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It is lust only, Arjuna, which is born of contact with the material modes of passion and later transformed into wrath, and which is the all-devouring, sinful enemy of all beings in this world.
The Vedas describe three gunas (modes) of the material nature: goodness, passion and ignorance. Goodness is the preserving principle of this world, passion is the constructive principle and ignorance is the destructive power. The Universe is divided into three parts: higher (the place where pious persons live), middle (the place for those who are guided by desires) and lower (the place for those who deserve suffering only) planetary systems. Higher planetary systems are the home for demigods, the middle ones are for people and the lower ones are for demons. But this is a schematic description. Let us now see the internal structure of gunas.
The main guna of the material nature is passion (desires). All living beings communicate with the material world by their desires. There are two ways to fulfill desires: divine and demoniac. The divine method is applied by pious people who subordinate fulfillment of their desires to the Lord and following His instructions they achieve fulfillment of desires without troubling others. Demoniac persons always put hopes on their own strength. To raise possibilities to fulfill their desires, they develop science. Their only goal in life is sensory pleasures. To get pleasures they do not consider whom and how much trouble they give. Such “pleasures” are of extreme temporary nature and sure to bring to the material nature’s measures aiming to “break” in a person his/her tendency to violence. We think that this world has been created for our enjoyment. In fact, it has got only one function, the function of reeducation. Influenced by passion, people impelled by desires develop the attachment to fruitful activities. Such persons are very active. Uncontrolled senses push them to illegal activities. Regardless of sufferings and troubles giving to others, they are busy only satisfying their own desires. They always search for the ways to fulfill their desires. They create anxiety, suffering and disorder in society. At the beginning they hope for happiness and then suffer. The material world is the jail and its main function is to restore the deviated consciousness of a living being. In our zeal for happiness without God we must suffer until we understand that we are not able to find the recipe of this happiness. This function is never tiresome for the material nature. What helps to restore the deviated consciousness? First, it is willingness to be responsive to desires (needs) of other living beings; secondly, sympathetic attitude to their sufferings; and finally, acceptance of the own quantitative nothingness (as an eternally small fragmental part of the Supreme Personality of Godhead) and dependence. The first goal can be reached when a person understands that other living beings similarly look for happiness and avoid sufferings. This happens when a person suffers. By suffering, one understands what the other felt when he/she caused this suffering. And by being happy, one understands that the other did not want to lose it like he/she does not want to lose it now. When one understands the necessity not to cause others sufferings, he/she passes to a realization of a higher condition: not to hurt even after being hurt (the ability to forgive) and let others be happy when you are yourself unhappy. Such behavior is only possible when we understand that those who cause us sufferings and make us happy do not do it incidentally. There are some higher powers allowing us to do it in accordance with our deeds in past lives. This mindset lets us subordinate our existence and behavior to the Supreme Personality of Godhead. Let us see the example from the life of the Aryans. Five thousand years ago on our planet there lived the family of the spiritually elevated Aryans, the Pandavas who were the children of King Pandu. They had one wife Draupadi. For modern people this fact would be difficult to accept. But this fact has got its own background. Young Draupadi worshiped demigods with some religious rituals with the aim to get a good husband. When demigods were satisfied, they appeared before the princess and asked what she needed. The confused princess repeated her request five times. Then demigods blessed her to have five pious husbands. When it was the time to select a fiancе, there was also Arjuna, the middle brother of the Pandavas among the aspirants. He won the contest. Having got the beautiful Draupadi as his wife he came home with her. Coming to his mother, he said, “Look, what treasure I’ve brought”. No turning back, Kunti answered her son, “Good for you, all that you have brought equally divide among your brothers”. Saying so, she looked back and saw Draupadi and the confused Arjuna. A problem ensued. For the Aryans their word had a special meaning. The mouth of mother Kunti had given the order that was meant to happen: Draupadi was to become the wife of five brothers. But Draupadi herself did not agree to it. All disputes in the Aryan society were settled by seeress brahmanas (priests). They could give an advice for any situation. The same thing was also done at that time. They cast Draupadi’s horoscope and said, “This girl worshiped demigods and was blessed by them to have five husbands. This was the decree of providence for this blessing to fulfill”. Everyone became quiet and Draupadui agreed to become the wife of the five Pandavas. Later she gave birth to five children from the brothers. When the war on the battlefield of Kurukshetra started (it was the bloodiest battle in the human history where religious and demonic persons confronted each other), the son of Pandava’s spiritual master beheaded Draupadi’s five sons while they were innocently asleep. Arjuna chased Ashvatthama and captured him. He brought the captive to the feet of the great Draupadi who was in the inexpressible grief and wanted to behead the offender. Mother Draupadi stopped her husband by saying, “He is the only son of his mother and I do not want her to feel the same pain like me”. This is the example of nobleness of the Aryans. In their practical life they showed great soul qualities which were based on the perception of the equality of all living beings in the face of sufferings and happiness. Nowadays the patience is called on when someone else has suffered and measures to revenge are taken when we ourselves have suffered.
For the human form of life, the Aryans highlighted the great meaning of devoutness. They thought that when suffering would knock our door, the destiny would treat us the same way as we treated those in suffering around us. The Bhagavad-Gita notes many times the importance of the attitude to sufferings and happiness of this material world. A commoner differs from a self-realized person by the attitude to these two aspects.
In life we often have to encounter sufferings of living beings. When we express our compassion to them, we gather the so called pious reserve which gives God the ground to be compassionate to us when it is our turn to suffer. A pious person is able to overcome the desire for revenge when suffering comes (and it is typically caused by other living beings) and to rise to the guna of goodness (that is when one gets the ability to forgive). This is how a person progresses. But if while satisfying passions one only enjoyed and ignored others’ suffering, then when he/she suffers, God does not ‘offer His hand” to him/her and the person degrades to the guna of ignorance by means of envy and anger and refers to violence in attempts to keep enjoying. Thus, devoutness (compassion, mercy) is the basis of advancement but uncontrollable pleasure of senses accompanied by arrogance, that is the callous attitude towards other living beings (including animals), is the basis of degradation.
