Category Archives: Bhagavadgita

Bhagavad Gita – The Way of Life!

Bhagavad gita is the Holy book which will teach us the way to live life. I have heard it many times from my childhood. But there was always this urge in me of interpreting it myself which remained unfulfilled till now. Now I have decided to embark upon this journey of reading the Gita and interpreting it. This category I will be interpreting each sloka everyday and share the same with you all!

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Bhagavadgita Chapter 14 Guna Triya Vibhaga Yoga Verse 15

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Chapter 14 Guna Triya Vibhaga Yoga Verse 15

Rajasi pralayam gatwaa karmasangishu jaayate;
Tathaa praleenastamasi moodhayonishu jaayate.

Meeting death in Rajas, he is born among those who are attached to action; and dying in Tamas, he is born in the womb of the senseless.

Interpretation

After talking about the sattva guna and where the sattvik person’s soul will go after the death, Lord Krishna focusses in this shloka about Rajasik person and the tamasic person and where his soul will go after the death and where he would be reborn in his next birth. Lord Krishna in the first part of the shloka talks about Rajasik person and says that a person who dies with Rajasik guna will be born in the family where the majority of those are engaged in Rajasik dharmas or attached to the action. Similarly, when he dies with tamasic gunas in him intact, he will choose a womb of a senseless family which has no direction.

Extending Interpretation to Mankind’s Life!

This shloka is very simple but needs to be understood in the right context with all its complexities.

You will have two or more siblings in a family. Will they all choose the same guna as parents? Will they all have the same guna? Will father and mother both have the same guna? These are the points to be considered. Firstly, we have to understand that the soul doesn’t have eyes or ears to see and hear to decide which womb it wants to take. All that soul has is the ability to sense vibrations of a particular guna and then decide on the basis of it the right womb it wants to enter.

Its a very complex process and it mainly depends on the knowledge that a soul possesses. A soul which is in higher lokas has more knowledge and aided with that knowledge and the senses available, it might make lesser mistakes than the other souls which are at the inferior lokas. When a soul is choosing a womb it just goes by the feel of vibes coming out from a person doing a sattvik, Rajasik and Tamasic activity. Understand that if you are meditating or learning or sharing the knowledge you emit a vibe in the universe which has a frequency giving it a shape of particular guna. If that is caught by a wandering soul, it gets attached to it and it decides to take birth in that family. 

Similar is the case with a person doing a Rajasik and Tamasic activity. A soul that is attached to Rajasik activity picks up the vibe of the same person when he is doing a Rajasic activity or of a lady who he is married to. If a husband is Rajasik and wife is sattvik then the children born to them could be of both gunas because of the vibes that they emit. Similar is the case with Tamasic guna. Also one needs to understand that a person is not 100% Sattva, Rajas or Tamas. If a soul attached to Tamas guna catches the vibe of a same Rajasic person when he is engaged in the Tamasic activity, it might decide to be born there thus making a mistake.

Here the Tamasic soul is more susceptible to make errors as it has least knowledge. A person might be 80% Rajas and 20% Tamas but the soul might decide to be born in that family when the father is engaged in the Tamas activity which occupies only 20% of his time. Thus after being born, a person decides that he is born in a wrong family. Typically you have leading businessmen or politicians aspiring for power, their sons will be useless. This is purely because of the wrong choice that a soul can make. Thus a family can have children from Sattva, Rajas and Tamas guna though the parents might just have one or two gunas.

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Bhagavadgita Chapter 14 Guna Triya Vibhaga Yoga Verse 14

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Chapter 14 Guna Triya Vibhaga Yoga Verse 14

Yadaa sattwe pravriddhe tu pralayam yaati dehabhrit;Tadottamavidaam lokaan amalaan pratipadyate.

If the embodied one meets with death when Sattwa has become predominant, then he attains to the spotless worlds of the knowers of the Highest.

Interpretation

This is the first shloka where Lord Krishna talks about what happens to a person who has followed the sattvik Guna after the death. Till now we were mainly focusing on the predominance of all the three gunas and the natures associated with it. In this shloka, Lord Krishna talks about a person who embodies himself with sattvik nature and lives the whole life following the qualities of sattva like seeking knowledge for attaining happiness. Such a person with his predominant sattvik nature when attains death, goes straight to the spotless worlds of the knowers of the highest. Knowers of the highest are the seekers of happiness through knowledge.

