Symptoms Of One Who Has Transcended The Modes

2009-12-26
Bhagavad Gita 14.21-25 - Symptoms Of One Who Has Transcended The Modes (download mp3)
by Srinivas Acharya Prabhu at ISKCON Chowpatty
www.iskcondesiretree.net

Bg 14.21

arjuna uvaca

kair lingais trin gunan etan

atito bhavati prabho

kim-acarah katham caitams

trin gunan ativartate

Translation: 

Arjuna inquired: O my dear Lord, by which symptoms is one known who is transcendental to these three modes? What is his behavior? And how does he transcend the modes of nature?

Purport: 

In this verse, Arjuna's questions are very appropriate. He wants to know the symptoms of a person who has already transcended the material modes. He first inquires of the symptoms of such a transcendental person. How can one understand that he has already transcended the influence of the modes of material nature? The second question asks how he lives and what his activities are. Are they regulated or nonregulated? Then Arjuna inquires of the means by which he can attain the transcendental nature. That is very important. Unless one knows the direct means by which one can be situated always transcendentally, there is no possibility of showing the symptoms. So all these questions put by Arjuna are very important, and the Lord answers them.

Bg 14.22-25

sri-bhagavan uvaca

prakasam ca pravrttim ca

moham eva ca pndava

na dvesti sampravrttani

na nivrttani kanksati

udasina-vad asino

gunair yo na vicalyate

guna vartanta ity evam

yo 'vatisthati nengate

sama-duhkha-sukhah sva-sthah

sama-lostasma-kañcanah

tulya-priyapriyo dhiras

tulya-nindatma-samstutih

manapamanayos tulyas

tulyo mitrari-paksayoh

sarvarambha-parityagi

Translation: 

The Supreme Personality of Godhead said: O son of Pandu, he who does not hate illumination, attachment and delusion when they are present or long for them when they disappear; who is unwavering and undisturbed through all these reactions of the material qualities, remaining neutral and transcendental, knowing that the modes alone are active; who is situated in the self and regards alike happiness and distress; who looks upon a lump of earth, a stone and a piece of gold with an equal eye; who is equal toward the desirable and the undesirable; who is steady, situated equally well in praise and blame, honor and dishonor; who treats alike both friend and enemy; and who has renounced all material activities such a person is said to have transcended the modes of nature.

Purport: 

Arjuna submitted three different questions, and the Lord answers them one after another. In these verses, Krsna first indicates that a person transcendentally situated has no envy and does not hanker for anything. When a living entity stays in this material world embodied by the material body, it is to be understood that he is under the control of one of the three modes of material nature. When he is actually out of the body, then he is out of the clutches of the material modes of nature. But as long as he is not out of the material body, he should be neutral. He should engage himself in the devotional service of the Lord so that his identity with the material body will automatically be forgotten. When one is conscious of the material body, he acts only for sense gratification, but when one transfers the consciousness to Krsna, sense gratification automatically stops. One does not need this material body, and he does not need to accept the dictations of the material body. The qualities of the material modes in the body will act, but as spirit soul the self is aloof from such activities. How does he become aloof? He does not desire to enjoy the body, nor does he desire to get out of it. Thus transcendentally situated, the devotee becomes automatically free. He need not try to become free from the influence of the modes of material nature.

The next question concerns the dealings of a transcendentally situated person. The materially situated person is affected by so-called honor and dishonor offered to the body, but the transcendentally situated person is not affected by such false honor and dishonor. He performs his duty in Krsna consciousness and does not mind whether a man honors or dishonors him. He accepts things that are favorable for his duty in Krsna consciousness, otherwise he has no necessity of anything material, either a stone or gold. He takes everyone as his dear friend who helps him in his execution of Krsna consciousness, and he does not hate his so-called enemy. He is equally disposed and sees everything on an equal level because he knows perfectly well that he has nothing to do with material existence. Social and political issues do not affect him, because he knows the situation of temporary upheavals and disturbances. He does not attempt anything for his own sake. He can attempt anything for Krsna, but for his personal self he does not attempt anything. By such behavior one becomes actually transcendentally situated.