In the material world a living being appears in a difficult situation. On the one hand, one wishes to enjoy independently from God, but on the other hand one has got the nature of His eternal servant, that is dependence. This contradiction is the underlying cause of all sufferings of a living being.
Caged in this material world, living beings choose methods of fulfillment of their desires and accordingly get under the influence of certain gunas. The Bhagavad-Gita describes gunas as cause-and-effect mechanisms of this world. As it has been said, the Aryans consider the material world the place where living beings try to fulfill their desires – to enjoy and prevail – independently from God. And they try to realize these two desires via the three modes. The most spiritually elevated persons get the power in order to enjoy a little by themselves and do few good things to others, those lower than them strive for power in order to enjoy and acquire wealth by using other living beings and persons with the lowest level of consciousness take away the power to abuse. How can all these be understood? It means that pious people are very attached to ethical principles and understand that only by means of such principles in this material world a relative quiet and prosperous life can be provided. By ethical principles the Aryans did not mean those principles which are set based on the history or the experience of some or other nation, but the principles which are set by the Supreme Personality of Godhead Himself. Such mindset is natural for people who accept existence of the Supreme Personality of Godhead, dependence on Him and who give special importance to His opinion. Pious persons are always focused on the Vedas (the art how to connect in different situations to the Lord and solve problems via Him) and their consciousness is enlightened by this knowledge. They understand well characteristics of the material world and know how to govern society for it to be happy as far it is possible in this world.
The basis of the activity of pious persons is the sense of duty, the external regulating force is honor and the ultimate goal is liberation. What does “the sense of duty is the activity basis” mean? When one is sure that he/she is the eternal spiritual parcel, he/she can easily understand all delusiveness of the connection with this world. From this point of view, one’s attitude to life and situations formed around the life is greatly different from the atheist’s attitude. When one knows his/her eternal nature and understands the reincarnation concept, such person becomes free from miserly thinking which is generated by the death (destruction) anxiety. The concept of our own eternity gives us the strength to sacrifice our one life without degradation of our virtues, if the life has not happened to be very successful from the point of view of material happiness and welfare. It is a very important mood and it is not be possible to be an Aryan without it. The atheist’s heart is filled with envy and the consecutive hatred which one starts to nourish to all people successful from the point of view of material welfare. The ultimate goal of an Aryan is to restore the spiritual consciousness. Such person has to solve various psychological problems which require а balanced condition. Such person understands that the more his/her behavior is instable and heedless, the more he/she will be entangled in material existence, in the cycle of birth and death. That is why, on the one hand, one tries not to have extra false attachments to temporary (from the point of view of soul) objects of sensory pleasures (as we can see it is the internal attitude); on the other hand, one sets a high value on the necessity to fulfill duties (the external behavior). Such person understands that it is not by mere chance that he/she has got into a certain situation and he/she tries to behave in a way so as not to attain such outcomes which could cause sufferings to him/herself and others. Activities of really virtuous people are based on their high conscience of their own duty. We need to highlight that the Aryan society was different from all other civilizations by its ability to bring up these very personalities. Nowadays the ability to bring up well-doers is also the main problem which people are trying to solve but to the best of our belief they have selected the incorrect route.
The Bhagavad-Gita (Chapter 3, Verses 18-21) says:
A self-realized man has no purpose to fulfill in the discharge of his duties prescribed by the Vedas, nor has he any reason not to perform such work. Nor has he any need to depend on any other living being.
Therefore, without being attached to the fruits of activities, one should act as a matter of duty; for by working without attachment, one attains the Supreme.
Even kings like Janaka and others attained the perfectional stage by performance of prescribed duties. Therefore, just for the sake of educating the people in general, you should perform your work.
Whatever action is performed by a great man, common men follow in his footsteps. And whatever standards he sets by exemplary acts, all the world pursues.
As we see, the determining factor in people’s upbringing was the example given by the leaders of society. Society can never be virtuous, if its leaders are not. Therefore, the Aryan society paid a great attention to the purity of religious figures and state leaders. The higher caste which a person belonged to was, the stricter requirements were applied to him/her in terms of qualities of this person. The least significant requirements were applied to commoners.
As said above, the external regulating principle of the Aryans’ behavior was their honor. This factor played a great role in the Aryan society. When Arjuna refused to fight, Krishna told him (the Bhagavad-Gita, Chapter 2, Verses 31-36):
Considering your speci?c duty as a kshatriya, you should know that there is no better engagement for you than ?ghting on religious principles; and so there is no need for hesitation.
O Partha, happy are the kshatriyas to whom such ?ghting opportunities come unsought, opening for them the doors of the heavenly planets.
If, however, you do not perform your duty of good ?ghting, then you will certainly incur sins for neglecting your duties and thus lose your reputation as a ?ghter.
People will always speak of your infamy, and for a respectable person, dishonor is worse than death.
The great generals who have highly esteemed your name and fame will think that you have left the battle?eld out of fear only, and thus they will consider you insigni?cant.
Your enemies will describe you in many unkind words and scorn your ability. What could be more painful for you?
