That understanding which considers irreligion to be religion and religion to be irreligion, under the spell of illusion and darkness, and strives always in the wrong direction, O Pārtha, is in the mode of ignorance.
Intelligence in the mode of ignorance is always working the opposite of the way it should. It accepts religions which are not actually religions and rejects actual religion. Men in ignorance understand a great soul to be a common man and accept a common man as a great soul. They think truth to be untruth and accept untruth as truth. In all activities they simply take the wrong path; therefore their intelligence is in the mode of ignorance.
TEXT 33
धृत्या यया धारयते मनःप्राणेन्द्रियक्रियाः ।
योगेनाव्यभिचारिण्या धृतिः सा पार्थ सात्त्विकी ।। 33 ।।
dhṛtyā yayā dhārayate
manaḥ-prāṇendriya-kriyāḥ
yogenāvyabhicāriṇyā
dhṛtiḥ sā pārtha sāttvikī
dhṛtyā – determination; yayā – by which; dhārayate – one sustains; manaḥ – of the mind; prāṇa – life; indriya – and senses; kriyāḥ – the activities; yogena – by yoga practice; avyabhicāriṇyā – without any break; dhṛtiḥ – determination; sā – that; pārtha – O son of Pṛthā; sāttvikī – in the mode of goodness.
O son of Pṛthā, that determination which is unbreakable, which is sustained with steadfastness by yoga practice, and which thus controls the activities of the mind, life and senses is determination in the mode of goodness.
Yoga is a means to understand the Supreme Soul. One who is steadily fixed in the Supreme Soul with determination, concentrating one’s mind, life and sensory activities on the Supreme, engages in Kṛṣṇa consciousness. That sort of determination is in the mode of goodness. The word avyabhicāriṇyā is very significant, for it indicates that persons who are engaged in Kṛṣṇa consciousness are never deviated by any other activity.
TEXT 34
यया तु धर्मकामार्थान्धृत्या धारयतेऽर्जुन ।
प्रसङ्गेन फलाकाङ्क्षि धृतिः सा पार्थ राजसी ।। 34 ।।
yayā tu dharma-kāmārthān
dhṛtyā dhārayate ’rjuna
prasaṅgena phalākāṅkṣī
dhṛtiḥ sā pārtha rājasī
yayā – by which; tu – but; dharma – religiosity; kāma – sense gratification; arthān – and economic development; dhṛtyā – by determination; dhārayate – one sustains; arjuna – O Arjuna; prasaṅgena – because of attachment; phala-ākāṅkṣī – desiring fruitive results; dhṛtiḥ – determination; sā – that; pārtha – O son of Pṛthā; rājasī – in the mode of passion.
But that determination by which one holds fast to fruitive results in religion, economic development and sense gratification is of the nature of passion, O Arjuna.
Any person who is always desirous of fruitive results in religious or economic activities, whose only desire is sense gratification, and whose mind, life and senses are thus engaged is in the mode of passion.
TEXT 35
यया स्वप्नं भयं शोकं विषादं मदमेव च ।
न विमुञ्चति दुर्मेधा धृतिः सा पार्थ तामसी ।। 35 ।।
yayā svapnaṁ bhayaṁ śokaṁ
viṣādaṁ madam eva ca
na vimuñcati durmedhā
dhṛtiḥ sā pārtha tāmasī
yayā – by which; svapnam – dreaming; bhayam – fearfulness; śokam – lamentation; viṣādam – moroseness; madam – illusion; eva – certainly; ca – also; na – never; vimuñcati – one gives up; durmedhā – unintelligent; dhṛtiḥ – determination; sā – that; pārtha – O son of Pṛthā; tāmasī – in the mode of ignorance.
And that determination which cannot go beyond dreaming, fearfulness, lamentation, moroseness and illusion – such unintelligent determination, O son of Pṛthā, is in the mode of darkness.
It should not be concluded that a person in the mode of goodness does not dream. Here “dream” means too much sleep. Dreaming is always present; either in the mode of goodness, passion or ignorance, dreaming is a natural occurrence. But those who cannot avoid oversleeping, who cannot avoid the pride of enjoying material objects, who are always dreaming of lording it over the material world, and whose life, mind and senses are thus engaged, are considered to have determination in the mode of ignorance.
TEXT 36
सुखं त्विदानीं त्रिविधं श्रृणु मे भरतर्षभ ।
अभ्यासाद्रमते यत्र दुःखान्तं च निगच्छति ।। 36 ।।
sukhaṁ tv idānīṁ tri-vidhaṁ
śṛṇu me bharatarṣabha
abhyāsād ramate yatra
duḥkhāntaṁ ca nigacchati
sukham – happiness; tu – but; idānīm – now; tri-vidham – of three kinds; śṛṇu – hear; me – from Me; bharata-ṛṣabha – O best amongst the Bhāratas; abhyāsāt – by practice; ramate – one enjoys; yatra – where; duḥkha – of distress; antam – the end; ca – also; nigacchati – gains.
O best of the Bhāratas, now please hear from Me about the three kinds of happiness by which the conditioned soul enjoys, and by which he sometimes comes to the end of all distress.
A conditioned soul tries to enjoy material happiness again and again. Thus he chews the chewed. But sometimes, in the course of such enjoyment, he becomes relieved from material entanglement by association with a great soul. In other words, a conditioned soul is always engaged in some type of sense gratification, but when he understands by good association that it is only a repetition of the same thing, and he is awakened to his real Kṛṣṇa consciousness, he is sometimes relieved from such repetitive so-called happiness.
