Yogeshwar Krishn explicitly said that the action which he has repeatedly spoken of commences only after the renunciation of desire, anger, and greed. It is the action without accomplishing which there is neither happiness nor perfection, nor the final beatitude.
Scripture is, therefore, the authority to fall back upon whenever we are faced by the dilemma of that which is worthy of being done and that which is unworthy-of that which we should do and that which we should not.
And that scripture is the Bhagavad Gita, the epitome of the most esoteric knowledge. There are other scriptures, too, but it is of the utmost importance that we always keep our eyes fixed on the Bhagavad Gita.
If we seek elsewhere we may stray, for the systematic, straight approach of the Bhagavad Gita is not to be found anywhere else.
Thereafter Arjun asks the Lord to enlighten him on the state of persons who worship in contravention of the scriptural ordinance although with staunch faith.
Are they sattwiki, rajasi or tamasi? Are they righteous, impassioned, or diabolical?
Arjun wishes to be enlightened on this because he has learnt earlier that whatever be the property, sattwa, rajas or tamas, it is determined by the nature of one’s birth.
Arjun asks:
“What, O Krishn, is the property-sattwa, rajas, or tamas of persons
who albeit worship with faith but in disregard of the scriptural ordinance ?”
To resolve Arjun’s doubt Lord Krishn then classifies faith too as being of three kinds.
He adds:
“Listen to me on how the faith
arising from people’s innate nature, too, is of three kinds,
virtuous, impassioned, and blind.”
Yogeshwar told Arjun that the prescribed action in yog, in both the Way of Selfless Action and the Way of Discrimination, is the same. The mind which is earnestly and firmly given to selfless action is aimed in a single direction.
The minds of ignorant persons are, on the contrary, endlessly divided, because of which they invent countless different ways. Their minds are riddled with innumerable dissensions and they not only devise various rites and ceremonies, but also flaunt them in flowery and alluring words.
Unfortunately they who pay heed to these alluring words are also deluded, as a result of which they fail to do that which is worthwhile and just. The same is reiterated here in a different way when Lord Krishn points out that the faith of persons who worship in transgression of the scriptural injunction is of three kinds. The current of Faith flowing in the human heart, is either good or fervent or insensible.
“Since the faith of all people,
O Bharat, is according to their inherent propensity
and man is reverent, he is what his faith is.”
The faith of all persons is according to their natural inclination. Man is by nature a creature of faith. It is thus that a person’s character bears a close resemblance to the character of their faith. We are often asked who we are? Some of us say that we are Soul. But Yogeshwar Krishn contradicts this: like the nature of their inherent disposition is their faith, and so thus is the person.
The Bhagavad Gita provides an insight into what true yog is. Maharshi Patanjali was also a yogi and we have his yog system of philosophy. According to him yog is perfect restraint of the mind. And the use of this arduous discipline is that in this state the onlooker, the individual Soul enshrined in the human body, comes to rest firmly in his own eternal, true counterpart.
Is he tainted before this union?
In Patanjali’s view the Soul is earlier the same as the predilection of the man who embodies it. And Lord Krishn now affirms that man is naturally endowed with the quality of faith, indeed totally immersed in it. There is some dedication in him and he is moulded by the character of his faith. A man is what his natural inclination is. At this point, Lord Krishn proceeds to catalogue the three kinds of faith.
Lord Krishn adds:
“While the virtuous worship gods
and the impassioned and morally blind worship yaksh and demons,
they who are blinded by ignorance worship ghosts and nature-spirits.”
We all labour tirelessly to worship what our hearts are inclined to and what we revere.
“Mark you that they who undergo terrible self-mortification
without scriptural sanction and are afflicted
with hypocrisy and arrogance besides lust, attachment,
and vanity of power, and who wear out not only the elements that form
their bodies but also me who dwells in their Souls,
are ignorant men with evil disposition.”
The Soul is rendered feeble by maladies when it slips into the fissures of nature, whereas yagya provides him strength. Thus is resolved the issue raised by Arjun.
Righteous persons who have forsaken the way shown by scripture worship gods; they who are driven by passions worship yaksh and demons; and the ignorant pray and bow to ghosts and spirits. They not only worship, but indulge in the most agonizing exercises of penance.
According to Lord Krishn, however, these acts of self-mortification only sap the elements that make up their bodies and the God within their Soul.
~Revered Gurudev Swami Adgadanand Jee Paramhans~
©
_/l\_
Humble Wishes.
~mrityunjayanand~
