To go beyond the Gunas, must one first be Sattvic? || Acharya Prashant, on Bhagavad Gita (2020)

Acharya Prashant

‍♂️ Want to meet Acharya Prashant? Be a part of the Live Sessions: https://acharyaprashant.org/hi/enquir...  ⚡ Want Acharya Prashant’s regular updates? Join WhatsApp Channel: https://whatsapp.com/channel/0029Va6Z...   Want to read Acharya Prashant's Books? Get Free Delivery: https://acharyaprashant.org/en/books?...   Want to accelerate Acharya Prashant’s work? Contribute: https://acharyaprashant.org/en/contri...   Want to work with Acharya Prashant? Apply to the Foundation here: https://acharyaprashant.org/en/hiring...  ~~~~~  Video Information: Shastra Kaumudi Live, 10.05.2020, Greater Noida, Uttar Pradesh, India  Context: 21. Arjuna said: By what marks, O Lord, is he (known) who has gone beyond these three Guņas? What is his conduct, and how does the pass beyond these three Gunas? 22. He who hates not the appearance of light (the effect of Sattva), activity (the effect of Rajas), and delusion (the effect of Tamas), (in his own mind), O Pāndava nor longs for them when absent; 26. And he who serves Me with unswerving devotion, he, going beyond the Guņas, is fitted for becoming Brahman. ~Shrimad Bhagwad Gita (Chapter-14, Verse-21,22,26)  ~ What is meant by Sattvic Guna? ~ How to go beyond the Gunas? ~ What are the three Gunas?   Music Credits: Milind Date ~~~~~~~~~~~~~ .

Transcript

00:00Srimad Bhagavad Gita chapter 14 verses 21, 22 and 26. Arjun said, By what marks, O Lord,

00:18is he known who has gone beyond these three gunas? What is his conduct and how does he

00:24pass beyond these three gunas? Next verse, He who hates not the appearance of light,

00:34which is the effect of sattva, activity, the effect of rajas, and delusion, the effect

00:42of tamas, in his own mind, O Pandava, nor longs for them when absent. And then the next

00:52shloka would have said, nor delights in them when present. And then verse 26, And he who

01:02serves me with unswerving devotion, he, going beyond the gunas, is fitted for becoming Brahma.

01:13So the question reads, To go beyond all the three gunas is first coming to sattvic predominant

01:21state necessary? And if sattvic state is all about light and wisdom, why would one

01:27want to go beyond that? If Shri Krishna is saying, is Shri Krishna saying that devotion

01:37to him is higher than wisdom? So two things are being asked. First, to go beyond the three

01:50gunas, is it necessary to take a linear route, which is to come to sattva guna first and

01:59then from there graduate to a state beyond gunas? Or is it possible to have some kind

02:15of a bypass or shortcut? The questioner is curious whether one can straight away move

02:24from, let's say, rajo guna to a state transcending all three gunas. That's the first part.

02:36And the second part he is saying, if the sattvic state is about light and wisdom, why is it

02:43needed at all that one transcends it? Theoretically it is possible that one moves straight away,

02:58even from tamo guna to transcendence. It is possible. But it is highly improbable. Won't

03:12really happen. Chances of this happening are maybe one in a million. For this to happen,

03:26one requires an explosion in one's consciousness. And explosions are very difficult for consciousness

03:38to tolerate. Especially a tamo guni consciousness is too deeply drowned in its own self-delusion

03:50for it to be able to tolerate any explosions. What does an explosion do? It demolishes,

04:03it shatters everything around. An explosion in your consciousness would bring your entire

04:10world down. Therefore, even though theoretically feasible, it is practically quite impossible.