These texts in fact give the component by which one can reach eternity in this material world. In the material world our eternity is the glory. A virtuous person understands that he/she does not possess independence in this world. We are connected with people by familial bonds and our glory is their honor and our disgrace is their dishonor. Upon a closer view, it can be seen that actually in human society honor plays a great role. The sense of dignity which is felt by a well-reputed person cannot be changed for anything. Good reputation makes the life of a person and his/her family comfortable. Honor, thus, in the Aryan society was more valuable than wealth. For the sake of honor, people without a moment of hesitation gave their lives. The most disgraceful act of the Aryans was so called “civil death”. This ceremony was very humiliating. In the Aryan society, honored men wore ancestral jewelry, grew long hair and moustache. When a man acted inappropriately in his position, he was taken off his jewelry, got bald-headed, got his moustache and eyebrows cut off. This ceremony was very difficult to pass through. Mostly such persons left the Aryan society and became members of less developed communities. Aborigines found these persons divine but in fact they were only human driftwoods of the Aryan society. It took only a little time for such outcasts to exhibit their vicious nature. As a rule, these persons mixed with natives and eventually completely lost their pious (Aryan) nature. But natives composed legends about them and handed them down from generation to generation. The Eastern wisdom tells, “The camel, even when dead, is the burden for seven donkeys”. Similarly, these persons even though they had been expelled from the Aryan society and could not fit to live in it, for those who lived outside the Aryan society were simply gods. There are many examples when such “fallen” Aryans came to some societies and impart to local aboriginal people the knowledge that they had got and became authoritative persons alongside with gods. In some cases such an event even became the basis for the whole civilization still in existence until now. We would avoid giving specific examples in order not to raise discontent of representatives of this civilization. The greater importance is placed on the positive attention to the values of the Aryan society than the necessity for an unprepared person to accept an unusual truth requiring historical evidences. We have mentioned it only for the purpose to note this very fact as we are interested only in the ethical value system of the Aryans. Therefore, please kindly forgive us dear readers that we have not proved the above said by examples.
What is the reason for loss of sublime qualities? It usually happens under the influence of pride or lust. The guna of goodness gives rise in a person a peculiar superiority complex and it is dangerous. If a person does not use the power of mind to overcome this superiority complex (pride), he/she becomes vulnerable. Pride or, in other words, contempt to other living beings makes a person cruel. Acts of cruelty cannot keep one under the influence of the guna of goodness. One’s heart is filled with improper amount of lust which triggers degradation. This happens because the material nature has got the educational function. Once a living being in the material world overestimates some fact, the nature acts in such a way so as to devaluate it. It is a very important secret when perceived it helps a person to be fixed on the guna of goodness. The pious activity starts from the self-control when one freely accepts instructions of the Vedas as regulating principles for behavior. If one uses happiness and enlightenment coming from the guna of goodness as the privilege and the chance to humiliate and despise others, he/she degrades.
Virtuous people understand that everybody wants to realize his/her desires. But they also understand that one should not be ruled only by animal instincts because one has got the intellect. Impious people use their intellect to achieve more “perfect” methods for fulfillment of their desires but pious people use it to get relief from the claws of material miseries and have successful ending of life in the human form. What did the Aryans consider as successful ending of life? They thought it was the successful performance of their duties in accordance with their social position and reaching a higher position in the next life. Aryans’ holy scriptures state that one who has lived the life in goodness after death will go to heavenly planets and live there enjoying justly from the viewpoint of a human life nearly eternally. Heavenly planets also are located in the material world, they are simply a place where there are born virtuous people, sages, ascetics, religious people who strive for piety (they are not transcendentalists who deal only with the divine, spiritual energy). They receive rather comfortable bodies which remain healthy for life, have various mystic powers (for instance, the ability to fly, to appear in any place, to dictate desires to others and affect others’ desires, to become lighter than a feather and heavier than a planet and so on), that means that demigods have such bodies which practically do not give them any trouble. The only suffering they have got is mental anxiety. Demons constantly claim possessions, positions and powers of demigods. For this reason demigods are sometimes concerned how to maintain all these. There are multiple descriptions coming from the remote past which point out that demigods visited our planet very often and even had children with earthly women. Generally, descriptions of such events are called epics, though it is not very clear to us why ancient scriptures known as the Old Testament are accepted as descriptions of true events but similar scriptures of other nations are considered epics. This violation of principles of equal acceptance of ancient scriptures does not contribute to uncovering the truth. Meanwhile, we only acknowledge that according to the Vedic scriptures the best of the Aryans were descendants of demigods from heavenly planets.
As for people who are under protection of the guna of goodness, it can be stated that knowledge, enlightenment, modesty, soundness, justice are the best jewels of the character of such persons.
This guna appears in consciousness from the moment when one understands that dependence on feelings leads only to suffering and chaos. It is very important to understand inevitability of suffering as a consequence of uncontrolled sensual pleasures. If a living being suffering from life to life simultaneously accumulates a reserve of virtuous activities, he/she is able to accept regulating principles of behavior. This system of principles is called varnashrama-dharma. It is the basis of the social order of the Aryan society, but when misunderstood and applied incorrectly, it forms the unjust caste system of privileges and humiliation. This happens because of the wrong perception of internal values of the Aryans when there are only attempts to imitate external form of behavior. In such case in the value system of the Aryans there appear components of passion (the desire to use the system to affirm one’s own superiority) and ignorance (the system is used to apply force) which will turn it (varnashrama-dharma) into a source of suffering for those whose position is lower. And sooner or later suffering leads to rebellion which as a rule ends up breaking the system. The basis of varnashrama-dharma is knowledge and development ways given by the Supreme Personality of Godhead for harmless existence in this world and its goal is to satisfy this very Personality. That is, the Aryans were well aware that without religion there would be no piety or virtue. But by “religion” they meant the desire to satisfy the Lord. The Bhagavad-Gita (Chapter 17, Verse 2) says:
According to the modes of nature acquired by the embodied soul, one's faith can be of three kinds-goodness, passion or ignorance.
Depending on the type of the developed faith, a living being goes to the respective region of the material Universe. Ones who worshiped demigods (worship in the guna of goodness) would go to heavenly planets. Those who worshiped demons (worship in the guna of passion) would go to middle planets, those who worshiped ghosts (worship in the guna of ignorance) would go to hell. And those who served the Lord (but did not try to “use” Him) would raise to the Lord’s abode.
The Vedas only provide connection between the Supreme Personality of Godhead and His immediate surroundings. The guna of goodness, therefore, serves as a serious platform for restoration of the communication culture present in the spiritual world. The key mood is the sense of duty, the ability to be responsive to wishes of other living beings and patient while suffering.
