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10/02/2003
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Chapter 17 Gunas and Faith
17.1:
Arjuna said:
What
is the status of those who give up the scriptural injunctions and worship with
faith? Is it Sattva, Rajas, and Tamas: Goodness, passion, and ignorance?
17.2:
Sri Bhagavan said:
The
faith of the embodied is of three kinds, born of their own nature: Sattva,
Rajas, and Tamas. Thus, hear that from Me.
17.3:
Everyone’s faith is according to his own nature, O Arjuna. A person is
of the nature of his faith. Whatever his faith is, that certainly, he is.
17.4:
Good people worship the gods, the passionate worship the yaksas and
raksasas, and (others who are) the ignorant people worship the spirits and
ghosts.
The modern day Yaksas and Raksasas are the crooked,
the cunning, the deviant, the deceitful, the corrupt, the immoral, the inhumane,
the unprincipled, the greedy, the usurping, and the evildoers.
Yaksas and Raksasas: Yaksas are mysterious beings and
their images are common on the Buddhist stupas (monuments). They haunt hills
and trees, are considered fertility godlings, and figure much in the Jain
lore. The popularity of yaksas waned in the post-Vedic times. According to
Buddhist lore, a yaksa jumped out of an image in a temple, bowed to boy Buddha,
and asked Him whether he was deva, gandharva or yaksa. Kubera, the god of
wealth, is their leader; the yaksas have the ability to metamorphose into any
forms, and are Brahma's creation as others are.
17.5:
Those people, who perform terrible austerities not ordained by the
scriptures, given to hypocrisy and ego, impelled by lust, attachment, and
strength,
17.6:
Mindlessly torturing the multitude of elements in the (physical) body and
Me who dwell within the body, know those ignorant ones are of demonic resolve.
17.7:
The food dear to all is also of three kinds. (So are the) Sacrifice,
austerity, and charity. Hear the differences between them.
17.8:
The foods that augment a long life, intellect, strength, health,
pleasure, and satisfaction are juicy, smooth, firm, and heartwarming. (Those)
foods are dear to Sattvic (people).
17.9:
Rajasic people like foods that are bitter, sour, salty, very hot, pungent, dry
and burning and cause misery, grief and sickness.
17.10:
The foods, that are dear to Tamasic person, are spoiled, flavorless or
tasteless, stinking, refuse, leftover (ritually impure), and impure (unfit for
sacrifice).
Yātayāmam: spoiled, useless
17.11:
Sacrifice is good when those with a firm mind and no desire for fruit
perform it according to the prescribed rules.
17.12:
That which is performed for the sake of dambha (ostentation), and
motivated by expectation of fruits, O best of the Bharatas, you know that as
sacrifice in Rajasic nature.
(O best
of Bharatas, you should know that a sacrifice is in Rajasic nature, when damba
[ostentation] and expectation of fruits motivate performance.)
17.13:
Sacrifice that is performed without prescribed rules, in which no food is
donated, no mantra is chanted, no compensation is paid, and no faith (is
expressed) is declared as Tamasic.
17.14:
The worship of the gods, the twice-born,
the guru, and the wise; purity,
honesty, celibacy, and ahimsa: these are (said to be) the penance of the body.
Dvija:
the twice-born, Brahmana.
There are twice-born in three castes. They are the Brahmins, the Ksatriyas, and the Vaisyas and the Sudras are not the twice-born. By custom, it is said that a Brahmin is not a Brahmana until he goes through the triple-cord ceremony: That is his second birth. At his second birth, he is full of knowledge, and well versed in the Sruti, the Veda. Brahma and Brahman are eponyms for Brahmana, Brahmin, and Brahma-Bandhu. Brahmana is one who knows Brahman. BU3.5.1 Brahmana is one who originated from the mouth of Brahma.
