Krishna-Arjuna Dialogues - Satvic, Rajasic, Tamasic

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Krishna:

The Supreme knowledge I shall reveal to you again, knowledge that is superior to

all knowledge, by knowing which the sages attain the Highest State. By taking

shelter in this knowledge and attaining My State, at the time of creation they

do not take birth, nor are they troubled at the time of dissolution. My Creative

Self is the source of the great god, Brahma, in whom I plant the possibility of

all creation. All living beings thus come into existence. Of all the sources of

creation which give birth to forms, Brahma is the supreme source and I am the

seed giving father. Sattva (purity), Rajas (passion) and Tamas (ignorance) are

the qualities arising out of Prakriti. They bind the soul with the body, O

mighty armed. Of them Sattva is of the purest nature, illuminating and without

any debility. Through attachment with happiness and knowledge it binds , O

sinless one. Know that Rajas is full of passion born out of attachment with

thirst (insatiable desire). It binds the embodied, O son of Kunti, through

attachment with works. But know that Tamas is born out of ignorance, deludes all

embodied beings. Through recklessness, laziness and sleep, it binds (the soul),

O Bharata. Sattvic nature binds one to happiness, Rajas to action, O Bharata ,

but by enveloping all knowledge, Tamas binds one to recklessness. Sattva exists

by suppressing Rajas and Tamas. Rajas exists by suppressing Sattva and Tamas.

And Tamas by suppressing both Sattva and Rajas, O Bharata.

 

When all the openings of the body radiate illumination, it is said that Sattva

is in predominance.

 

Greed, excitement in performing actions, uncontrollable desire, all these

symptoms develop when Rajas is in predominance, O chief among the Bharatas.

Darkness, inactivity, recklessness, illusion are manifested when Tamas is

predominating, O son of Kurus.

If Sattva is predominating at the time of death in a person, he attains the pure

worlds of the highest sages. With Rajas predominating at the time of death one

is born among those attached to actions. In the same manner with the

predominance of Tamas, he takes birth among ignorant people. It is said that of

actions the fruit of pious Sattva is purity, the fruit of Rajas is sorrow, while

ignorance is the fruit of Tamas.

Sattva strengthens knowledge, Rajas greed, while Tamas develops recklessness,

delusion and ignorance. Upward go those who are established in Sattva. In the

middle (regions) settle down those with Rajas. But those filled with the lowest

quality of Tamas go downward only.

When a seer recognizes appropriately none other than these three qualities in

the performance of actions, he knows the Supreme beyond the gunas and comes to

My consciousness. Going beyond these three gunas, the embodied is freed (from

these ills) originating from the body - birth, death, old age and sorrow, and

attains immortality.

Asked Arjuna: What are the symptoms of transcendence of the three qualities, O

Lord, what is the conduct and how also are these transcended?

The Supreme Lord replied: Illumination, activity and delusion, O Pandava, who

neither abhors when prevailing nor desires when absent. Seated unconcerned,

unmoved by the gunas, aware that gunas are acting, he is stable and never

shaken. Alike in pleasure and pain toward a piece of earth, a stone, a piece of

gold, alike and steady towards the desirable and the undesirable, equal in

defamation and self-adulation.

Alike in honor and dishonor, equal to friends and foes, removing all egoistic

effort in the performance of actions - he is said to have risen above the gunas.

He who serves Me with undistracted devotion, he transcends all the gunas and

attains the state of Brahman. Certainly, I am the resting place of Brahman, of

the immortal, inexhaustible, everlasting, righteous, blissful and also the

ultimate.

 

Krishna-Arjuna Dialogues

Worship of gods, of the twice born, of the spiritual teacher and of the

knowledgeable; celibacy and non cruelty, this is called austerity of the body.

Dispassionate words that are truthful, pleasant and beneficial and also used in

the recitation of the Vedic scriptures, this is said to be austerity of speech.

Mental satisfaction, gentleness, silence, self-control, purification of

thoughts, this is called the austerity of mind.

 

When performed with exceptional faith, this austerity of three kinds, by men who

have no desire for the fruit of their actions, is called sattvic.

Austerity that is performed for gaining popularity and honor and also for

display is regarded in this world as rajasic, which is also unstable and

distracted (or without concentration).

 

The austerity that is performed out of foolishness, struggle and by self

torture, with an intention to harm others, this is referred as tamasic in

nature.

 

The charity that is worth giving, given without any expectation, according to

the time and place and to the deserving person, is remembered as sattvic.

 

The charity which is given for the sake of a reciprocal advantage or with the

expectation of a result, or given in return (for some advantage or gain), or

given grudgingly or with difficulty, that charity is to be remembered as

rajasic.

 

That charity which is given without consideration for the time and place, to

undeserving persons, without due respects, without proper knowledge, is said to

be tamasic in nature.

 

--

Satish Vijayan