Bhagavad-gita As It Is - Macmillan 1972 Edition -- Prabhupada Books (102 page)

PURPORT

In this verse the results of actions in the three modes of nature are more explicitly set forth. There is an upper planetary system, consisting of the heavenly planets, where everyone is highly elevated. According to the degree of development of the mode of goodness, the living entity can be transferred to various planets in this system. The highest planet is Satyaloka, or Brahmaloka, where the prime person of this universe, Lord Brahmā, resides. We have seen already that we can hardly calculate the wondrous condition of life in Brahmaloka, but the highest condition of life, the mode of goodness, can bring us to this.

The mode of passion is mixed. It is in the middle, between the modes of goodness and ignorance. A person is not always pure, but even if he should be purely in the mode of passion, he will simply remain on this earth as a king or a rich man. But because there are mixtures, one can also go down. People on this earth, in the modes of passion or ignorance, cannot forcibly approach the higher planets by machine. In the mode of passion, there is also the chance of becoming mad in the next life.

The lowest quality, the mode of ignorance, is described here as abominable. The result of developing ignorance is very, very risky. It is the lowest quality in material nature. Beneath the human level there are eight million species of life: birds, beasts, reptiles, trees, etc., and, according to the development of the mode of ignorance, people are brought down to these abominable conditions. The word
tāmasāḥ
is very significant here.
Tāmasāḥ
indicates those who stay continually in the mode of ignorance without rising to a higher mode. Their future is very dark.

There is opportunity for men in the modes of ignorance and passion to be elevated to the mode of goodness, and that system is called Kṛṣṇa consciousness. But one who does not take advantage of this opportunity certainly will continue in the lower modes.

Bg 14.19

TEXT 19

TEXT

nānyaṁ guṇebhyaḥ kartāraṁ

yadā draṣṭānupaśyati

guṇebhyaś ca paraṁ vetti

mad-bhāvaṁ so 'dhigacchati

SYNONYMS

na-
never;
anyam-
other than;
guṇebhyaḥ
-from the qualities;
kartāram
-the performer;
yadā
-when;
draṣṭā anupaśyati-
he who sees properly;
guṇebhyaḥ ca-
from the modes of nature;
param-
transcendental;
vetti-
know;
mat-bhāvam-
My spiritual nature;
saḥ
-he;
adhigacchati-
is promoted.

TRANSLATION

When you see that there is nothing beyond these modes of nature in all activities and that the Supreme Lord is transcendental to all these modes, then you can know My spiritual nature.

PURPORT

One can transcend all the activities of the modes of material nature simply by understanding them properly by learning from the proper souls. The real spiritual master is Kṛṣṇa, and He is imparting this spiritual knowledge to Arjuna. Similarly, it is from those who are fully in Kṛṣṇa consciousness that one has to learn this science of activities in terms of the modes of nature. Otherwise, one's life will be misdirected. By the instruction of a bona fide spiritual master, a living entity can know of his spiritual position, his material body, his senses, how he is entrapped, and how he is under the spell of the material modes of nature. He is helpless, being in the grip of these modes, but when he can see his real position, then he can attain to the transcendental platform, having the scope for spiritual life. Actually, the living entity is not the performer of different activities. He is forced to act because he is situated in a particular type of body, conducted by some particular mode of material nature. Unless one has the help of spiritual authority, he cannot understand in what position he is actually situated. With the association of a bona fide spiritual master, he can see his real position, and, by such an understanding, he can become fixed in full Kṛṣṇa consciousness. A man in Kṛṣṇa consciousness is not controlled by the spell of the material modes of nature. It has already been stated in the Seventh Chapter that one who has surrendered to Kṛṣṇa is relieved from the activities of material nature. Therefore for one who is able to see things as they are, the influence of material nature gradually ceases.