The material world includes three types of anxiety (suffering):
1)Anxiety (suffering) that comes from body and mind. Various congenital diseases, infirmities, unfulfilled desires.
2)Anxiety (suffering) that comes from other living beings. During our material existence we meet different living beings. They can be envious living beings under the influence of ignorance, violently inclined for the sake of fulfillment of their desires, or just wild animals and so on.
3)Anxiety (suffering) that comes from natural disasters. Floods, earthquakes, tsunami, volcano, twisters and other phenomena.
We are doomed to contact with these types of sufferings during all our material existence. Virtuous people know that sufferings that come from nature take place due to violation of nature laws. For instance, during the Vedic period people knew that weather depended on satisfaction of demigods. Priests made different sacrifices for their satisfaction, that is why even the weather was known beforehand for the whole year. If some deviations happened from the expected plan, people understood that priests and the king had not been able to satisfy demigods. Sacrifices play a great role in the guna of goodness. Through them the Aryans contacted with demigods and the Supreme Personality of Godhead. The guna of goodness is mainly the guna of demigods, but when the Aryan civilization was present, goodness also prevailed on our planet and people developed qualities and strength worth of demigods. There are plenty descriptions of splendid victories of the Aryans over demigods in consequence of which the latter endued the Aryan warriors with their divine weapon and blessings.
Piety, therefore, is the main guna of the Aryans. Attachment to duty fulfillment was raised from childhood. And the wish fulfillment technique was sacrifice made by priests (brahmanas).
Virtue supposes strictly regulated behavior. That is why at first it requires efforts and then rewards with happiness. Truly virtuous persons distinguish well religiosity from irreligiousness. They know well that religious are not the ones who show compassion to improvement of the material welfare of living beings, but those who are free from the impact of material concepts, who have felt the taste of liberation and eternity and are capable to guide all those who are willing to go this way by showing compassion only to the need of soul. That is, they address a person to such activities which do not refer to mundane values, whether be it a beloved one, a child, family, nation or others. All kind of material situations were considered by the Aryans temporary and problematic. The Bhagavad-Gita teachings start from this very point. The Pandava brothers were involved in a large-scale war. On the surface, it seemed they had to fight for the sake of the power. King Pandu had to die, he left the kingdom to his blind brother and went to the forest for self-improvement. He had five sons. The condition was that Pandu’s brother was to reign till the adulthood of his sons. When it came time, Pandu’s brother refused to hand over the power to its real owners. He started intrigues in order to kill his nephews and hand over the power to his sons. Krishna interfered in the situation and His opinion was deciding. When all diplomatic methods of settlement of the conflict were exhausted, Krishna arranged the war in the consequence of which according to His intention its participants had to die. Everybody except for the Pandavas. And now there is the battle field. Pandu’s middle son, Arjuna, in his chariot is preparing for the battle. Krishna does not take part in the fight. He has sworn not to take weapons in His arms. Even from the material point of view, He was so powerful that the party which He would fight for would have won. To avoid causing the unbalance, He decided not to fight but He took the place of the charioteer of His friend Arjuna. When before the battle Arjuna saw his teachers (whom he adored and who wanted him to win despite their necessity to fight against him as his enemies), brothers, relatives and other folks, his firmness was shaken. He wanted to refuse fighting and lay down his arms. He did not see the sense in the battle. He was ready to concede the kingdom to his cousin brothers and become an anchoret. His arguments were very interesting. The principal point was that he doubted: if there was any sense in taking the sin of killing so many people upon himself for the purpose of gaining the power? And his answer to himself was “no”. For Arjuna it was important that his actions should be right. He did not state that he had got such a number of valuable ideas by which the prosperity of the country could be achieved (though it was the absolute truth) and for the sake of which it was worth to sacrifice human lives, but he placed great importance on that price which should be paid for it. In that case, Arjuna found this price unacceptable and he refused to fight surrendering to Krishna with the hope to get His advice how to correctly come out of the existing situation. And Krishna answered. This answer became the most abstruse instruction for our epoch providing liberation to all who want it.
Everything which seems important to us has no value from the point of view of the eternal soul. Krishna explained to Arjuna that one who understood the nature of soul would be never indulged in the influence of desires (attachments) and hatred (envy). The key mood in this world should be patience. There is a more sublime condition than serving material values. This condition restores the spiritual consciousness of a living being and affirms one’s spiritual bliss which lies in serving the interests of the Lord. What are His interests? Restore the harmony with the Lord through revival of the spiritual consciousness of all living beings who are materially captive. Those who try to use religion to fulfill their material desires are only virtues people and those who use religion to restore their spiritual relationships with and satisfaction of the Lord, are transcendentalists and have already nothing in common with this material world full of miseries. On the surface, it seemed that Arjuna had good feelings. But when Krishna expressed His opinion, it became clear that Arjuna’s arguments referred only to the material compassion and respectively they were limited by material values but the intended purpose of religion is to end the material existence of a living being.
We have presented these all in order to show the difference between piety and transcendence (the true religiosity). The common religiosity, in the initial stage, aims to affirm a person in piety by following the system of religious prohibitions and incentives. And the second stage of religiosity pursues the aim to remove a person from material existence and restore his/her spiritual memory. This level of transcendence played a significant role in life of the Aryans.
We highly appreciate our various attachments to other living beings. Parents, beloved ones, pets, friends, business partners, children, nation, motherland – this is the incomplete list of those values for the sake of which we do good or evil deeds often sacrificing ourselves or devoting them all our lives. Influenced by illusion, indulged in temporary values and serving them, we forget the certainty of death. Once the greatest Aryan king Yudhishthira met the incarnation of the religion Dharma and answered his questions. One question was very interesting. He asked, “What is the most wonderful thing in this world?” King Yudhishthira answered, “The most wonderful thing is that all people see that all die but everybody lives in such a way as if they were to live forever”. Soul perceives it is eternal because it is indeed so. The material mind influenced by soul acts in such a way as if a material body was eternal. Dreams, plans, regrets and sorrows under the influence of mind are our typical conditions. The Bhagavad-Gita considers all these processes of mind as our most dangerous enemies. In fact, egocentric desires of mind are the flow of time. By desires of mind, a living being activates the latent material energy and creates different situations. If one manages to stop this activity of mind, this person is not influenced by the time anymore and becomes a liberated person. The more we try to use this world to oppress other living beings, the more suffering we get. The world seeks the equilibrium (that is to restore the spiritual atmosphere). One who breaks this equilibrium provides the basis for appearance of the counteractive force and it is only the matter of time for this force to appear. That is why virtuous people make efforts to balance fulfillment of own desires and desires of other living beings. Such efforts create an atmosphere of total peace when a person can ensure the right course of life.
