17🔗

Arjuna asks: ‘Kṛṣṇa, those who discard the ordinances of the scriptures, śāstras and perform sacrifices, what is their position? Is it sātvic, rājasic or tāmasic? What is the state of people who don't follow the instructions of the scriptures, the ancient books, and instead worship with śraddha, authenticity according to their own beliefs? Is it rajas, tamas or satva? Are they in a peaceful (sātvic) state, restless (rājasic) state or an ignorant (tāmasic) state?’

Worship can occur at many levels. Arjuna’s question is based upon the three attributes or guṇas. Worship is also dependent on our energy levels. Many people are comfortable worshipping at the physical level, the gross level, through techniques such as pūjā, going to temples to worship the deities, bathing in holy rivers, etc. From an energy point of view, these are linked to the earth energy and the water energy.

At another level of energy, one may perform fire sacrifices such as yajña or homa. These are related to the fire energy.

The energy of air, vāyu can be accessed through breathing techniques such as prāṇāyāma or chanting of verses.

It is possible to access the etheric energy, ākāśa through meditation, though this requires understanding and awareness.

Each form of worship or sacrifice is based upon one’s aptitude and inclination.

within the body. When we are born, we carry within us the vāsanā, the essence of the mental cognition or bio-memory from our past lives. This comes with the prārabdha karma (unfulfilled actions from past lives) and the saṁskāras (root thought patterns), that drive our mental makeup and actions throughout our present lives. In turn, guṇas or the attributes we are born with are determined.

. According to Kṛṣṇa, the attitude, the space or the last thought with which we left our body carries over to our next birth and the next body that our spirit moves into.

Hence we are born with a natural inclination based upon our last life and attitude. Depending on the attitude, we may have the attribute of satva, goodness, rajas, aggression, or tamas, ignorance as our driving nature.

Śraddha here refers to the faith that comes out of authenticity in action or good work. Yet pure goodness goes beyond all material acts. It is transcendental. Hence there is nothing like fully good, completely good in material life.

An Enlightened Master goes beyond the three guṇas of satva, rajas and tamas. He transcends these attributes because he burns out all his vāsanās, saṁskāras and karmas, of which these triguṇas are a product. An Enlightened Master has no bondages. He is not bound by desires, greed, fear or attachment. He is beyond the illusion of material existence.

Kṛṣṇa says that our style of worship depends upon our nature— sattvānurūpā sarvasya śraddhā bhavati bhārata (17.3). A person established in satva worships devatas (deities, gods) who are peaceful— yajante sāttvikā devān. A person established in rajas worships yakṣas (supernatural beings) and rākṣasas (demons)—yakṣa-rakṣāṁsi rājasāḥ. A person established in tamas (ignorance) worships pretas (spirits of the dead) and bhūtas (ghosts)—pretān bhūta-gaṇāṁś cānye yajante tāmasā janāḥ (17.4).

In the last verse, He says, ‘Please do not punish your body. You not only punish yourself, but you also punish Me because I reside in you— mām caiva antaḥ śarīra-stham’. 17.7 Food that we consume is of three kinds, according to the three types of material nature. These are the sacrifice, austerity and charity. Listen to the difference between these three. Before we discuss these verses, let me explain the three different types of śraddha based on what we are.

Please understand that one group of people is completely negative. They lack integrity, the space of positivity. They only doubt, doubt and doubt. They doubt themselves and others. They have decided not to believe in anything. They have decided not to raise themselves in their lives. They remain dumb in self-doubt. We can’t do anything with them. This is the first group.

The second group consists of people who positively believe, who are integrated, but do not practice authenticity, the space of possibility. They build the pattern of impossibility. They continuously resist expansion. Understand, while on the surface they believe that they are confronted by patterns and limitations imposed by their patterns, deep down inside them, they actually resist expansion. Just see, look around the society. Everything is nothing but the resistance to expansion.

The third group of people believes and practices authenticity, the space of possibility with responsibility. For them, life is all about making the impossible into I-M-Possible.

