Chapter 17 Shloka 2

श्रीभगवानुवाच

त्रिविधा भवति श्रद्धा देहिनां सा स्वभावजा।

सात्त्विकी राजसी चैव तामसी चेति तां श्रृणु ।।२।

The Lord says, Arjuna listen!

Faith which is born of man’s nature,

is of three types – sattvic, rajsic and tamsic.

Now hear about these.

Chapter 17 Shloka 2

श्रीभगवानुवाच

त्रिविधा भवति श्रद्धा देहिनां सा स्वभावजा।

सात्त्विकी राजसी चैव तामसी चेति तां श्रृणु ।।२।।

The Lord says, Arjuna listen!

Faith which is born of man’s nature, is of three types – sattvic, rajsic and tamsic. Now hear about these.

The Lord says, man’s natural faith is of three types. Let us first understand the connotation of faith again.

Faith

1. Faith is a firm conviction.

2. A very high degree of respect, which is strong and enduring, is called faith.

3. The inclination to accord an eminent status to that which man considers worthy of attainment, is called faith.

4. The tremendous attachment with a certain quality, which causes the hues of that quality to colour you, is faith.

5. A man’s faith is rooted in that which he strives to attain through service.

6. A man’s faith lies in that which he considers to be worthy of knowing and which he strives to usher into his life.

7. Faith is that abiding trust which inspires you in your work.

8. Your faith resides in that path, which you trust will lead to the Supreme and which you follow sincerely.

9. You are bound to inculcate the qualities of the object of your faith. Those are the qualities that are the mainstay of your life and the ones you wish to acquire.

10. That which you believe to be true and which you ‘use’ in life as the Truth, is the object of your faith.

Faith is born of one’s nature

1. Faith is a natural quality.

2. One attains faith in conformity with the fruits of one’s past deeds.

3. The Scriptures draw one’s faith towards the Lord and thus help one to attain the Supreme state.

Through wisdom gained from the Scriptures:

a) faith also attains purity;

b) faith is permeated with Truth;

c) faith can be measured;

d) faith can become the path to the Supreme.

The consequences of faith

Little one, an individual is prepared to endure every travail to attain the object of his faith.

If one has faith in the Supreme, spiritual practice becomes fruitful. Faith in the Supreme yields the conviction that the Supreme One is the only One worthy of attainment, only He is worthy of being known and only He is true and complete. The spiritual practicantbelieves that his body and mind both belong to the Lord. If he has true faith in the Lord’s qualities:

a) his actions will be selfless;

b) his worship will be selfless and his knowledge will be pure;

c) attachment, moha, meum and ego will be squashed;

d) he will be devoid of the idea of doership.

Sattvic faith

The faith of the one devoid of intellect will yield nothing but sorrow. If one’s intellectual capacity is great but one has little faith, one will still not be able to attain the Supreme.

1. If the intellect is sharp and shrewd and if it is complemented by faith in the Supreme, only then can one attain the Supreme.

2. If the intellect is vigilant and knowledgeable about the subtlest aspects of Truth and if one also has faith in the Supreme, That Supreme One can be attained.

3. If the intellect is impartial and pure and one has faith and love for the Supreme, one can unite with the Truth.

Then the individual is able to accept the injunctions of the Scriptures as the Lord’s command, and he can attain the Supreme State.

If the intellect looks upon the Lord with the eyes of faith, the wise devotee, the gyani bhakta is born.

Rajsic faith

The Lord says, “Arjuna! Faith can also be categorised as rajsic.” Here, the faith of the greedy and of the one who seeks fulfilment of desires is being discussed. The faith of a person who has strong conviction in the fulfilment of intemperate desires is rajsic faith.

1. The faith of such people lies in gross objects. Yet they pray to the Lord.

2. These arrogant, hypocritical people worship to increase their own pride.

3. Their worship of the Lord is not intended for establishing His superiority.

Tamsic faith

Those who possess such faith cause sorrow to one and all.

1. They render their own children orphans even in their own lifetime.

2. They deprive their own parents of their children even in their lifetime.

3. They rob the husband of his wife and the wife of her husband. They also cause futile sorrow to themselves and are a burden to this world.

Those with tamsic faith:

a) encourage others to turn away from their duty;

b) behave with total disregard of the rules laid down by society and the Scriptures;

c) transgress the norms of decorum and refinement;

d) act in a manner opposed to Adhyatam.

Little one, if faith is tamsic, it takes the individual towards complete darkness. Instead of encouraging the individual to renounce attachment, it compels him to relinquish the world.