The main characteristics of the guna of passion are out-of-control desires. This is the very central mood of this world – to see the world as the source of sensual pleasures and make more and more efforts to get them. The Vedas call such people mudhas, that is, pardon us, donkeys. Customarily, to make a donkey walk faster, a rod is tied to the donkey collar with some carrots and grass. Seeing food in front of its eyes, a donkey starts to walk faster with the hope to get the food but the food remains at the same distance, a donkey tries to get the food but in fact it carries the cargo faster. With our common negative attitude to a donkey, this comparison is not pleasant for us but this example clearly reflects the reality. Therefore, not aiming to offend the dear reader, we would propose to look at this as the most accurate example of the psychology of living beings in the material world.
In the material world all objects are imperfect, but we approach them in accordance with our memory about the spiritual reality where all objects are perfect and any contact with them gives pleasure. Thus, in the material world we also approach all objects with the hope to find happiness (same like a donkey hopes to reach food). When finally the contact with the object happens, it begins to expose its deficiencies and then we see that happiness has remained at the same distance as before when we had reached this object. Sensible persons understand it well and therefore as a rule they are more pragmatic. More sensual persons get disappointed and suffer from the dissatisfied longing for perfection. With this, we usually expect perfection from others (this is that very real demonstration of the memory of the perfection of the Lord). One can notice that pragmatic persons as a rule are more successful in material aspects. Why is it so? Because they do not overestimate any material occurrence and only try to enjoy the material energy insofar as it can give “pleasure” and ideally adapt to the imperfection of the material world. Such attitude is a good basis to avoid the necessity for the material world to “break” the overestimated system of values. Any aspect (either a woman, a man, a child, a family, humanity or other) if overestimated by us becomes the source of our sufferings.
The Bhagavad-Gita (chapter 2, verse 57) says:
In his material world one who remains unattached under all conditions, and is neither delighted by good fortune nor dejected by tribulation, he is a sage with perfect knowledge.
In this, the word “dejected by” is presented by “dveshti” which means envy. The latter is the main mood of people in the guna of passion: neglecting others’ sufferings when happy and being envious while suffering.
We have already mentioned that the Aryans considered that the foremost problem of living beings in the material world was their misuse of their ability to become attached. This very inclination makes the basis of the guna of passion. Sensual pleasures, the flow of desires constantly heard in our mind: want to be beautiful, do not want to become old, want to be the strongest, want to be the richest, want to be a president or a movie star, want everyone to love me, want, want, want, all these various “wants” are the basis of our behavior. If in goodness one uses his/her position to protect others and agrees to follow divine rules to satisfy desires, in the guna of passion the situation is quite different. Notice that the guna of passion is usually not God-centered. Here one is ruled only by endeavors to satisfy own desires. The modern civilization develops under the influence of this very guna. Even if people in the guna of passion approach the Lord, they do it only to satisfy their desires. The consciousness of such people thinks that even the Lord is supposed only to serve them. If a virtuous person tries to coordinate desires with requirements of the Lord, a person influenced by passion is guided only by fulfillment of own desires. Behavior of such people is very chaotic. This happens because based on their opinion they try to regulate their lives and the life of society.
Lust (endless desires) pushes a person to a very vigorous activity. This activity very often evades the Laws of the Lord. Influenced by passion, a person makes laws for others and always foresees back channels for him/herself. The main desire of such people is to get the pleasure from everything surrounding him/her, be it a cheerful conversation, wealth, sensual pleasures and others. The axis of their activity is sexual pleasure. With this, sexual pleasure does not mean only sexual relationships literally, but also everything providing them. Absorption in these pleasures makes problems.
In the Vedas there is one story which clearly describes the attempts to solve problems by satisfying needs. In a small hut there lived one yogi (a person who tries to reach perfection in self-realization through physical and breathing exercises). A mouse intruded into his hut and started to distract him from meditation process (mind concentration). Once he met a friend and complained to him. The friend advised to get a cat which could catch the mouse. The yogi did as said. After a while he met the friend again. The friend inquired about his things. The yogi complained that then the cat mewed all day long in his ears asking for milk. The friend advised to get a cow. The yogi did as said. But the care for the cow took much time, then the friend advised to bring a wife who would take care of the cow. The yogi, thus, got married. Soon the wife gave birth to children and the yogi left his practice and immersed in activities to support them. One day sitting on the porch he thought, “I’d rather have tolerated the mouse’. This is a good example showing which circle of activity one will get trying to solve problems by satisfying needs.
Passion, therefore, is based on envy and lust and “grants” temporary pleasures and constant worries and miseries. In this guna one cannot distinguish religiosity from irreligiosity because he/she does not see any difference between them. For such person all living beings are simply different material bodies with the need for food, rest, sex and self-defense and that is why any talks about perfection are not serious.
The guna of ignorance is based on illusion. This guna leads to violence, madness, laziness. This is the guna of people who reject any behavior restrictions (ethics). Violence, stubbornness, rudeness, habits to hurt others, vengefulness arising from self-righteousness is the short list of the qualities of people influenced by this guna. If the intellect in the guna of goodness distinguishes well religiosity from irreligiosity, the truth from a lie, and in the guna of passion the intellect does not distinguish these, then the intellect in the guna of ignorance is confident that it is right though it takes irreligiosity for religiosity, a lie for the truth and so on. This is the type of existence when the truth is hidden from a living being to the uttermost. The most typical specimens of this type are animals.