Krishna declares: "Every Brahmana is my body, be he learned or unlearned. Even this four-armed form dwelling in Vaikuntha is not dearer to me than a Brahmana. A Brahmana is full of all Vedas, and I too, am full of all Devas." A Brahmana who neglects the Gayatri should not touch Tulsi leaves or take the name of Hari. A twice-born who neglects the Gayatri is like a the lowest Chandala. What will he gain by worshipping Sri Krishna? If a miscreant is born in the family...sin will soon enter relatives of the same gotra...will share his guilt. ... should perform expiation for it. Page 214-215, Principles of Tantra by Woodroffe.
Ramanuja, a Brahmana, is the personification of wisdom, purity, honesty, celibacy, ahimsa, bhakti, prapatti, saranāgati etc. A nominal Brahmana or Brahma-Bandhu is one who can recite and not understand the meaning of the Vedas. Chandogya Upanishad 6.1.1: Brahma-bandhu is not learned in Vedas, who is a Bahmana only by birth. Sāyana compares Brahma-bandhu to one of the lifeless columns that bear the weight of a superstructure or a roof. He is also compared to a donkey that knows the weight, but knows not the fragrance of sandalwood. What the tongue knows, the hand knows not. So also, the one who mouths the Vedas knows not what practitioner or Guru or yogi knows. This Guru is worthy of our worship. According to Tait. UP (1.2.2-3-4-5), the mother, the father, the teacher, the guest, and the Brahmanas are worthy of our worship. It further says that we should ignore any defects in them and only follow what is blameless in them. A Brahmana by birth, if he does no japa or lacks faith in Gayatri, is a Yavana, a foreigner, according Tantra Sastra. Non-recitation of Gayatri is denying the existence of Mantrasakti, which controls Brahmanda (Brahma's egg = Hiranyagarbha = Golden Egg = phenomenal world) and appears as eternal Consciousness. Gayatri may be mere letters and phrases to a non-believer but to a Sadhaka, it illumines his spiritual heart. Mantra carries energy and its contact and friction with the mind in the pit of consciousness generates the light of Brahman illuminating the spiritual heart. Sayings are advisory, but Mantra is the precursor of Sakti. Manta is eternal like Brahman; it wastes not; it decays not; it dies not.
The one who knows the
Imperishable as Brahman is a Brahmana (Brhad Upanishad 3.8.10). The last
statement in the Upanishad absolutely eliminates any doubt that only Brahmins
have the privilege to know the sacred scriptures and learn about Brahman. The
birth caste of a person is irrelevant.
I want to address the question of ahimsa (non-violence) in Hinduism, Jainism and Buddhism. Jain is derived from Sanskrit word Jina, meaning victor: victory over desires and passions and liberation from Samsara. Ahimsa is nonviolence in thought, word, and deed to any living being, including plants. True ahimsa is impracticable. There are certain measures that one can employ to minimize violence. A Jain ascetic sweeps the path couple steps ahead, when he walks, in order not to injure or kill minute insects. He wears a mask over his mouth not only to prevent minute insects from getting into the mouth and dying, but also to soften the impact of the air molecules against the throat and its turbulence. When the monk falls overboard, he does not swim with violent flailing of arms for that causes turbulence and violence to water. He just lets the water currents take him to the shore. This is extreme form of Ahimsa. A Jain feels that his jiva (soul) is a translucent crystal, which becomes progressively opaque from inflow of multi-colored soot of karma. Killing makes the crystal black with no passage of light. He feels that his jiva is contaminated if he eats meat even accidentally. A Buddhist has a more lenient view of ahimsa. If he eats meat accidentally without his knowledge, he is not contaminated. Buddha died from eating poisoned meat unknowingly.
In Puranic literature certain rules have been laid
down with regards to eating of meat. An
ascetic eats only roots, leaves and fallen fruits. Yajnavalkya states in Garuda
Purana (1.97.1-10) that the animal products such as wool and silk are purified
by sprinkling them with a mixture of fresh cow’s urine and hot water.
Consecrated meat on special occasions is fit for consumption without any fear of
accumulating demeritorious karma. Killing animals and eating their meat at other
times guarantee that the eater goes to hell and stays there for as many days as
there are hairs on that animal.
