Bhagavad Gita Ch14 part 12 on 20 June 2021

Full Transcript(Not Corrected)

OM VASUDE VASUDAM DEVAM KAMSA CHAANURA MARTANAM DEVAKI PARAMANANDAM KRISHNAM VANDE JAGADGURUM SARVO PANISHA DOGAVO DOGDA GOPALANANDANA PARTHO VATSHA SUDHIR BHOKTA DUGDAM GITAM RITAM MAHAT MOOKAM KARUTI VACHALAM PANGUM LENGAYATE GIRIM YAD KRIPATAMAHAM VANDE PARAMANANDAMADHAVAM We have been discussing this most marvellous chapter of the Bhagavad Gita, 14th chapter especially. A graphic description of what this world is made up of, what everything in this world is made up of, what our body and minds are made up of and it is made up of what? Three Gunas, Sattva, Rajas and Tamas and these Gunas all are of the nature of bondage. Each one of these Gunas, there is no exception to it, all of them bind but when we are in this world, if we are endowed with any particular Guna, then that particular Guna gives the result whether we are dull, sleepy, inadvertent, lazy or very active, energetic, enjoying, Sukha, Dukha. What is the purpose of Bhagavan Krishna's describing all these things? So that we can understand their nature clearly and then bring them under control and this process of controlling has to be done from the lower to the higher and when we get to the highest Guna, Sattva Guna, then only we would acquire a very special power called Sharanagati and that Sharanagati will take us out of all the three Gunas like a pole vault. When a person goes on training and he becomes almost perfect, then he runs with that pole, climbs to the highest height possible for a human being, then just crosses over the net but in the process pushes over the pole back because that can only help us to go to the other side but you cannot carry it. That was what we have discussed and then in this 18th Shloka, what happens when any person endowed with any one particular quality happens to die, the body happens to fall, what state does he attain? Because every Guna brings its own Karma and every Karma brings its own Karmaphala. So, When the mind is completely endowed with mostly Sattva and if death happens to come, they attain to a higher state of consciousness, higher Lokas. If they happen to be full of restlessness, thoughts, greediness, accumulation, grabbing quality etc., then they will be reborn in this human birth. For what? They will be given another choice so that they can progress further. Let us remember this most marvelous truth. Every mistake that we commit will bring inevitably its result but the Karmaphala is meant not to punish us or make us happy. Its only purpose is to open our eyes, correct our mistakes and then move forward in the scale of evolution. And what happens to those people who are endowed with Tamoguna? Those who are established in Sattva go upward. Those who are established in Rajas remain in the middle. Middle means among human beings but among similar human beings who are like him. His parents will be, society will be and their goals, everything will be subsiding. I also mentioned a point when even when we attend a huge meeting, we try to seek people with whom we can feel at ease because that we can only move easily among people whose thinking, whose activities, whose reactions will be similar to us. Those who are steeped in Tamas being weighted by the tendencies of the lowest Guna, Tamoguna, go downward means they will be given a chance to take rest, to be lazy, fulfill their desire but even the laziest mind at some point of time, it becomes awakened. Uthishthata, Jagrata, this Maha Mantra works across every state of consciousness. The Divine Lord gives even for those Tamogunis endowed with Tamoguna. Okay, you fulfilled your desire and a terrible restlessness will start. Now strive to attain to Rajoguna. But all this description was given so that like the pole vaulter, we have to get out of all these Gunas. If a person has succeeded in traveling towards the highest Sattva, he simultaneously develops a very special capacity called discrimination where he says this is not me, I must be somebody else and then he finds out all his problems, all the problems associated with existence and existence is not pure existence but manifested existence. Clay for example has no problem. Nobody will say it is a red colored clay, blue colored clay, beautiful clay, ugly clay, small clay, big clay etc. But the moment that clay is made to assume a particular form, immediately the problem will start and the person will, all these attachments will come, dislikes will come. I like this color, I like this shape, I like this size etc. etc. So with pure existence there is no problem but all problems come with manifestation of existence. Why is it so? Because manifestation is another word for limitation. So anything that is manifested will have three things, a form, an appropriate name suitable for that form so that we can cognize it and separate it from every other object in this world and it can be used for a particular purpose. Rupa, Nama and Prayojana, utility. At the moment this manifestation takes place, it is limitation. It's even very wonderful to come to know. Suppose a person has a marvelous idea and he is a writer. He wants to put his ideas in writing but however much he wants to put, he feels dissatisfied because the