Extending Interpretation to Mankind’s Life!

Some time ago who have studied about the seven lokas that exist along with Bhu Loka. Bhu Loka is for everyone who is having a body. After death, the body is buried and the soul goes to different lokas depending upon the amount of spirituality it holds. Here Lord is talking about a sattvik person attaining different lokas. A Sattvik person by the nature of only concentrating on knowledge and deriving happiness from it usually doesn’t aspire for a Swarga Loka. The comforts of Swarga Loka doesn’t entice him as he has already seen them before.

Yes, that is the point that is being made here. Look at a person who relinquishes the material comforts for the sake of knowledge. When we ask a lakh people to choose between money and knowledge, not more than 1 or 2 would opt for knowledge. The others want money as they give comfort but a sattvik person looks at knowledge giving him comfort. Such a person is qualified to go to higher lokas like Mahar Loka and Gnana Loka than going to Bhuvar Loka or Swarga Loka which is for inferior souls. These Mahar Loka and Gnana Loka are called as the spotless lokas as souls over there overcome most of the material desires and are on a constant quest for knowledge. 

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Bhagavadgita Chapter 14 Guna Triya Vibhaga Yoga Verse 13

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Chapter 14 Guna Triya Vibhaga Yoga Verse 13

Aprakaasho’pravrittishcha pramaado moha eva cha;
Tamasyetaani jaayante vivriddhe kurunandana.

Darkness, inertness, heedlessness and delusion—
these arise when Tamas is predominant, O Arjuna!

Interpretation

This is the third part of the three shlokas where Lord Krishna was explaining to Arjuna about the situations where all the three gunas will be predominant. He says that through wisdom and knowledge Sattva guna is predominant and through greed, activity and restlessness Rajas guna will be predominant. In this shloka, He concentrates on when the Tamasic guna will be predominant. Living in ignorance which is like darkness, having no activity at all makes a person tamasic. Not only that heedlessness which is the inability to listen to others and the delusion which is the wavering mentality of an individual also gives rise to Tamasic nature. 

Extending Interpretation to Mankind’s Life!

When you meet certain people you will be surprised by the amount of ignorance they hold. This happens especially when you go to rural areas and meet the people over there. They live in a completely ignorant world unmindful of their basic rights and duties. They just live a life thinking that God and Government have to take care of them, provide them with sources of livelihood. They just do what is told to them. They never have the inclination or zeal to acquire any skills out of their own interest. Such people are the classic examples of people living in darkness and in India you will find 2/3rds of the population living in total ignorance. 

Ignorance leads to delusion where one gets into wavering mode very easily. One never sticks to what he is doing and always looks for opportunities to escape from that work. That escapism comes from the quality of inertness. Inertness is a total dislike for doing any activity. Opposite to a Rajasik person who always does some activity or the other, and unlike a sattvik person who constantly quests for knowledge, a Tamasic person loves doing nothing. Anything forced upon him, he will leave it in days and goes back into the inertness. The liking for inertness gives him heedlessness. Heedlessness is when you become stubborn and don’t listen to others.

When a person is living in ignorance and inertness, naturally wise people around him will want to make him active by either seeking knowledge or doing some meaningful work. But the tamasic person resists this with his stubborness. He thinks that being stubborn is being stable minded. He imagines in himself that there is a goal for him which he wants to achieve and he is set to achieve that, at his own pace. He also feels that nobody can understand him nor wants to listen to him. These are the symptoms of deep ignorance in a person and such people are predominantly Tamasic in nature, says Lord Krishna.

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Bhagavadgita Chapter 14 Guna Triya Vibhaga Yoga Verse 12

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Chapter 14 Guna Triya  Vibhaga Yoga Verse 12

Lobhah pravrittir aarambhah karmanaam ashamah sprihaa;
Rajasyetaani jaayante vivriddhe bharatarshabha.

Greed, activity, the undertaking of actions, restlessness, longing—
these arise when Rajas is predominant, O Arjuna!

Interpretation

This is the second part of the three part shloka that now talks about when the Rajasik nature in an individual will be predominant. The Rajas or the Rajasik guna in an individual is predominant when he is overtaken by greed. Greed is the first step for an individual to get into Rajasik nature. Then he slowly draws himself into activities that are linked to ambition and growth and that creates restlessness and longing in him. Restlessness and longing are the results of his eagerness to achieve success in the tasks that he undertakes. When all these things arise in a person that is when he is engulfed by Rajasic nature, says Lord krishna.

