My Wanderings - 97 Shrimad Bhagwathgita as I understood it to rediscover my Late father Dr.Sham Lal Kaul, who was an ardent follower and personification of its ideals Part - 7
Arjuna - Krishna what is the state of those people , who disregard the commands of the Shastras but do yagas with faith? In which of the three Gunas they are classified.
Krishna- The faith of all people is of three kinds, depending upon their individual nature. Although the three Gunas ,sattva, Rajas and Tamas belong to the body and senses but they generate in the soul, the subtle impressions of previous births (purva janam vasna ) which leads to taste for certain things (Ruchi) . If a person has taste for a thing , he develops faith in it i.e in attaining that thing. So faith also is of three kinds , marked by sattva, rajas and tamas. If a person has sattvik mind, he develops faith in doing satvik type of things and if he has rajas mind , he gets faith in doing rajas type of works and so on. In other words, the Vasna from previous births creates ruchi for an object and thus the particular guna , sattva, rajas or tamas becomes predominant. Every person is full of faith for particular classes or types of things , depending upon his guna.
Persons , who have sattva guna and sattvika faith , worship the Devas, by doing yagas etc. with out any desire for fruits and knowing that the lord is the inner soul of these Devas. They get extreme happiness , with out any pain or misery.
Those who have a rajas guna , worship yakhshas and rakhshasas. People who are having the tamoguna worship dead bodies and bhutas, who serve Rudra etc.
The faith arising from rajoguna results only in slight happiness, mixed with pain. The faith arising from tamoguna results only in very slight happiness but severe and excessive pain.
Those people who perform terrible and difficult tapas , but not ordained by the shastras , perform with very great effort yagas etc. Which are not prescribed by shastras , are only interested in showing off to others, that they are righteous people and only they can perform such a difficult yagas to achieve the desired results. They work against my commands . They do not get any happiness and fall into impure hell.
Even the food which is dear to all beings, is of three kinds, being connected with the three Gunas. Similarly , the yajna , tapas and giving of gifts are also of three kinds as per the Gunas.
The yajna, which is performed by people with out desire for fruits, with the firm conviction that it should be done ,as worship of the Lord, as prescribed in shastras with appropriate mantras and materials. Such a yajna is of satvik type. That yajna which is performed with a desire for fruits, performed for earning name and fame from others, such yajna is of rajas type.
The yajna which is done , without the permission of Brahmins , who are learned , with out using proper materials ,without chanting proper mantras and with out proper faith . Such yajna is called tamsa type.
The acts of yajnas, tapas prescribed in vedas always begun after chanting 'OM' . The Vedas are also begun after chanting OM.
Vedas and vedic rituals , like yajna, tapas etc. are all connected with Om.The people who read the vedas are also connected with Om as they study the vedas after chanting OM.
People fit to recite Vedas , who desire only Moksha and not any other fruit do the various acts of reciting vedas, doing yajnas or tapas after uttering the word ' Tath '.
Such vedic rituals are helpful in attaining me, the lord. So these acts are denoted by word Tath , which is the name of lord. ( Tath is one of the thousand names in vishnu sahastrinaam).
The word ' SAT ' is used in the Vedas , and also in the world , to denote existence and auspiciousness . In this world also, if some auspicious or praiseworthy work is done by a person, people call it as a 'sat karma ' i.e good work. The word' Sat ' is used for Vedic Karmas, by those whose object is not Moksha but other fruits like swarga , wealth and prosperity.
Then Arjuna requests Shrikrishna to tell him about the difference between Tyaga and Sanyasa as both have been declared in veda as means to Moksha . Are they same or different.
Krishna - Some scholars say that Sanyasa means giving up the performance of all 'Kamya' karmas, which are not compulsory and which are done to achieve worldly desires. Not doing the Kamya karma is not sin. Some other wise people say that tyaga means giving up the fruits of all works, whether they are compulsory like nitya and naimitika karma or optional like Kamya karmas. However, both the words Sanyasa and the Tyaga have the same meaning.
