Bhagavagd Gita - Session 38- Track 3812

Now, having said this, now Sri Krishna comes to the description of Apara Prakriti, so far was the Para Prakriti, because mahad brahma is given; mahad brahma is the description, not of Apara Prakriti. Pure mahat would have meant Apara Prakriti, but this mahat is brahma mahad, it is Para Prakriti. Out of Para Prakriti now come Apara Prakriti. In the Apara Prakriti this is the description:

sattvaṁ rajas tama iti guṇāḥ prakṛti-sambhavāḥ |, “Where you find Sattwa, Rajas and Tamas, these are the products of ordinary Prakriti, not of the mahad yonir, but of the Apara Prakriti, prakṛti-sambhavāḥ. This Prakriti is what?

nibadhnanti mahā-bāho dehe dehinam avyayam ||5|| (XIV)

“If you remain in the mahad yonir, in the Para Prakriti, there is no bondage, but when you come into this Prakriti, then, dehinam avyayam nibadhnanti, then the soul becomes bound into the body: so, the cause of the bondage is Apara Prakriti, not Para Prakriti.

These 2 propositions are extremely important to remember: where is the freedom and where is the bondage; there is no bondage as long as you remain in Para Prakriti. As soon as you come into Apara Prakriti, even that bondage is not necessary, but it is possible and you can become bound, you can become bound when…that is another given, afterwards it comes in the 6th one:

tatra sattvaṁ nirmalatvāt prakāśakam anāmayam |
sukha-saṅgena badhnāti jñāna-saṅgena cānagha ||6|| (XIV)

“How does a soul get bound in the Apara Prakriti…” So, first He speaks of the Sattwa; Sattwa is nirmala, is pure, it is prakāśa, its nature is luminous; anāmayam, it is healthy, but sukha-saṅgena badhnāti jñāna-saṅgena, but even there, by virtue of happiness, and by virtue of knowledge, Sattwa binds the soul to the body: this is the cause of the bondage; sukha-saṅgena, the kind of happiness that comes in the Sattwa, it gives a special kind of sukha. That sukha becomes so pleasing that you become bound to it. You get such a knowledge…it is knowledge but it is not ‘that’ knowledge of Para Prakriti, but a knowledge, it is limited knowledge, because of the limitation, you become bound.

Then,

rajo rāgātmakaṁ viddhi, Rajas is full of attachment, desire.

tṛṣṇā-saṅga-samudbhavam |, it is that which gives rise to desire.

tan nibadhnāti kaunteya karmasaṅgena dehinam ||7|| (XIV)

Rajas binds the soul to the body by karma-saṅgena, by attachment to action. Just as Sattwa was able to bind the soul to the body through sukha-saṅgena, and through jñāna-saṅgena, through attachment to the knowledge and attachment to the happiness, similarly Rajas binds the soul to the body through the attachment to the action.

Comment: and you are happy about it,

That’s why, yes, that’s right. That’s the beginning: how you get into the bondage, sukha-saṅgena, jñāna-saṅgena, then it becomes further, by Rajas you get into karma-saṇgena.

Then comes the 3rd one:

tamas tv ajñāna-jaṁ: Tamas is the originator of ajñāna-jaṁ, of ignorance.

mohanaṁ sarva-dehinām: it is that which deludes everybody.

pramādālasya-nidrābhis tan nibadhnāti bhārata ||8|| (XIV)

“Tamas binds the soul to the body by pramādā, by ālasya, by nidra. By pramādā, by indolence, by negligence; ālasya, and by sleep. This is how the bondage takes place.

So, first there is the description of mahad yonir, Para Prakriti; and then comes Apara Prakriti and how because of Apara Prakriti and because of these reasons the soul gets bound in the Apara Prakriti. If you therefore come out of the Apara Prakriti and go into Para Prakriti, there is no bondage. This is the descending path and when you ascend then you become liberated.

Comment: This tamas is nidra but Yoganidra is not tamas?

No, no, this is not that nidra is not Yoganidra. This is not Yoganidra. Our ordinary sleep is Tamas. But Yoganidra is actually Jnana nidra, you enter in the supreme Knowledge. It is beyond Sattwic. Yoganidra is the Supreme’s own sleep, which is Para Prakriti.

sattvaṁ sukhe sañjayati rajaḥ karmaṇi bhārata |
jñānam āvṛtya tu tamaḥ pramāde sañjayaty uta ||9|| (XIV)

“Sattwa binds you by happiness; Rajas binds you through action and inaction; Tamas binds you by the covering of knowledge and by pramādā, by indolence.”

rajas tamaś cābhibhūya sattvaṁ bhavati bhārata |
rajaḥ sattvaṁ tamaś caiva tamaḥ sattvaṁ rajas tathā ||10|| (XIV)

“Rajas and Tamas, both are controlled by Sattwa when Sattwa prevails. Rajas prevails when it controls Sattwa and Tamas; and Tamas prevails when Sattwa and Rajas, both are controlled by Tamas.” This is the law of the preponderance: when can you call somebody Sattwic? When Sattwa prevails over Rajas and Tamas; somebody is Rajasic when Rajas prevails, when Sattwa and Tamas both are controlled and you become Tamasic when Sattwa and Rajas both are controlled by Tamas.