in pralaya state all three gunas were in equilibrium, but once the creation started, there was no more equilibrium and in-equilibrium sets in.

And
therefore in the case of an inert object, all three gunas are present,
but tamo guna is dominant
hence the reason the object does not have a learning tendency; which is why a
wall does not learn.

And
once you come to the plant kingdom, it has also has all three gunas but it has
more rajas and satva than an inert object. But you will still not see a plant
going to school or for a walk. So, the plant has more satva and rajas than an
inert object but still only in limited amounts.

And
when we come to animals, we find satva and rajas are still more dominant
relatively and their capacity to learn, and understand is more than the plant.
They are also not stationary living being as animals move, which means rajo guna is more.

And
once you come to the human being, satva and rajas are still more dominant and
therefore human beings have schools and colleges; books and knowledge goes on
increasing. Similarly, the number of activities undertaken by them are also many.
Sri Krishna points out that all the human beings do not have the same proportion
of gunas; among the
human beings themselves, some of them have got more satva, some more rajas and
some have more tamas, and therefore, their character varies.

And
therefore, a satvic person is
defined as one who has got the predominance of satva; it does not mean he does
not have rajas and tamas, it only means satva is dominant and similarly in rajasic person,
rajas is dominant, and in a tamasic
person, tamas is dominant.

And
this tamas can be so dominant that some people can be closer to animals and some
people can be closer to plants; and some people can be closer to stones.

Then comes a very important question. If a person is Satvic, Rajasic or Tamasic, is it a fixed character or is it possible for us to change the character of a Person? Is it possible for a person to change the proportion of the gunas? If we cannot change the character of a person, we are doomed, because we are helpless; our future is already decided. Fortunately scriptures point out that the character of a person can be transformed. The rate of transformation will defer from individual to individual and the amount of transformation also will defer from individual to individual, but transformation is possible. In fact, all spiritual sadhanas are meant to change the proportion only because every sadhana requires a particular guna as a dominant factor. And according to shastra most people are born with tamo guna predominant because as a baby we only eat and sleep.

To convert from tamo guna pradhana person to rajo guna pradhana person; the scriptures want us to be active in life; and that is why Veda begins not with Gyana kandam rather it begins with karma kandam. Your life has to start with karma or activity.

Vedas say, let your life start with selfish activity; you have any number of personal desires and Vedas say nothing wrong in fulfilling your personal desires And once a person has been selfishly active, Vedas say, and then gradually change the character of activity. If previously it was Rajas Tamas Satva (RTS) in composition then the composition should be changed to Rajas Satva and Tamas (RST).

So
when a person converts himself from RTS to RST, and the person’s activity
although self centered becomes more beneficial for more number of people.

So
one moves from sakama
karma to nishkama karma.

Thereafter
Veda says, once mind
becomes mature and a

time
should come when your rajasic
tendency should be converted into satva guna.

Thus,
through activity what karma can give, upasana can never give. What upasana gives,
karma can never give. And therefore karma yoga is a must, upasana is also a
must; upasana will
convert a person from RST to SRT.

Therefore, one goes from inactivity to selfish activity; and then to selfless activity; and then to enquiry. This is our gradual transformation. Inactivity to selfish activity to selfless activity to enquiry is our journey and in fact if you take the four ashramas, brahmacharya , grihastha, vanaprastha and sanyasa, all these four ashramas also represent the gradual transformation.

And then a person finally comes to enquiry. Even though predominantly knowledge, he does not have any regret, he has already contributed to society through karma yoga. If one Contributes and then withdraws, there will be no guilt. Without contribution if I withdraw, I will always have guilt. What have I done for the world? And therefore, contribute, withdraw, learn, know and be free. And therefore character can be changed and final character required is satva guna pradhana. To use the 4th chapter language, we all should become guna brahmana. From a guna shudra to guna vaishya, to guna kshatriya to guna brahmana.

Guna shudra is lazy, guna vaishya is selfishly active; guna kshatriya
is self-lessly acting; guna brahmana
is pursuing knowledge, withdrawn or contemplative.

Therefore, Arjuna you have to understand where you stand and you
have to adopt the appropriate sadhana and finally come to
self-knowledge. This analysis is required only to change our character, not to
change others character.  We are not here
to study and judge other people unless they are or they are under our care. Our
primary concern is how to change our svabhava. We have to find out as
to what is my Guna? Am I a guna shudra; am I a guna kshatriya,
am I a guna brahmana, which guna
is dominant in me, how to know? Sri Krishna says I will give you the clue to
find out, which is the third topic, also known as guna
lingaani, the indicator, to find out where I stand.

Shloka
14.11:

14.11 When the illumination that is knowledge
radiates in this body through all the doors (of the senses), then one should
know that sattva has increased greatly.

Sri
Krishna says through our five sense organs (eyes, nose etc) we gather the
knowledge of the external world. When all the five sense organs are bright and
alert and we have great absorbing capacity, then we are able to acquire
knowledge faster because the absorbing capacity is more. Such a mind is always alert
and can absorb knowledge fast. Such a mind indicates satva pradhana.

When
the sense organs are bright and therefore there is more knowledge acquisition;
one can judge oneself to be a satvic
person.

Shloka
14.12

14.12 O best of the Bharata dynasty, when
rajas becomes predominant, these come into being: avarice, movement,
undertaking of actions, unrest and hankering.

When
rajo guna is dominant,
lobha is present.
Lobha here means
inordinate greed to achieve worldly things; a super ambitious person; of course
such people accomplish so many things in the society, in fact, a country’s
material progress is dependent on such people; we should be very careful here,
we are not criticizing rajasic
people here, because if a nation has to progress, we require lot of activity as
well. At least, Swami Vivekananda felt that our country required more rajas
than satvam as he thought our people were tamasic.

Therefore activity is very important for material progress, but the problem is, there should a limit and after some time a person should gradually change to satva pradhana. So these people are highly ambitious, even at an old age. They are workaholic people, they have no time for nithya karma; they have no time for japa, they have no time for puja, they have no time for Gita; they have no time to question what is the real goal of life. So therefore, they initiate many activities, without bothering whether they can take care of all of them.

Therefore
their mind is ever, a restless mind, an impatient mind; they also expect the
same amount of speed from the people around them.

Generally
rajasic people
are impatient; they are highly irritable, they cannot stand other people as
such they become very unpopular; they are very high achieving people, but generally
people who are close by, they know the problem of working with them.

Anger
is at the tip of their nose.  Though they
are great achievers, they are highly restless and short-tempered.

They have strong attachment to their accomplishments, and are highly egoistic. Dayananda Swami says, Self-made men are most dangerous type people. They keep telling everybody that as well; and if someone does not listen, they feel angry; this makes them subject to deep disappointments as well. Thus they are highly volatile. But on the positive side they are Great achievers.

Therefore
somebody has written about how rajasic people pray to God: Oh Lord! Give me Darshan right now! or
else I will beat you.