TEXT 37
यत्तदग्रे विषमिव परिणामेऽमृतोपमम् ।
तत्सुखं सात्त्विकं प्रोक्तमात्मबुद्धिप्रसादजम् ।। 37 ।।
yat tad agre viṣam iva
pariṇāme ’mṛtopamam
tat sukhaṁ sāttvikaṁ proktam
ātma-buddhi-prasāda-jam
yat – which; tat – that; agre – in the beginning; viṣam iva – like poison; pariṇāme – at the end; amṛta – nectar; upamam – compared to; tat – that; sukham – happiness; sāttvikam – in the mode of goodness; proktam – is said; ātma – in the self; buddhi – of intelligence; prasāda-jam – born of the satisfaction.
That which in the beginning may be just like poison but at the end is just like nectar and which awakens one to self-realization is said to be happiness in the mode of goodness.
In the pursuit of self-realization, one has to follow many rules and regulations to control the mind and the senses and to concentrate the mind on the self. All these procedures are very difficult, bitter like poison, but if one is successful in following the regulations and comes to the transcendental position, he begins to drink real nectar, and he enjoys life.
TEXT 38
विषयेन्द्रियसंयोगाघत्तदग्रेऽमृतोपमम् ।
परिणामे विषमिव तत्सुखं राजसं स्मृतम् ।। 38 ।।
viṣayendriya-saṁyogād
yat tad agre ’mṛtopamam
pariṇāme viṣam iva
tat sukhaṁ rājasaṁ smṛtam
viṣaya – of the objects of the senses; indriya – and the senses; saṁyogāt – from the combination; yat – which; tat – that; agre – in the beginning; amṛta-upamam – just like nectar; pariṇāme – at the end; viṣam iva – like poison; tat – that; sukham – happiness; rājasam – in the mode of passion; smṛtam – is considered.
That happiness which is derived from contact of the senses with their objects and which appears like nectar at first but poison at the end is said to be of the nature of passion.
A young man and a young woman meet, and the senses drive the young man to see her, to touch her and to have sexual intercourse. In the beginning this may be very pleasing to the senses, but at the end, or after some time, it becomes just like poison. They are separated or there is divorce, there is lamentation, there is sorrow, etc. Such happiness is always in the mode of passion. Happiness derived from a combination of the senses and the sense objects is always a cause of distress and should be avoided by all means.
TEXT 39
यदग्रे चानुबन्धे च सुखं मोहनमात्मनः ।
निद्रालस्यप्रमादोत्थं तत्तामसमुदाहृतम् ।। 39 ।।
yad agre cānubandhe ca
sukhaṁ mohanam ātmanaḥ
nidrālasya-pramādotthaṁ
tat tāmasam udāhṛtam
yat – that which; agre – in the beginning; ca – also; anubandhe – at the end; ca – also; sukham – happiness; mohanam – illusory; ātmanaḥ – of the self; nidrā – sleep; ālasya – laziness; pramāda – and illusion; uttham – produced of; tat – that; tāmasam – in the mode of ignorance; udāhṛtam – is said to be.
And that happiness which is blind to self-realization, which is delusion from beginning to end and which arises from sleep, laziness and illusion is said to be of the nature of ignorance.
One who takes pleasure in laziness and in sleep is certainly in the mode of darkness, ignorance, and one who has no idea how to act and how not to act is also in the mode of ignorance. For the person in the mode of ignorance, everything is illusion. There is no happiness either in the beginning or at the end. For the person in the mode of passion there might be some kind of ephemeral happiness in the beginning and at the end distress, but for the person in the mode of ignorance there is only distress both in the beginning and at the end.
TEXT 40
न तदस्ति पृथिव्यां वा दिवि देवेषु वा पुनः ।
सत्त्वं प्रकृतिजैर्मुक्तं यदेभिः स्यात्त्रिभिर्गुणैः ।। 40 ।।
na tad asti pṛthivyāṁ vā
divi deveṣu vā punaḥ
sattvaṁ prakṛti-jair muktaṁ
yad ebhiḥ syāt tribhir guṇaiḥ
na – not; tat – that; asti – there is; pṛthivyām – on the earth; vā – or; divi – in the higher planetary system; deveṣu – amongst the demigods; vā – or; punaḥ – again; sattvam – existence; prakṛti-jaiḥ – born of material nature; muktam – liberated; yat – that; ebhiḥ – from the influence of these; syāt – is; tribhiḥ – three; guṇaiḥ – modes of material nature.
There is no being existing, either here or among the demigods in the higher planetary systems, which is freed from these three modes born of material nature.
The Lord here summarizes the total influence of the three modes of material nature all over the universe.
TEXT 41
ब्राह्मणक्षत्रियविशां शूद्राणां च परन्तप ।
कर्माणि प्रविभक्तानि स्वभावप्रभवैर्गुणैः ।। 41 ।।
brāhmaṇa-kṣatriya-viśāṁ
śūdrāṇāṁ ca paran-tapa
karmāṇi pravibhaktāni
svabhāva-prabhavair guṇaiḥ
brāhmaṇa – of the brāhmaṇas; kṣatriya – the kṣatriyas; viśām – and the vaiśyas; śūdrāṇām – of the śūdras; ca – and; param-tapa – O subduer of the enemies; karmāṇi – the activities; pravibhaktāni – are divided;
