Persons of Divine and Demoniac Nature

      In chapter 16 of Shrimad Bhagvad Geeta (the Geeta), Lord Krishna tells Arjuna about divine and demonic features. A person who cultivates divine qualities is divine like and contrary to this a person who cultivates demoniac properties is like a demon. Shloks (verses) 1, 2 and 3 of chapter 16 of the Geeta run as follows:

    abhayam sattva-samsuddhir-gyaan-yoga-vyavasthitih

     daanam damasch yagyasch svadhyayasp tapa arjvam.

     ahimsa satyam aakrodhas tyagah santir apaisunam

     daya bhutesv aloluptvam mardavam hrir acapalam.

     tejah kshma dhrtih saucham adroho natimanita

     bhavanti sampadam daivim abhijatasya bharat.

Hindi Meanings: O Bharta Putra! Nirbhayata, atmshuddhi, adhyatmak gyaan ka anushilan, dan, atma sayam, yagyapaaayanataa, vedaadhyan, tapasyaa, saralataa, ahimsa, satyataa, krodhavihinataa, tyaag, shaanti, chhidranveshana mein aruchi, samast jivon par karunaa, lobhavihinataa, bhadrataa, lajja, sankalp, tej, kshamaa, dhairya, pavitrataa tathaa irshyaa aur respect ki abhilaasha se mukti- ye saare divya guna hain, jo daivi prakruti se sampanna devtulya purushon mein paaye jaate hain.

Meanings in English: O Arjuna! Fearlessness, pure heartedness, established in discrimination of spirit and matter by yoga, charity, self restraint,  performance of sacrifice, study of Vedic scriptures, austerity, uprightness, nonviolence, truthfulness, aversion to fault finding, compassion to all beings, absence of avarice, gentleness, modesty and determination, radiance, forgiveness, fortitude, purity, freedom from malice, absence of pride arise in one born of the divine nature.

In Shlok (verse) 4 of chapter 16 of the Geeta, Lord Krishna tells Arjuna about the properties of nature found in persons having demoniac nature. This verse runs as follows:

           Dambho darpo abhimaanasch krodhah paaryshyamev cha

              Agyaanam chaabhijaatasya paarth sampadmaasurim.

Hindi Meanings: hey Paarth! Dambha, darp, abhimaan, krodh, kathorataa tathaa ayaan – ye aasuri swabhaav waalon ke guna hain.

Meanings in English: Pseudo-religiosity, pretentious-pride, conceitful arrogance, anger, harshness and ignorance arise in one born of demoniac nature.

         In the verses next to verse 3 of chapter 16, Lord Krishna tells Arjuna in detail about the properties of persons of demoniac nature.

While describing properties of persons of divine and demoniac natures, words ‘arise in one born with ….’ have been used. This does not mean that a person born with demoniac nature cannot cultivate properties which can make him divine.

While describing properties of demoniac nature, Lord Krishna tells Arjuna about the three doorways of hell and asks him to abandon them. Shlok 21 (verse 21) of Chapter 16 runs as under:

      trividhim naraksyedam dwaaram naashanmaatmanah

      kaamah krodhastathaa lobhastsmaadetatrayam tyajet.

Hindi Meanings: Kaam, krodh tathaa lobh narak ke teen dwaar hai. Ye teenon aatma ke liye vinashkari hai. ateva inhein tyaag denaa chaahiye.

Meanings in English: The three kinds of doorways to hell are lust, anger and greed; therefore these three are so destructive to the embodied self must be abandoned.

In verse 24 of chapter 16, Lord Krishna asks Arjuna to understand the difference in between the karma and akarma and tells him to do the karma (as against akarma which is not to be done) so that he may improve himself.  This verse runs as under:

       tasmaachchaastram pramaanam kaaryaakaryvyavasthitau

       gyaatwaa shaastravidhaanoktam karm kartumihaarhasi.

Hindi Meanings: Isliye tumhein shaastron ke vidhaan ke ausaar kyaa karne layak hai aur kyaa karne layak nahin hai nishchit karke shaastron ki vidhi ke anusaar karma karna chaahiye.

