Verse 5
Sattwam rajastama iti
gunaah prakriti sambhavaah;
Nibadhnanti mahaabaaho
dehe dehinam avyayam.
Purity, passion and inertia—these qualities, O
mighty-armed Arjuna, born of Nature, bind fast in the body, the embodied, the
indestructible!
Sattvaṁ rajastama
iti guṇāḥ prakṛti sambhavāḥ
These properties are the very
constituent elements of Prakriti. They are not qualities like the
whiteness of a cloth, which is different from the cloth, and the blueness of a
flower, which is different from the flower. That is not the way in which we
have to understand the qualities of Prakriti.
The Gunas are
qualities of Prakriti in the same way as the three strands of
a rope are qualities of the rope. We cannot say that the strands are qualities;
they are the very substance of the rope.
Bhagawan says that there are
three Gunas born from Prakriti. These Gunas themselves
are Prakriti. There is no difference in Prakriti and
the Gunas. Guna is a technical term. It cannot be
translated as qualities of some object. Gunas themselves
are Prakriti.
For example, Camphor has three
qualities. It is white, soft and fragrant. If you place it out in open, it will
give fragrance and then it evaporates. What does it mean? The fragrance which
is now all over the room was once white, soft and fragrant. The fragrance
condensed together was camphor.
White color, softness and
fragrance put together is camphor. These three qualities together are called
camphor. In the same way, the three Gunas themselves are
called Prakriti. Prakriti expresses through these
three Gunas.
When the three Gunas are
in perfect equilibrium, then Prakriti is not expressing.
In laya, Bhagawan is as though just sitting quietly. These
three Gunas are balanced and Prakriti is not
expressing through them. There is no world. But when the sankalpa comes in
Ishwara as though imbalance is created in Prakriti and the
world comes into manifestation.
The three Gunas put
together is Prakriti. Prakriti is nothing but the
three Gunas. In the balance state of the Gunas there
is no expression as anything.
It is like the waves in the water
body. When the water body is still, there are no waves and you can even see the
bottom of the water body. Then the waves arise due to wind etc. The waves are
also water but the waves create as though division in the water. It appears as
though there is water and something else. A pebble thrown in the still water
creates ripples. Before the ripples it was simply water. The ripples are water
too but once there are ripples it appears as though there is something more to
the water.
These qualities, these properties,
are the very substance, the very stuff, of Prakriti; and they cause
bondage to the individual — nibadhnanti.
Dehe dehinam avyayam: They bind us.
It is easy to understand this way.
When we are in our morning nidhidhyasana or when we are seated in Sai Kulwant
Hall or when we are in an environment where there is absolute peace and
tranquility, then there is no dominance of any of the three Gunas and
it seems we are totally free.
Once, one of the 3 Gunas take
a higher hand, the equilibrium is disturbed and then, we are pushed
into the world and we get bound by the world and its objects.
Love.
