How can those in passion come to goodness to understand their nature?
Answer Podcast
Transcription :
Transcribed by: Suresh Gupta
Edited by: Raji Nachiappan
Question: How can those in passion come to goodness to understand their nature?
Answer: The modes are dynamic. It is not that we are constantly in one mode throughout the day. In the Bhagavad-gita (14.10), Krishna says:
rajas tamas cabhibhuya, sattvam bhavati bharata
rajah sattvam tamash caiva, tamah sattvam rajas tatha
“Sometimes the mode of goodness becomes prominent, defeating the modes of passion and ignorance, O son of Bharata. Sometimes the mode of passion defeats goodness and ignorance, and at other times ignorance defeats goodness and passion. In this way there is always competition for supremacy.”
Lord Krishna says that these modes are always in competition. People who are predominantly in mode of passion, at times they may also be in the mode of goodness. Similarly, people predominantly in the mode of ignorance, at times, may be in the mode of goodness.
We may have also seen very highly ambitious and project-oriented people when taking on a big project, have sessions of planning & debriefing. They sit and analyse. These people are action-oriented people (i.e. in mode of passion) and could be doing so many things during this time, yet they sit and plan, brainstorm, hear suggestions and ideas uncritically. When they are planning, at that point in time, they are in the mode of goodness.
A person who is a kshatriya, will mostly be in the mode of passion but that doesn’t mean they will exclusively be in the mode of passion.
There are times when we are thoughtful, reflective, when our conscience is clear. At such time we think, analyse. We act later. Even if our predominant mode is mode of passion, our contemplation can be done in the mode of goodness. If we take decisions while in mode of passion, we may have knee-jerk reactions. Such reactions can make things worse. If we take decisions in mode of ignorance, we will simply get paralysed.
Whatever our prominent mode may be, we should try that our decision making happens while we are in the mode of goodness.
End of transcription.