Shloka 14.13:

14.13 O descendant of the Kuru dynasty, when
tamas predominates these surely [i.e. without exception.-M.S.] come into being:
non-discrimination and inactivity, inadvertence and delusion.

The
tamasic person does
not take part in living itself. Their Gyanendriyas and karmendriyas are
dull. There is an absence of Satva and Rajas in them meaning both Gunas are
overpowered by Tamas.

And
therefore, generally, he does not do anything. And if you force him to do
things, you will have to go behind and make him to get it done and if he does
independently invariably you will have to rectify it later. You may conclude that
it is better to have done it yourself.

So
hallmarks of Tamo Guna are: Negligent attitude, Carelessness, Procrastination,
delusion and indecision.

Shankaracharya answers as
to why we require inference; inference is required because three gunas are not
pratyaksham or visibly
evident. Where pratyaksham
does not work, anumana has to be
made use of. If I cannot see the fire, I have to indirectly go to the indicator
and through the smoke; I have to infer the fire, because the fire is not seen.
Similarly which guna
is dominant in me, I cannot see with the physical eyes, because gunas are not
visible. So, we have to look for clues, indicators, and the indicators are the
details of the lingam and therefore judge yourself, find out where you stand and
choose appropriate sadhana but never
develop a complex, never compare yourselves
with other people; be happy with what you are at present, and gradually progress.

Take Away:

Scriptures
point out that the character of
a person can be transformed.

In
trying to decipher your own gunas, never compare yourselves with other people;
be happy with what you are at present, and gradually progress.

With Best
Wishes,

Ram Ramaswamy

Shloka # 14.5:

O mighty-armed one, the alities, viz sattva,
rajas and tamas, born of Nature, being the immutable embodies being to the
body.

Continuing his teachings
Swamiji said today,

 For analyzing the three gunas, Sri Krishna has given the introduction and in the introductory portion we saw that every individual is a mixture of two portions; one is called sakshi-amsha, the higher part of the individual and second is ahamkara-amsha, the lower part of the individual. Of these two portions, the sakshi portion the higher part consists of only consciousness which is pure chaitanyam; whereas the ahamkara the lower part consists of two things, one is the inert-body-mind-complex, is part of ahamkara, and this inert-body-mind-complex, enjoys the reflected consciousness or borrowed consciousness and because of that, the body-mind-complex has become sentient. It is just as a mirror, a non-luminous-mirror, becomes a bright-mirror when it gets reflected sunlight. So when I look at a bright-mirror, I should remember it has got two parts; one is the mirror part and the second is the reflected sun. In the same way, the ahamkara, like the bright-mirror, has got two parts, one is the inert body-mind-complex, like the mirror, and the second is the borrowed or reflected consciousness; in Sanskrit we call it Prathibhimbha chaitanyam plus the body. And this mixture prathibhimbha-chaitanyam plus the body together is called ahamkara and what is the sakshi? Sakshi is neither the body, nor is it the reflected consciousness.

Sakshi is different
from both the body and the reflected consciousness; it is the original
consciousness. If you remember Tatva Bodha, RM + RC = Ahamkara. RM means
the reflecting medium, the body + RC, the reflected consciousness is equal to
the ahamkara.

Then what is the sakshi? It is neither the RM, nor is it the RC, but it is OC.  So this OC part is called the higher part, the sakshi-amsha, RC plus RM is called the lower part, the ahamkara amsa, the sakshi-amsha and the Ahamkara amsha are together inseparably. When I use the word, I, it is a mixture of both the sakshi and Ahamkara. And of these two amshas, the sakshi is the nirguna amsha, because it is pure consciousness, whereas the ahamkara contains the body mind-complex, and the body-mind-complex is matter. It is prakrti and therefore Ahamkara is endowed with three gunas. So Ahamkara amsha is saguna amsha, whereas Sakshi-amsha is nirguna(amsha means aspect, facet or part). So my lower nature is saguna nature and my higher nature is Nirguna sakshi.

And having said this much, Sri Krishna wants to point out that the ahamkara can never escape from the three gunas; because ahamkara consists of prakrti, it is made up of the prakrti and therefore ahamkara, body-mind complex, is born out of prakrti principle. You have to remember that always, then only ahamkara and saguna can be understood clearly.

Therefore,
my lower part; the ahamkara
amsha can never
escape from these three gunas
and the only juggling that I can do is change the proportion of the gunas.

Like some political parties do, they change the ministers to party work and from party work to ministry and then to governorship. The party consists of the same type of people. I am not telling whether they are good people or bad people. You can decide the composition.

Ahamkara can never escape from the three gunas. Ahamkara can only be dominant in satva guna; in which case it will be satvic ahamkara, dominant in rajo guna in which case it will be rajasic ahamkara or it can be tamasic ahamkara. And Sri Krishna wants to say that whether it is satvic, rajasic or tamasic, all these three gunas are bound to bind the individual. Only the type of samsara caused will change; the mode of bondage will change, one may be a golden shackle; another may be silver shackle; another may be an iron shackle; but all the three are shackles. Like in Saudi

Arabia, when a member of the royal family commits a crime and they have to behead, they will use a golden sword; what will be difference when it will be cut by a golden sword or a silver sword? Therefore Sri Krishna wants to say that all these three gunas would bind; therefore if you want to be free, you have to transcend the saguna ahamkara, and you have to own up your higher gunathitha, nirguna, sakshi-amsha.

But one thing that Sri Krishna admits is, to become a gunathitha, initially; you will have to use the three gunas as a stepping-stone, as I gave the example of the pole, used by the pole-vaulter. The pole will have to be used to go above the bar; but having gone above, the pole will have to be dropped. Not using the pole is also foolishness; not leaving the pole is also foolishness; use the pole, cross the bar and leave the pole. Similarly use the gunas and then drop the guna; drop means, transcend the guna. This is what Sri Krishna is going to teach. This analysis of Gunas is started from verse No.5, which will continue up to verse no.18. And Sri Krishna gave the introduction in fifth verse. There are three gunas associated with ahamkara.  And that ahamkara, the jiva, is associated with all the three gunas in different proportions and all the three gunas will bind differently.

Shloka
# 14.6:

14.6 Among them, sattva, being pure, [Nirmala,
pure-transparent, i.e., capable of resisting any form of ignorance, and hence
as illuminator, i.e.a revealer of Consciousness.] is an illuminator and is
harmless. O sinless one, it binds through attachment to happiness and
attachment to knowledge.

For the sake of our convenience, this analysis of the three gunas
can be divided into five topics.

1. The first topic is the definition of each guna also called Lakshanam. What is the definition of Satva, Rajas and Tamas is the topic?
2. Mode or method of bondage of each Guna, also called Bandana Prakara.
3. Indication as to which Guna is dominant in a person also known as Lingam; not to be confused with Shivalingam.
4. Type of travel or course of each Guna after death, also called Gathihi.
5. Consequence of the domination of each Guna in this life, also called Phalam. Now Gathi is the consequence after death while phalam is consequence before death.

