Srimad Bhagavadgita -Ramsukhdas 1655

Srimad Bhagavadgita Sadhaka Sanjivani -Swami Ramsukhdas

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Chapter 17

The Lord, in the third verse of this chapter, declares, "As is a man's faith, so is he" and he acts according to his faith. It means, that as affmity of a doer with an action remains, there is every possibility of his getting into bondage. But if he performs an act, as a matter of duty without having any attachment for it, his affinity is renounced and he gets liberated. How is an action to be performed, only for duty's sake? A person, has to do nothing for himself. He should have no affinity, with any object, time and place etc. He should perform his duty, according to the need of the hour. Thus, he will not desire to reap the fruit of action, and will not be bound.
On the other hand, attachment leads him, to bondage. It is declared in the Gita- "The Yogis (men of action) perform actions, only with their senses, mind, intellect and body, abandoning attachment"[1]. It means, that a Karmayogi, should not have any affinity with body, senses and mind. It also implies, that he should not have any affinity, with the ladle, me place and materials for oblation.
Sacrifice, and its fruit, both have a beginning and an end, they appear and disappear, while the soul is imperishable and eternal. But, he (the soul) assumes his affinity with actions, and their fruits. Until he renounces this affinity, he gets entangled, in the cycle of birth and death[2]. Sattvaguna, enables a man to renounce his affinity with the world, and leads him to God-realization, therefore, it is called as 'Sat' or transcendental.[3] All the qualities of the divine nature are Sattvika. But a person possessing divine nature realizes God, only when he transcends the three gums (modes of nature).


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References

  1. ↑ 5/11
  2. ↑ Gita 5/12
  3. ↑ In the Srimadbhegavata in the twenty-fifth chapter of the eleventh section besides the three Gums there is also the description of the state which transcends the three Gunas while in the Gita there is the description of the three Gunas only. Why is it so when Lord Krsna is the speaker in both of them? The answer is that when the sacrifice is performed as a duty (17/11), gifts are made as a duty (17/20) and an action is performed as May (18/9), the person has no affinity with actions and their fruits, and an the Sanvika actions turn into transcendental ones. At the end of the seventeenth chapter also the Lord while describing the Lord's name 'Sat' out of the three names 'Om', Tat', 'Sat', declares that all the actions which are performed for the sake of the Lord become 'Sat' viz - real (transcendental) (17/27) It means that the actions of a Karmayogi become transcendental when he renounces attachment to the actions and their fruits, while the actions of a Bhaktiyogt become transcendental when they are performed for the sake of the Lord. So there is no description of the state which transcends the three Guns. In the Gita it is also mentioned the Saavaguna (The mode of goodness) binds (14/6) and those established in Sattvaguna rise to the higher regions (14/18). Why? The answer is that it is not Sattvaguna which binds but it is attachment to it which binds (14/6, 13/21). Similarly the assumption that one is established in Sanvaguna also leads him to bondage (14/18).