Bhagwad Gita - Post 231

Verse 29

Hear thou the threefold division of the intellect and firmness according to the Gunas, as I declare them fully and distinctly, O Arjuna!

Three qualities of the intellect are mentioned here—three types of intellect, understanding. 

“Hey Arjuna, listen to the characteristics of understanding, the characteristics of determination, which I shall now touch upon briefly.”

Verse 30

That which knows the path of work and renunciation, what ought to be done and what ought not to be done, fear and fearlessness, bondage and liberation—that intellect is Sattwic, O Arjuna!

Sattvic understanding, or intellection, is that which knows what is to be done and what is not to be done under a given condition, what is proper and what is not proper. Place, time and circumstance condition the undertaking of any work to determine which work may be suitable at a particular moment and which work may not be suitable at that moment. 

That which may be fitting in this particular spot may not be suitable at another place, and that which is fitting under conditions prevailing now may not be fitting under conditions prevailing in a different manner altogether or in some other place. 

The goodness and the badness of an undertaking is not merely an ethical or a moral question. It is a philosophical and metaphysical issue based finally on the very purpose of existence itself. 

We have to decide for ourselves what criteria we will hold in judging what is proper and improper. This is a crucial question before us, and the judgment in this regard should be based, finally, on the ultimate purpose of life. That is why one has to be very intelligent in choosing any course of action. 

Such a person is sattvic who knows what is proper and what is improper, what is good and what is bad, what is to be done and what is not to be done, what is a cause of bondage and what is going to be liberating. 

Only such a person can be really intelligent, and that understanding can be regarded as sattvic in its nature: sa buddhih partha sattviki.

Verse 31

That by which one incorrectly understands Dharma and Adharma, and also what ought to be done and what ought not to be done—that intellect, O Arjuna, is Rajasic!

Here Lord Krishna explains that the buddhi or intellect of those who have erroneous conceptions of theism and atheism and do not comprehend what is righteousness and what is unrighteousness and what they entail and have no understanding of what should be done and what should not be done according to time, place and circumstance assuming wrongly what they think they know is incorrect are situated in raja guna the mode of passion.

The rājasic intellect becomes mixed due to personal attachments. At times it sees clearly, but when self-interest comes into play, it becomes tainted and confused. 

The rājasic intellect, colored by attachments and aversions, likes and dislikes is unable to discern the proper course of action. It becomes confused between the important and the trivial, the permanent and the transient, the valuable and the insignificant.

Verse 32

That which, enveloped in darkness, views Adharma as Dharma and all things perverted—that intellect, O Arjuna, is called Tamasic!

The worst kind of understanding is tamasic buddhi, which totally misconstrues all things in a topsy-turvy manner.

Totally wrong things are regarded as very good things on account of a clouding of the intellect. 

Every kind of objective in life is viewed from a selfish point of view. There is no ability to link the undertaking to the final purpose of life, because that consciousness of the final purpose is completely obliterated from a tamasic buddhi. 

The ‘determination’ that will be taken up for discussion in the coming verses has a connection with understanding. Intellect and will go together. The capacity of our deciding factor—decision, determination, volition—depends much, or perhaps wholly, on understanding. 

To the extent of our understanding, to that extent also we have the power of will. If the understanding is weak, the will also is weak. 

Love.

Bhagwad Gita - Post 230

Verse 26

He who is free from attachment, non-egoistic, endowed with firmness and enthusiasm and unaffected by success or failure, is called Sattwic.

Sattvic action is defined once again. It is an action performed by those people who are free from attachment, who do not have any kind of a trace of egoism on their part, and are full of enthusiasm for the work. It is not fatigue but enthusiasm, zest, and an indefatigability that is felt before undertaking any work. 

Utsāha, which is enthusiasm, spiritedness, and a love for what is good, should be the motive behind performing action, whether one succeeds or not. This is because, as mentioned earlier, the fruit of an action is not in anyone’s hand. The fruit is the product of the cooperative activity of five factors. 

Therefore, if we do something to the best of our ability but have not succeeded, it is because we have not taken into consideration the other four aspects. Finally, one cannot succeed in life unless one is practically omniscient in nature. 

An ordinary person cannot know what consequence will follow from what action, because we cannot know all aspects of the matter at the same time. Sattvic karma is free from the longing to achieve its fruit, free from egoism, filled with enthusiasm, work undertaken spontaneously by oneself for the welfare of all people.

Verse 27

Passionate, desiring to obtain the rewards of actions, cruel, greedy, impure, moved by joy and sorrow, such an agent is said to be Rajasic.

Here is the description of a person who is full of desires, passions and attachments, desiring for rewards for his actions. 

He is swayed by passion (raaga) and eagerly seeks the fruit of his work. He is ever greedy (Lubdhah), never satisfied with what he gains. His thirst is insatiable because his desires multiply from moment to moment.