Shloka
# 6 says when Satva is dominant in an Ahamkara the other two Gunas will not
pollute. Thus if Tamoguna pollutes Satva Guna mind will become turbulent. But
if it does not pollute Satva, mind will be clear in thinking. Clarity of
thinking will be there.

If
Rajoguna pollutes Satva, mind will be restless and wavering. Without Rajoguna
pollution, mind will be free from restlessness, a relaxed mind.

Satva
Guna is of the nature of brightness and calmness; quietude and tranquility And
this seems to be a wonderful nature; if the mind is bright and calm, it is
capable of learning things; it is capable of absorbing; it is capable of contemplation,
it is capable of self-analysis.

 If so, why does Satva Guna bind? Sri Krishna
says, Satvik mind seeks seclusion, freedom from noise. The problem is that we
cannot control our external atmosphere. If you cannot control it then you
become disturbed. Thus, for him, quietude becomes a source of bondage.

Now a liberated person is defined as a person who does not depend on quietude or seclusion for fulfillment and happiness. Any type of dependence is bondage, satva guna leads to noble dependence, but noble dependence is also a dependence.

Satvic
mind is attached to knowledge it is introverted and wants to know more and
more. Satvic mind is Gyanendriya Pradhana. What is wrong with greed for
knowledge? Any amount of knowledge you gain and assimilate, omniscience is not
possible. So, Satvic person is not happy with his material knowledge (not
spiritual knowledge).

Sri
Krishna says, O Ananta, which means you, one with a pure mind.

Shloka # 14. 7:

14.7 Know rajas to be of the nature of
passion, born of hankering and attachment. O son of Kunti, that binds the
embodied one through attachment to action.

Rajoguna
is about attachment and passion. It wants to relate to things and people. It is
extroverted. Satvic people prefer seclusion; while Rajasic people want action;
they don’t like quietude.

We
require each Guna for liberation. Thus Pancha maha yagya requires us to use all
three Gunas.

Since
it is a restless, dynamic mind, it wants to acquire things. If husband and wife
are of different Gunas it can be a difficult life says, Swamiji. Now desire may
be selfish or selfless. Once he acquires something he wants to hold on to it. For
Rajo Guna, possession is important, while Satva wants to drop possessions. Desire
and attachment are hallmarks of Rajo Guna.

How
does Rajoguna bind? By making him attached to Karma. It makes him a workaholic.
What is wrong with work? Up to a certain stage Karma yoga is acceptable, but
then one has to shift to Gyana Yoga. He is Karma Pradhana.

Shloka # 14. 8:

14.8 On the other hand, know tamas, which
deludes all embodied beings, to be born of ignorance. O scion of the Bharata
dynasty, that binds through inadvertence, laziness and sleep.

Tamoguna
is born of Agyanam or out of Prakriti or Maya. So one cant escape it. Sleep in
itself not a problem; if Sleeping itself is not a problem then what is the
problem? Continuing to sleep is the problem. Everyone has to sleep. If one does
not sleep, insomnia is a problem; for that person as well as for the other
people as well. Therefore, we do not condemn tamo guna but we are talking about the problems created by predominance
of tamo guna. They are:

The first problem is that it suppresses the satva guna and rajo guna. Since satva guna is suppressed, there is no clarity of thinking. And therefore one even does not ask what is the purpose of life. Human life is never taken seriously. The precious time is never taken seriously. The young age is never taken seriously. All this happens because of lack of clarity of thinking. And because of  mohanam or delusion; It means there is no clear thinking and also often there is no goal in life; it is just moving along with the current; there is no goal and even if goals are there; the priorities are not clear. How much money is important; how much health is important; how much knowledge is important; with regard to all these, there is no clarity and therefore it causes delusion for all those people, and the definition of tamo guna is delusional mind.

How
does Tamoguna bind? Carelessness with using body, laziness, and sleep are all
qualities that bind Tamo guna. They cannot meditate.

Thus,
Tamo guna binds a
person. There is an advantage in Tamo Guna; this person does not acquire punyam or papam, why? punyam and papam are karma
phalam; and this person does not do any karma; only by performing karmas one
gets you do karma punyam
and papam. Therefore
the advantage for this person, he will not acquire much agami, he will not
acquire fresh punyam and papam, but
remember that is not a great achievement, animals also do not acquire punyam or papam. If I say I
have not acquired any punyam
or papam, it means I
have been like a buffalo. Is it a credit, therefore it is perpetuation of bondage.

Shloka # 14. 9:

14.9 O scion of the Bharata dynasty, sattva
attaches one to happiness, rajas to action, while tamas, covering up knowledge,
leads to inadvertence also.

Here,
Sri Krishna repeats how each Guna binds us. Each binds us by creating
addictions. Satva causes addiction to silence and or quietude. Sukham in shloka
means seclusion.

Rajo
Guna causes addiction to Karma. Performing Karma is acceptable but addiction to
it is a problem. Addiction can even be to Guru, Shastra and even Ishwara.

Tamo
guna binds us via carelessness, lack of attention to the job etc, all due to
lack of clear thinking. So by covering the discriminative power, the tamo guna makes a
person addicted to lose jobs all the time. So that means you cannot make that
person responsible as there is no assurance that the job will be completed.

He
can never be a responsible person.

With Best
Wishes,

Ram Ramaswamy

Shloka # 14.4:

14.4 O son of Kunti, whatever forms are born
from all the wombs, of them the great-sustainer is the womb; I am the father
who deposits the seed.

Continuing his teachings
Swamiji said today,
in this chapter 14 the first four verses were introductory ones where Sri
Krishna mentioned that we are going to deal with topic of Self Knowledge. He
glorified self-knowledge as a liberating knowledge. In third and fourth shlokas
he talked about creation. He did so to point out that every individual is made
up of two parts, the Prakriti and Purusha. He said Ishwara, the cause of
creation is also a combination of Prakriti and Pursuha; also known as the
father-mother principle. Purusha cannot create without Prakriti and Prakriti
too cannot create without Pursuha. So God is a mixture of father and mother
principle. Hence, the Puranas talk of Parvati 
Shiva, Laxmi Vishnu and Saraswati Brahma. They can’t be separated from
each other and this mixture alone is
called God. Since cause of creation
is a mixture of two the effect is also a mixture of both.

Thus, if the Gold has got 6% silver or copper, then all the ornaments also will have the same percentage; because the law of karana guna is that the features of the cause will inhere the effect also. And therefore every individual Jiva, you and I, is also a mixture of Purusha tatvam and Prakrti Tatvam, and therefore to understand oneself thoroughly, we should clearly know how to differentiate/distinguish these two features within ourselves. And therefore for the sake of self-study, Sri Krishna is introducing creation.

