(Image Courtesy Mahanidhiswami)

The Mode Of Ignorance Masks The Living Being’s Intellect The Yearning For Happiness Now Manifests Itself In Unusual Ways

सत्त्वं सुखे सञ्जयति रज: कर्मणि भारत |
ज्ञानमावृत्य तु तम: प्रमादे सञ्जयत्युत || 14.9||

sattvaṁ sukhe sañjayati rajaḥ karmaṇi bhārata
jñānam āvṛitya tu tamaḥ pramāde sañjayaty uta|| 14.9||

Shloka Translation
BG – Ch. 13- Ver. 9:

Sattva binds through joy, rajas through activity, O Bhaarata, whereas tamas binds through heedlessness and disguises knowledge.

Explanation

The hardships of material existence are reduced in the mode of virtue, and worldly appetites are tamed. This leads to a sense of contentment with one’s current situation. This is a positive thing, but it may also be detrimental. Those who are good may get complacent and have no desire to advance to the transcendental platform. Sattva guna also provides wisdom to the intellect. Knowledge leads to pride if it is not accompanied with spiritual wisdom, and pride gets in the way of devotion to God.

The souls are compelled to engage in intensive action while they are in the mode of passion. Their attachment to the world, as well as their preferences for pleasure, prestige, prosperity, and physiological comforts, drives them to work hard in order to achieve these goals, which they regard as the most essential in life. Rajo guna heightens the attraction between a man and a woman, as well as generating lust.

To pacify that lust, a man and a woman get into a married partnership and establish a family. They begin to work hard for economic development because the care of the residence produces a demand for riches. They are very active, yet each action generates karmas, which bond them to material life even more. The manner of ignorance conceals the living being’s intellect. Happiness now manifests itself in a strange way.

Verse & what we can learn

In this shloka, Shri Krishna summarizes the attributes of the three gunaas. Sattva bonds us by causing us to cling to the joy we feel after achieving a sense object. Rajas tie us by making us happy when we perform things and see the effects of those actions. Tamas binds us by providing us pleasure in clinging to sloth and indifference.

We begin by allowing the mind to rest in a tranquil sattvic condition. Rajas deteriorates into tamas as a tint of rajas enters, leading us to think about some sense object. When our anger reaches a point where it leads us to lose our intelligence and memory, we have reached the bottom of the ladder of fall.

We can progress from tamas to rajas to sattva, but it will take some time. Immersing oneself in action will lift someone mired in tamas to the level of rajas. Rajas is elevated to the level of sattva when action is focused and directed toward the achievement of a selfless aim.

To acquire knowledge and to implement that knowledge in life one needs to be mentally and physically active and healthy and for that daily meditation is a great tool.

There are various types of meditation like Buddhist meditation, heartfulness meditation, mindfulness meditation, meditation for stress, and each meditation benefits are countless. There is also numerous meditation techniques for beginners which help in practicing daily meditation so go ahead and start your journey towards a peaceful and balanced life.

In the next shloka Shri Krishna talks more about the trigunas.

Let’s learn to live with “The Gita” via Meditation Affinity…