There are three groups. One group is in self-doubt. Even the word doubt is too good to describe it. They are in self-denial. They are prejudiced. This group is in tamas. The next group is the believers. They are in rajas. The third group is authentic. This group is in satva. Kṛṣṇa beautifully explains the differences between the prejudiced group in self-denial, the believers with positivity and the authentic group with possibility. He then talks about their ways of life, character and how we can achieve the authenticity of satva and imbibe the truths explained in the Gītā.

Now, we will enter into the technology of experiencing the authenticity, the technology of Kṛṣṇa consciousness.

The result of my words on your consciousness decides whether what I spoke is the truth or a lie. Understand, you don’t need to do it completely or perfectly. Having the courage of authenticity to experiment with a clear decision that you will expand your possibility is enough.

Practicing integrity creates the space of positivity in you, and practicing authenticity creates the space of possibility in you. The clear decision that you will continuously expand your possibility for you and you will not be satisfied with what you are now, is more than enough! You do not need any other separate practice.

Please understand, the gap between your desire and your responsibility is your inauthenticity. Bring more and more authenticity. Take more and more responsibility. So, when you take responsibility, sit by creating the space and be ready to sacrifice. The world will simply move based on your word! The world will move as you want!

17.8 The foods that promote longevity, virtue, strength, health, happiness and joy are juicy, smooth, substantial and nutritious. Such foods are liked by persons in the mode of goodness.

17.9 People in the mode of aggression like foods that are very bitter, sour, salty, hot, pungent, dry, and burning, and which cause pain, grief and disease.

17.10 People in the mode of ignorance like foods that are stale, tasteless, putrid, rotten, refuse and of impure energy.

Kṛṣṇa explains here about the energy of various food substances. Generally, all food that is not from plants i.e., from animal origin, has negative energy. Food that is hot and spicy tends to aggravate desires. Vegetarian food that is fresh and not spicy is ideal for spiritual practices.

In our Nithya Spiritual Healing system, it is essential that the healers become vegetarians and give up substances such as alcohol, tobacco, drugs, etc. I have nothing against alcohol or meat. I have no theories about cruelty to animals and so on. Plants also have life, just perhaps not at the same frequency. So if one argues from the point of cruelty to animals, eating vegetables also is cruelty to plants. This system is based on deep meditative techniques. For the meditative energy to be effective, negative energy substances should not be used. I have seen that these meditations do not go together with meat as well as with tobacco and alcohol. If healers eat meat, smoke or drink, they are affected physiologically and psychologically.

Any serious meditation technique requires one to be in the energy field. The word āhāra used by Kṛṣṇa can be expanded to mean food for all senses, not merely for the tongue. All sensory inputs need to be of the same description that Kṛṣṇa uses here, promoting ‘longevity, virtue, strength, health, happiness and joy’ to aid one’s progress in one’s spiritual path by the sātvic route.

Kṛṣṇa outlines a more general classification based upon the purity and nature of food. Kṛṣṇa explains that tāmasic food, putrid and stale, is forbidden for consumption by vedic tradition. The injunction is to eat food within a few hours of cooking. Beyond that, the food should be discarded.

Eat fresh food in silence and with completion and gratitude. Pay attention to each morsel of food and eat with gratitude and love.

17.11 Sacrifice without expectation of results, as stipulated in the scriptures, with a firm belief and conviction that it is a duty, is in the mode of goodness.

17.12 O Arjuna, that sacrifice that is performed with expectation of result or for show out of pride, is of the nature of aggression.

17.13 Sacrifice that is performed without following the scripture, in which no food is distributed, which is devoid of mantra, authenticity, and gift, is said to be in the mode of ignorance.

Please understand that an enriching sacrifice is not measured by how much we give. It is measured by how much we give that we cannot afford to give. It is measured by how much we give when it hurts us to give

and that too without any expectation in return. Such an enriching sacrifice straightaway leads to liberation. That vāsanā of generosity stays with their spirit. There is no doubt in this.

However, that charity will be in the mode of rajas, not satva. When people move from this rajas state of giving to the satva state of giving, wealth seeks them out. Lakṣmī, the goddess of wealth comes to them without being asked! 17.14 The worship of deities, the priest, the Guru, and the wise; purity, honesty, living in reality, and nonviolence are said to be austerity of deed.