O
Arjuna, I am the Purusha Tatvam and definition of Purusha Tatvam is:
Nirguna, Nirvikara, Sathya, Chetana tatvam.
Purusha means the changeless,
attributeless, consciousness principle, which is an independent and absolute
reality. Whereas prakrti tatvam is saguna, savikara, mithya, achetana tatvam,
that which has attributes, that which is subject to changes, and that which is
of the nature of jada, achetana or inert principle. In English we can say consciousness
plus matter is equal to Ishvara tatvam and Ishvara paramatma is karanam while jivatma is karyam. If a karanam is a mixture
of consciousness and matter, karyam is also a mixture of consciousness-principle and matter-principle.

So in me too both are there, and therefore, I should understand both these features. And this analysis is going to be the subject matter of the 14th chapter. Thus you have both, changing feature and changeless features.

You have a nature which is attributed, saguna feature and you have got a nirguna feature as well, and similarly, you are a mixture of matter and consciousness and you are a mixture of lower Mithya principle and higher Sathyam principle. And, therefore, I should thoroughly understand both and that analysis is going to start hereafter.

So
from 5th shloka, the analysis is going to begin.

Shloka # 14.5:

14.5 O mighty-armed one, the alities, viz
sattva, rajas and tamas, born of Nature, being the immutable embodies being to
the body.

Before
entering this analysis I would like to give you a bird’s eye view of this
analysis.

I said Bhagavan is a mixture of consciousness and matter, and
therefore every one of us is also a mixture of both.

And what is the material aspect of the individual? The physical body is material in nature; it is made up of prakrti tatvam; because body is made up of matter and body has got attributes or saguna it is  savikaram subject to change therefore body comes under the prakrti part of the individual; Similarly the mind also comes under the prakrti part of the individual; And other than the body mind complex, there is the purusha tatvam, which is the consciousness principle. And what is that consciousness? Consciousness is not part, product or property of the body, consciousness is an independent entity which pervades and enlivens the body and consciousness principle is not limited by the boundaries of the body, it goes beyond and the consciousness principle does not die when the body dies; and finally, this surviving consciousness principle cannot be contacted by us; not because it is non-existent, but because there is no medium of contact. I have given you the example of light, which is pervading this body and this consciousness principle in me, which enlivens the body-mind-complex, is called purusha tatvam.

And in vedanta, we use two technical words that I would like to introduce. The pure consciousness principle, which is nirguna and nirvikara, that consciousness, is called sakshi tatvam. It isthe witness principle; the changeless-witness of all the changes that happen. Now the mind is in peaceful condition; there is a witness of the peaceful state of mind; Next moment the mind is turbulent; the mind changes, but there is a changeless witness-consciousness that is aware of the previous condition of the mind as well as aware of the present condition of the mind. This changeless witness consciousness is called sakshi tatvam, which is one aspect of mind. This Vedanta calls my higher nature; my superior nature; my diviner nature; my loftier nature.

Then, of course, I have got this body principle and the mind principle, both of whom are in themselves inert in nature. Why is it inert? Because it is made up of matter, it is a bundle of chemicals; a bundle of five elements; this body by itself is inert; but even though intrinsically the body is inert, because of the pervasion of consciousness, the body has got borrowed consciousness. Just like now, my body is shining for you; not because the body has got its own luminosity; now my body is shining because of what? the light pervading the body.

Similarly, this body is inert; but because of the pervading consciousness, body has got borrowed consciousness; it is like the hot water. The hot water is hot not because heat is its intrinsic nature, but because water is pervaded by the invisible agni tatvam. You cannot see it with the visible eyes. If you put your finger, you will know. Water looks the same; hot water is hot, not because heat is its nature, but it is borrowed from the fire principle. Similarly, this body is now sentient; not because of the intrinsic-sentiency but because of borrowed-sentiency; in Sanskrit we call it; Chidabhasha pratibimba chaitanyam or reflected consciousness (RC); we had discussed this long ago in Tatva Bodha as OC, RC, RM.

So now this body has got borrowed sentiency; therefore it is a live body. It is prakrti but a live prakrti. Similarly, the mind also is made up of subtle matter only, subtle Elements only and therefore the mind is also intrinsically insentient; but the mind has become sentient due to borrowed sentiency, which is technically called chidabhasha. So, thus, we have got a live body; with borrowed-consciousness and we have got a live mind with borrowed consciousness. In short we have a got a live prakrti, prakrti means the body mind complex, with borrowed consciousness. And in Vedantic parlance, this body-mind-complex, otherwise called prakrti, with borrowed sentiency, borrowed-consciousness, this body-mind complex is called Ahamkara.

Ahamkara is equal to body-mind complex; otherwise called prakrti-plus-borrowed consciousness; i.e. chidabhasha. So, Shariram-plus-chidabhasha is equal to ahamkara. Prakrti-plus-chidabhasha is equal to ahamkara. Matter plus borrowed consciousness is called ahamkara. And what is the name of the original consciousness? It is Sakshi Tatvam. So sakshi is the name of the original consciousness; Ahamkara is the name of the body mind complex, plus the reflected or borrowed consciousness. And every individual is a mixture of Sakshi and ahamkara. When I say, Sakshi, you should remember; OC, the original consciousness; ahamkara means the body plus reflected consciousness (RC). In Tatva Bodha we used the expression RM plus RC. RM means reflecting medium; what is the reflecting medium? It is the body-mind-complex. RC means the reflected consciousness.

So
now let us put the formula. OC is the sakshi, RC plus RM is equal to Ahamkara. I hope it
is not confusing. And every individual is a mixture of Ahamkara and Sakshi.

So, when a Gyani says Aham brahmasmi, that Aham refers to the sakshi aspect, the original consciousness (OC), which is nirguna, nirvikara, sathya, chaitanyam, whereas when you take the ahamkara aspect of mind, your mind should shift to the body mind complex, that is with borrowed consciousness. Now, Ahamkara being body mind complex, body mind complex being prakrti, ahamkara is saguna and Ahamkara is savikara. Ahamkara is intrinsically achetanam, but it has borrowed chetanatvam. And Sri Krishna wants to say O Arjuna you are a mixture of ahamkara and sakshi. And you should be able to differentiate between nirguna sakshi and saguna ahamkara.

And Sri Krishna wants to point out Ahamkara is your lower nature. It is your individuality, whereas Sakshi is your higher nature. And then Sri Krishna wants to point out that as long as you are taking yourselves as ahamkara, as long as you are remain as ahamkara alone, samsara cannot be avoided. Ahamkara is vulnerable to samsara and the only way of getting out of samsara is for you to transcend your lower ahamkara-nature and to own up to your higher sakshi-nature.

And for this purpose, Sri Krishna wants to point out, how the
Ahamkara is poison; it is a problem. And why it is a problem, because it
is saguna. The very saguna nature of ahamkara
makes it a problematic aspect of yours. And naturally the question will come;
how the gunas become responsible for samsara.