Extending Interpretation to Mankind’s Life!

When you are anxious and restless, just pause for a minute and ask yourself, why are you restless? 99.9% of the time the answer will always be connected to an activity. We get restless when things don’t go according to our plan. We always have a wish list and expect that all that should be fulfilled. In fact, we measure success with the number of tasks that we achieve the given deadline. Chasing a deadline is the primary cause of restlessness. But is doing all this bad? Are we not here to do our duty or dharma? Are those duties not bound by time and the desired result? Is expecting a result from doing those things is undesirable? 

The answers to all the questions are one and simple. Do your work, don’t get attached to it. If we follow this simple principle, we are neither greedy or restless or there will be longing or you will be attached to actions. Think that every work is the gift of God and every task is done in His name. If we approach things with that perspective then all these negative feeling will never touch or affect us. We just have to leave everything to God because He alone knows when to give what. Deadlines are set by God, not by individuals. But there are some defined deadlines as God can never set a deadline directly. Those will be communicated to you through people and events. You should just understand them and act accordingly.

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Market Trade Setup 5th December #NIFTY

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Market Setup 5th December

There was a huge scare that we woke up to. Dow Jones has plunged 800 points overnight. This is the worst fall for Dow Jones since 2011. This is coming on the back of the global growth scare. Added to that is the doubts that US-China trade truce might not last for long.

The main point is, why did Dow lose 800 points? The answer came from the flattening of the Yield curves of 2 yr, 5 yr and 10 yr bonds where the interest rates have narrowed so much that 5 yr yield fell below the 2 yr yield curve for the first time since 2007 and the spread between 2 year and 10 yr yield curves went to the narrowest of 11 bps for the first time in 10 years. This according to Rabo bank is the signs of the recession coming as soon as June 2020. All the Asian markets also are trading in negative on the back of this terrible news coming from the US.

On the domestics front, we have a different fundamental to deal with and that is going to the RBI credit policy which is going to come at 2.30pm today. Three factors are important here. First is what will happen to CRR, SLR and Repo rates. According to me, RBI will not touch CRR and Repo which are at 4% and 6.5% now but they can actually look at reducing the SLR, which is the money that can be parked by banks in Govt securities. This is at 19.5% now and RBI might bring it down to 18.5% to allow more liquidity in the market, which is what Govt wants now. Second is the tone of the policy, which might be changed to “neutral” from “calibrated tightening” and RBI might sound dovish in it statement. The Third is the inflation and growth projections. RBI might bring down its inflation forecast by upto 50 bps which is good and the growth forecast from 7.5% to 7.4%. 

On the derivatives front, there has been a lot of action seen in the Futures market both on the long side as well as short side. The options market has the Nifty put call ratio going up to 1.70 from 1.68. 10800 put added 2.8 lakh positions while 10600 put added 2.2 lakh positions. Still 10000 put continues to have the highest open interest while 10500 put is also picking up the open interest. On the call side 10900 call added 76,000 open interest and 11000 call still continues to have the highest open interest of 27.2 lakh and 11200 is also slowly picking up in the open interest. 

What is the Nifty call for the day?

The global growth scare will make the Nifty open today in the 10810-10840 range and what happens further needs to be seen. If you have taken positions yesterday around 10840 odd levels then wait for 10900 to be reached before closing positions. If you have not taken any positions, then wait for Nifty to stabilize at 10780 zone and go long with a 50 point target. Today’s monetary policy will add some volatility and use that to exit positions not enter. 

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Bhagavadgita Chapter 14 Guna Triya Vibhaga Yoga Verse 11

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Chapter 14 Guna Triya Vibhaga Yoga Verse 11

Sarvadwaareshu dehe’smin prakaasha upajaayate;
Jnaanam yadaa tadaa vidyaa dvivriddham sattwamityuta.

When, through every sense in this body, the wisdom-light shines, 
then it may be known that Sattwa is predominant.

Interpretation

After talking about the Sattvik, Rajasik and Tamasik gunas in an individual and how they would be predominant, Lord Krishna in this shloka shifts His attention back to the Sattvik Guna. He attaches a lot of importance to the senses in holding that sattvik energy. He says that a person becomes wise only when he bestows himself with the sattvik energy. That sattvik energy can enter into his system only through the senses. Once it enters into the body of a person the light of his wisdom shines and only through that light of wisdom one can understand that the Sattvik guna is predominent in him. 