Plants, animals, and human beings have souls, the
difference being the degree of sentience and more correctly the expression of
sentience in these entities. All living entities have sentience
but the degree to which it is expressed is different, man having the highest and
the plants the lowest. All living
entities have one pervading Supreme Soul. Killing a living entity is violating
that Soul in that living entity and by extension the Soul of the meat eater,
which is Atman or Brahman. Discreet violence to plants to the extent to sustain life
without killing of animals is the object of Ahimsa.
Students of Hinduism from both East and West say that there was cow slaughter in ancient times in India. The kings made horse sacrifices (Asvamedha) for various reasons. Asoka, Buddhism and Jainism succeeded only to a certain extent to lessen the horse sacrifices, until it fell into disuse in the ninth century A.D.
17.15:
Speech that is not frightening, truthful, pleasing, salutary, and
(promotes) practice of Vedic recitation, is said to be austerity of word.
17.16:
The serenity of mind, gentleness, silence, self-restraint and purity of
nature are called penance of mind.
17.17:
Three kinds of penance performed with utmost faith by men of yogic pursuits
without expectation of any fruits are called Sattvika.
17.18:
If the motivation for penance is to receive accolade, honor, and
reverential attention, and hypocritical in nature, it is said to be Rajasic and
its gains are unsteady and impermanent.
17.19:
Penance performed with foolish stubbornness and self-hurt or to cause
destruction of others is said to be Tamasic.
17.20:
Charity given to the deserving, who can make no return, in a proper place
and time and to a worthy person, is regarded as sattvic.
17.21:
Charity is regarded Rajasic, when the service is rendered in anticipation
of fruits and unwillingly.
17.22:
Charity given at the wrong place and time to an unworthy person (the
undeserving) without respect and with contempt is said to be Tamasic.
17.23:
OM TAT SAT is regarded as the threefold designation of Brahman.
Accompanying this and at the beginning of creation, the Brahmanas, the Vedas,
and the Sacrifices were decreed.
(The Brāhmanas, the Vedas, and the Yajna were
ordained in the past.)
OM Tat Sat: “AUM That is Truth.” OM is the seed
of all mantras. Prajāpati is the origin of language in this universe and
uttered the very first syllables: bhūh, bhuvah, svah. In the beginning, He
brooded and brooded, and out came AUM. “As all leaves are held together by the
stalk, so all speech is held together by AUM.” Bhūh, bhuvah, svah are
this world, the space, and the beyond, and the fourth (mahah) is the sun and the
Brahman, the Absolute. Prānava (AUM) is insentient. Then why should we
offer worship to it? AUM is the symbol (Prati / substitute) for Brahman and Isvara and therefore
worshipping AUM is as good as offering worship to Brahman or Isvara. OM is
Brahman in sound form; it is natural to conclude that Brahman and AUM are the
same: “That is Truth" (OM Tat Sat). OM is refuge from fear of death.
Please see supplement section to read more on AUM and its association with
states of consciousness: waking, dream, deep sleep, and Turiya.
17.24: Therefore,
Veda-ordained sacrifice, charity, and penance are always initiated by
incantation of AUM by the teachers (expounder) of Brahman.
Brahma-Vādi:
discourser on sacred texts, defender, or expounder of the Vedas
17.25:
Those longing for moksa do sacrifice, penance, and various acts of
charity without seeking the fruits, by incanting "TAT."
17.26:
"SAT" is used in the sense of existence and goodness. The sound
"SAT,” O Partha is used for auspicious action.
Prasasthē: auspicious
17.27:
Firmness in sacrifice, penance, and charity is also called
"SAT." The act serving the purpose of the Supreme is called
"SAT."
17.28:
Whatever offering, gift, penance, or any other act performed without
faith is called "ASAT." It is null and void here or hereafter (after
death).
Taittiriya Upanishad (1.11.3) says that faith, plenty, modesty, fear, and sympathy are the five rules of gift giving.
Prēthya:
after death, next world, in the life to come, hereafter
End
BG Chapter 17 Gunas and Faith