Krishna continues,
"I will speak to you about the knowledge which dawns when the Sattvik (pure, undefiled, noble, luminous) state of consciousness arises.
It is the state beyond all ordinary knowledge. What we know as knowledge presupposes a duality of the object of knowledge and the person who tries to know the object. Here there is no duality. It is a state of transcendence when the knower and the object merge like the river and the sea. It is the end of duality and therefore words, language, feelings and description cannot encompass that state. It is oneness of the spirit while to all outward appearances it is difference, separate identities, distinctions, categories etc. whereas at the level of consciousness there are no two entities apart from each other.
(Note: If we try to take it at the level of cognition we will have to describe it as empathy. But in the realm of mysticism it is a state of total oblivion. The history of mysticism has saints and mystics who have had this experience. In Geeta the Lord chooses not to elaborate on this experience.)
The Lord continues,
"After the knowledge of the Sattvik nature we turn to the actions performed when the Sattva (purity) predominates. All the actions performed without any expectation of reward are do be seen as Sattvik karma. The actions performed with expectation of reward are Rajas karma (the karma required to be performed for the worldly success). There is a kind of desperation in the Rajas effort. The karma which is undertaken in ignorance, without taking into account one's capacity, power, consequences, and the harm that might be be caused to others is called Tamas (dark) karma.
Now let us see the categories of the agent of action.
A person who gets fully involved with the enterprise, does not lose courage and enthusiasm in the face of obstacles, and while engaged in the effort does not worry about the result and at the end of the effort does not get perturbed by success or failure is a Sattvik man of action.
A person who is easily distracted by allurements , goes astray, is insistent about what he must get out of the endeavor, over-ambitious, resorts to any means, fair or foul in achieving the end, is ready to resort to violence if he finds it convenient or necessary, who sways between pleasure and pain, is called a Rajas man of action.
A person who has no control over his base instincts, who is dumb, cunning, jealous, slothful, gloomy, inefficient, slow in completing the given task is called a Tamas agent of action.
I will turn to the three categories of intellect and courage as based on the properties of the three Gunas.
Listen to the properties of the Sattvik intellect. The intellect which can differentiate between the path of absolute renunciation and the path of action, between what ought to be done and what ought not to be done, between fear and safety, between bondage and emancipation is called the Sattvik intellect.
The intellect which cannot decide between the right and the wrong, between the action which is imperative and the action which is forbidden is called a Rajas intellect.
The intellect which holds the unholy to be holy, which misconstrues the meaning of everything and perversely draws wrong inferences, is called the Tamas intellect. "
"I will speak to you about the knowledge which dawns when the Sattvik (pure, undefiled, noble, luminous) state of consciousness arises.
It is the state beyond all ordinary knowledge. What we know as knowledge presupposes a duality of the object of knowledge and the person who tries to know the object. Here there is no duality. It is a state of transcendence when the knower and the object merge like the river and the sea. It is the end of duality and therefore words, language, feelings and description cannot encompass that state. It is oneness of the spirit while to all outward appearances it is difference, separate identities, distinctions, categories etc. whereas at the level of consciousness there are no two entities apart from each other.
(Note: If we try to take it at the level of cognition we will have to describe it as empathy. But in the realm of mysticism it is a state of total oblivion. The history of mysticism has saints and mystics who have had this experience. In Geeta the Lord chooses not to elaborate on this experience.)
The Lord continues,
"After the knowledge of the Sattvik nature we turn to the actions performed when the Sattva (purity) predominates. All the actions performed without any expectation of reward are do be seen as Sattvik karma. The actions performed with expectation of reward are Rajas karma (the karma required to be performed for the worldly success). There is a kind of desperation in the Rajas effort. The karma which is undertaken in ignorance, without taking into account one's capacity, power, consequences, and the harm that might be be caused to others is called Tamas (dark) karma.
Now let us see the categories of the agent of action.
A person who gets fully involved with the enterprise, does not lose courage and enthusiasm in the face of obstacles, and while engaged in the effort does not worry about the result and at the end of the effort does not get perturbed by success or failure is a Sattvik man of action.
A person who is easily distracted by allurements , goes astray, is insistent about what he must get out of the endeavor, over-ambitious, resorts to any means, fair or foul in achieving the end, is ready to resort to violence if he finds it convenient or necessary, who sways between pleasure and pain, is called a Rajas man of action.
A person who has no control over his base instincts, who is dumb, cunning, jealous, slothful, gloomy, inefficient, slow in completing the given task is called a Tamas agent of action.
I will turn to the three categories of intellect and courage as based on the properties of the three Gunas.
Listen to the properties of the Sattvik intellect. The intellect which can differentiate between the path of absolute renunciation and the path of action, between what ought to be done and what ought not to be done, between fear and safety, between bondage and emancipation is called the Sattvik intellect.
The intellect which cannot decide between the right and the wrong, between the action which is imperative and the action which is forbidden is called a Rajas intellect.
The intellect which holds the unholy to be holy, which misconstrues the meaning of everything and perversely draws wrong inferences, is called the Tamas intellect. "
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