Meanings in English: Therefore, the injunctions of the Vedic scriptures in ascertaining what should be done and what should not be done are your authority; knowing the ordinances of the Vedic scriptures as prescribed, you should perform actions in this world as a matter of duty.

               

As a writer of this post, I will request my friends that even if we cannot adopt divine properties, we can certainly abandon demoniac features.

CAUSE OF OUR SORROWS

In our life, unfulfilled expectations and desires are sole cause of our sorrow. When our expectations or desires are fulfilled, we feel satisfaction and happiness and when our expectations or desires are not fulfilled, we feel worried and become sad. For getting rid of sorrows, the only remedy is to get rid of expectations. There are three situations in which expectations arise.

(i)                When we do something and expect result;

(ii)              When we expect results from our loved ones; and

(iii)             When we are overpowered by superstitions.

Third situation can be avoided if we do not believe in superstitions. Second situation can be overpowered if we become neutral and limit ourselves to our duty towards our loved ones. This can be done by maintaining equal distance from our loved ones and all other persons in this universe. In other words, be equally attached to all. As it relates to third situation, it is difficult to overcome the situation but it is not impossible to overcome the situation.

Somebody may argue that if our act leads to our expectation then in order to avoid expectation we should not do the act (karma). But we cannot avoid act. Nobody can remain action less even for a single moment. When we sleep it is an act of sleeping, when we sit without moving any part of our body, it is an act of sitting idle. When we have thoughts in our mind, we are doing act of thinking. We can say that act is nothing but posture of body or mind. Thus we find that we cannot avoid act. Therefore, if we want to avoid first situation then we will have to avoid expectation. But since our act leads to our expectations, therefore to avoid expectations, we will have to forget what we have done.

Here I will narrate an incident which once happened in my life. Once I was going to railway station from my relative’s house in a town. I was walking on my foot. On the road side, there were many stalls of cloth. I wished to purchase a piece of cloth for a shirt from one of those stalls. I dropped at a stall and enquired about the cost and variety of a particular piece of cloth from the owner of the stall. The stall keeper told me about the selling price and quality and variety of the cloth. In the mean time another person came and stood aside me. He said that the cost told by stall keeper was too high and the shop keeper was cheating people. At much cheaper cost, the same cloth was available at big stores. He also quoted a price less than the price quoted by the stall keeper and said that if the stall keeper would have given me that piece of cloth at that price, then it would have been reasonable. Then I started walking. Then the stall keeper called me back and said that it was his first sale of that day and therefore, he was prepared to give me that piece of cloth at the price quoted by the other person. I purchased that piece of cloth. But when I bore the shirt and washed it after two days, I found that the cloth had been of inferior quality and the shirt could not be used second time. I felt shame on me as I felt that stall keeper had befooled me. From that day, I did not use that shirt but whenever I saw that shirt, it gave me lot of pain. Finally, in order to get rid of pain, I gave that shirt to a poor beggar. From that day, I did never feel pain because I had done away with cause of pain. 

What I mean to say is that we should perform all acts with our full capabilities and thereafter, should do away with all acts performed by us. We should do every act for our master. We all know that benefit of all acts done by servant goes to the master and servant is entitled only for his remuneration. We should think that God is our master and we are His servants. We work for our master on the condition that whatever He will give us, we will accept gracefully as His blessings. This is the only way to kill the cause of expectation. When we will sacrifice all our acts in the name of God and whatever we will get, we will not accept it as a result of my acts but as blessings of God, then cause of our expectations will be no more.

This is what Lord Krishna has told Arjuna in Shlok 47 of Chapter 2 of the Geeta. The said Shlok follows as under :

Karmanyevaadhikaraste maa phaleshu kadaachan,

Maa karmphalheturbhurma te sangoastvakarmani.

          Tumhein apanaa karm (kartavya) karne kaa adhikaar hai, kintu karm ke phalon ke adhikaari tum nahin ho. Tum na to kabhi apane aapako apane karmon ke phalon ka kaaran maano, na hi karma na karne mein aasakta hoao.

                          

Meanings: You have right to do your task (karma), but you are not entitled for fruits of karma. You neither admit yourselves the reason of result of your deeds nor be enamored or indulgent in not performing your deeds.