Extending Interpretation to Mankind’s Life!

This is a three-part shloka that clearly explains the sattvik nature in an individual. The first shloka talks about how the sattvik energy that gets into an individual shines like wisdom-light. Wisdom-light in an individual is nothing but the illumination that results from a person acquiring wisdom. Wisdom is the result of knowledge and only sattvik energy can make you to learn more and acquire that wisdom. Like I have mentioned previously, you would feel like watching a business channel or a serious news channel only when you have the inclination to learn new things. This inclination to learn things only happens when sattvik energy is there. 

There is no end to knowledge and learning and a wise person will never allow himself to be limited to any area. As the knowledge level increases the person connects different things and gets varied perspectives about situations which lead to wisdom. For example, you will find people who can resolve any crisis or tell you how to handle any situation by just extrapolating the solutions for different problems. This is the result of hard work that the soul has put up and the sattvik energy in him helps to further that wisdom and his self will start glowing with the wisdom-light. The individuals who have this wisdom-light are the ones filled with sattvik energy.

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Bhagavadgita Chapter 14 Guna Triya Vibhaga Yoga Verse 10

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Chapter 14 Guna Triya Vibhaga Yoga Verse 10

Rajastamashchaabhibhooya sattwam bhavati bhaarata;
Rajah sattwam tamashchaiva tamah sattwam rajastathaa.

Now Sattwa prevails, O Arjuna, having overpowered Rajas and Tamas;
now Rajas, having overpowered Sattwa and Tamas; and now Tamas, having overpowered Sattwa and Rajas!

Interpretation

After explaining the nature of all the three Gunas Lord Krishna in this shloka talks about the prevalence of one Guna over the other. He says that when Sattvik Guna prevails in an individual then it overpowers the Rajasik and Tamasic nature and stands ahead. In the same way Rajasic Guna overpowers an individual, when passion takes over the reasoning power in him and he becomes obsessed about things. Then the third situation is when the Tamasic guna prevails over an indidvidual when he becomes lazy, then sattvik and Rajasi Gunas take a back seat. Lord Krishna says that all these three Gunas prevail in an individual at one point or the other as dominant force. 

Extending Interpretation to Mankind’s Life!

Your mood swings explain very clearly what Guna is dominant in you. All the three are inside you and you exhibit them at different times in different proportions. There are times when you want to be calm, peaceful, helpful and generous and that is when you have sattvik quality is dominating you. You don’t feel like saying ill about anyone and would want to be with yourself in your own world reading or doing meditation. Then another mood swing is suddenly you get ambitious, passionate and wants to do something big. You feel that you should achieve something and people around you should appreciate you for that. This is nothing but the Rajasik guna in you which is pushing you to achieve something. 

Another quality of Rajasik guna is when you feel jealous and envy of others. Suppose if your best friend is appreciated for what he has done and if part of the activity you have also done, but no one realises it, you will feel bit envy and jealous about that person. A sattvik natured person never experiences that. Tamasic is when you feel lazy, sleepy and doubt everything around. You are asked to do a particular task and you doubt whether its essential or not. You feel lazy and postpone it. If you are scolded for your inaction you get angry. All these are the qualities of a Tamasic person. Thus all these three qualities exist in every individual and the proportion of that forms his personality, says Lord Krishna.

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Bhagavadgita Chapter 14 Guna Triya Vibhaga Yoga Verse 9

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Chapter 14 Guna Triya Vibhaga Yoga Verse 9

Sattwam sukhe sanjayati rajah karmani bhaarata;
Jnaanamaavritya tu tamah pramaade sanjayatyuta.

Sattwa attaches to knowledge, Rajas to action, O Arjuna, 
while Tamas, shrouding knowledge, attaches to heedlessness only!

Interpretation

The last three shlokas explained the nature of Sattvik, Rajasik and Tamasic guna in an individual, in this shloka Lord Krishna tries to connect all the three gunas and explains them in one single shloka. He says that Sattvik guna is attached to knowledge and the happiness that is derived from that knowledge. The Rajasik guna is attached to the actions that one performs as the part of their quest to success and achieved. Then Lord Krishna reiterates the point He said in the previous shloka that Tamasic guna in a person is the result of leaving the path of knowledge and going in the path of stubbornness and ignorance. 