moment his ideas which are vast in his mind are made to express themselves in the limited forms of writing or speaking etc. They become limited and the man understands. I want to express it but I seem to be incapable of expressing it. I seem to be stuck somehow by these limitations. It can be words or it can be descriptions etc. So manifestation is always a limitation and that's why if we want to go beyond limitation, naturally the question comes why should we want to go beyond any limitation? Simple reason is limitation limits our experience of both happiness and unhappiness. Nobody wants unlimited dukkha, unhappiness but everybody, nobody wants only limited happiness, limited in time and limited in space. Every one of us if it is possible long to have infinite and eternal unbroken happiness which is called bliss. Okay, now what are we talking about? That all these gunas they manifest in the way of forms, names and of course limitations or prayojana or utilities. So even the highest sattva guni, a person who is endowed with the highest sattva guna, he is limited because the gunas belong to the body and mind. When the gunas belong to the body, body remains healthy, radiant, full of energy. When sattva guna belongs to the mind and when it is cultivated, right knowledge in huge quantities will be available for such a mind but he will not be able to get to that source of knowledge which is called Bhagawan himself, Paramatma himself, Brahman himself, infinity and that creates a tremendous dissatisfaction. So a time will come and then this person endowed with sattva guna, he will be endowed with a very special quality called discrimination, viveka. What is viveka? The capacity to shift right from wrong and good from evil, unhappiness from happiness and opt only for that which is positive, that which leads to happiness, that which leads to of course to rightful type of life, righteous living, dharmic living etc. Then he finds out the whole drama that's going on in this world. Everybody is under the control of body and mind and body and mind reacts with the world which are external objects and internal objects called emotions, ideas etc. They are completely not only limited, they are of opposite natures. Even a sattva guni understands. But here the point we need to keep in our minds is that this person who is endowed with sattva guna through his power of discrimination, he understands that all bondage, all suffering, all limitations are due to gunas and then his own same discrimination makes him also understand if I want to become unlimited, I must go beyond the body-mind. If I have to go beyond body-mind, I have the only way I can go is by going beyond the gunas and this person has attained to a very good quality called sattva guna. So he understands sattva guna like that good robber he can only lead him harmlessly to his place but cannot enter there. So that's a very symbolic story of Sri Ramakrishna, parable of Sri Ramakrishna. You must remember every parable has a tremendous amount of wisdom behind that story. It's not a story that was told for entertainment. See there are a collection of beautiful stories. These are called neeti kathas, Aesop's fables for example. Every story has a moral, a lesson to be learned. So the more deep we go, the more the meaning of the parable will be revealed to us. So there are three robbers. One completely binds and wants to kill after robbing. Another one says there is no point in killing. Let us bind and go away. But one comes back, releases and then shows the way out. Interesting if you analyze a little bit that even this sattva guna which is the last robber, very good robber, he cannot give back what he has robbed. So what is it that he has robbed? Freedom, limitation. He can't give it back because it's not in his power but he can show the way out. So he brings that passenger, that traveler to the edge of the forest back to his home from where he started, says there is your home, now you go and be happy. Happy, home means where there is happiness. Home means where there is freedom. Home means where you feel at ease. Where is our home? It is God. This is a wonderful parable of Shri Ramakrishna summarizing the whole Vedantic concept of three gunas, how they bind in the form of this simple, beautiful, yet pregnant with deep meaning, this parable of three robbers. When a person is endowed with the highest sattva guna, that is called he's endowed with knowledge, true knowledge, right knowledge. What is that right knowledge? I am different from the body. I am different from the mind. How does he arrive at it? Because you say without me, the body will not function. Without my being aware, the body cannot function. Without my commanding it, there is a fruit, walk towards it. There is a sweetmeat, take it and put in your mouth. If I am not aware of that, the body is completely, totally useless in every way. It is completely inert thing. So also the antahkarana or the inner sense organ, which is mind also called antahkarana is a sense organ which unifies all the five types of information the five sense organs bring to us and then makes a unified, harmonious, coherent meaning out of it and that dictates what type of action or reaction one should be able to do