Bg 17.11
aphalākāṅkṣibhir yajño vidhi-diṣṭo ya ijyate
yaṣṭavyam eveti manaḥ samādhāya sa sāttvikaḥ
Bg 17.12
abhisandhāya tu phalaṁ dambhārtham api caiva yat
ijyate bharata-śreṣṭha taṁ yajñaṁ viddhi rājasam
Bg 17.13
vidhi-hīnam asṛṣṭānnaṁ mantra-hīnam adakṣiṇam
śraddhā-virahitaṁ yajñaṁ tāmasaṁ paricakṣate
Translation
11. That sacrifice which is offered by men without desire for fruit, and as enjoined by ordinance, with a firm faith that sacrifice is a duty, is SATTWIC or 'pure. '
12. The sacrifice which is offered, O best of the Bharatas, seeking for fruit and for ostentation, you may know that to be a RAJASIC YAJNA.
13. They declare that sacrifice to be TAMASIC which is contrary to the ordinances, in which no food is distributed, which is devoid of MANTRAS and gifts, and which is devoid of faith.
Commentary
After exhausting the classification of the temperaments as determined by tastes exhibited by different people in the world, the Geeta continues to indicate how, in the very type of activities undertaken, there is an unmistakable declaration of the temperamental beauty, or ugliness, of the individual.
PERFORMED BY MEN DESIRING NO FRUIT --- Sacrifices undertaken by men of purity are always executed in a spirit of selflessness. We have already explained, earlier in the Geeta, that burning anxiety for the fruits-of-action is an unprofitable channel of dissipation of the sacred and vital human energy. Fruits belong to future periods of time, and to waste the present in anxiety over the future, is indeed an unintelligent policy of existence.
AS REQUIRED BY ORDINANCES --- Actions in the world fall under four categories, according to ancient Vedic lore. Of them 'desire-ridden' (Kamya) and positively self-insulting, and therefore 'forbidden' acts (Nishiddha) are the two types that are to be studiously avoided. The other two classes: (a) (Nitya) the 'daily duties' and (b) the 'special duties' on special occasions (Naimittika) are the types of actions that should not be avoided but must be most diligently pursued. These two types --- Nitya and Naimittika together constitute what the Shastra terms as the 'unavoidable' or 'obligatory duties.' These actions and duties are indicated here as those required by ordinance. This term is used here in contrast with the Tamasic type of activity, 'wherein no ordinance is observed' and men are always devoid of 'faith' (XVII-13).
SACRIFICE IS OUR DUTY --- This is the motive that propels the 'good' to act in life. He suffers no dissipation of his inner energies either through anxieties to drive himself to a particular goal or through his restlessness in herding the environments to settle themselves into a pre-planned and pre-conceived system of harmony. His mind is ever at rest in its own native satisfaction. He is consciously happy that he is pursuing a line of action which is most conducive to the welfare of all. Such actions are classed under the Sattwic type of sacrifices.
WITH A VIEW TO GAINING FRUIT --- In order to gain a chosen result, some people act in the world, and naturally, while in the field of activity, they are much too pre-occupied with their anxieties and worries. They grow more and more nervous at their own imaginary fears --- they ever live in an atmosphere of fear as to whether they will gain a particular chosen goal or not.
FOR OSTENTATION --- There are others in the world who act, ever so vigorously, not necessarily for gaining any predetermined goal, but merely for satisfying their vanity by exhibiting their wealth or knowledge, thus proving themselves to be the show of society. Ordinarily, there are many who work in the world and make such sacrifices. These do not constitute divine acts, nor can they ever be expected to yield a reward of cheerfulness or inner peace.
Such sacrifices undertaken by men who are anxious to reach a particular goal and who work for satisfying their vanity in the community, are to be understood as Rajasic. THE TAMASIC TYPE IS NOW TAKEN UP FOR DISCUSSION:
Disobeying all the prescriptions laid down in the scriptures and acting against all Vedic injunctions --- contrary to all the principles laid down by the Science of right living --- the sacrifices performed become of the lowest type. Such a sacrifice cannot at all bring about happiness either to the performer, or in its final analysis, to his generation.
WITHOUT DISTRIBUTION OF FOOD --- The utter necessities of life are, in the vocabulary of the modern age, indicated by the familiar phrase 'food-clothing-shelter.' In the scriptural language of Hinduism, the term 'food' indicates all these necessities of life. A man of sacrifice and right action cannot expect any inner development because of his actions, unless they are accompanied by a mental development and an expansion in love which makes him share whatever he has with the have-nots.
Apart from the above-mentioned two, when rituals are conducted without mantra or without distribution of reward for the educated (Dakshina), those sacrifices are classified as Tamasic.