And for that Sri Krishna wants to talk about the various gunas of ahamkara. And he points out that ahamkara has got three gunas; because it is made up of prakrti, which has got three gunas.

The three Gunas are: Satvika ahamkara, rajasa ahamkara, and tamasa ahamkara, and Sri Krishna says all the three ahamkaras are samsari-ahamkaras. And each ahamkara is bound in a different way. Satvika

ahamkara is bound by satva guna;
rajasa ahamkara is bound by rajo guna;
and tamasa ahamkara is bound by tamo guna.

And therefore Sri Krishna wants to talk about the nature of each guna and how each guna binds a person and what are the indications of the presence of each guna and what will be the consequences of the respective bondage; all these Sri Krishna is going to analyze; hence name of Chapter as:  guna traya vibhaga yoga. Domination of each guna binds the ahamkara.

And in Sanskrit language, the word Guna
has two meanings; one meaning is it is a property or an attribute. And the
second meaning is, it is a ‘rope’ or a shackle. So the very word guna
indicates that it is a rope that will bind you to samsara
and which will never allow you to be a free person. Therefore, you have to
break the shackles of three gunas and discover the freedom of moksha.

And now, we will briefly see the expressions of each guna.
At the time of creation, in the prakrti or in matter all the three gunas
are present; but they are in equilibrium or in the same proportion.

And in equilibrium state, there is no creation. And when the time
for creation comes, the gunas are disturbed; the proportions are disturbed,
and in creation the proportion will vary and the percentage of these three gunas
will vary.

And, according to the scriptures, even the most inert object in
the creation has three gunas as well as the plants, animals and human
beings.

Every one is a mixture of three gunas;
the differences are in the proportions of the gunas.

And in the human being, how does the domination of each guna
express itself?

Sri Krishna points out that satva guna
make the character or the nature of the individual to be Gyana Pradhana
Purusha. It makes a person a cognitive individual, an intellectual
person interested in or thirsting for more and more knowledge. So in his case,
the Gyanendriya, the five sense organs of knowledge, as well as the controlling
intellect will be highly active.

And diagonally opposite is the raja pradhanam. In a rajasic character, it will be karma pradhana or activity oriented. So, here Gyanenndriyas are generally passive; The Gyanenndriyas are the eyes, the ears, nose, the tongue and the skin and the intellect; the analyzing-intellect; the thinking intellect, judging-intellect; that will be active, whereas in a rajasic personality, it will be karma pradhana, which means karmendriyas will be active.

So therefore vak, pani,
pada, payu, upastha and behind that the pancha pranas,
the energy is highly active.

So satva guna is Gyana pradhana
while rajo guna gives a karma pradhana
personality.

And Tamo guna
will be the suppression of both. Neither the Gyanendriyas nor karmendriyas
are active; more inertia will be there; So tamas is the suppression of both
Rajas and Satva.

And when a person is a Gyana pradhana
person; generally that person will be turned inwards, internal oriented;
because a mind, which seeks knowledge, is always intellectually active,
analyzing, thinking, hypothesizing, theorizing, in fact, intellectuals live in
their own world of ideas; they are not even aware of the surroundings.
Therefore Satva dominant will express itself in the form of Nivritti pradhana.
Nivritti means turning inwards or withdrawal.

Whereas when rajoguna is dominant, it will be pravritti pradhana, the person will be highly turned outwards; One is inward, another is outward. When satva guna is dominant, and a person is thinking, contemplative, etc.; naturally that mind will not like to relate itself with the external world of objects, because very relationship or interaction or transaction will make the mind extrovert; whereas satvic mind being turned inward, it does not like sanga.

Therefore it is asanga- pradhana whereas a rajasic mind loves turning, outward. Socializing, interacting, talking to people.  So, one is asanga, the other sasanga.

The fourth difference that we can see is that a thinking mind
would naturally love a set up which is conducive for contemplation, and
therefore it loves silence.

Tranquility, quietude; It wants nishabdhatha,
whereas the silence is poison for the rajasic mind, it cannot withstand
silence.

And Tamoguna
is just the opposite, it suppresses both satva and rajas and Sri Krishna wants
to point out that all the three gunas
are bondage. All the three gunas cause bondage in different ways.

How do all the three gunas cause bondage? A satvic mind will love a set up which is quiet, and which is conducive for thinking, contemplation, study, etc. and if that set up is disturbed, by any sound or any visitor; then a satvic mind is upset. And therefore, it is a dukha-misritha condition, because as long as the set up is favorable to me, the satvic mind enjoys.

A satvic mind is also a bound-mind, because it cannot totally control
the set up and when the set up is disturbed, it is disturbed.

Similarly, a rajasic mind, of course hates silence and quietude.
It cannot keep quiet because he cannot face silence. Therefore a rajasic
mind also will face dukham. So long as it is able to order the set up as it
wants, it is fine; but when the set up is disturbed, it is unhappy.  

Tamasic mind also will have problems. Sri Krishna will talk of the
details later; the greatest problem being there is no scope for progress at
all. So, therefore, all the three gunas are
mixed with pain or sorrow. And Sri Krishna points out that all the three gunas
cause dependence. A person who loves silence is addicted to silence. And he is
not a free person because to enjoy happiness, he requires silence.  So, Satvic
person is also bound, because he is addicted to silence. What about rajasic
person? That person is also bound, because he is addicted to noise and the
company he wants.

Therefore, dependence and bondage are common to all the people;
pain is common to all the people, wherever dependence is there; pain is also there.

And thirdly, all the people will have athrupthikarathvam . So common to all three are features of dukha-mishrithatvam, athrupthikarathvam, and bandhakatvam. Athrupthikarathvam is also common to all the three. A satvic person wants to gain more and more

knowledge. He has a got a great hunger for knowledge. And without knowledge, he feels a limited person; and therefore he wants to remove the knowledge-wise limitation. Satvic person alone will have the unique sense of limitation; what I know is less; and therefore, he goes on acquiring knowledge, because he wants to become omniscient. But to his utter desperation and dismay he finds out any amount of knowledge he gathers, his limitation, knowledge-wise limitation, does not go away.

In fact, the more you learn, the more you know that you do not
know. Therefore greater your knowledge, more you know about your ignorance, and
that is why in every field, he goes on specializing. Thus, Swamiji says, a dermatologist
has only skin-deep knowledge.

So therefore, as somebody nicely defined it, a specialist is one who learns more and more about less and less things. And therefore I am never going to become omniscient in the field of any branch of science and therefore samsara; this is called intellectual samsara. I want to know more about; and I am not able to know.

Similarly, a rajasic person also suffers from samsara, not in terms of knowledge but in terms of activity. He wants to do more and more; accomplish more and more. He becomes a workaholic. And at any time he looks at himself, he is not satisfied. Satvic person travels from finitude to finitude, rajasic person travels from to finitude to finitude, tamasic person does not travel at all.