with that information. Our whole life is going like that. Now this person endowed, he understands. What does he understand? That I am separate from the body. I am separate from the mind. It takes time but that is the knowledge he gets and then he says I am separate but what is my true nature? I know I don't belong to the body. I don't belong to the mind but I really do not know what I am and only when we develop sattva guna will we be able to get that kind of discriminating power. Then only this deep understanding I am separate from body and mind which means I am separate from everything in this world will dawn in such a person's pure mind, sattvika mind. Such a person he understands. That is being described here. When a man of insight, insight means man of sattva guna, only then this insight will come. Until that time it will be outside. Such a person beholds no agent other than the gunas. So a man of wisdom he understands gunas are working with the gunas and also knows him. Him means he who is beyond the gunas. He knows him who is beyond the gunas and then he becomes restless because he knows this is me. This being who is completely separate from all the gunas. This is me. All this time I did not know about it. He rushes forward. Every word has got deep meaning. Yada means when. When is a student allowed to become a PhD student not after completion of nursery school, high school or even degree course but only when he attains to the highest degree, maybe MSc. Then he may be allowed to enter into the doctor of philosophy they say. I don't know how this has come. PhD means most likely I know permanent head damage to ahankara and all those things but that's just I'm making fun. But doctor of philosophy, what philosophy? This fellow cannot even pronounce the word philosophy, cannot spell the word philosophy and he is called a doctor. So many people mistake when they hear doctor that he is a physician, is a medical doctor. Not necessarily. There are so many who are what is called PhDs. Now what is my point? A philosopher is one who has got a deep study and then he adopts a particular viewpoint and he tries to conduct his life according to that viewpoint. He is a philosopher. As Shri Ramakrishna so aptly scolds M, when M replied, unfortunately my wife I'm afraid is not a learned person. By learned means passing some examinations and having academic education, especially English education. Ramakrishna was displeased. He said and you are a man of learning and then only M came to understand Shri Ramakrishna's view. He who knows what is truth, he is a knower, a learned person, a man of knowledge, correct knowledge and he who doesn't know that, however maybe his qualifications but he is completely ignorant person. Here we come across this person endowed with sattva guna. He develops a very special quality. What is that quality? That he is able to understand that the body is made up of three gunas, the mind is made up of three gunas and the body and mind come into contact with this world which is also made up of three gunas and the world is made up of almost innumerable objects. Some are attractive, some are repulsive, some we like to have, some we hate. This raga dvesha we develop. Our whole life is running after, running after what we like, trying to run away from what we do not like. Everything is run, is made up of first of all a very nature and then they run only by the three gunas. I have nothing to do with it. When a person understands this, he, a great yearning, a great longing comes into his mind. I must know that I am separate from the body-mind that means from the whole world. I know I am separate but I want to know what's my nature and it is not too long for such a person to understand such a thing. So what is he telling? Yada that means when this person has that deep inside that everything is responsible for guna. What is it responsible? What are the gunas responsible for? Four things they are responsible. First thing is they have knowledge. They acquire knowledge through the mind. This is the nature of this. This is called what we call in ordinary parlance knowledge. Jnana Shakti. Then Iccha Shakti. They have that power. Okay, now I know this is not desirable but this is very desirable. This is called Iccha Shakti. Then third is Kriya Shakti. I must translate my desires into an action. That is called Kriya Shakti. Kriya means the ability to perform actions. At that time ahankara will come and say I know, I desire, I am doing these things and whoever thinks I am aham karta, I am the doer, he has to inevitably experience what is called the karma phala. Bhokta. So jnata, then he who desires, then who does it karta, then finally he also becomes bhokta. These are, all these four actions are done by the gunas. The gunas themselves separate themselves. Objects of enjoyment and the person, the being in the form of ahankara who wants to know, he comes to know, he desires and then he does something to obtain what he wants and then he has to pay the price of karma phala. Sukha, dukha will come. Then depending upon what is the karma phala, then the whole cycle is renewed. This eternal circus is going on since anadi kala. Here is a person endowed with sattva guna. He comes to know I have