TRANSCENDING ALL THE GUNAS, A GUNATITA
naanyam gunebhyah kartaaram yadaa drashtaanupashyati
gunebhyashcha param vetti madbhaavam so'dhigacchati // 14.19 //
When the seer beholds no agent other than the Gunas and knows that which is higher than the Gunas, he attains to My Being.
The Spirit identifying itself with the mind-intellect equipment gets conditioned by the three Gunas. To stand apart from the mind, without our identification with it, is the freedom from our thought entanglement.
•When the seer beholds: The art of disentangling ourselves from our own thought process within is the very art of meditation. A meditator would experience subjectively the state of Pure Knowledge undisturbed by the thoughts. The word `behold' does not mean that God can be seen in the physical sense. God is not an object of our perception or feeling or thought. He is the `subject' that perceives feels and thinks through us. Hence the word `behold' indicates that the subjective experience will be total beyond any doubt.
•No agent other than the Gunas: The experiencer realizes that he is not only the Infinite but also the Gunas, which transform themselves into the bodies, senses and sense objects and which in all their modifications constitute the agent in all actions.
•Knows that which is higher than the Gunas: The mind cannot function on its own accord since it is inert. The Consciousness that functions through the mind is the Principle other than the mind. The Consciousness reflecting on the mind is the `agent', the individualized ego (Jiva) in us. He who has understood that what is reflected is something other than the mind and therefore something higher than the Gunas is the one who crossed over all the limitations.
•He attains to My Being: An individual who has thus transcended his own mind and intellect and discovered himself to be that which is behind his mental delusion that man of wisdom becomes the Self - `Attains to My Being'
Gunaanetaanateetya treen dehee dehasamudbhavaan
janmamrityurjaraaduhkhair vimukto'mritamashnute // 14.20 //
The embodied one having gone beyond these three Gunas, out of which the body is evolved, is freed from birth, death, decay and pain and attains to immortality.
When we identify with Gunas we suffer the sorrows of life and when we transcend this we are free from sorrows because finitude, agitations, change are not in the Perfect Self.
Having gone beyond Gunas which comprise body: The three Gunas are the expressions of ignorance which constitute the causal body. We experience the pure causal body in deep sleep and this is nothing other than Gunas.
They emerge out from the causal body to express themselves first as subtle body, as thoughts and feelings and again as gross body to express themselves in actions. Each body (plant or animal or man) is the instrument available for the subtle body to express through. The nature and qualities of the subtle body are determined by the causal body comprising Gunas. Thus those who have gone beyond the Gunas are no more under the tragedies of the subtle and causal bodies.
The embodied one is freed from birth, death, decay and pain: Birth, growth, decay, disease and death are the qualities of the matter and they are common to all everywhere. These are the sorrows of the matter and not that of Consciousness which illumines them. One who has realized himself to be the Awareness goes beyond all the sorrows. As the sun illumines all, good and bad, Consciousness in us illumines the various changes in the matter envelopments. But these changes are not that of Spirit and therefore one who has realized oneself to be the Spirit goes beyond all these struggles.
Attains immortality: The man of realization not only experiences absence of sorrow but lives in perfection. In sleep we forget our sorrows and pain. Sleep is a temporary relief against the worldly sorrows. But the Bliss experienced at the time of realization of the Self is not temporary cessation of tragedies of matter but a positive re-awakening of our Changeless, Infinite nature. Hence it is said that one experiences the state of immortality even in living in this body embodiment.
CHARECTERISTICS OF A GUNATITA
arjuna uvaacha
kairlingaistreenGunaanetaan ateeto bhavati prabho
kimaachaarah katham chaitaamstreen Gunaanativartate // 14.21 //
Arjuna said
What are the marks of him who has crossed over the three Gunas O, Lord? What is his conduct and how does he go beyond these three Gunas ?
Arjuna asks here three specific questions.
•What are the marks by which a man who has gone beyond the influences of these three Gunas can be recognized?
•In that state of perfection what would be his relationship with the world outside and his behavior among those who are still under the influence of three Gunas?
•How does such a man of perfection conquer his inner confusions and entanglements and attains his spiritual glory?
The characteristics of perfection in whatever way it may be reached, are more or less the same as those of the Sthitaprajna (2.55..), of the Bhaktiman, devotee (12.13..).