And therefore Sri Krishna says: all the three gunas
will bind you. And all the three forms of ahamkara
are bondage. Satvic ahamkara is also bondage; rajasic
ahamkara is also bondage, tamasic
ahamkara is also bondage.

If you want to transcend bondage, you have to transcend ahamkara
and own up to your higher nature. What is your higher nature? The Nirguna Sakshi
is that higher nature.

But Sri Krishna wants to point out that even though the three gunas are
causes of bondage, for liberation, you will have to use the three gunas
alone as stepping-stones. Even though they are the causes of bondage, you will
have to intelligently use them and transcend them; like a poll vaulter.

An intelligent person uses the pole, goes up, drops the pole and
wins the Commonwealth gold medal.

Similarly use the ahamkara
pole. You require tamoguna
as well. If you do not have tamoguna
at all, if you are all the time Gyana pradhana
and karma pradhana, you will never go to sleep. And if you have no sleep at all,
that is a problem in itself.

Therefore we require Tamoguna for sufficient rest and recuperation.

Suppose in the class you have got tamasic ahamkara,  you will end up dozing. If you have a rajasic ahmakara your mind will be wandering all over So a wandering mind cannot learn, a dozing mind cannot learn; only an alert, vigilant and non-wandering mind absorbs the teaching like sponge. And once it gets wisdom that I am not this inferior saguna ahamkara nature; because it is mithya and inferior; but my real nature is Aham gunathitha sakshi asmi.

Thus, we have to know the nature of the three gunas
and how they bind us and we also should know how to intelligently use the three
gunas, and become gunathitha and gunathitha is
a liberated person. This is going to be the analysis in verses beginning from
the 5th verse.

Take Away:

This
mixture of Purusha and Prakriti alone is called God.

Individual
Jiva, you and I,
is also a mixture of Purusha tatvam and Prakrti Tatvam,

This consciousness principle in me, which enlivens the
body-mind-complex, is called purusha
tatvam.

The pure consciousness principle, which is nirguna
and nirvikara, that consciousness, is called sakshi
tatvam.

There is a changeless witness-consciousness that is aware of the
previous condition of the mind as well as aware of the present condition of the
mind. This changeless witness consciousness is called sakshi
tatvam, which is one aspect of mind.

Ahamkara:
And in Vedantic parlance,
this body-mind-complex, otherwise called prakrti, with borrowed sentiency,
borrowed-consciousness, this body-mind complex is called Ahamkara.

The only way of getting out of samsara
is for you to transcend your lower ahamkara-nature
and to own up to your higher sakshi-nature.

With Best
Wishes,

Ram Ramaswamy

Continuing his teachings
Swamiji said today,
having completed the 13th chapter, now we will enter into the 14th chapter. As
I had pointed earlier, the 14th chapter also falls within the last shatakam or group
of the Gita and its focus
is on Gyana yoga or
self-knowledge.

And in this group of six chapters, the first three chapters, 13th, 14th, and 15^th mainly focus upon Gyana yoga or self-knowledge, and therefore all these three chapters are important, and all of them have the essence of the Upanishads. The self-knowledge is the knowledge of our higher nature.

And
in the previous chapter, the knowledge of our higher nature was presented as “I”
the kshetragnya or the
witness principle.  Atma
is revealed as the drk
the kshetragnya, the
observer and everything else is presented the kshetram, the observed, the Drishyam.

The differentiation was done based on the observed-observer principle and this method of teaching is called, Drk-Drishya viveka. It is a popular method used in the shastra, to arrive at my true nature; I go on negating all that I experience. Neti Neti method; whatever I experience, I am not. And if I go on negating everything that I experience, finally there will be only one thing left out, and that is the experiencer who can never become an object of experience. And this method of arriving at the subject by negating every object, including the body, mind and the thoughts; this method is called Drk-Drishya viveka and the thirteenth chapter employed this method.

Now in the 14th chapter also Sri Krishna is going to deal with the same subject matter, but here atma, my nature is going to be revealed as Gunatitha, or Nirguna tatvam and everything that has got gunas or attributes, they are all anatma, the object and by negating everything Saguna, what will be left behind is the gunathitha, the Nirguna atma. So what was presented as the observer in the thirteenth chapter, the same atma is presented here as the attributeless principle. And therefore this chapter is in the form of guna thraya, gunathitha and vibhaga yoga. Previous chapter is kshetra-kshetragnya vibhaga, subject-object differentiation; here the topic is Saguna-Nirguna vibhaga; Saguna means with attributes, Nirguna means without attributes.

And the Saguna is going to be here termed as Guna
traya. The three-fold gunas. The details we will see in due course. And
the Nirguna tatvam is called gunathitha; that which
transcends all the attributes. And we are going to differentiate guna trayah
and the gunathitha and we are going to claim that I am the gunathitha
atma;
I am not the guna-traya anatma. This is going to be the subject matter of
this chapter, a small chapter but an important chapter. With this background,
we will enter into the chapter proper.

Shloka
# 14.1:

The Blessed Lord said I shall speak again of
the supreme Knowledge, the best of all knowledges, by realizing which all the
contemplatives reached the highest Perfection from here.

The
chapter begins with Sri Krishna’s voluntary offer to teach further. In the thirteenth
chapter, Arjuna asked a question and therefore Sri Krishna answered,

whereas
here Arjuna did not raise any question, at all but Sri  Krishna, out of compassion, offers to teach
the same thing once again. Why should Sri Krishna do that?

Shankaracharya  says, often, when the subject matter is very subtle, a teacher has to repeat it again and again. When the subject matter is shallow, you need not repeat. Sri Krishna too knows what deserves repetition. And this atma Gyanam being very subtle, repetition is not a defect. When the subject matter is simple, repetition is not required.

 Therefore, Sri Krishna says O Arjuna, what I
taught in the 13th chapter or previously, is extremely subtle; you are a good
student; you would have understood; but still for my
satisfaction, I would like to present it again. But if I give the same title,
you will be bored; and therefore, in another fashion, I will present it from a
different angle. Previously it was Kshetra-Kshetragnya
vibhga, Purusha-Prakrti vibhaga,
now it is guna traya- gunathitha vibhaga.

What type of Gyanam is it; It is the greatest knowledge in the world.

Shankaracharya says, the first ‘greatest’ indicates a knowledge which deals with the greatest thing, Reality in the world. In terms of the subject-matter, this knowledge is the greatest, because it does not deal with the ordinary perishable thing, but it is dealing with the greatest reality.