nothing to do with any this I am not a knower, I am not a desirer, I am not a actor and I am not a enjoyer. Enjoyer means, don't mistake it, that only happy things he is enjoying. Enjoyer means experiencer. It could be happiness, it could be unhappiness. In fact, there is no experience called happiness excepting experiencing only dukha or suffering. If you did not pay in the form of hunger and thirst, you won't be able to enjoy food or drink. If you have not paid in the form of tiredness, you will not be able to experience what is called good sleep, good rest for everything, for every happiness. First comes dukha which makes us feel the lack of something and then we long for something which can remove the suffering and we obtain through our actions and then we experience it and sometimes it gives more happiness, sometimes less happiness but the point is sukha and dukha, happiness and unhappiness can never be separated. Yada, when this person is well equipped with this power of discrimination. Drashta, here drashta means the witness. Usually we involve ourselves, our aham involves itself with every experience. I am happy, I am unhappy, I did this, I studied that and I am doing this. I am a doctor, I am a husband, I am a wife, etc., etc. But at the same time there is an untouched what is called sakshi which witnesses the whole rigmarole drama and keeps it in memory. Memory belongs to the sakshi. So this sakshi or witness, he is going on witnessing. This sattvika person becomes more and more identified with this what is called sakshi swaroopa. Such a person is called drashta. Yada, when this seer, drashta, kartaram, the doer of everything by implication the experiencer of everything, by implication the knower, by implication the desirer, knower, desirer, doer and experiencer. This is the inevitable sequence. Drashta, gunebhya anyam kartaram na anupashyati, when he crystal clearly. Anupashyati means clearly he sees. What does he see? That gunebhya, other than the gunas, anyam kartaram, there is no other doer. That is what he sees. Then what happens? He longs for his own real true nature. Gunebhyascha param atmanam. Gunebhyascha, completely different, completely separate in nature, in the quality, everything. Everything is finite and brahman or atman is infinite. Everything is perishable, changing, subject to time and place. But the atman is beyond time, beyond space. It is infinite. It is eternal. It is unchanging. It is unborn. The body is born. Then it grows, becomes old, becomes subject to disease, becomes subject to decay and finally it is taken away. Nobody voluntarily dies but it will be taken away by the gunas themselves. When he comes to know that completely different, opposite in quality, there is opposite to gunas, body-mind, this world, there is something. That is called atmanam, param, supreme. Supreme means that is the highest. There is nothing higher than that. When he comes to know, vekti, when he comes to know intimately, sah, such a drashta, such a sadhaka, such a person endowed, tada, when he is endowed with that complete power of discrimination, madbhavam adhigachyati, he attains to my being, to my status because there are no two things. I am here, Vishnu is in Vaikuntha, I am here, Shiva is in Kailasa, I am here, Devi is in Devi Loka, I am here, God is in heaven, I am here, God is in paradise. This is all puerile human imaginations. Therefore God, there is no place where he is not because he is infinite, because he is one. Because he is infinite, he is one. If he is one, I as a separate being from God have no existence at all. So he comes to know I am that being, I am that pure atman, I am the Paramatman. This is called madbhavam adhigachyati, attains to my state. Attains means here not that he becomes something else, his hands now two, then he gets four hands, he did not have any weapon, then he gets a trishula etc. or a tiger skin etc. That's not the idea. Simply he did not know I am the atman, that ajnana, ignorance is removed now and he attains to that state of that pure Paramatma bhava. The whole universe, all beings, the agent, the instrument and the result of actions are only modifications of the kunas and belong purely to Prakruti. Sri Ramakrishna very often used to say, naaham naaham tuho tuho, naatai naatai, baddhau baddhau ti. This is called, he used to call this as knowledge. Aham aham, that is called ignorance. And then Sri Ramakrishna was a superb narrator of stories, parables to illustrate this. How our ahankara leads us through 84 millions of lives, making us dance to the tune of every passing blowing of the wind until ultimately man comes to his senses, develops the power of discrimination through sadhana, through the grace of God, then he becomes free. Until that time, me, me, me. So here is a parable, parable of the cough. The misfortune that befalls a man on account of his egotism cannot be realized if you only think of the condition of the cough. The cough says hamma hamma, that is aye aye, aham aham. Just look at its misfortune. At times it is yoko to the plough and made to work in the field from sun up to sun down, rain or shine. Again it may be slaughtered by the butcher. Now and then, I will add a little bit of fun here. This bullock, it