Understanding the Gunas ~ Freedom from rancour

Abha Didi

Abha Bhandari

From Param Pujya Ma, we continually received that precious understanding, which would help us to live our lives in the perspective of Truth and Reality. How often we agitate against circumstances that seem insurmountable, people who seem unreasonable and negative, our own traits which impede our material and spiritual progress, but which we cannot conquer! Param Pujya Ma often reminded us that all that happens is an occurrence of Prakriti and is rooted in the Gunas that prevail. As is explained in the Srimadbhagavad Gita, She often reminded us that the only way to transcend the daily travails of dissatisfaction, disappointment, frustration and the resultant anger and regret, was to understand the qualities or the Gunas, and transcend them. Lord Krishna advised Arjuna, “Gunatit bhava!” … “Arjuna, be thou a Gunatit!” (one who has understood and thereby transcended the Gunas).

Shri Parthasarthy, an eminent elucidator of the Gita once remarked, ‘When one goes to the Zoo, one fearlessly puts ones hand into the cage of the deer in order to fondle it. This is possible because one knows that the deer will not harm us, will not bite or injure us. However, we will never venture to put our hand similarly into the lion’s cage! Knowing the carnivorous nature of the lion, our instinct of self preservation comes to the forefront and we desist from venturing into unsafe territory. There is no anger against the lion, no frustration and no resultant regret. There is simply an understanding of the nature of the lion’s inherent traits!

If we conducted ourselves in our everyday lives with a similar understanding of the situation or person before us, we would save ourselves from many an ordeal. To understand, to accept, and to love is the pivot of happiness which is untouched and undiluted by the play of the Gunas.

In explanation of the 29th shloka of the 13th Chapter of the Gita, Param Puya Ma elucidates:

He who perceives all actions as performed by Prakriti in all ways and knows the Atma to be the non-doer, that one sees truly.’

The Lord has reiterated time and again that it is the qualities that interact with other qualities.

The interaction of qualities

1. The individual is compelled to act in accordance with the qualities of Prakriti.

2. This interaction of qualities with other qualities is spontaneous.

3. All actions are executed by the qualities of Prakriti; it is only the foolish who take pride in doership.

4. These very qualities constitute the cause of creation.

5. The individual, deluded by the qualities of Prakriti, becomes enslaved by them and their actions.

6. Prakriti causes modifications and changes in attributes and qualities.

Thus the Lord says, “Be Thou a gunatit! Do not become deluded by attributes. Be uninfluenced by all qualities.”

The man of wisdom

a) He who understands the enigma of the qualities;

b) He who sees all objects as constituted of qualities;

c) He who knows all beings to comprise of these same qualities;

d) He who knows that these qualities are an endowment of Prakriti;

– such a one knows that these qualities are the factual doers and that the mortal being is ever a non-doer.

All qualities are inert and thus impartial, blameless, uninfluenceable. How does it matter to the quality:

a) what befalls you as a consequence?

b) whether you receive credit or insult?

c) whether you receive death or immortality as a consequence of that quality?

All individuals of this entire universe are bound by qualities. All these qualities attract and enslave a person.

The individual does not even make an effort to understand his positive and negative qualities. His attachment makes him identify with all the qualities. In actual fact he does not realise that all his accomplishments were spontaneous and he had no hand in them.

If you understand the enigma of the qualities:

a) you will realise that it does not behove you to bear any anger or grudge against anyone;

b) you will realise that it does not behove you to nurture hatred or affinity for anyone;

c) you will recognise that your aim is to transcend all qualities and to remain uninfluenced by them. If you truly understand the mystery of the qualities, you will become a gunatit;

d) you will not pay heed to another’s fault;

e) you will spontaneously forgive, because you will not be able to point a finger at others;

f) knowing that the other is actually blameless you will not be able to accuse anyone;

g) you will understand the helplessness of the other; then how can you blame such a one?

h) you will remain uninfluenced by all qualities.

Generally, you blame another because you cannot understand why he behaves the way he does; you think the other can change.

This is the play of the qualities. It is the qualities themselves which can bring about a change in other qualities; therefore if your qualities do not bring about a change in the other person, know that you do not have the necessary qualities to induce that change. The fault lies neither with you nor with the other. He who knows this truth, is truly a seer.

The other believes himself to be the doer; you will know him to be a non-doer. Then divine qualities will flow forth automatically from your being.

Now understand why these qualities of divinity will flow from you. It is the knowledge of qualities and their interaction which can change your outlook and your nature. Such an individual perceives each one to be essentially a non-doer.