The Bhagavad-Gita sees lust (desires) as the most important defect and the state of a living being is defined by its availability. A virtuous person satisfies “innocent” desires and keeps those desires which can cause inconveniences to others. A passionate person looks for ways to satisfy all desires. An ignorant person without a second thought satisfies desires using violence. A virtuous person follows godly laws, a lustful person considers in his/her actions opinions of necessary people, an ignorant person just do what he/she wants not keeping with any law. Thus, a virtuous person builds a God-centered society, a lustful person builds a secular or pseudo-religious society and an ignorant person builds an atheistic or demonic society. A virtuous person likes to follow the laws of the Lord, a lustful person likes to use the Lord for satisfaction of desires and an ignorant person simply does not believe in His existence and acts as he/she wants to.
According to the Aryan philosophy, respectively, virtuous persons on death go to heavenly planets awarded by the highest material pleasures. With the “help” of these pleasures, they burn the piety reserve and return again to the middle planets (like the Earth) to proceed with their material existence.
Those in the guna of passion are born on the middle planets like ours in order to be able to “build their future” by means of a vigorous activity. And ignorant persons are born on hellish planets. Having passed through the purgatory, they are born on middle planets in the animal world and going from life to life through the evolution process are born again in the human form of life.
Speaking mathematically, the truth is similar to the sequence of natural numbers, where minus infinity is a form of life under the influence of the guna of ignorance and violence reigns there. Rudeness, unwillingness to consider others, rejection of other ways of thinking, enforcement of own way of thinking, enjoyment of violence, causing others’ sufferings for the sake of power is the incomplete list of qualities inherent to such people. From the influence of this guna, animals get away by evolution from life to life passing away different forms of animal life up to the human form and people get away by a more elevated communication. This way they get to the guna of passion. The guna of passion appears in the vigorous activity, various desires, satisfaction of needs of the tongue (want delicious food), the stomach (want much food) and genitals (want physical intimacy with the opposite sex). Hunger for love, pursuit of passion, need for wealth, envy, arrogance, contempt, intrigues are the qualities inherent for people living in the guna of passion. The initial dream eventually becomes a misery. As the result of miseries via envy and anger a person descends to violence, that is the guna of ignorance. With the same miseries, a person via compassion (do not want the other to suffer like me) goes up to the virtuous state. Virtue (piety) is based on the sense of duty and knowledge (wisdom). Patience, care, compassion, reasonableness, purity, good morals (decency), justice are the qualities inherent in this guna. Development of these qualities first requires efforts (internal work, especially to learn to consider others) and then they bring happiness. In the material world this is the elevated condition ensuring a quiet life. Degradation from this condition to the state of passion happens via the sense of superiority (to the point of contempt).
Realizing worldliness, a person in piety starts to strive for liberation. The basis of liberation is the realization of one’s spiritual self. Oppressed by the material world, soul gets a great pleasure realizing that in fact it is eternal. When one perceives that he/she is an inherent parcel of the Lord, he/she enjoys the own eternal nature but it is not yet in the position to accept the Lord’s will. Actually, this is a condition when one is free from the material world but without the access to the spiritual world yet, the “zero” state which is called “liberation”. At this level, the material sense organs and mind are passivated but spiritual senses have not been activated yet.
The next stage is when the all-pervading and all-controlling aspect of the Lord is realized. At this stage, soul restores its knowledge and the resultant feeling of respect and fear of the Lord. One sees everything depending on the Supreme Personality of Godhead and realizes His power and capabilities. The next stage is to overcome the feelings of worshiping and respect and restore close relationships with Him which can be only by means of the devotional service to the Lord. At this stage, a living being perfectly restores the entire nature (eternity, knowledge and most importantly fullness with bliss). This is the way to the infinite bliss the nature of which cannot be understood by our poor material intellect. A living being through the Lord’s mercy restores the relationships with Him; and His beauty, perfection, pleasure of communication with Him again and again grant us with happiness with no limits.
We have outlined the philosophic concept of the Aryans. It should be noted that each feature of this concept can become a topic of a comprehensive book. Not aiming to reveal the Aryans’ philosophy in depth and to give arguments which could support this concept, we have limited ourselves just to the sufficient description of their world view. Though, it should be mentioned that for a thoughtful reader the given information contains rather deep secrets of psychology. One who possesses this secret can become an Aryan him/herself and make the same anyone with who he/she gets in contact.
In order to return from the material world to the spiritual world, the Aryan literature provides four ways which are called karma-yoga, gyana-yoga, dhyana-yoga and bhakti. The word “yoga” means the union with the Lord. The processes uniting with the Lord are, respectively, actions, mind, intelligence and emotionality (soul). Karma means actions. This is the process when one tries not to control senses but to satisfy them with religious methods, in other words, this way is to unite with the through actions. Alternatively, karma-yoga is called varnashrama-dharma which is the social system regulating behavior of an Aryan. Living in the system of varnashrama-dharma, one finally comes to renouncement. At this level one is based on the knowledge and tries to control desires refusing to communicate with objects of sensual pleasures. This process is called gyana-yoga. When a yogi has attained perfection in renouncement and sitting in one pose he focuses the mind on the Lord it is called the process of dhyana-yoga. But all these processes ultimately do not solve the main problem. Soul gas got an active nature. In the material world this activity is misdirected. By subordinating activities arising from the active nature of the soul to the laws of varnashrama-dharma, one regulates activities but misdirected desires still remain. With the help of gyana-yoga one restrains material desires but then the active nature of soul remains unsatisfied. The active nature of soul is satisfied only with bhakti-yoga. This is the perfect system where both activities and desires attain the right direction through the devotional service to the Lord.