is the cough. It is made to work from sun up to sun down, rain or shine. What about that fellow who is running with a small boarded stick behind? Rain or shine, he also has to work. Only thing is the bullock is pulling the plough and that fellow is directing. Both are equally bullocks only. From sun up to sun down, again it may be slaughtered by the butcher. Many places when this becomes useless, they are sold to be eaten for its meat. In that case, the flesh is eaten and the skin tanned into hide. From the hide, shoes are made. People put on the shoes and walk on the rough ground. Still that is not the end of its misfortunes. Drums are made from its skin and mercilessly beaten with sticks. At last, its entrails are made into strings for the bow used in carding cotton. When used by the carder, the string gives the sound Tuhu Tuhu. Thau Thau. That is, it is Thau. Oh Lord, it is Thau. It no longer says Hamma, Hamma, Hai Hai. Only then does the cough's trouble come to an end and it is liberated and it doesn't return to the world of actions. Oh, don't think of some other bullock or cough. We are all those bullocks running round and round from morning till evening attached to the skin and bones. That is body consciousness. That's why Sri Ramakrishna used to say Kali Kaale Manush Anna Gata Prana. Likewise, when the embodied soul says, Oh God, I am not the doer. Thou art the doer. I am the machine. And Thou art its operator. Only then does its suffering of worldly life come to an end and only then does it obtain liberation. It no longer has to be reborn in this world of action. When someone thanks him, he smiles and says, I know nothing. Whatever you heard is from the Divine Mother. This is a quotation from the Gospel. Many times Sri Ramakrishna used to talk incessantly and pearl of wisdom after wisdom used to fall from his mouth and then illustrated, backed up to make it clear in the form of parables, jokes, stories, illustrations from Puranas or his own experiences. For example, how careful a householder should be. I have seen in Kamarpakur, the women who husk paddy, all the 90% of the attention is on the husking rod. If it falls on their hands, it will be crushed immediately. They will be bargaining, recycling the children and quarrelling with some people who did not pay their due and then doing multitasking. But most of the time, our attention is on the husking rod which is falling rhythmically over the paddy. What a beautiful observation. Everyone who is completely merged in this Samsara is like that. How careful we have to be and what is that rod that falls? Ahankara. We have to be careful. Him means what? The Lord who dwells in man as his inmost self. He is the witness of the Gunas and their functions. Such a person, what happens to him when he goes beyond the Gunas? Attains my being. Then what happens? His identity with Brahman becomes manifest. Until that time, the Guru says, the scriptures tell, Tattvamasi. But when he attains to this state, Aham Brahmasmi. I am the only reality. I am Sat, Chit and Ananda. We proceed to verse number 20. Guna Netanatitya Trin Dehi Deha Samudbhavam Janma Mrutyu Jara Dukkhair Vimuktaha Amrutam Ashnute When the embodied soul has risen above the three Gunas of which its body is made, it gains deliverance from birth, death, old age and pain and becomes immortal. Dehi means all of us, the individual soul who is within this body-mind and who identifies with this body-mind, who claims, I am so and so. I am so many years old and I am doing this job. I am a householder or unmarried old man, young man. I am suffering from this disease. Healthy person. I have attained to the highest pinnacle of my ideal job or I am poor and I am suffering, etc. This Dehi, one who thinks he is the body, he is called the Dehi. Dehi Etan These, what? Trin Gunan, three Gunas. Deha Samudbhavam They are born of the body-mind complex. Deha Samudbhavam Trin Gunan Atitya Having crossed them over. Crossing means what? They are not like three sticks lying and then you just cross over them. It means getting rid of the identification with both the body and mind. That is the only way to cross. Atitya As soon as he knows, I am not the body, I am not the mind, what happens? Janma Mrityu Jara Dukkhai Vimukthasan He becomes, at that very moment, the moment a person understands, I am not the body, then Janma, birth. Mrityu, death. Jara, old age. Dukkhai, Tritapa which beset man from the beginning to the end. Vimukthasan He becomes completely free. What happens? Saha Sacha Dehi Amruta Mashnute He tends to immortality. What does it mean? Simply Amruta means what? He knows I am deathless. How does he know? Because I am not the body. If I am the body, I am beset with death, old age, disease, decay. Besides all the other types of sufferings that we have. But the moment he comes to know, I am not the body, I am not the mind, he becomes free from both the physical limitations as well as mental limitations. What are the mental limitations? I am happy, I am unhappy, I am only little happy, I am very unhappy. How does it occur? Well, well, well, I applied for a job, I prayed to God, I want to get it or I applied some influence. In India, it's very much possible and then I got that job and I expected