Verse 22
The Blessed Lord said:
Light, activity and delusion,—when they
are present, O Arjuna, he hates not, nor does he long for them when they are
absent!
Sri Krishna uses the primary characteristics of
the Gunas instead of the names of the
Gunas themselves, thereby giving more
importance to the qualities they represent than to their mere names.
All three of them have the effect of binding the
soul. Knowing that, one would expect the TriGunateeta
to flee from all of them. But he does nothing of the kind. He in fact remains
as a neutral observer of all them, facing them and not escaping from them. The
Lord brings out this attitude in all the verses of His reply.
The lesson to learn is that transcending the Gunas does not mean escaping from life.
That would teach us nothing. The true saint faces all that life throws at him
with equanimity. Therein lies his greatness.
It is the same when there is the absence of any Guna; he does not miss them by longing
for them to return to him. This attitude also requires equanimity and characterizes
the relationship that he has developed with the Gunas.
THE GUNATEETAH
The Gunas
are seen as simply passing through his Upadhis
(limiting factors in a human being, the BMI), but not through ‘him’. This is a
key point to grasp.
There is a detachment in the Siddha, the
perfected sage, by which he remains aloof from all that goes on through his Upadhis. The real Self is his new
identity. He no longer sees himself as the ego-driven “I”, but has gone beyond
that narrow identity to a more universal identity called the ‘Self’. This is
the implication of transcending the Gunas.
The TriGunateeta
does not waste his time trying to avoid Tamas
and build up Sattva, however much may
have been written about their undesirability or desirability respectively.
He simply ignores the mind itself as a play of
the Gunas. Thought itself is a
creation of the Gunas. Taking his
mind completely beyond the reach of the Gunas,
he discovers there his ‘place of safety’ from their onslaughts.
Verse 23
He who, seated like one unconcerned, is
not moved by the qualities, and who, knowing that the qualities are active, is
self-centered and moves not.
Udaaseenavat: “like one who is
indifferent”. Being indifferent means remaining as a witness only. One cannot
take sides when one is a witness. He neither sides with Sattwa, nor hates Tamas. He just takes in the scene
without passing any judgement on anyone.
While the Gunas
act as they are programmed to act according to their nature, the aspirant
allows them to pass by without being distracted by them. Suppose the active Guna prompts him to act against Dharma;
he does not co-operate with it, but just watches it go by. If it prompts him to
do something beneficial, he will co-operate with it yet still remain as an
observer of what is being done.
Why does he behave this way?
It is because he understands that everything is
being done by the Gunas, not by him.
He does not carry the ego of “doer-ship” for the act being done.
In order to watch the play of the
three Gunas in himself, he should be an
observer from beyond the Gunas. Thus,
established in his Pure Spiritual Nature, he is able to observe detachedly and
enjoy the play of the Gunas in
himself and in the world around him.
An observer of a street fight,
looking down from his balcony, is not affected by what he observes; so too, the
Man-of-Wisdom, awakened to the Spiritual Consciousness, swerves not from his
consummate equilibrium, when he witnesses the play of the Gunas in himself and ever remains established in his own Divine
Nature (ava-tishthati).
Love.