04:24You have to take the linear route which is more feasible and safer. In the linear route,

04:34there is incremental change in your consciousness. So let's say you are tamo guni. All you do

04:42is drink and sleep and remain in your dreams and delusions. That's your life. You live

04:51in your own personal universe. Drugs and booze are your staple food. And you have

05:05grandiose concepts of your own that have nothing to do with ground realities at all. That's

05:10the tamo guni life. Your mind stinks, your life stinks, and your bed stinks. But you

05:19keep sleeping. And you have no repugnance towards yourself. You are alright and happy

05:31and confident. That's tamo guni. Now, one day it happens that those things you are dependent

05:46on to maintain your deluded state run out of stock. That's when you realize that even

05:58to sleep like a log, you first of all require to achieve a little. So you go out to achieve.

06:12When you go out to achieve, you find achievement is not only difficult, it is a difficult spiral,

06:19spiraling upwards. You want to achieve one thing, that necessitates achieving another

06:25thing and that necessitates achieving another thing and another thing and another thing.

06:31So now gradually you move to the rajo guni state. Even though you had entered that phase

06:42just to continue with your tamsa, yet now you find that you are truly a rajasic one.

06:57And then remaining caught in this spiral of action, ambition and achievement for long,

07:08all you experience for yourself is doom and despair. And you have been fortunate enough

07:20to have been learning from experience. You have gathered knowledge about yourself, seeing

07:33yourself run around for so long and because you have been running around to all corners

07:38of the world, now you have gathered knowledge of the world as well. That does not happen

07:43with everybody. I am taking a specific case of someone who has successfully managed the

07:49transition from rajo guni to sattva guni. That's a special case. So now this fellow

07:58in the process of fulfilling his achievements, in the process of attaining this and that

08:05has gathered enough knowledge of the world and in gathering knowledge he has started

08:10to value knowledge. That does not happen with everyone, I repeat. In gathering knowledge

08:17he has started to value knowledge. And when he starts valuing knowledge, he says, if knowledge

08:22is valuable, then instead of achieving worldly goods, let me achieve knowledge. That's how

08:28his very achievement or tendency to achieve pushes him into sattva guni. Knowledge too

08:36becomes a kind of achievement for him. He says I have been trying to achieve power,

08:40position, money for so long, now let me achieve knowledge. So now he runs after knowledge

08:47and knowledge does what it does. Knowledge liberates him from all kinds of delusion.

08:55Knowledge liberates him from his compulsive running around. Now he can settle down and

09:01relax and that gives him a lot of freedom from his previous states. That is sattva guni.

09:10But remember this freedom has come on the back of knowledge, not wisdom. We have mentioned

09:18here that if sattvic state is all about light and wisdom, no. Sattva guni has to do with

09:23gyan which is knowledge, not wisdom. The sattva guni is not really wise. He knows a lot but

09:31he has still not achieved the center of all knowledge. Maybe he has some peripheral insight

09:42but that you cannot really call as bodh or illumination or wisdom. That is something

09:49that comes to you when you transcend even the sattva guni state and that is transcend

09:57when you realize that you cannot have happiness without being a little tense within. If liberation

10:09from despair is dependent on knowledge, then that liberation is not complete because it

10:15is still dependent. Any kind of dependence is bondage. So then you want a liberation

10:24that is independent of even knowledge. In sattva guni you have liberation with knowledge,

10:30because of knowledge, dependent on knowledge. The last dependency still remains. Finally

10:38you realize that of what use is liberation if I am still dependent on something even

10:44if that something is knowledge. Then you transcend. Then you move beyond even sattva guni. That

10:50is called the gunatit state. Now you have gone beyond prakriti in its totality. Now

10:58neither are you identified with tamas nor rajas not even sattva. You have gone totally

11:10beyond the three gunas which means now you are totally away from and free from prakriti

11:16which means now you are in your pure consciousness state. That is how it happens. That's why

11:26Shri Krishna is saying that the ones who are devoted to me go beyond even sattva guni.

11:35Being devoted to Shri Krishna is being devoted to transcendence. You have to exceed even

11:42the sattvic state. But then that's a far cry. First of all reach the sattvic state

11:49first. Even that is too distant for most people.

Category

Transcript

Recommended