Title: The Secret of Plurality in Human Nature

14th Chapter: Verses 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6; 6th chapter 46th verse

The 14th chapter is important because it describes the secret of plurality in this world. There are many common factors such as the divine spark that is present in everyone. The plurality comes from the three gunas – sattva guna, rajo guna and tamo guna – which constitute the entire material world.

Our temperaments are determined by a combination of the three gunas – sattva guna, rajo guna and tamo guna. Sattva guna is the highest and most sublime. It manifests itself as wisdom and serenity. Rajo guna manifests itself as dynamism and ambition. Tamo guna manifests itself as laziness and delusion.

Sri Ramakrishna describes the three gunas with the story of three thieves. Three thieves ambush a traveler in a forest. The thief representing Tamo guna says: “Let’s kill him and take all his belongings.” The second thief representing Rajo guna says: “Let’s give him some blows and bind him to a tree.” The thief representing Sattva guna takes the traveler to the road and shows him the way to the village. He does not accompany him – he knows that he is a thief and can be caught by the police.

The 6th verse of the 14th chapter says: “Of these three gunas, Sattva guna is luminous, healthy and good. However, even Sattva guna binds you. Ultimate supreme goal is to go beyond all three gunas.”

Shankaracharya says in his commentary on the 6th verse that sattva guna is harmless. It is like a brilliant, stainless crustal. However, even for a man of sattva guna, any kind of ambition that leads to temporary happiness, may lead to invisible bondage. There is a degree of imperfection even in sattva guna. The ultimate goal is to go beyond all three gunas. However, one cannot do so without attaining sattva guna.

1st verse: “I am going to discuss the supreme knowledge, which is a proper understanding of what is real and what is unreal, what is eternal and what is non-eternal, and what is matter and what is the ultimate reality.”In our life, we are manipulated by matter - the three gunas - which is not eternal. We should go beyond matter. We should stop looking for happiness all the time. “Perpetual happiness is unrealistic and a delusion.” – Once this becomes a part of our emotional system, it gives us level-headedness.

2nd verse: “A proper understanding of what is the body-mind complex and what is the unchanging divine spark, helps us to go beyond the transmigratory cycle of birth, life, death and rebirth. Ultimately, it helps us become one with Brahman.”

Most of the problems that we face in life are due to our wrong association with the body and the mind. When we can be a witness to our own mind, our own thoughts, then we can objectify our worries; then they cease to be worries. Worry is an unintelligent way of responding to a situation.

3rd and 4th verses: “The cosmic mind of emotions, feelings and thoughts – when it gets associated with the divine spark, then creation happens. When the two get disassociated, dissolution happens.”

These verses express cosmic evolution and dissolution in a human way by comparing to human birth. The feelings that we experience in our daily lives do not happen by themselves. They become active by association with the divine spark.

5th verse: “The three gunas bind us to this world. Our true identity is the divine spark. We get bound because we identify with the three gunas.”

One has to understand where he stands and start climbing the ladder from tamo guna to rajo guna to sattva guna. This is the advice Lord Krishna gives to Arjuna in the GIta. He first asks him to become active and evolve from tamo guna to rajo guna.

In the Gita, Lord Krishna also says: “Don’t teach karma yoga to a person who is inactive or lazy. He should first become ambitious and active with a purpose. He first has to evolve from tamo guna to rajo guna. Only then, he can get to sattva guna.”

A person endowed with sattva guna is active, but for the good of others. He is not opposed to rajo guna, but he is not bound by rajo guna. Spiritual giants such as Buddha, Christ and Swami Vivekananda were endowed with sattva guna and were hyperactive. They worked only for the good of others.

In a rajarshi (philosopher king) – the philosophical aspect comes sattva guna and the kingly aspect comes from rajo guna.

The three gunas are not linked to the work one does. Rather, it is linked to the attitude with which one does the work. A person with sattva guna does even the most unpopular work with total dedication, humility, and inner contentment.

Our ultimate objective is to go beyond all the three gunas. Then we will be guided by sattva guna and we will use rajo guna for the good of others.

6th chapter, 46th verse: “This Yogi is superior to the Tapasvi (one who practices extreme asceticism), superior to the Jnani (one who is a mere scholar), and superior to the Karmi (one who follows rituals).”

Scriptures, asceticism and rituals have their place in spiritual evolution. However, a seeker should not stop there. He should go beyond. After traveling some distance, he should have genuine inquisitiveness about the higher truth – that’s when his real spiritual journey starts.