17.15 Speech that is non-offensive, truthful, pleasant, beneficial, and is used for the regular study of scriptures is called austerity of word.

17.16 Serenity of mind, gentleness, equanimity, self-control, and purity of thought are called austerity of thought.

17.17 The above mentioned threefold austerity (of thought, word and deed), practiced by Yogīs with supreme authenticity, without a desire for the fruit, is said to be in the mode of goodness.

17.18 Austerity that is performed for gaining respect, honor, reverence, and for the sake of show, yielding an uncertain and temporary result, is said to be in the mode of aggression.

17.19 Austerity performed with foolish stubbornness or with self-torture or for harming others, is said to be in the mode of ignorance.

Bhagavan Kṛṣṇa says that the people who are in rajas carry out sacrifices for the sake of respect, honor and worship. When they do penance or sacrifice in this manner, it is unstable. When people don’t respect them, they stop doing it. They do it as long as people fall at their feet. If the respect is lost, they stop their tapasyā.

Penance performed with the view of obtaining any result, even a noble ideal like Enlightenment is a result...is in the mode of rajas, aggression or passion. Only when it is in the nature of total surrender, with no expectation of any results, it is in satva and of spiritual value.

Bhāgavatam says that people who explain or enrich others by sharing the Truth, such as Śrī Kṛṣṇa, are Incarnations. Incarnations still landing on planet Earth to make all of you enlightened is nothing but the Universe practicing responsibility. Even after so much torture and abuse by human beings, enlightened beings and Incarnations are continuing to enrich planet Earth; this is nothing but the cosmos deciding to do whatever it takes to enrich all of you.

Listen, only my integrity and authenticity makes me an Enlightened being. Only my commitment to taking responsibility and enriching all of you, makes me an Incarnation!

Sukha Brahma says beautifully: Soundaryatva, Tejavastva, Sārasvatya, and the power, lakṣmītva. Soundaryatva means that if we see them, we will automatically feel like sitting and listening to them. We will automatically feel like turning around once more to capture their grace! That which simply attracts our mind is soundaryatva.

The next attribute is tejas, a sharp radiating energy and clarity. The third is sārasvatya. This means that no matter how difficult a concept or idea is, they can explain it in a simple way. It merely flows from their tongue where Sarasvatī (goddess of knowledge) resides.

Above all is Lakṣmītva. This means that just by their thought, wealth and work will happen. Everything happens according to how they want it to happen. When somebody radiates all four of these qualities, he is an Incarnation.

Bhagavān Kṛṣṇa says a spiritual person should use pleasing words and not agitate others. When we do not agitate others, we will not be arrogant. See, this is not even a social morality. This is a spiritual practice.

Kṛṣṇa says to study spiritual literature regularly. By regularly studying scriptural literature, these ideas go again and again into our brain. Consequently, we acquire the courage to experiment and live the truth.

Kṛṣṇa talks about austerity in action, śarīraṁ tapa as well. He speaks about the five conditions that are also in Patañjali’s Aṣṭāṅga Yoga as the five disciplines of yama: satya, ahiṁsā, asteya, aparigṛha and brahmacarya. These mean truth in thoughts, words and deeds embodying nonviolence, non-covetousness, simplicity and living in reality with the focus on the Supreme as the ultimate in any kind of penance.

Dāna, charity is sharing out of the space of enriching. It is not done with the attitude of giving. It is done with the attitude of sharing and not expecting good results because of it or some easy route into heaven because of it. Charity is done out of love and gratitude.

There are three kinds of dāna.

Understand, annadāna means giving to enrich with food, clothes and whatever is related to someone's physical needs.

Next is vidyādāna. This means giving to enrich with education and also whatever someone needs for mental growth. For example, when somebody is depressed, if you enrich him with some consoling ideas, this is vidyādāna. If somebody does not know how to clean a room and you teach him, this is vidyādāna. If somebody does not know how to cut grass and you teach him, this is vidyādāna.

And the third kind is jñānadāna, giving to enrich with spiritual knowledge.