Yajna , giving of gifts and tapas etc.which have been prescribed in the vedas , should never be given up by a person , who desires Moksha , but should be done daily till death . They are connected with the caste and ashrama , brahamchari grahasti etc. The performance of such yajnas etc. destroys the previous karmas of a person who desires Moksha.
Actually Tyaga means giving up the sense of doership , attachment and fruits in regard to karmas and not giving up the Karmas themselves. It is not for any living person , who has to maintain the body, to give up work completely. He has to eat, for which he has to do work and earn. So work can not be given up.
Arjuna learn from me the five causes , which are responsible for producing all actions , as taught in the Vedas. The five causes are 1.Body 2.Doer, i.e Soul 3. Five senses of action i.e Karama indriyas and the mind 4.five fold prana moving about in the body and 5. Supreme Brahmin. Of the five causes mentioned above , the fifth cause i.e Supreme Brahman , who is the internal ruler of all ,is the principal cause , in carrying out the work.
The karma or work which is done in accordance with one's caste and ashrama , as prescribed in the shastras, with out desire of fruits like swarga , without thinking that he is the doer and that the work belongs to him, without desire for fame and praise from others , not because of aversion to criticism by others , if the work is not done, with out pomp and show , with the firm belief that karma has to be done as a duty, such a karma is called sattvika.
That work which is done with a desire for fruits , wrongly thinking he is the doer, thinking with pride that the work, which requires a great deal of exertion, is being done by him only , such karma is called rajas.
That karma which is started by delusion, thinking that he is the doer, not knowing that the Lord actually gets the thing done through him , without considering the pain which follows from the work done , loss of wealth in doing the work, injury caused to other beings and without knowing his own capacity to do the work . Such work is called tamsa.
According to vedic teachings Lord Narayana is the supreme Brahman, having innumerable auspicious qualities like knowledge , strength valour and so on, all of which are excellent and unbounded. He alone is to be known from all Vedas and Vedanta . He alone is the cause of the universe . All works mentioned in the Vedas constitute His worship . He alone grants all the worldly fruits and mokhsha I.e dharma, artha, Kama and mokhsha .
The supreme Lord , the Narayana , who rules over all, dwells in the region of heart of all beings. He mounts all beings on the machine, which is in the form of body and indriyas (these are modification of Prakriti ) and revolves them round and round .How?
All beings have three Gunas, sattva, rajas and tamas, in different proportions , based on their past karmas. The Lord makes them act according to their Gunas, by means of Prakriti and thus revolves them round and round in world.. Since the prakriti can not be conquered by your own efforts seek refuge in me alone , with all your heart and soul.
There are three stages in the development of devotion or worship of God. The first stage is called Parabhakti , which means excellent and excessive devotion to the Lord, after obtaining from Shastras , the true knowledge about the Lord and his greatness. Such a devotion leads to an intense desire to have a direct vision of the Lord. Then by God's grace,
the devotee gets a direct vision of the Lord . This is the second stage called the Para- gyana . After this stage , it is impossible for the devotee , to bear further separation from the Lord. This is the third stage of devotion called paramabhakti which is brought about by the supreme devotion to the lord. After this, by the Lord's grace, he attains the Lord.
Om tat sat bramho .
Lastly , while giving tribute to my Late father Dr. Sham Lal Kaul , who lived a purposeful life according to the ideals and practice of Shrimad Bhagwath Gita , Vedas and other related shastras and with extreme devotion to the Lord . His life was a fair mix of Karma yoga, gyan yoga and Bhakhti yoga. He was an epitome of Tyaga . He had given up sense of doership of works, possession of property and attachment towards fruits of karma , without leaving karmas themselves. Having a sattvik personality , his tyaga was also sattvik. He remained a Parambhakhta of Lord till the last breath of his life. Shrikrishna says in Shrimadbhagwadgita that he who remembers me at the last moment of his life, attains me only.
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