tremendous things out of this job perks. But then when I assumed the job, I found out that I have been greatly disappointed. So that is called small happiness. Somebody who endowed with Sattva says, Thanks God, I have obtained this job and I can run my family with a quarter of the income that I am having. Rest of it I can use in the service of God, in the service of holy people, in the service of poor people. Besides, I can also save something and these thoughts make him extremely happy and he is eternally grateful to God for providing these things. So what is the Lord trying to tell? The only way for eternal happiness for becoming immortal, attaining immortality that is called attaining the status of immortality, becoming immortal. Mortal means subject to janma, mrutyu, jara, dukha, birth, old age, disease, decay, death and all the other things that accompany in this world. So amruta means mortality is gone. He becomes immortal. Becomes means he doesn't acquire, he was not immortal but by some effort, by some way, by some knowledge he became what he was not. No, I was immortal, I am immortal but I thought I am not immortal and that wrong notion has been removed from my mind. That is attainment always is not getting something new but it means removing the ignorance. For example, a classical example there is a man and he is moving in semi-darkness. Suddenly he sees a ferocious snake raising its hood and hissing at him. He thinks it is going to kill him and then he gets frightened. He starts shouting and running and from the neighboring house somebody comes with a lamp and says no, no, it is just a piece of rope and because of the wind it is moving like that and because you are frightened of a snake you have mistaken that. So the rope was a rope beforehand. It was a rope even when the person mistook it for a snake and got frightened and when the light was brought and then he realized it is nothing but a harmless piece of rope. Still it is a piece of rope. Nothing has changed in the status of the rope but the misunderstanding, the delusive idea that it is a snake that arose because of these circumstances semi-darkness and his own fear outside semi-darkness inside his terrible fright of snakes etc. They have been completely removed. Delusion came and delusion was removed. This is called attainment. So this person becomes Oh, I am so happy. Now I am fearless. He sighs a long sign that now I am peaceful. This is what is called relief from fear is it is not an attainment. It is merely to be what he was before by knowing in between he was deluded. Always remember The Sunvantu Vishwe Amrutasya Putra The Upanishad tells us again and again each one of us everything in this world is nothing but child of immortality. So this is a very important point for all of us to understand Dehi means he who is having the Deha and in Vedantic terminology what I am and what I have are diametrically opposed. I gave many times example It's worth reminding ourselves I have a house. No foolish person will say I am the house. I have a car. I am the car. I have an animal called dog. I am a dog. I have an animal called donkey. I am a dog. Nobody will be so foolish to identify himself with what he considers as his or even not his also. So a person is going and he sees a mountain he doesn't say I am that mountain. No, you can enjoy it or you can avert your eyes but I has nothing to do. Similarly because of this ancient timeless influence of Maya or Abhidhya we are thinking that I am the body and the mind and there is enough reason for us to justify it because from birth everything else is at a distance but we are never away from our body and mind. Very natural to identify even though we know we use language itself which betrays our right knowledge which says that my hand is aching my stomach is in trouble my head is aching he doesn't say but next moment he says I am having pain. Where is the pain? In the stomach, in the head, in the tooth and somewhere else but we forget about it. So the whole purpose of life is to get rid of this identity false identity and that false identity is called the influence of the Gunas and all the Gunas manifest in the form of body, mind etc. When a person separates himself cognitively, intellectually I am not the body I am not the mind so when I am not the body the birth and old age, death I'll be free. When I separate myself from identifying myself with the mind then Dukkha Dukkha means suffering remember suffering doesn't belong to the body suffering is a feeling that arises in the mind. How do you know? I'll give a small illustration suppose you see you are walking in a street and suddenly there was a terrible accident a bus runs over a leg of a person and that person is in great agony and that person is suffering you feel sympathy for that person my point is you don't feel I am suffering it is a physical condition you are able to witness on the street but the mental reaction that is called Dukkha so the same thing happens when my teeth are aching I feel I am aching when my stomach is something wrong then there's something wrong with me I am suffering etc. etc. you can multiply these examples so what I am trying to convey to you through these things is that the moment separation