| 22. The Blessed
Lord said:Light and activity and delusion present, O Pandava, he hates not,
nor longs for them absent.Light is the effect of Sattva, activity of Rajas,
and delusion of Tamas. He does not hate these when present, when they clearly
present themselves; as objects of consciousness. It is only in the absence
of right knowledge that a man hates them thus: I have now a Tamasic idea
by which I am deluded; there has arisen in me the Rajasic activity which
is painful, and urged on by this Rajas I have fallen from my true nature,
and painful is this fall from my true nature ; and the Sattvic gunas, which
is luminous, binds me by way of ascribing discrimination to me and causing
attachment to happiness. But the man who has risen above the gunas does
not thus hate them when they present themselves to his consciousness. Unlike
a man of Sattva (or Rajas or Tamas) who longs for the Sattvic (or Rajasic
or Tamasic) states which first presented themselves to his consciousness
and then disappeared, he who has risen above the gunas does not long after
things which have disappeared.This is a mark which others cannot perceive
; it serves as a mark for the individual himself, as it can be perceived
by himself alone; no man indeed can perceive the hatred or the desire which
presents itself to another mans consciousness. The conduct in life of the
Liberated one. Now follows the answer to the question, what is his conduct
who has risen above the gunas ? |