CHAPTER 2. VARNASHRAMA-DHARMA
SOCIAL ORGANIZATION AND SOCIAL STRUCTURE OF THE ARYAN SOCIETY
The peculiarity of the Aryan society was that it was God-centered on the basis not only of faith in God but the real communication with Him. This statement sounds for modern people as if mocking their life experience. But until this difference is understood we won’t be able to comprehend why the Aryan system of values and their social structure are more preferable. The unique trait of this society is in this very fact that it is in the position to assert the real connection with God and His servants (demigods) and solve arising problems with their help; this indeed makes the Aryans unique (not the type of the head, skin tone or heroism).
The Author
2.1 Social Classes and their Interaction
The toughest problem of a human life is the desire to avoid reactions in response to free activities. One wants to behave freely and to be happy. But the material world has got the cause-and-effect structure and there works the law of respective reaction to certain activities. We do not always see how it works because it functions from life to life and appears in the form of destiny. Due to ignorance, one has got the impression that the law in force is: the one who is stronger wins, the one who wins enjoys. The Aryans prove the unfairness of this view by pointing at initially unequal conditions of existence which indicate the cause of their appearance in the past life. We make sinful and saintly deeds which make up the basis of our destiny in the future life. In general, this is the idea of destiny which can be explained only if the reincarnation concept is accepted. Otherwise, we have to accept that either conditions of our life are given to us incidentally (by the blind nature) or God, if He exists, is cruel and inexplicably gives such different starting conditions which doom one to a certain life. Some concepts suggest the idea of reactions for sins of the forefathers which cannot be accepted because it violates the principle of justice: the one who committed sins should suffer.
There is the contradiction between the blissful nature of an eternal soul and endeavors to satisfy it by violence (major or subtle). Ones who behave freely suffer next life from bad living conditions. Those willing to get rid of chains of miseries shall learn to consider other living beings. As mentioned above, for the Aryans the material world is the place of residence for those envious souls who cultivated the desire to enjoy and to rule without God. For these persons, the desire to act independently is practically insuperable. In the spiritual world, living beings naturally subordinate their desires to God’s wishes. Being the perfect Personality, He is capable of giving anyone everything that brings happiness. When actuated by endeavors to act independently, a living being starts the material existence, initially it seems that one will be able to compel to his/her will the Lord’s energy called maya-shakti (as was already mentioned, this energy hides the existence of God). This energy, with any activity which is not connected with God’s will, acts in such a way that we would understand how much we are not able to control God’s energy so that it would give us pleasure. Simultaneously, we get entangled in reactions of our activities which so far do not let us exit the material world.
The soul is blissful and finds no suffering acceptable. In the spiritual world, all desires of the soul are fulfilled but they are not fulfilled in the material world. In the material world, everything deviates from the truth and lacks harmony, is full of anxiety because of the contradiction between the nature of the soul and materia (a temporary body and the subsequent fear, power-hungry living beings and suffering resulting from competitiveness, ignorance and subsequent violence).
The soul is active and therefore it wants to communicate. Various desires are soul’s inherent nature. The spiritual body is eternal and that is why when interacting no living being can harm it. Spiritual communication is harmless for existence and therefore it is blissful. In the material world, the soul gets in a very difficult situation: to reach happiness, it seeks communication but a vulnerable body itself contains the danger of death (or suffering). This contradiction causes the need to divide all living beings into friends and enemies. Everyone who contributes to pleasures of a material body is a friend and those who may be dangerous for its existence are enemies.
Communication takes place on the basis of knowledge. Any communication includes knowledge, communication on the basis of this knowledge and the level of doer. Depending on which laws of nature these three components are, various types of communication appear:
1) communication full of goodness, bringing peace;
2) mixed communication, causing either joy or disappointment;
3) destroying communication, causing suffering.
Respectively, if one cultivates knowledge in goodness, then applying it during communication, such person certainly gets results of goodness. This is the endeavor of any individual, any society. However, the reality is much more difficult. It is the greatest problem to instate one on the platform of goodness (acquiescence). Material consciousness is egocentric and a temporary body is the guarantor of development of greed. Therefore, mostly doers are influenced by the laws of passion or ignorance. Such doer even if given the perfect knowledge or a correct activity will treat all these in accordance with the own performance level, i.e. in accordance with his/her desires. The material communication lacks harmony and this causes the need for patience which is absolutely alien to the soul. Spiritual communication is spontaneous, free and blissful as all spiritual beings are perfect and free from the desire of mutual exploitation. In the material world, these very jivas strive for superiority, hence exploitation. On the other hand, conditioned souls are of the imperfect nature and therefore any communication at first gives them some hope and then brings disappointment. One is given the possibility to rise to goodness just when such person appears to be able to endure this disappointment. Less reasonable persons try to search for another communication hoping to reach happiness. But reasonable persons realize that this problem is initially unsolvable in the material world. They understand that it does not matter (or to be exact it matters very little) with whom to communicate, all objects are imperfect anyway. Less reasonable persons at first think they have met some pleasant communication and then lose their temper because of faults. A wise person knows that everyone has got some faults and tries to rely on advantages (the principle of a bee collecting only nectar from all flowers) looking for good qualities in everyone and being forbearing toward deficiencies. This is the psychological condition which ensures the peaceful existence of all imperfects beings in the material world. But living beings want to enjoy. When consciousness is secular, namely self-centered, and one thinks that he/she lives only once, such person does not understand the reason for enduring. Such people are able to sacrifice everything for the sake of their own pleasure and then society is composed of lonely people where everyone looks for acceptable objects of sense pleasure. Such society is based on the race or competition in the struggle for the greatest sense pleasure. It seems to such person that he/she gets more pleasure when fighting for them. But the experience has shown that both success and defeat do not depend on the amount of effort. They depend on luck. And what is luck if it is not God’s will which is displayed in accordance with our merits?
Patience is the basis for communication of pious people, and society formed on such basis is called varnashrama-dharma. What does this term mean? Varnas are different social classes:
1) monks (priests) – brahmanas,
2) rulers and warrior – kshatriyas,
3) farmers and merchants – vayshyas,
4) laborers and servants – shudras.