identity is removed from the body all the things that belong only to the physical aspect of the body such as birth, growth, disease old age, decay, death a person will be free and when the same person has complete dis-identity with the intellect Antahkarana his mind then he would be free from both Sukha and Dukkha not only Sukha but Dukkha also not only Dukkha, Sukha also then what does he get? so much of peace of mind like when we are dead tired we go to bed and we have neither Sukha nor Dukkha but a tremendous peace that passeth all understanding that's what we will be having the Lord has described the three Gunas the Lord also told the ultimate goal of the Gunas is to take a person beyond the Gunas Gunas seem to bind a person but all along they are slowly advancing him from Tamoguna to Rajoguna to Satvaguna and then finally the Antahkarana inner instrument will give this person that power of discrimination that my child you have nothing to do with me the body you have nothing to do with me the mind then the person longs I want to be with my own self this is called the quest for self-knowledge and that's what happens so only then such a person attains to that state of immortality which is his own real nature then the Arjuna prescribes Lord now I understand why do you described me all these things now what I want to know is so this is what I want to know Arjuna Vachan three questions Arjuna has raised here first question what are the marks O Lord of the man who has risen above the three gunas what is his conduct and how does he rise above the gunas three questions what is the first question see we cannot really do anything higher unless we are inspired by somebody the unfortunately it's rare to be self-inspired so we need to see a living example so Arjuna is asking I am an ordinary person I also want to find out somebody who can guide me who can inspire me first of all I have to approach him but if I have to approach him how do I recognize him that he is such and such that is what I have to find out so he is asking by what marks or what are the marks by which we know this person has really transcended the influence of the three gunas what does it mean the influence of a guna cannot go unless you transcend the guna and it is not that a person transcends one guna only he has to transcend all the three gunas slowly it is like what we call Prathama Mallar Nyaya suppose there is a tennis match and then there will be first of all in every country there will be several competitions in every state then ultimately the final winners will meet somewhere and one person will be selected for the final competition from every country and then there would be a quarter final semi-final and then final in the final there will be only one person left out this is called Prathama Mallar if somebody wants to attain to the highest title he need not go on fighting every one of them you just go there in the semi-finals and then beat that fellow and then if you are successful you will be declared as this completely the greatest so also here you don't need to conquer every gunas the Rajoguna conquers the Tamoguna then the Satvaguna conquers the Rajoguna then the higher Satvaguna conquers the lower Satvaguna and now only that highest Satvaguna needs to be overcome needs to be separated from ourselves separated means our identity that I am knowledge I am happiness these marks are there Arjuna was asking I have understood what you said because even when I am talking most of you are able to understand when Bhagawan himself was speaking do you think Arjuna will not be able to understand or do you think the Lord will leave something okay when the time comes you will understand but I am not stopping here I will move forward so Arjuna must have understood he said hey Prabhu etantreen gunan atitha jivaha is dehi jiva individual so then kaihi lingaihi nathah bhauti how can I recognize the such a person sah such a person who has gone beyond the gunas cha kim acharaha how does he manifest his victory over the three gunas that is I am Brahman I am Atman nothing to do with body mind but if he is still alive how does he behave because we encounter all these kind of situations say Ram Krishna was subject to even this terrible painful cancer he was throughout his life he was poor only he could have become very rich but he rejected Madhur Babu's offer even after that many people would have offered him so he rejected everything totally dependent upon the Divine Mother the Divine Mother wanted him to be the highest ideal he had to go through disease he had to go through hunger thirst and so many human frailties human means bodily frailties not mental frailties so how does he behave if somebody shouts at say Ram Krishna how does he react somebody beats or kicks Ram Krishna how does he react and this is called Achara and how does he man really overcome go beyond become separate from the body mind identity please explain to me this is the question containing three points which Arjuna wants to be elucidated to be clearly taught by Bhagawan himself and this is what the Lord is going to tell in the next four verses 22nd to 25th which we will discuss in our next class May Ram Krishna Holy Mother and Swami Vikananda bless us all with love