Bg 2.45
trai-guṇya-viṣayā vedā nistrai-guṇyo bhavārjuna
nirdvandvo nitya-sattva-stho niryoga-kṣema ātmavān
Bg 2.46
yāvān artha uda-pāne sarvataḥ samplutodake
tāvān sarveṣu vedeṣu brāhmaṇasya vijānataḥ
Translation:
45. The
VEDAS deal with the three attributes; be you above these three attributes
(GUNAS) , O Arjuna, free yourself from the pairs-of-opposites, and ever remain
in the SATTWA (goodness) , freed from all thoughts of acquisition and preservation,
and be established in the Self.
46. To the
BRAHMANA who has known the Self, all the VEDAS are of so much use, as is a
reservoir of water in a place where there is flood everywhere.
Commentary
Excerpts:
The three
inseparable gunas always remain in the inner constitution of every living
creature, in varying proportions.
The mind and intellect are constituted of this triple-stuff. To go beyond these
three temperaments isliterally to go beyond the mind. If there is an alloy constituted
of copper, zinc, and tin, and a pot is made of that alloy, then to remove all
tin, zinc and copper from the pot is to destroy the pot completely. Tea is made
of hot water, tea leaves, sugar and milk; and from a cup of tea if you are
asked to remove these four components of tea, it amounts to saying 'empty the
cup.' In the direct language of the
Upanishads, man has been advised to transcend the mind and intellect, and they
promise that the individual shall thereby re-discover himself to be God. This
direct explanation came to frighten away the Hindu folk out of the Aryan-fold,
and so the CALL OF THE RENAISSANCE here, though meaning the same, puts it in
different words when it says: "Arjuna, transcend the gunas." If a
doctor were to prescribe a medicine which is nowhere in the catalogue of any
pharmaceutical company in the world, and, naturally, therefore, not available
in any bazaar, that prescription is certainly useless. Similarly, it may be a
great prescription for Self-perfection when the Lord advises: "Be free
from the triad of the gunas," but it is useless
unless a student, practical-minded and adventurous enough to try to live this
advice, can be instructed
as to how he can go beyond these instinctive temperaments in man, viz.,
unactivity (Sattwa), activity (Rajas) and inactivity (Tamas).
The second
line in the stanza gives us a very practical and direct method of transporting
ourselves from the realm of imperfection to the boundless regions of Bliss and Beatitude.
Earlier, Krishna had indicated how Arjuna should enter the field and wage the
war. The same mental equanimity is being advised here in a different language. Pairs-of-opposites
are the experiences in our life such as joy and sorrow, health and disease,
success and failure, heat and cold, etc. Each one of them can be experienced and
known only with reference to and as a contrast to its opposite. Therefore the
term 'pairs-of-opposites' (Dwandwas) envisages, in its comprehensive meaning,
all the experiences of man in life. Krishna advises Arjuna to be free from all
pairs-of-opposites (Dwandwas). NITYA-SATTWA-STHAH --- "Ever established in
purity." The purity, Sattwa, the subtlest of the three gunas, often becomes
impure by its contact with attachments and the consequent agitations (Rajas)
that attack the intellect with delusion and grief, and veil it from the right
cognition of the Real Nature of things (Tamas). To be established in purity
(Sattwa) would, therefore, mean keeping ourselves least agitated, and so, least
deluded in our perceptions of things and beings, and in our estimation of their
true nature. Yoga and Kshema in their meaning include all the activities of
every living being in the universe. These are the two urges which goad every
one in all one's activities. 'Yoga' means 'to acquire' for purposes of
possessing; and 'Kshema' means 'all efforts at preserving the acquired.' Thus
the two terms Yoga and Kshema encompass all our ego-centric activities motivated
by selfish desires to acquire and, compelled by equally selfish wishes, to
hoard and preserve what has been acquired. To renounce these two temperaments
is to get away immediately from the two main fields that yield the poisonous
harvest of extreme restlessness and sorrow in life.
It is very
easy for a spiritual master to advise an aspirant to be "free from the
pairs-of-opposites, and remain ever pure and free from the natural appetites
for acquisition, and the usual greed for preservation." But the philosophy
will be practical only when the seeker is advised as to HOW he can do so. This
'how' of it all has been indicated by the last word in the stanza: Atmavan ---
"be established in the
Self."
It is a
wonderful simile that is used here, fully applicable in the context in which it
is used. So long as there is no flood, everyone from the vicinity will have to
reach the well to collect drinking water, although everywhere there is a vein
of water running under our feet, but separated from us by the crust of the earth.
For the seeker, the Veda is the only source of True Knowledge, and every one
must necessarily go to the Sacred Book for Knowledge. But when the area is
flooded and the wells and the tanks have disappeared in the spread of the
flood, at that time the reservoir of water, which used to be of service,
becomes merged in the spread of water that lies all round. Similarly, the
Vedas, meaning here "the ritualistic portion," which promises
fulfilment of the various desires, can be useful only so long as the individual
is riddled with delusory desires for sensuous satisfactions. But, to a sincere
student and seeker (Brahmana) who has "come to experience the Self"
(Vijanatah) these ritualistic portions of the Vedas become useless inasmuch as
the benefits that they can give are comprehended in the perfection that he has
come to live.
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