Note
manujaṃ daivāsurala-
kṣaṇamiśritanavana jagakè kaṭṭuva saṃpad-
guṇamāsuram adariṃ mo-
canèyāgipa saṃyamādigaḻè daivya-dhanaṃ ॥
Man is an admixture
Of qualities daivī and āsurī
Fetter him to the universe, the latter
Divine qualities like restraint release him from them.
Gaganadi teluva paṃjara
Jagamidu nija-karma-phalavan-adaroḻag-uṇuvā
Khaga jīvaṃ gūḍoḍèdadu
nègèderal dorègum adakanaṃtada saukhyaṃ ॥
The universe is a cage sailing in the sky.
The jīva is a bird inside, eating the fruit of its karma.
Breaking free of its cage and flying into the endless space,
It obtains boundless joy.
paṃjara-doḻag-uṇisugaḻā
naṃjuṃ jenuṃ khagakke matterisuguṃ ॥
muṃjāgṛtiyiṃ nīnada-
kaṃjade kai sāgidaṃte saveyisu gūḍaṃ ॥
The eatables in the cage — sweet and poisonous —
Intoxicate the bird within.
Proceed with caution,
Grind down the cage without fear, as you see fit.
Summary
Man is a mixture of daivī and āsurī qualities. The human world is the place where he can examine and filter his qualities and train him for better things. Prakṛti influences him with the guṇa-triad and makes him move forward because of the influence of his daivī aspects, or regress because of his āsurī aspects. Man has freedom to discerningly choose to progress or regress.
The path of dharma, which has two main qualities — acceptance of Īśvara and submission to him — becomes visible by the contemplation and examination of daivī and āsurī qualities. Because Vedas and Śāstras are disregarded, the consciousness of puṇya and pāpa has vanished. Here can be seen the seed of various kinds of misery and agony the world is currently experiencing. At least now, will human attention veer towards the Vedas which are the sole means of gaining true knowledge, or towards śāstras that teach how the manas and buddhi should prepare themselves for understanding philosophy?
Whichever way we see, it is irrefutable that the effort of the buddhi is necessary. However, if buddhi has to understand the principle that is beyond the grasp of the senses, it has to work within the precincts of acceptance of the authority of the Vedas. The moral strength obtained by the study of śastras nurtures buddhi’s ability for philosophical deliberation, and accelerates the process of understanding. Human intellect is paramount in the sensual world. In the realm of other-worldly knowledge, Vedas and śāstras are paramount. The effort of the buddhi in understanding the supreme tattva, in accordance with the supreme tattva is always desirable.
Section 17 / Chapter 16 / Daivāsura-sampad-vibhāga-yoga / Daivāsura-viveka-yoga
(The Yoga of Distinction Between āsurī and daivī qualities)
In verses 10-13 of chapter 9, we have seen prakṛti express itself in two ways. One is "āsurīṃ rākṣasīṃ caiva" — āsurī or demonic and the other is "daivīṃ" — divine. Both of these are the expressions of prakṛti. The past karmas of the jīva are the reason they appear together or separately in a man. Birth is taken according to karma; puṇya results in better lives; pāpa results in poorer lives.
This is the intention behind the following line —
śucīnāṃ śrīmatāṃ gehe ।
BG 6.41
Hasn’t even good karma performed with great devotion and good intentions gone in vain some times? The truth is that even though there are no tangible results of that karma, they are always there. The result of puṇya often expresses itself in rebirths, as being born in good and wealthy families that practise purity.
The sixteenth chapter deals with the cause and effect relationship between various lives. Firstly, the characteristics of divine beings are listed —
abhayaṃ sattva-saṃśuddhiḥ jñāna-yoga-vyavasthitiḥ ।
dānaṃ damaśca yajñaśca svādhyāyas-tapa ārjavam ॥BG 16.1
"Abhaya" means there is no fear in saying the truth or in performing dhārmic duties. Truth hesitates when there is fear. Fearlessness is the primary requirement for truth and justice. Many people fear the consequences of telling the truth. Fear of what others may think and a crafty mindset that gives a convenient, if dishonest answer to all questions — these are very common in today’s world. That should give way to the trust that one should be faithful to Bhagavān, and he will protect us always. This trust gives rise to fearlessness. We can see this fearlessness in Gandhi. This is the mark of a person who believes in Bhagavān.
abhayaṃ vai brahma ।
Bṛhadāraṇyaka
"Abhaya" is not audacity or haughtiness; it is humble fearlessness; it is the courage of truth.