When a man, full of desires and passions, he never hesitates to injure another, if such injury were to win his end. He is blind to the amount of sorrow he might bring to others; he is concerned only with the realisation of his ulterior motives. When such a man becomes maliciously resolved to gain his own ends, he becomes impure (Ashuchih), meaning "immoral."

It is but natural that such a person  acts in his blinding desires, comes to live, all through his embodied existence, a sad life of agitations, moved by joys and sorrows, "full of delight and grief," (Harsha-Shoka-Anvitah). This completes the picture of a man who is a 'passionate' (Rajasic) "doer."

Verse 28

Unsteady, dejected, unbending, cheating, malicious, vulgar, lazy and procrastinating—such an agent is called Tamasic.

Sree Krishna now gives a description of tāmasic workers. Their mind is blotted with negative obsessions and thus they are ayuktaḥ (undisciplined). The scriptures give injunctions regarding what is proper and improper behavior.

But workers in the mode of ignorance are  obstinate in their views, for they have closed their ears and mind to reason. Thus, they are often śhaṭhaḥ (cunning) and naiṣhkṛitikaḥ (dishonest or vile) in their ways. 

They are prakṛitaḥ (vulgar) because they do not believe in controlling their animal instinct. Though they may have duties to perform, they see effort as laborious and painful, and so they are alasaḥ (slothful) and dirgha-sutri (procrastinating). 

Their ignoble and base thoughts impact them more than anyone else, making them viṣhadi (unhappy and morose).

The Srimad Bhagavatam also describes types of performers of actions:

sattvikaḥ karako sangi ragandho rajasaḥ smṛitaḥ

tamasaḥ smriti-vibhrashto nirguṇo mad-apashrayah 

“The worker who is detached is sattvic in nature; the one who is excessively attached to action and its results is rajasic; one who is devoid of discrimination is tamasic. But the worker who is surrendered to me is transcendental to the three modes.”

Love.

Bhagwad Gita - Post 229

Verse 23

 

An action which is ordained, which is free from attachment, which is done without love or hatred by one who is not desirous of any reward—that action is declared to be Sattwic.

The Sattvic ones perform actions without yearning for the fruit.

Sattvic karma is that which is performed by one who considers that performance as an obligatory duty and not an imposition from outside, and does the duty without any kind of attachment or feeling of mine-ness in regard to the work. He will not say it is his work.

The duty that is referred to here is free from likes and dislikes. It is not intended to please oneself, nor is it intended to harm somebody else. It is duty, free from mine-ness and attachment in regard to it, with no eye to the fruit thereof.

There are so many conditions. Firstly, it should be considered as a duty and not as an imposition. Secondly, it should be done without any kind of attachment. Thirdly, it should not be motivated by like and dislike. Fourthly, there should be no eye on the fruit that accrues from the action.

That kind of action, with so many conditions attached to it, difficult indeed to perform by ordinary persons, is called sattvic karma.

In short, it is performing the Karma as per the ashrama in which one is, without the influence of Ahankara and surrendering not only the results, but even the action, the doer, the faculty performing the action and the intellect guiding the action, all at the feet of the Almighty.

Verse 24

But that action which is done by one longing for the fulfilment of desires or gain, with egoism or with much effort—that is declared to be Rajasic.

The Rajasik ones relish diversity and their actions are largely motivated by selfish and egoistic thoughts.

The Lord says that if anyone does action with intense longing attached to it, whatever be the nature of that longing, and it is also filled with egoism—“See what I do! I am capable of doing this. What do people think? What do they know about me?”—if this kind of egoistic boasting is at the back of any kind of performance, together with desire of some nature, yet it is attended with fatigue because one gets tired at the end of the day by doing that work, if the nature of the work causes fatigue engendered by egoism and is filled with desire, it is called rajasa karma.

Verse 25

That action which is undertaken from delusion, without regard to the consequences of loss, injury and (one’s own) ability—that is declared to be Tamasic.

The Tamasic ones are foolish, misguided and do things blindly, without any concern for their consequences.

When we undertake an action, we must know our capacity to do it. Are we fit for it? To imagine oneself to be competent to perform a work, while really one is not competent, is lack of wisdom. It is not necessary to underestimate oneself, but it is also not necessary to overestimate oneself. It is necessary to judge oneself impartially as to one’s capacity and fitness for a particular kind of work or action. 

The root of tamasic action is tamasic knowledge, which creates a highly perverse sense of attachment towards certain object, person, situation or end goal, that everything else becomes inferior and worthless. The underlying connectedness or unity of things is forgotten.

When a person does not consider his fitness for undertaking a work, and does not consider the consequence that may follow from that action, the harm that it may do to others and the injury that may result, and the work is done with a confused state of mind, such an action is called tamasic karma, the worst kind of action.

Love.