And then the second greatest means not only the subject matter is the greatest one; that is atma or brahman. The result that we derive out of this knowledge, the phalam also is the greatest. First greatest represents the subject matter; the second one refers to the knowledge which gives the greatest result of moksha whereas all other branches of knowledge can give the result of the perishable artha, perishable kama, perishable dharma, whereas this is the only knowledge, which gives the result of imperishable moksha. Thus this knowledge is the greatest knowledge. And that is why in Mundaka Upanishad, this knowledge is called Para vidya. And therefore Arjuna, I shall give you that knowledge which is the greatest knowledge leading to moksha. So, what is moksha? Sri Krishna explains that by gaining this wisdom, the greatest wisdom, all the seekers, who are Sanyasi’s, (detached) or are sadhana catushtaya sampathi Sampanaha or the detached souls are the one’s who have got all the necessary qualifications in abundance.

In the last class summary, I talked about 4 Ds, Discrimination, Dispassion, Discipline and Desire for moksha. So the one who has got all these qualifications is called a Muni, in this context. Muni here refers to the all those prepared seekers who attained moksha, which alone is the highest accomplishment in life. Gaining which alone the life can be called worthwhile. Kenopanishad points out that any other thing you get in life is not worthwhile; life is validated; made meaningful only if this knowledge is attained; And therefore param siddhim; the highest accomplishment of moksha they have attained while living. Not only while living; even after death; they have gained the videha mukti too. Liberation while living is called Jivanmukti. Liberation after death is called Videha mukti. These people have attained both.

Shloka
# 2:

Those who attain identity with Me by resorting
of this Knowledge are not born even during creation, nor do they suffer pain
during dissolution.

Introduction continues. In the previous verse it was pointed out
that this Gyanam is superior most, because it deals with the greatest reality;
and the benefit is also the greatest, which consists of jivanmukti
and videhamukti.

Now the next question is what is jivanmukti and what is videhamukti? Sri Krishna briefly defines them as by taking recourse to this knowledge, by acquiring this knowledge, the seekers have attained oneness with me. They have also attained Ishvara svarupam, dropping their jivatman. So mama sadharmyam, means Ishvara svarupam.

And what do you mean by Ishvara svarupam? Ishvara has got purnatvam, and these people enjoy the purnatvam even while living. So the first indication of jivanmukti is total inner sense of self-sufficiency. Not missing anything in life; as Sri Krishna said in the 2nd chapter, this Gyani also enjoys purnatvam.

And the second feature or glory of Bhagavan is abhaya svarupa. Bhagavan is free from the sense of insecurity; whereas Jiva is full of insecurity feeling. This Gyanam will remove the sense of insecurity.

So Ishvara svarupam means abhayam, freedom from
insecurity; freedom from finitude; freedom from slavery. Bhagavan
is called Swami. Swami means the one who is the master of everything while a
samsari is called brtya-dasa, a slave. A slave of
what; Slave of people; slave of circumstances; a slave of karma. A Gyani, by this
knowledge, attains Ishvara svarupam, meaning this Gyani
also becomes a swami. He is no more a slave of karma phala.

They are the masters of the situation; and mastery means no regret over the past, and no anxiety with regard to future. So this svamitvam, purnatvam, abhayam, ananda svarupaha, ananda, all these are indicated by the word  sadharmyam This sadharmyam indicates jivanmukti. So even while living, they enjoy the glories which belong to the Lord. This is called jivanmukti.

And then what happens to them after death. After death they attain videhamukti. What do you mean by videhamukti? vidahamukti means freedom from punarjanma. Punarjanma leads to punar maranam and punar maranam will lead to punar janma. They are free from Punarapi jananam, punarapi maranam cycle,.

And therefore, videhamukti is defined in the second
line; they are not born again as miserable individuals and therefore in the
next srishti, they are not created again.

And therefore they do not come to grief again, caused by mortality. So at the time of pralayam, they do not grieve; they are not afflicted by the pain of death. In short; they are free from janma-marana cycle, which is called videhamukti and therefore Arjuna, if you want to enjoy this jivanmukti and also get the benefit of videhamukti, concentrate on this Gyanam.

Shloka # 14.3:

14.3 My womb is the great-sustainer. In that I
place the seed. From that, O scion of the Bharata dynasty, occurs the birth of
all things.

The introduction continues. In the first two slokas, Sri Krishna introduced the subject matter of Atma Gyanam, and he also talked about the glory of the subject matter, the glory is that it is a liberating knowledge; so having introduced the subject matter, now in these two verses, the 3rd and 4th, Sri Krishna summarizes the process of creation which he had dealt with in the 13th chapter as well. So as a reminder, Sri Krishna is summarizing the process of creation; because the development of the teaching depends upon the knowledge of the creation. On topic of creation, in Ch 13, he said before the creation, there were originally two principles, known as Purusha and Prakrti. Both Purusha tatvam and prakrti tatvam are anadi; anadi meaning beginningless. They are the cause of the creation; but they themselves are not created entities. There Sri Krishna said both are anadi. And we talked about 4 differences, to recap:

Purusha is chetana tatvam,
conscious principle. prakrti is achetana tatvam, inert principle,

Purusha is nirguna tatvam,
without any attributes;

prakrti
is saguna tattvam, with
gunas;

Purusha is Nirvikara tatvam,
without any modifications; whereas Prakrti is savikara tatvam,
subject to modifiction.

Fourthly
and finally, Purusha
is satya tatvam having independent existence of its own; whereas prakrti is
matter; it does not have independent existence or it is Mithya.

So
Nirguna, Nirvikara, Satya, Chetana Tatvam is Purusha; Saguna, Savikara, Mithya, Achetana Tatvam is Prakrti.

In English, consciousness and matter, both existed from beginningless time. And He also pointed out that this mixture Purusha-prakrti, consciousness-matter, is the cause of the creation. And this mixture alone is called Ishvara. Ishvara is neither pure-Purusha, nor pure-prakrti, but it is a mixture of these two. And either of them cannot independently become the cause of the creation and to convey this idea, Sri Krishna takes the comparison of the Father principle and the Mother principle. The Purusha tatvam is compared to the father principle and the Prakrti tatvam is compared to the mother principle. It is only a comparison: because male alone can produce; female alone can produce a child; male and female together alone can be the cause of the creation; and therefore Purusha is compared to a male and Prakrti is symbolized as female. It is only a symbolism. Do not extend it too much and ask whether all the ladies are inert!!! When I say females are compared to prakrti, it is only a comparison; do not extend it too much; you will have problem. Then why this comparison, only to show that both the tatvams put together alone can cause the creation.

Then
Sri Krishna wants to point out that the Purusha and Prakrti, are like an inseparable
father and mother.

Citing
example, they are like inseparable Shiva and Parvati; or like Vishnu and Lakshmi, or like
Brahma and Saraswati.

Similarly
father principle Purusha,
mother principle Prakrti, put together is called Ishvara the cause of the creation.