"Sattva-saṃśuddhiḥ" : keeping the manas pure, limpid and wakeful — take care so that it is unselfish and guileless and always pleasant. It should be as gracious and clear as a stream flowing from a mountaintop. That is serenity. The manas should not entertain doubts and crookedness.
"Jñāna-yoga-vyavasthitiḥ" is constant devotion to deliberating about the Brahma and bringing it into daily practice. “I have to understand this tattva, I will perform whatever sādhanā to that end, I will definitely attain this tattva” - such intense diligence and effort should be there.
“Dāna”: Freely giving up something belonging to oneself for the use of others. This is also an attribute of daivī nature. We have seen in the Bṛhadāraṇyaka — “dāmyata datta dayadhvaṃ”. Dama is the instruction given to the Devas; dāna is the instruction to humans; and dayā is to the rākṣasas. Thus, the daivī quality that humans have to practise is dāna. Only if it is there, it is confirmed that our hearts have melted, and that we sympathise and empathise with other beings.
Dāna is a quality that is becoming significantly scarce in present times. We call Paurohitya as “priest-craft” — and accuse them that the purohitas want money and therefore raise such brouhaha. An English philosopher called T.H.Green says that there are many amongst us with good intentions; but they just end in words and do not get expressed as work. It is said that there is a Japanese story about a man who spent his life in tall talks. When he went to the afterworld, he was pushed into a room that was full of people wagging their mouths and tongues. Wherever he looked, he saw tongue wagging in mouths; whichever way he turned, there were open lips and shaking tongues. When he asked why this was so, he was told “Dear fellow, isn’t this all you did on the Earth?”. Green says that we should not speak too much about great things. As talk increases, morality decreases.
Our ancestors have greatly praised the quality of dāna, especially of the secret variety. An old woman in the house would not sit down for lunch, till everyone else in the family was fed, and give up some morsels from her portion of food to beggars or stray animals that needed to eat. That is bhūtabali.
“Damaḥ”: Keep one’s senses under control.
“Yajñaḥ”: Worship of Īśvara. The word sacrifice is used in English. That means āhuti or bali offered to a deity; it means that the feelings of “me” and “mine” — ego and attachment — are offered as sacrifice.
“Svādhyāyaḥ”: Studying texts and treatises related to one’s profession — humility that there is a lot to know - these help cultivating the buddhi . “Sva” here means the study of something related to oneself. For a brāhmaṇa, this could be studying one’s own śākhā. Engineers might want to study engineering texts, and doctors might want to study Ayurveda. Our culture considers worldly sciences such as dhanurveda, sculpting, Ayurveda as upavedas.
“Tapaḥ”: Steadfast devotion that does not allow the thought of anything other than the object of devotion. Just as one has to practice giving up what he has earned, he should also practise reducing his desires and wants, and strive day and night to achieve his objective. Tapas is constant mindfulness about one’s goal.
“Ārjava”: Straightforward conduct that is not crooked or deceitful, and practises what the conscience preaches.
In addition to the qualities that have been described above,
ahiṃsā satyam-akrodhaḥ tyāgaḥ śāntir-apaiśunam ।
dayā bhūteṣvaloluptvaṃ mārdavaṃ hrīr-acāpalam ॥BG 16.2
“Apaiśunaṃ” means the absence of calumny. Aloluptva means not being licentious or forget oneself in worldly pleasures. This does not mean that one should not experience pleasure. It just means that one should not lose oneself in sensual pleasures. “Hrīḥ” means modesty. This is a great quality. It is a natural boon given to humans by Bhagavān. It is a limiting boundary drawn because of concern that someone may think ill of us. If there is even a tiny bit of good manners left in this world it is due to this quality of “hrī”. It is the fundamental quality that gives rise to all other forms of propriety. That is why it is specially extolled in the Vedas.
tejaḥ kṣamā dhṛtiḥ śaucam adroho nāti-mānitā ।
bhavanti saṃpadaṃ daivīm abhijātasya bhārata ॥BG 16.3
Lustre, patience, courage, purity, not being treacherous, “na atimānitā” means not swelling our affections and pride. Some level of self-respect and affection is unavoidable; but it should not increase much. If there is no self-respect and love at all, there might not even be affection between a parent and child! However, self-conceit and haughtiness are not acceptable.
To be continued...
The present series is a modern English translation of DVG’s Kendra Sahitya Akademi Award-winning work, Bhagavad-gītā-tātparya or Jīvana-dharma-yoga. The translators wish to express their thanks to Śatāvadhāni R Ganesh for his valuable feedback and to Hari Ravikumar for his astute edits.