Sources: vedabase.com; The Holy Geeta
aphalākāṅkṣibhir yajño vidhi-diṣṭo ya ijyate
yaṣṭavyam eveti manaḥ samādhāya sa sāttvikaḥ
Bg 17.12
abhisandhāya tu phalaṁ dambhārtham api caiva yat
ijyate bharata-śreṣṭha taṁ yajñaṁ viddhi rājasam
Bg 17.13
vidhi-hīnam asṛṣṭānnaṁ mantra-hīnam adakṣiṇam
śraddhā-virahitaṁ yajñaṁ tāmasaṁ paricakṣate
Translation
11. That sacrifice which is offered by men without desire for fruit, and as enjoined by ordinance, with a firm faith that sacrifice is a duty, is SATTWIC or 'pure. '
12. The sacrifice which is offered, O best of the Bharatas, seeking for fruit and for ostentation, you may know that to be a RAJASIC YAJNA.
13. They declare that sacrifice to be TAMASIC which is contrary to the ordinances, in which no food is distributed, which is devoid of MANTRAS and gifts, and which is devoid of faith.
Commentary
After exhausting the classification of the temperaments as determined by tastes exhibited by different people in the world, the Geeta continues to indicate how, in the very type of activities undertaken, there is an unmistakable declaration of the temperamental beauty, or ugliness, of the individual.
PERFORMED BY MEN DESIRING NO FRUIT --- Sacrifices undertaken by men of purity are always executed in a spirit of selflessness. We have already explained, earlier in the Geeta, that burning anxiety for the fruits-of-action is an unprofitable channel of dissipation of the sacred and vital human energy. Fruits belong to future periods of time, and to waste the present in anxiety over the future, is indeed an unintelligent policy of existence.
AS REQUIRED BY ORDINANCES --- Actions in the world fall under four categories, according to ancient Vedic lore. Of them 'desire-ridden' (Kamya) and positively self-insulting, and therefore 'forbidden' acts (Nishiddha) are the two types that are to be studiously avoided. The other two classes: (a) (Nitya) the 'daily duties' and (b) the 'special duties' on special occasions (Naimittika) are the types of actions that should not be avoided but must be most diligently pursued. These two types --- Nitya and Naimittika together constitute what the Shastra terms as the 'unavoidable' or 'obligatory duties.' These actions and duties are indicated here as those required by ordinance. This term is used here in contrast with the Tamasic type of activity, 'wherein no ordinance is observed' and men are always devoid of 'faith' (XVII-13).
SACRIFICE IS OUR DUTY --- This is the motive that propels the 'good' to act in life. He suffers no dissipation of his inner energies either through anxieties to drive himself to a particular goal or through his restlessness in herding the environments to settle themselves into a pre-planned and pre-conceived system of harmony. His mind is ever at rest in its own native satisfaction. He is consciously happy that he is pursuing a line of action which is most conducive to the welfare of all. Such actions are classed under the Sattwic type of sacrifices.
WITH A VIEW TO GAINING FRUIT --- In order to gain a chosen result, some people act in the world, and naturally, while in the field of activity, they are much too pre-occupied with their anxieties and worries. They grow more and more nervous at their own imaginary fears --- they ever live in an atmosphere of fear as to whether they will gain a particular chosen goal or not.
FOR OSTENTATION --- There are others in the world who act, ever so vigorously, not necessarily for gaining any predetermined goal, but merely for satisfying their vanity by exhibiting their wealth or knowledge, thus proving themselves to be the show of society. Ordinarily, there are many who work in the world and make such sacrifices. These do not constitute divine acts, nor can they ever be expected to yield a reward of cheerfulness or inner peace.
Such sacrifices undertaken by men who are anxious to reach a particular goal and who work for satisfying their vanity in the community, are to be understood as Rajasic. THE TAMASIC TYPE IS NOW TAKEN UP FOR DISCUSSION:
Disobeying all the prescriptions laid down in the scriptures and acting against all Vedic injunctions --- contrary to all the principles laid down by the Science of right living --- the sacrifices performed become of the lowest type. Such a sacrifice cannot at all bring about happiness either to the performer, or in its final analysis, to his generation.
WITHOUT DISTRIBUTION OF FOOD --- The utter necessities of life are, in the vocabulary of the modern age, indicated by the familiar phrase 'food-clothing-shelter.' In the scriptural language of Hinduism, the term 'food' indicates all these necessities of life. A man of sacrifice and right action cannot expect any inner development because of his actions, unless they are accompanied by a mental development and an expansion in love which makes him share whatever he has with the have-nots.
Apart from the above-mentioned two, when rituals are conducted without mantra or without distribution of reward for the educated (Dakshina), those sacrifices are classified as Tamasic.
Sources: vedabase.com; The Holy Geeta
No comments:
Post a Comment