DHANISTA TO JOHN

[Guest guest]

Wendy

 

<<As a meditator, I appreciate the Gita's passage stating "Nistraigunyo

bhavarjuna", or "Be without the gunas,Arjuna.">>

 

Beautiful passage, yes, we should try to be beyond those gunas. As long as we

allow the gunas to rule our life, our false ego will grow out of control. But

is very difficult to do that. Therefore, we need the help from those that are

higher than us, we need their help, and much better we need divine

intervention.

 

<<In this context, being without the gunas (modes of living) means to be

established in the undisturbed (by the gunas), never-changing silence of the

Absolute (SELF).>>

 

Another meaning for gunas is rope. So we could say, that nirguna means without

the ropes of material nature. According to you in the above context it means

to be situated in the indisturbed, never changing silence of the Absolute

(SELF). First i would like to say that everyone of us has a different

perspective of the blackboard depending on the seat that we are seating in the

classrom. I can understand that you are giving your own perspective to this

context.

 

I remember that Sridhar Maharaja said one day that once upon it time a Muslim

priest was reading a sacred book and a lady in the audience used to cry. So,

this priest ask one day to the lady. "Please tell me what is in my reading

that makes you cry", and she replied "It is not your reading but your beard,

everything that you move your head from side to side, your beard reminds me of

a shegoat that i used to have. I used to be very fond of her but she died."

So, that lady was no interested in the sacred reading but in the appearance

that used to remind her of her goat. In a similar way, students may approach a

teacher with different intentions and their "perspective" may be different from

the real thing. With this i would like to say that we are all students of the

Absolute but we all have a different perspective of it/He/She according to our

spiritual development. For what i understand you want to say that the Absolute

(self) is without gunas. So, you are telling me that the self (soul) is

absolute. I disagree in this because any diccionary will tell me that absolute

= complete, and for soul = the eternal element in a person. How the soul can be

absolute if it is not complete. The soul is eternal but by being controlled by

the gunas, can not be the absolute. The Sun represents the ego which by being

whitin a horoscope indicates that the soul is whitin a body and under the

control of the gunas.

 

Mind some rare souls reicarnate at will but they are beyond those gunas, but

like i said, they are rare and few. help, and much better we need divine

intervention.

 

To me, the soul (me) is conditioned by the gunas and is searching for liberation

from those gunas. Where do i get the help to get liberated, but from the

absolute. The absolute is complete (Om purnam adam purma idam, or so say one

Upanishad). And because he is complete in himself, he can make a soul free.

 

So, the absolute to me must be different to myself. I have the same spiritual

essence as the absolute, but i am not the absolute. If i were the absolute, i

would not be conditioned as i am now. From the Bagavad Gita of Srila

Prabhupada, he gives in his purpot to chapter 7 text 12, the following:

"Therefore He is nirguna, which means that these gunas, or modes, although

issuing from Him, do not affect Him. That is one of the special characteristics

of Bhagavan, or the Supreme Personality of Godhead. "

You too can get the electronic version for free in the internet and see.

<<This is known as Transcendence...to transcend means to go beyond the mind and

the senses...to be established in yoga.>>

>From the same book quoted chapre 2-54:

"Arjuna said: O Krishna, what are the symptoms of one whose consciousness is

thus merged in transcendence? How does he speak, and what is his language? How

does he sit, and how does he walk? "

And

"Regulated activities are prescribed in the Vedas, and the Vedas are directly

manifested from the Supreme Personality of Godhead. Consequently the

all-pervading Transcendence is eternally situated in acts of sacrifice. "

Here, the word brahma is translated as transcendence. You call it "to be

established in yoga". I would say "To be established in Brahma or to be

established in Krishna consciousness"

Even for the recluse, it's not possible to be without action. Action is

Life...and whether that life is just sitting in a cave or engaged in worldly

affairs, action is inescapable...but actions performed whilst established in

yoga, whether one is a renuncient or a householder is what's referred to in the

verse below.

 

<<Maharishi has also emphasized the Gita's passage which says, "Yogastah kuru

karmani", which is translated as "Established in yoga, perform actions".>>

 

Very nice Wendy and thanks for attracting ny mind to the Gita. here i quote the

same verse from the electroniv Bhagavad Gita of Srila prabhupada. You can find

it from the chapter 2-48

TEXT 48

yoga-sthah kuru karmanisangam tyaktva dhananjayasiddhy-asiddhyoh samo bhutvasamatvam yoga ucyate

WORD FOR WORD

yoga-sthah -- equipoised; kuru -- perform; karmani -- your duties; sangam --

attachment; tyaktva -- giving up; dhananjaya -- O Arjuna; siddhi-asiddhyoh --

in success and failure; samah -- equipoised; bhutva -- becoming; samatvam --

equanimity; yogah -- yoga; ucyate -- is called.

TRANSLATION

Perform your duty equipoised, O Arjuna, abandoning all attachment to success or

failure. Such equanimity is called yoga.

PURPORT

Krishna tells Arjuna that he should act in yoga. And what is that yoga? Yoga

means to concentrate the mind upon the Supreme by controlling the

ever-disturbing senses. And who is the Supreme? The Supreme is the Lord. And

because He Himself is telling Arjuna to fight, Arjuna has nothing to do with

the results of the fight. Gain or victory are Krishna's concern; Arjuna is

simply advised to act according to the dictation of Krishna. The following of

Krishna's dictation is real yoga, and this is practiced in the process called

Krishna consciousness. By Krishna consciousness only can one give up the sense

of proprietorship. One has to become the servant of Krishna, or the servant of

the servant of Krishna. That is the right way to discharge duty in Krishna

consciousness, which alone can help one to act in yoga.

Arjuna is a ksatriya, and as such he is participating in the varnashrama-dharma

institution. It is said in the Vishnu Purana that in the varnashrama-dharma,

the whole aim is to satisfy Vishnu. No one should satisfy himself, as is the

rule in the material world, but one should satisfy Krishna. So unless one

satisfies Krishna, one cannot correctly observe the principles of

varnashrama-dharma. Indirectly, Arjuna was advised to act as Krishna told him.

"

best wishes

Natabara Das