Bg 14.20

TEXT 20

TEXT

guṇān etān atītya trīn

dehī deha-samudbhavān

janma-mṛtyu-jarā-duḥkhair

vimukto 'mṛtam aśnute

SYNONYMS

guṇān-
qualities;
etān-
all these;
atītya-
transcending;
trīn-
three;
dehī-
body;
deha-
body;
samudbhavān-
produced of;
janma-
birth;
mṛtyu-
death;
jarā-
old age;
duḥkhaiḥ-
distresses;
vimuktaḥ-
being freed from;
amṛtam-
nectar;
aśnute-
enjoys.

TRANSLATION

When the embodied being is able to transcend these three modes, he can become free from birth, death, old age and their distresses and can enjoy nectar even in this life.

PURPORT

How one can stay in the transcendental position, even in this body, in full Kṛṣṇa consciousness, is explained in this verse. The Sanskrit word
dehī
means embodied. Although one is within this material body, by his advancement in spiritual knowledge he can be free from the influence of the modes of nature. He can enjoy the happiness of spiritual life even in this body because, after leaving this body, he is certainly going to the spiritual sky. But even in this body he can enjoy spiritual happiness. In other words, devotional service in Kṛṣṇa consciousness is the sign of liberation from this material entanglement, and this will be explained in the Eighteenth Chapter. When one is freed from the influence of the modes of material nature, he enters into devotional service.

Bg 14.21

TEXT 21

TEXT

arjuna uvāca

kair liṅgais trīn guṇān etān

atīto bhavati prabho

kim ācāraḥ kathaṁ caitāṁs

trīn guṇān ativartate

SYNONYMS

arjunaḥ uvāca-
Arjuna said;
kaiḥ-
by which;
liṅgaiḥ-
symptoms;
trīn-
three;
guṇān
-qualities;
etān-
all this;
atītaḥ-
transcend;
bhavati-
become;
prabho-
my Lord;
kim-
what;
ācāraḥ-
behavior;
katham-
what;
ca-
also;
etān-
these;
trīn-
three;
guṇān-
qualities;
ativartate-
transcend.

TRANSLATION

Arjuna inquired: O my dear Lord, by what symptoms is one known who is transcendental to those modes? What is his behavior? And how does he transcend the modes of nature?

PURPORT

In this verse, Arjuna's questions are very appropriate. He wants to know the symptoms of a person who has already transcended the material modes. He first inquires of the symptoms of such a transcendental person. How can one understand that he has already transcended the influence of the modes of material nature? The second question asks how he lives and what his activities are. Are they regulated or nonregulated? Then Arjuna inquires of the means by which he can attain the transcendental nature. That is very important. Unless one knows the direct means by which one can be situated always transcendentally, there is no possibility of showing the symptoms. So all these questions put by Arjuna are very important, and the Lord answers them.