Such a seer, who knows the truth about the qualities, will point out the other’s lacunae. If the other protests or is enraged, the seer will remain silent and not even consider any punishment. He will not indulge in criticism. When the other falls silent after an outburst of rage, he may even be able to perceive the truth about himself. Perhaps after seeing himself and understanding his own qualities, his qualities may take on a new hue and that individual may change.

The gunatit, on the other hand, is an ocean of compassion and magnanimity. Knowing the helplessness of others, he looks upon them with forgiveness for their tirades upon him. Thus such a seer is a repository of divine attributes.

The apportioning of blame, reprimand, and all agitation stem from expectation. When one ceases to expect, but lives with the understanding that just as I find it difficult to change my opinions, my habits and to control my mode of behaviour, so also the other is not in control. Therefore forgiveness becomes habitual. Also, the knowledge that just as seasons come and go, so also the ‘seasons of human habit can undergo change’ creates a climate of peace and harmony. Param Pujya Ma once spontaneously flowed thus:

“Seasons come and seasons go

Every season undergoes change

So also, every being alters,

Much as seasons witness change…

Sometimes the hot winds of anger blow

Then the cold winds of rejection prevail

When the cool breezes of compassion and love flow

They augur spring’s gentle gale…

When love rains, all is green

But when the hot winds of anger rage

Then everything just withers away

And a barren terrain characterizes life’s stage…

These seasons of nature come and go

And will ever continue always this way

He who accepts all as the Lord’s Supreme Gift

Will be joyous in every way!”

( A translation)

In Shloka 30 of the 13th Chapter of the Srimadbhagavad Gita, Param Pujya Ma says:

When the individual perceives the manifold existence of all beings as established in That One Atma, and sees this entirety (the Cosmos) as emanating from That One, then he verily becomes one with Brahm.

The Lord says that when the individual:

a) perceives unity in diversity;

b) sees That One form pervading all forms;

c) witnesses indivisible unity in apparent diversity;

d) sees Vaishvanar in the entire creation;

e) witnesses the Atma Essence in the entire creation;

f) then he verily sees the Truth.

­­– He also then sees this entirety emanating from That One;

­­– He sees That One in diverse forms;

­­– He sees That Integral Essence of Truth in the varied forms of the universe;

­­– He witnesses the One Omkaar in divided constituents;

­­– He sees That Unmanifest One in all manifest forms.

1. He thus gets established in the Truth.

2. He becomes a knower of the Truth and indeed an embodiment of It.

3. He becomes an Atmavaan and a manifestation of Brahm Himself.

4. He renounces the intellect which was subservient to the body and merges with the Supreme.

5. He is replete with the attributes of the Supreme.

That is, becoming one with the Atma, he becomes an Atmavaan. Alternatively it could be said that he renounces illusion and is absorbed into the Indivisible Truth. First erasing ignorance with knowledge, he then transcends even knowledge.

a) After acquiring all the divine qualities, when he relinquishes attachment even to divinity,

b) Having attained complete knowledge, when he renounces attachment with that knowledge,

c) Having gained establishment in the attribute of Sattva, when he renounces attachment even with that attribute,

then that one:

­­– transcends both sat and asat – truth and falsehood;

­­– transcends the body idea;

­­– transcends the intellect which pertained to the body self.

At that moment, having renounced the body idea, such a one, knowing himself to be the Atma, realises that all others too are naught but the Atma. He perceives the seemingly divided Atma Essence in all.

It is not easy to understand this: how does the Atmavaan consider others to be the Atma also – when they are fettered by and manifest varied attributes?

He who knows himself to be the Atma, witnesses only the Atma as omnipresent. He perceives all as akin to himself. He also knows that all qualities being essentially inert, are non-doers; the Atma too is essentially a non-doer. Thus it is the idea of doership which is the real doer. This illusory world is the creation of ‘I’, the mind the intellect and the ego. It is merely one’s internal aberration.

The qualities will inevitably do what they are designed to do:

1. Qualities will continue to be influenced by other qualities.

2. Qualities will inevitably attract some and repel other qualities.

3. Qualities will be influenced by other qualities and thus keep changing.

However, all this happens spontaneously. And all this transpires within the authority of That Supreme Atma. He who knows this, only he truly knows. He who is ignorant of this truth, knows naught. The knower of this truth attains Brahm.

All are one in the Atma Self. All are equal in the Atma. All differences lie latent in the qualities. He who perceives all as the Atma, verily attains Brahm.

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