And then Sri Krishna wants to point out that if this mixture is the cause of the creation; all the products will have the features of both the father and mother. Because the general rule is the features of the cause will Inhere and pervade the effect also. If gold is the cause of the ornament, the ornament is also golden in nature. And if the cause-Gold has a percentage of copper, the ornament also will have a percentage of copper. If the children are born out of the couple, the children will have some features of the father; some features of the mother; both will be there. Only thing is the proportion. One child might have more of the mother and less of the father; another might have more of the father and less of the mother; but the principle, the causal features, will inhere in the effect. And therefore Sri Krishna wants to extend that principle and say every individual is a mixture of Purusha and prakrti tatvam. Every individual jiva, whether it is plant or ant or elephant; whether it is a human being, male or female; every one of us is a mixture of Purusha, father principle, as well as prakrti the mother principle.

If
we do not recognize this nature of ours, that I am a mixture of Purusha tatvam, (nirguna-nirvikara-sathya-chetana Purusha Tatvam); and
saguna-savikara-mithya-achetana prakrti
tatvam, if I do not understand my composition very clearly, I will not know how
to handle myself properly.

Self-knowledge is required for self-mastery. Anything you want to master, the first step is learn to understand. If a disease has to be cured, before finding a remedy for the disease, I have to understand the nature of the disease. If I do not know how to handle myself, how am I going to be the master of my family.

Therefore,
self-mastery requires self-knowledge. Self-knowledge involves knowing my
composition.

And Sri Krishna wants to say that I am composed of Purusha
aspect as well as prakrti aspect. And to show and proof that I am the mixture
of both, Sri Krishna wants to point that I am the mixture of both, because my
cause, Ishvara, is a mixture of both. So karanam is a mixture of both, karyam
the jiva is also a mixture.

For that, he is introducing the creation. Therefore, Sri Krishna
says here: O Arjuna, I am the Purusha Tatvam and inseparable
from me is the prakrti tatvam, otherwise called Maya
tatvam and maya is comparable to my wife. Therefore I am Brahman, the husband;
Purusha, the husband; and maya is like my wife, and I
cannot create the universe without prakrti, the maya.
Thus Soundarya lahari begins with that.

If prakrti is not there, Purusha cannot do anything.

And therefore Sri Krishna says the female principle, my wife, Sri Krishna
says; is Mahat brahma. Yoni here means wife. It is a very misleading verse; the
word brahma here is Maya, the prakrti tatvam; the word brahma in this
context means prakrti. The matter principle, the mayatatvam.

And what type of wife she is? mahad brahma, is a universal mother, and therefore mahat means infinite; because the pregnancy of the universal mother should be a great pregnancy because the universal mother has to conceive the universe. Therefore Sri Krishna says Mahat brahma, infinite maya, is my wife as it were; and who am I, we have to supply, I, the Purusha tatvam am comparable to the father principle. I, the consciousness; am the father, maya is the mother principle.

And
what do I do; when the right time for creation comes; what do I do?

I transfer the garbham; means the life principle, the power to create; power to reproduce; I hand over, I transfer to the Mother. Just as at the time of conception, the male transfers the seed of the baby to the female. Similarly at the time of creation, I bless maya with the power to produce the universe. Tasmin garbham dadhamyaham. And philosophically speaking, garbadanam is supposed to be blessing the maya tatvam with the chidabhsha or the reflected consciousness; blessing the maya is considered to be garbha danam. I activate the maya. I impregnate maya, I give maya the power to evolve itself into a universe.

And
once the conception has taken place; father, male principle has done the job, female
principle has conceived, and thereafter the male principle need not do anything,
the baby foetus will grow in the body of the mother, perfectly, according to the
law of nature. Father need not know all the laws. Even the mother need not know
all the laws to conceive the baby and every week growth appropriately and whatever
transformation is needed in the mother’s body, that also will take place;

Similarly,
here also Sri Krishna says: once I bless the maya, I need not do anything; maya will evolve
into this creation.

Just
as the baby grows in the mother’s body, and at the appropriate time, 9th month or
the 10th month, by the same law of nature, it emerges.

Before big bang one cannot talk about time and space. Even the concept of time and space is impossible before big bang; During the time of singularity (scientists call it singularity) you cannot talk about anything, it is a state of non-information.

Singularity
they call, it is a state of non-information. In Vedanta non-information is called maya. It means that
you will not understand. This, people call it, state of non-information.

In Sanskrit it is called maya. In this place what is there, If we say maya, we will not understand. If you have understood maya well, then you know maya is un-understandable.

Anirvachaniyam means where information is lacking. At the time of
big bang, information was not there; but out of that evolved this universe;
Similarly, thereafter, we can trace how the creation evolved.

Everything happens, therefore, Sri Krishna says the origination of all these things and beings; in that moment of big bang, the inexplicable moment, from that moment, everything evolves naturally, O Arjuna. So then what happens:

Shloka # 14.4:

14.4 O son of Kunti, whatever forms are born
from all the wombs, of them the great-sustainer is the womb; I am the father
who deposits the seed.

So Sri Krishna said that I am the universal father; and maya is the universal mother; and we the universal couple, are comparable to any local couple, there also because of their combination the child is born, the child has the features of both of them.

Then
what is the difference between the universal couple Bhagavan and Bhagavati
and the worldly couple; Sri Krishna says even though many things are common;
there is one main difference. If you take any couple in the world; any male and
female, humans species, you take, the human couple can produce only human
child;

So when you take any one couple in the universe that couple is the cause of only one species, whereas the universal mother has given birth to all the species.

And therefore Sri Krishna says, I am the universal father; who activate, who impregnate maya, who enliven maya by blessing it with reflected consciousness, chidabhasha pradhanena, I bless the Maya and therefore I am the universal father;

And
blessed by me; the maya
becomes the universal mother not for one species, but for all the species. And
therefore Sri Krishna says, so whatever species of living beings are born in
the world; whatever we see, the monkey species is there; buffalo species is
there; locally the buffalo child is born out of buffalo mother; monkey child is
born out of monkey mother; whatever species is born out of the corresponding
mother; all of them when you go to the original cause, the original cause is only
one maya, that is the
cause of all the monkey species also; buffalo species also; octopus also; snails
also; whatever.

Therefore Sri Krishna says; whatever types of bodies or whatever species you experience here, born out of the local mothers. For all of them, the immediate cause may be the immediate mother, but the original cause is maya only.

Whatever living being is born; for all of them, brahma yoni, maya is the universal mother. And therefore we are all children of brahman plus maya; Purusha plus prakrti; Consciousness plus matter; nirgunam plus sagunam. And therefore we also will have a mixture of both.

Take Away:

Ishvara is neither pure-Purusha, nor pure-prakrti, but it is a mixture of these two. And either of them cannot independently become the cause of the creation

Gyani: Ishvara
svarupam means abhayam, freedom from insecurity; freedom from finitude;
freedom from slavery.Gyani has both.

Nirguna, Nirvikara, Satya, Chetana Tatvam is
Purusha; Saguna, Savikara, Mithya, Achetana Tatvam is
Prakrti.

Every
individual, every being, is a mixture of Purusha and prakrti tatvam.

In
Vedanta state of
non-information is called maya.

With Best
Wishes,

Ram Ramaswamy