Bg 14.22, Bg 14.23, Bg 14.24, Bg 14.25, Bg 14.22-25

TEXTS 22-25

TEXT

śrī-bhagavān uvāca

prakāśaṁ ca pravṛttiṁ ca

moham eva ca pāṇḍava

na dveṣṭi sampravṛttāni

na nivṛttāni kāṅkṣati

guṇair yo na vicālyate

guṇā vartanta ity evaṁ

yo 'vatiṣṭhati neṅgate

sama-loṣṭāśma-kāñcanaḥ

tulya-priyāpriyo dhīras

tulya-nindātma-saṁstutiḥ

tulyo mitrāri-pakṣayoḥ

sarvārambha-parityāgī

guṇātītaḥ sa ucyate

SYNONYMS

śrī bhagavān uvāca-
the Supreme Personality of Godhead said;
prakāśam ca-
and illumination;
pravṛttim ca-
and attachment;
moham-
illusion;
eva ca-
also;
pāṇḍava
-O son of Pāṇḍu;
na dveṣṭi
-does not hate;
sampravṛttāni-
although developed;
na nivṛttāni-
nor stop development;
kāṅkṣati-
desires;
udāsīnavat-
as if neutral;
āsīnaḥ
-situated;
guṇaiḥ-
by the qualities;
yaḥ
-one who;
na
-never;
vicālyate
-is agitated;
guṇāḥ
-the qualities;
vartante
-is situated;
iti evam
-knowing thus;
yaḥ
-one who;
avatiṣṭhati-
remains;
na
-never;
iṅgate
-flickering;
sama
-equally;
duḥkha-
in distress;
sukhaḥ-
in happiness;
svasthaḥ
-being situated himself;
sama
-equally;
loṣṭa-
a lump of earth;
aśma
-stone;
kāñcanaḥ
-gold;
tulya
-equally disposed;
priya-
dear;
apriyaḥ-
undesirable;
dhīraḥ-
steadily;
tulya
-equally;
nindā-
in defamation;
ātma-saṁstutiḥ-
in praise of himself;
māna-
honor;
apamānayoḥ-
dishonor;
tulyaḥ-
equally;
tulyaḥ-
equally;
mitra-
friend;
ari-
enemy;
pakṣayoḥ-
in party;
sarva-
all;
ārambhaḥ-
endeavor;
parityāgī
-renouncer;
guṇa-atītaḥ-
transcendental to the material modes of nature;
saḥ
-he;
ucyate
-is said to be.

TRANSLATION

The Blessed Lord said: He who does not hate illumination, attachment and delusion when they are present, nor longs for them when they disappear; who is seated like one unconcerned, being situated beyond these material reactions of the modes of nature, who remains firm, knowing that the modes alone are active; who regards alike pleasure and pain, and looks on a clod, a stone and a piece of gold with an equal eye; who is wise and holds praise and blame to be the same; who is unchanged in honor and dishonor, who treats friend and foe alike, who has abandoned all fruitive undertakings-such a man is said to have transcended the modes of nature.

PURPORT

Arjuna submitted the three different questions, and the Lord answers them one after another. In these verses, Kṛṣṇa first indicates that a person transcendentally situated neither envies anyone nor hankers for anything. When a living entity stays in this material world embodied by the material body, it is to be understood that he is under the control of one of the three modes of material nature. When he is actually out of the body, then he is out of the clutches of the material modes of nature. But as long as he is not out of the material body, he should be neutral. He should engage himself in the devotional service of the Lord so that his identity with the material body will automatically be forgotten. When one is conscious of the material body, he acts only for sense gratification, but when one transfers the consciousness to Kṛṣṇa, sense gratification automatically stops. One does not need this material body, and he does not need to accept the dictations of the material body. The qualities of the material modes in the body will act, but as spirit soul the self is aloof from such activities. How does he become aloof? He does not desire to enjoy the body, nor does he desire to get out of it. Thus transcendentally situated, the devotee becomes automatically free. He need not try to become free from the influence of the modes of material nature.

The next question concerns the dealings of a transcendentally situated person. The materially situated person is affected by so-called honor and dishonor offered to the body, but the transcendentally situated person is not affected by such false honor and dishonor. He performs his duty in Kṛṣṇa consciousness and does not mind whether a man honors or dishonors him. He accepts things that are favorable for his duty in Kṛṣṇa consciousness, otherwise he has no necessity of anything material, either a stone or gold. He takes everyone as his dear friend who helps him in his execution of Kṛṣṇa consciousness, and he does not hate his so-called enemy. He is equally disposed and sees everything on an equal level because he knows perfectly well that he has nothing to do with material existence. Social and political issues do not affect him because he knows the situation of temporary upheavals and disturbances. He does not attempt anything for his own sake. He can attempt anything for Kṛṣṇa, but for his personal self he does not attain anything. By such behavior one becomes actually transcendentally situated.

Bg 14.26

TEXT 26

TEXT

māṁ ca yo 'vyabhicāreṇa

bhakti-yogena sevate

sa guṇān samatītyaitān

brahma-bhūyāya kalpate