In the last article we discussed the concept of three guna of prakriti which are controlling us and making us do things we do in this life. The first and the most important guna is satvik guna. If one remains in this guna all the time, he becomes more knowledgeable and also inner happiness increases. Krishna also explains that most of us don’t remain in the same guna. All three guna overpowers us in different circumstances. In difficult situations, we do get derailed and slipped into either rajasic or tamasic guna very often.
Today, we will discuss what is rajasic guna and what kind of person always dwells into it. The rajasic guna is considered to be the mixture of satwik and rajasic guna. The person who is born with more of this guna, is always looking for activities which satisfy his ego, or desire or always want to excel in life. I always thought this to be a good quality of the human being. But after reading Bhagwad Geeta I realised that even this type of behaviour keeps us away from Krishna and also from the heavenly planet or even vaukuntha. The person has attachment to results or fruitive actions, hence always looking for the victory in every situation. Though this could be a problem in bhakti, but kshatriyas who protect the country or always out in the war, are expected to be in this mode as that is very important for them to win the enemy. One will wonder that when one side Krishna explains various tools and methods to remain aloof and detached from the material world, why he is encouraging Arjuna to fight the battle. The chapter of karma yoga explains that very much in detail.
Rajasik mode is also important for men and women to develop relationships. It is the main component for the attraction between them and the major reasons why people fall into relationships. In today’s time, when love marriages have increased, it is difficult for one to judge if it was true love or mere physical attraction. Hence Krishna explains that one always needs to look forward to remaining in satvik mode and ensure that rajasic mode is not disturbing one’s sadhana towards any god he loves.
One more feature of rajasic nature is, every creation comes into existence out of this nature. This raises another question that when the whole creation is born out of this nature, why it is still considered to be the hindrance in the growth of bhakti. But if you are a follower of any Vaishnava samprayas, the first thing which is taught there is that we all got separated from Krishna when the universe was getting formed. Our main goal is to go back to him and be with him in eternal space and time. Shri Vallabhacharya explains the same thing in the shloka of brahmasambandh.
In any normal household, we regularly see attachments in relationships. Mother is attached to son, son is attached to mom, husband to wife and wife to husband. The major force behind this attachment is rajasic tattva. This sometimes brings pain and hurt to someone’s life. It also becomes the cause of relationships to break and fights among family members.
Krishna explains in the fifteenth shloka of fourteenth chapter that one gets birth into the family based on the nature they have lived in. Which means if one remains ambitious and attached to the material world, he gets the same life again and again. He remains in the center of all the loka. The way a satvik person goes to a higher planet, a rajasic person doesn’t go to a higher planet but remains in the atmosphere of the earth so that he can come back to the earth to fulfill his desires again and again.
This is the best way for any person to evaluate their behaviour with more clarity and lead a life in satvik mode all the time. Next time we will discuss how a tamasic person lives his life.