The Spiritual Import of the Mahabharata and the Bhagavad gita-21-6.

06/03/2018

21.The Lord Dwells in the Hearts of All Beings- 5.

Likewise is the classification of will, emotion, action, etc. which is elaborated in the eighteenth chapter. When we decide, we are exerting our volition—the will is operating.

It is sattvic volition or will which is able to restrain the senses and stabilise the mind and the intellect in the direction of harmony with all things.

Rajas is that which confuses one thing with another other and is unable to bring about this harmonising feature among the various types of experiences we have in the world.

Tamas is that which adheres to a prejudiced affirmation of will. Feelings are the expressions of emotion. They are the premonitions of a desire for pleasure, satisfaction, or happiness.

We require immediate happiness—comfort at once, and not tomorrow. This inclination or instinct of the mind by which one seeks immediate satisfaction and pleasure, whatever be the consequences following, is a misguided attitude, because the immediate satisfaction that we are after generally proceeds from the contact of the senses with objects.

This contact stimulates the nervous system, an itching sensation is created, and any stimulation is mistaken for happiness. That which is pleasurable in the beginning but painful in the end is not the right type of satisfaction. But that which is genuine in its nature appears to be painful in the beginning, but in the end it brings a joyous fruit which is permanent in its nature.

The way to the realisation of sattva is often painful and agonising, because it often passes through tamas and rajas. We have to move through the thick jungle infested with thorns, etc. in the form of tamasic and rajasic impulsions, before we reach the luminous, lustrous jewel of sattva.

The lowest satisfaction is that which revels in utter ignorance of the consequences, the pros and cons of experience, lives like an animal and rejoices in the predicament of a beastly existence. The satisfactions of a beast are tamasic, and man often searches for beastly satisfactions.

The rajasic satisfactions are those which are superior, no doubt, but which are painful in the consequence, though appearing to be satisfying in the beginning.

"The true satisfaction, which is sattvic, is satisfying only in the end, not in the beginning."
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To be continued ...