If we give annadāna, we satisfy a person for three hours. After three hours, again he needs food. If we give vidyādāna, education or knowledge, he will have food for himself for one life. If we give education, he can earn food for himself. He will make money and buy food for himself. If we give jñānadāna, we will satisfy that person birth after birth!

One more point is that the person who gives loses nothing with jñānadāna. With all other dāna, the person who gives has a little less. In annadāna, he who gives will lose and he who receives will gain. In vidyādāna, the giver does not lose. He retains the same level. In jñānadāna, I tell you a secret, the more you share, the more it grows in you! The more you enrich others with the science of completion, the more you grow in completion. It is a win-win situation. Here, you receive automatically. It grows in the person who shares and enriches.

There are others whose charity it is better not to accept. Kṛṣṇa refers to this as giving in ignorance, tamas. People will come with money not declared for tax as earned income and gift that to the ashram. They will use it as a tax saving strategy. What for?

Often, disciples ask why I am not accepting donations from very wealthy people who come to the ashram seeking help. Unless the person stays with me for a year or more and shows his integrity, authenticity and responsibility towards enriching the mission, it is difficult to accept anything from that person. Why become bonded to people whose motives are not merely selfish but self-defeating?

Please understand that all kinds of food, penance, sacrifice or charity fall into the basic three categories explained by Kṛṣṇa—sātvic, rājasic and tāmasic. These translate as the modes of goodness, passion

and ignorance. But the important thing is that as long as they are done in the materialistic world, they are conditioned. When they are done from the space of completion with the attitude of gratitude to the Divine and Existence, only then you encounter spiritual progress or spiritual elevation. Our scriptures explain that anything done in the nature of rajas or tamas cannot give the ultimate result. Only the act done from the space of satva or goodness gives the final result. One who does such acts without this awareness has temporary results but not the final result.

Commit to complete with yourself and others. When I say 'others', I don't mean only the friends and family and relatives who are present in your life. Complete with your kula devatā (family deity), complete with your kula guru (family guru), complete with your house, complete with the plants with which you are living, complete with your pet, complete with the different energies of the Cosmos, complete with everything! Continuously complete and continuously enrich others!

The real scale and measure of your completion is whether you are able to move the others' space and enrich others and life continuously. If you are not enriching constantly, be very clear, the completion has not yet happened in you.

I tell you, when completion happened in me, I just realized the authentic selflessness, śraddha. All our selflessness is also packed in our selfishness. All our selflessness is packed in our selfishness. When I completed, I discovered the authentic selflessness and enriching which never tires me. If you are getting tired, please be very clear, still you have incompletions in you. You have to complete! You have to complete!

Listen! This is the scale—having a tireless mind. The being happened in me is just because my enriching is out of pure selflessness. I tell you, once you complete, you will suddenly realize, 'Why should I live now?'— 'For enriching! Nothing else...Nothing else!' Complete! Complete! Complete!

The three words ‘Oṁ Tat Sat ‘are the words of the Divine.

This is why these words have such great importance or significance. Any person doing enriching or working with the space of addressing Oṁ Tat Sat will be with Existence, the Divine consciousness.

These three words simply imply: 'I offer all to that Truth. I surrender everything to that Divine. Let that be the Truth.' This is the Mahā-vākya, the great truth, handed down by the Master to Arjuna as the technique to ensure śraddha, authenticity in all activities of sacrifice, austerity and charity.

Let us all experience Śraddha, the authenticity and imbibe and experience the truths of Parabrahma Kṛṣṇa.

Let us pray to Him to give us all the authenticity and experience of the truth that He is teaching through the Gītā, to all of us, and let Him make us experience and establish ourselves in Eternal Bliss, Nityānanda!

Thus ends the seventeenth chapter named Śraddhatraya Vibhāga Yogaḥ, ‘The Yoga of Discerning the Three-Fold Faith,’ of the Bhagavad Gītā Upaniṣad, Brahmavidyā Yogaśāstra, the scripture of yoga dealing with the science of the Absolute in the form of Śrī Kṛṣṇārjuna saṁvād, dialogue between Śrī Kṛṣṇa and Arjuna.

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