1. Tamsic faith renders the individual blind.

2. Tamsic faith is the belief of the foolish.

3. Tamsic faith is the same as superstition.

4. Tamsic faith is a doubtful, uncertain faith.

The Lord says that these three categories of faith are endowed upon the individual through his nature. That is, such a faith which is not born of the Scriptures, nor of knowledge or its practical application in life, but of man’s nature, such faith is bound by the three attributes of nature, sattva, rajas and tamas.

Faith born of knowledge

Faith born of knowledge helps man to transcend the attributes and makes him an enlightened devotee – a gyani bhakta.

Little one,

1. Such a one has faith in the Atma.

2. He has immense faith in the knowledge that “I am not the body, I am the Atma.”

3. “I am not this mind and the sorrows of this mind are not mine” – he has this strong abiding faith.

4. “This intellect is not for me” – he lives in this conviction.

My little one, the faith of the gunatit gyani or the man of wisdom who has transcended the attributes,

a) is not born of his nature – it is born of his practical experience of knowledge performed in life.

b) is the prasaad, or sanctified residuum of love for the Atma.

c) does not depend on another’s attributes.

The faith of an ordinary man is in keeping with his nature. Most individuals consider their own traits and tendencies to be correct and justified – thus they continue to follow their desires. Their likes are moulded in accordance with their nature and their nature becomes fortified by their likes. Those who consider their own nature conditioned by the three attributes to be superior, their faith is moulded in accordance with their beliefs.

Faith moulded by belief

1. Those who believe in action have faith in the efficacy of action.

2. Those who are excessively attached to the body repose their faith in yoga of physical exercise.

3. Those who are interested in the Scriptures repose their faith in the study of these texts.

4. Those who are attracted towards duty uphold their faith in the performance of duty.

5. Those who believe in shirking their duty have faith in escapist tactics to avoid duty.

6. Those who are gregarious give importance to other people – their faith lies in social activities.

7. Those who find it difficult to maintain relationships drift towards physical isolation; their faith lies in physical solitude.

Thus the faith of each person is moulded by his basic nature. This nature, carried through many life times by the sanskars, and nurtured and augmented by the circumstances of the individual’s present birth, also colours one’s faith. However, the enlightened man of wisdom is never affected by his own nature. He does not allow his knowledge to be influenced by his nature, nor does he himself wish to be influenced by his own qualities and nature. The true devotee knows that faith is influenced by one’s nature. Therefore he endeavours to understand knowledge and the Scriptures from the point of view of the Supreme Lord and does not let his own perspective corrupt that pristine knowledge.

Little one, it is therefore said that one can attain nothing without the blessings and guidance of the Guru. However, who is to judge the status of the Guru? The Guru too, is possessed of faith matching with his nature. His faith too, is either tamsic, rajsic or sattvic.

The right point of view towards the study of the Scriptures

Little one, this is why they say:

1. If you wish to understand any Scripture, then endeavour to understand it with the life of the author of that Scripture before you.

2. Make an effort to understand its essence from the perspective of the author.

Little aspirant of the Truth! If you truly wish to unite with the Supreme, understand the Gita from the perspective of Lord Krishna Himself. Understand the Bible through the eyes of Christ, the Granth Sahib through the eyes of Nanak and the Quran from Mohammed’s perspective. Then, accepting these as the Lord’s injunction, if you wish to follow them in your life, there will be born in you a faith filled with wisdom.

Little one, if Truth reigns in your heart, you will know in a moment that:

1. Your life differs from the lives of these Embodiments of Divinity.

2. Your perspective on life differs from theirs.

3. They embody all that they preach.

If we consider all that they have said as a command to be obeyed, we too will become like them.

Little one, all that the Lord has said in the Gita, the Bible, the Granth Sahib and the Quran is not for memorising – He has said it so that the individual can become that. To merely memorise what is said in these Scriptures is not enough – one must embody all the tenets.

Little one, just consider: If a father says to his child, ‘One must not tell lies’, and that child simply repeats this proclamation time and again to his father, yet continues to tell lies, is he not a fool?

The father does not seek this knowledge from his child – of what avail then is such repetition? The father had made this statement expecting the child’s compliance in practice.

When one’s faith is focused on the Lord:

1. One is not detracted from one’s goal by one’s own qualities or by the qualities of the other.

2. One is not hindered by one’s own convictions or by society’s beliefs.

3. Even one’s natural traits do not obstruct one’s path.

Then one will be able to translate the Lord’s injunctions into one’s life in a moment. This is possible only when, unmindful of one’s nature and one’s inborn traits and tendencies, one comprehends the Lord’s injunctions from His point of view by measuring them with His own practical example.