Skip to main content

Every bhog has a rog

Image
By
Sattvam rajas tama iti gunaah prakritisambhavaah

Nibadhnanti mahaabaaho dehe dehinam avyayam


— Bhagvad Gita, Chapter 14, Verse 5
                       
Yogi Ashwini,

When purush (soul) combines with prakriti (creation), in the form of three gunas — satva, rajas and tama — a being takes birth in creation. Light, happiness and gyan are properties of satva, rajas pertains to desires, attachments and resultant actions, and tama is darkness, ignorance and sleep. At all times, all the three gunas are present in a human being, one dominating the other, depending on the desire and state of evolution of being.

Ordinary beings are ruled by tama, which is also the guna dominant in animals and other lower beings. When a being leaves the body with the dominance of tama guna, s/he gets the animal yonis and enters into the netherworlds says the Bhagvad Gita. So the tama guna needs to be reduced and satva and rajas increased.

As the rajas guna increases, one is guided towards action (karma) driven by passion, material desires and attachment. Every action has an equal and opposite reaction, every bhog has a rog attached to it. So under this guna, a being indulges in pleasures of the senses and experiences the pains that come with it. There is no limit to desire and no matter what one gets, s/he is never satiated and keeps needing more. This ties the person to the downward spiral of birth and death — each birth being lower and more painful than the previous. Therefore, excess of the rajas guna is bad.

Abundance of the satva guna, makes us practice dhyan and sadhna and initiates cleansing through service and charity. Gyan and bliss follow. When a being leaves the body with dominance of satva, s/he takes birth in subtler dimensions and lokas, in the yonis of devas and rishis.

All the three gunas pertain to physical creation. We can exit the painful cycle of birth and death to merge with the ultimate reality, i.e. God by rising above these gunas. When we go beyond the influence of tama, rajas and satva we become guna ateet — a state that can only be achieved through a guru’s help. When the guru transfers his/her gyan (shakti) to the disciple, the latter becomes guna ateet. But gyan can only exist in a satvik environment. So, it is imperative for us to engage in charity and service, to change the negative karmas accumulated over so many births. Only then can we move towards gaining gyan and liberation from the cycle of birth and death.

Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

MERGER OF SHIV AND SHAKTI

By
Shiv is the doer and may be likened to a vehicle. If you remove ‘i’ from Shiv, it becomes ‘shav’ (corpse). The ‘i’ represents Shakti, which is the fuel that energises this vehicle to perform action. Shakti is the force of the physical world. Shivratri is the night of merger of Shiv and Shakti making a complete whole. Shiv and Shakti pertain to manifest creation and arise from the unmanifest. The journey back to the unmanifest can be carved only through their complete merger which is the ultimate purpose of yoga and Sanatan Kriya . A practical example of merger of Shiv and Shakti is the institution of marriage where the merger of male and female leads to manifestation of a new life. If there is a mismatch in this merger of male and female, or Shiv and Shakti, the marriage remains incomplete. This imbalance is evident in the progeny who will exhibit anti-social and undesirable behaviour and traits. The rishis of yesteryear explained how incompleteness sets into the child in t...
Post a Comment
Read more

Let's play organic holi!

By
The day after holi: pink, green and blue faces, rashes everywhere, body aches, cold, cough and pains occurs - thanks to catching a chill in the wet clothes or an allergic reaction to the using chemical-laced colours and other numbers of particulates that float in during holi air. To keep away harsh chemicals dampening your spirits, all you have to do is to perform simple yogic techniques and raid your kitchen, kitchen garden or your granny’s spice rack to celebrate Holi naturally & organically. The best part, at the end of all the merriment your skin will glow. Yogic Techniques  1. JAL NETI:  (Nasal cleansing) Take 500ml bearably warm water in a neti pot, add ½ tsp black/rock salt and a pinch of turmeric. Stand evenly and bending slightly forward tilt the head at a 45degrees angle towards left. Insert the nozzle of the pot into the right nostril. While breathing normally from the mouth, tilt the pot so that the water runs into the right nostril and flo...
Post a Comment
Read more

Chakra Beej Kriya: Part 1

By
Yog is not about twisting and turning yourself into knots and complicated postures, yog taps into the power of consciousness. As you practice yog in totality, as prescribed, you start glowing and the immunity of the body heightens, slowly you begin to exude the glow of the sun. The body that we greet in the mirror everyday is run by a higher force, which is invisible to the naked eye but very clearly visible to a clairvoyant in the form of colours and to a clairaudient in the form of specific sounds. These colours and sounds correspond to certain energy centers in the body, which control and govern various body parts and functions. Much before you identify symptoms of a disease or ailment and decide to visit a doctor, these symptoms are perceived by a yogic practitioner in the form of change in colour, texture, size and sound of various chakras. Sanatan Kriya prescribes various techniques under the topic of self-healing to access this invisible sheath of the body and through...
Post a Comment
Read more