Ashramas are also divided into four categories but they refer to different stages of life of the same individual. These stages are the following:
1) learning process – brahmacharya- ashram,
2) householder life – grihastha-ashram,
3) partial renunciation – vanaprastha-ashram,
4) full renunciation – sannyasa.
1) Learning. The Aryan system started education at the age of five. In the process of learning, one received the Vedic system of values, studied the essence of the material nature and its structure, developed the deep knowledge of laws of gunas of the material nature and, mostly important, formed the correct impression of the meaning and value of life which later became the basis for patience. The knowledge was transferred verbally and carriers of any knowledge held a very high position in society.
2) Householder life. Ahead of this stage of life, one carefully analyzed own desires. If the Vedic knowledge contributed to understanding the worldliness of this world, then right away a brahmachari accepted renunciation and the life style suitable for this stage. Such persons were called naishtiki brahmachari, i.e. ones who never ejaculated semen. These persons are special, strict, renounced and their meaning of life is only to comprehend the nature of the Supreme Personality of Godhead and own relationships with Him. Naishtiki brahmacharis take sannyasa (renouncement). The presence of this ashram is very important for society. There are just very few renounced persons but they ensure the purity of the spiritual knowledge by means of their own realization. The spiritual knowledge at its highest level always assumes renunciation from this world and restoration of the spiritual consciousness. Very rare persons are able to follow this way till the end. A sannyasi is not the one who just reads spiritual literature, learns it by heart and declaims it before the unsuspecting public earning cheap glory. A sannyasi practices the spiritual knowledge in full renunciation from worldly fuss and really restores the lost connection with the Lord. Having proved the truth of the Vedic statements by own experience, sannyasis keep the spiritual knowledge without deviations. The purity of knowledge creates a real connection to the spiritual world, the connection which is the source of the strength of society. When society (nation) has no ascetics, it lacks the divine power and it is doomed to follow the path of sin, ignorance and suffering. Being sannyasi-conscious, the Aryans showed a special respectful attitude for them. The respectful attitude for all social classes was the characteristic feature of the Aryan society, but recanted persons were specially honored. When varnashrama-dharma is destroyed, there appear pseudo-recanted persons who are engaged only in “work” for their prosperity and glory hiding behind the recanted status. The great Aryan Bhaktivinoda told that there was nothing worse in this world than a religious hypocrite (a recanted person) who used that position only to get the material gain (money, fame, authority).
Ones who felt that during their learning period they could not overcome their material desires (both mind and body what is called claim rights) addressed the other stage of life, domestic (grihastha ashram). Regularities of this stage will be discussed separately. But meanwhile we can say that at this very stage there was effective the social structure arranged in accordance with individual’s qualities. The majority of society was composed of family people. All other ashramas were under the care of this ashrama.
3) Partial renunciation. At the age of fifty, religious figures and leaders left their families and went to the forest to get to self-realization. That allowed to keep society constantly in hands of young people protecting it from rigidity (conservatism). Though it has to be said that certain conservatism is always needed for society not to lose its achievements, but from time to time even scriptures are commented according to time and circumstances. The key truth does not change, but methods of its presentation can be modified. The ways to do it without any distortion are known only by very lofty recanted persons. At this stage a man started his renouncement. He left his social duties (retired) and started his self-knowledge far from his family but he would receive food from it while undergoing adaptation. At this stage, a man could take his wife with him.
4) Renunciation.Via partial renouncement, a man got used to ascetic life and became a pilgrim. Walking around holy places, he met saints and got spiritual knowledge from them. Recanted persons communicated with people of the worldly mindset only for preaching purposes. The luckiest among them met the Lord.
The Bhagavad-Gita presents characteristics of different components of activity which our happiness and suffering depend on (Chapter 18, verses 18-28):
Knowledge, the object of knowledge and the knower are the three factors which motivate action; the senses, the work and the doer comprise the threefold basis of action.
In accordance with the three modes of material nature, there are three kinds of knowledge, action, and performers of action. Listen as I describe them.
That knowledge by which one undivided spiritual nature is seen in all existences, undivided in the divided, is knowledge in the mode of goodness.
That knowledge by which a different type of living entity is seen to be dwelling in different bodies is knowledge in the mode of passion.
And that determination which cannot go beyond dreaming, fearfulness, lamentation, moroseness, and illusion-such unintelligent determination is in the mode of ignorance.
The regulated activity when done without any attachment, love or hatred or desire to get back anything is considered action in the guna of goodness.
Activity which requires many efforts aiming to fulfill own desires and dictated by the false ego, is called action in the guna of passion.
Activity caused by misbeliefs and in contradiction with instructions of holy scriptures without consideration of its enslaving consequences or activity with violence which cause suffering to other living beings is considered action in the guna of ignorance.
One who does one’s duty being free from influence of gunas of material nature and the false ego with great determination and enthusiasm, equally firm in success or misfortune acts in goodness.
If one is attached to activity and its results, spurred on the desire for enjoyment of one’s labor, being greedy, envious, impure, exposed to happiness and grief, he is said to be influenced by the guna of passion.
One who is constantly absorbed in activity which contradicts instructions of holy scriptures, being material and stubborn, cheating and constantly insulting others, lazy, all gloomy, postponing for the future, acts under the influence of the guna of ignorance.
Any cause-and-effect relation appears due to interaction of these factors: the knowledge, the known object and the knower.
The structure of society should be such that the above mentioned three factors would be in the guna of goodness. This is the only recipe for real prosperity of society. If any of these components “advances” towards the guna of goodness it “moves up” all the rest with it, and soon there appears the result in the form of happiness, prosperity, peace and so on. In fact, this knowledge is very comprehensive. Our aim is to show which particular regularities were considered by the Aryans for organization of their society. Everything begins from knowledge. As we have seen in the verses, goodness starts from awareness of the overall spiritual nature of all living things, consequently from the study of the relevant knowledge.
