Bhagwad Gita - Post 207

THE YOGA OF THE DIVISION OF THE THREE FOLD PATH

For the question put up by Arjuna, “What about those who, even though setting aside scriptural injunctions yet perform worship with faith?”,

The Lord replies and states that the faith of such men who ignore the injunctions of the scriptures could be either Sattwic, Rajasic or Tamasic.

And then, the Lord goes on to explain how the three types of men - Sattwic, Rajasic and Tamasic, pursue their faith / worship.

Verse 4

The Sattwic or pure men worship the gods; the Rajasic or the passionate worship the Yakshas and the Rakshasas; the others (the Tamasic or the deluded) worship the ghosts and the hosts of nature-spirits.

Sattvic people adore the gods in heaven. Ganesha, Devi, Durga, Lakshmi, Saraswati, Lord Siva, Vishnu, Narayana, Siva, Skanda are the gods whom they worship if their mind is sattvic. Nara-Narayana, Vyasa, Vasishtha—these are their adored beings.  Lofty transcendent realities are the objects of people who are sattvic in their nature. 

Rajasic people worship demoniacal, lower spirits which are likely to bless them with immediate results and then possess them and keep them under subjection. Yakshas, rakshasas and demigods are the objects of worship of people who are entirely rajasic, because they cannot wait for the blessings of a god in heaven. They want immediate results to follow, so they go to lesser divinities. 

But people with tamasic qualities worship actual demons—bhutas, pretas and spirits who hang in the air, summoning dead people who speak through those who make this their profession. This is the tamasic way of living, where the lower spirits are considered as objects of adoration. Bhutas and pretas are their objects of worship.

Verse 5

Those men who practice terrific austerities not enjoined by the scriptures, given to hypocrisy and egoism, impelled by the force of lust and attachment

Verse 6

Senseless, torturing all the elements in the body and Me also, who dwells in the body—know thou these to be of demoniacal resolves.

In the name of spirituality, people perform senseless austerities. 

Over-enthusiasm can produce only a physical exhaustion, and an inward fatigue. No spiritual unfoldment can be expected from unintelligent expenditure of energy in wrong channels merely because it is undertaken in the name of religion. The majority of seekers mis-apply their energies and come to suffer. 

Physical restraints and self-denials are, no doubt, sometimes prescribed for some strong men, for some limited period. At the same time it is not proper or correct to believe that any kind of self-denial would constitute an austerity, and that by following it, creative unfoldment of the inner personality-structure could be successfully brought about. 

Sri Krishna says: “O Arjuna, you asked me about the status of those who disregard the injunctions of the scriptures and yet worship with faith. I am telling you that faith is visible even in people who perform severe austerities, but it is bereft of a proper basis of knowledge. 

Such people do possess deep conviction in the efficacy of their practices, but their faith is in the mode of ignorance. Those who abuse and torture their own physical body disrespect the Supreme Soul who resides within. All these are contrary to the recommended path of the scriptures.”

Love.