Extending Interpretation to Mankind’s Life!

We have already discussed the fact that every human being has all the three gunas of Sattvik, Rajasik and Tamasic embedded in him. Depending on the situations and the influences of the people around, the quantity of these gunas present in an individual keeps changing. If a person is kept in the company of sattvik people, he imbibes a lot of sattivik characteristics and same is the case with other gunas. We usually have a lot of tamasic guna people around because we live in a country which has mostly ignorance in it. Strange it is that this is the land of Buddha, Swamy Vivekanada and Adi Shankaracharya but the maximum number of people are deeply ignorant. 

When you have ignorant people around, the ignorance is spread across and the people get those characteristics only. They will stay away from seeking any knowledge and thus will spend all their lives in seeking pleasure. If you are in the company of achievers like MS Dhoni or Milkha Singh or Saina Nehwal or Mukesh Ambani or JRD Tata you would see the competitive spirt and this is the  Rajasik guna of an individual. The simple example is how the Rajasik nature of Gopichand has created many great Badminton stars for India. So, the bottom line here is keeping the right kind of company is very essential and knowing each type of guna and the qualities associated with it helps us to choose the right company.

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Bhagavadgita Chapter 14 Guna Triya Vibhaga Yoga Verse 8

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Chapter 14 Guna Triya Vibhaga Yoga Verse 8

Tamastwajnaanajam viddhi mohanam sarvadehinaam;
Pramaadaalasyanidraabhis tannibadhnaati bhaarata.

But know thou Tamas to be born of ignorance, deluding all embodied beings; it binds fast, O Arjuna, by heedlessness, sleep and indolence!

Interpretation

After talking about Sattva and Rajasik guna that comes with attachment to knowledge and action respectively, Lord Krishna in this shloka talks about the Tamasic guna in an individual. He says that Arjuna should clearly understand that this Tamasic guna in an individual is the resultant of the person’s ignorance. Ignorance is due to the delusion that a particular being experiences. Lord Krishna also goes on to say that this Tamasic guna binds very fast to an individual and that makes a person not listen to anything that others say, makes him to sleep most of the time and the person starts postponing things due to extreme laziness.

Extending Interpretation to Mankind’s Life!

One always needs to understand that our mind supports all our actions and that is the nature of the mind. Even when the soul disapproves mind makes sure that the message is not reached to the senses. Also one has to note that every individual possesses a bit of Sattvik, Rajasik and Tamsic gunas in him. As he starts growing up and starts meeting individuals and encountering situations, these gunas take a formidable shape and one of the three gunas become dominant. Today, we are looking at Tamasic guna, which is present in every individual. One cannot get rid of it completely but one can only reduce the percentage of it in an individual.

The origin of Tamasic guna is ignorance and since everyone of us are ignorant, it is there in all of us. What drives away ignorance is knowledge so, as the person acquires more and more knowledge the tamasic nature in him starts to reduce. The biggest hurdle for seeking knowledge is a delusion. Delusion, as we have understood in many shlokas, is wavering mentality where a person starts doubting the knowledge he is seeking, thus he starts to move away from it, abandon it and remains in tamasic state. It can happen for some time or it can even happen for a lifetime. There are people who spend their whole lifetime in ignorance and under total tamasic control. 

How does tamasic nature affects a person? It makes you heedless, sleepy and indolent. To explain it a bit further, heedless is where the person shows at least inclination to anything that others are saying to him. Like, we keep advising people who are goal-less and aimless to have an aim in their life and work hard. Do they listen to you? No, they don’t. They will the nod their head and do what they want to do. If you persist more they will hurt you by harsh words. Tamasic guna also makes you sleepy. Sleep is required for everyone but not for more than 6-7 hours a day. Why do Tamasic people sleep more and that too in the daytime?

Sleep is the result of mind telling it to itself that you need not do anything now and can rest and enjoy the state of inactivity. If mind goes to inaction the person’s senses one by one goes to rest resulting in sleep. This tendency is very harmful for a sattvik or a rajasik person, because it makes them to waver from their goals. Keeping mind active with aims and goals is the only way to attack sleep. Third is indolence. Indolence is nothing but laziness and the tendency to postpone things. Tamasic nature keeps you in inertia always, because of which any new task that you want to take, you keep postponing it. These are the qualities of a Tamasic person and everyone of us need to understand this and beware of this!!!