CAUSE OF ANGER

Friends !
         Before we analyze causes of anger, it seems logical to know about it. Anger is the general term for a sudden violent displeasure. Fury, indignation and rage may be thought close to anger. Rage is vehement anger. Indignation implies deep and justified anger, for example: indignation at cruelty or against corruption. Fury is rage so great that it resembles insanity. Anger causes resentment, exasperation, irritation, displeasure, infuriation, insanity and madness. A person in anger loses his thinking power and a person devoid of thinking power can go to any extent. Any right or wrong thing or act can be expected from him. Therefore, it is absolutely necessary to have control over anger.

On analyzing the behavior of human beings, we can classify human behaviors in following three broad categories:

(i) Persons who live balanced and peaceful life. These persons are knowledgeable persons. They are kind to all creatures. They are harmless creatures and are free from all types of vices. They have conquered their desires. They live ascetic life.

(ii) Persons who are ambitious and have lot of expectations and strong desires. They are always worried for results in their favor. They have strong feeling of attachment for their own. They are lustful, passionate and impulsive.

(iii) Persons who are lazy, who look (or behave like) mad and who have no control over their sleep. They are bullheaded. They believe in phantasm, delusion and illusion. Their acts suffer lack of knowledge.

We can assign each class a name. In holy Geeta, while addressing Arjun, Lord Krishna has referred to these classes of properties as Sato Gun, Rajo Gun and Tamo Gun. These properties have been referred to as properties of nature. At any moment, a person reflects properties of one of these classes in his acts. Properties of nature referred to in clause (i) above may be referred to as divine features. Properties of nature referred to in clause (iii) above may be referred to as devilish features. Properties referred to in clause (ii) above lie in between them.

At any moment in our life, we live one of three properties of nature, viz. sato gun, rajo gun and tamo gun (sat, raj & tam). We all know that particular type of behavior of a person is not permanent and everlasting. A person, who, at certain point of time, has been living tamo properties of nature, may behave as if he owns sato properties. Likewise, a person, who, at certain point of time, has been living rajo properties of nature, may behave as if he owns tamo properties. Sometimes, change in behavior is permanent. Person, who has been living properties of one class for a long time, can change his behavior for remaining span of his life. We have read story of Angulimala, the robber and murderer who later became a saint. We also know that Maharshi Valmiki, in his early period of life, had been a robber but in his latter life he became a great saint who composed the pious book Ramayana.

Feeling of anger is associated with Rajo gun. Person who cultivates sato property of nature has depth in his nature. Such person never gets excited. On analyzing the behavior of human beings, we find that anger arises on account of one of the following:

(i) A person has done something which we had not expected from him; or

(ii) A person has failed to perform any act as per our expectation.

Looking into the causes of anger, we can say that our expectations are sole cause of our anger. This feature is associated with rajo gun. In order to get rid of anger, we have to adopt sato gun. Person owning sato gun lives a balanced life. He has depth in his nature. He has no expectations. But in our modern life it is hard to believe that one can do without expectations. When we set our targets or goals and fail to achieve them, then what we feel is not anger. It is desperation. In this case we do not get excited. We do not lose our temper. But where we expect something from our others and they fail to deliver the desired result we get excited with anger. But we can avoid anger if we are kindhearted and we believe in forgiving. There may be cases where one may feel that his associate has done wrong deliberately. In such cases, it may be difficult but it is not impossible to avoid anger.

Suppose that your close associate does not follow your directions in performing a particular act but he / she acts on his / her own and by doing so spoils the wrath. This may be a reason of anger. But this can also be avoided by considering his / her ignorance. At one place, he / she does not know that he / she is expected to obey you and at the same time he / she does not know the proper way of performing the act. On account of his / her ignorance, he /she deserves sympathy. He / she must be forgiven.

Mahatma Gandhi has rightly said “Hate the sin not the sinner”. It is also believed that “Love the sinner, hate the sin” is a saying from holy Bible. Readers will forgive me if I am wrong. I am totally in favor of the saying “hate the sin not the sinner”. My view is that sinner commits wrong because he / she is ignorant about the sin. Sinner does not understand that it is wrong to commit a sin. He / she does not know that he / she should abstain from committing a sin. Therefore, he / she deserves sympathy. In stead of showing our anger, we should feel pity on him /her.

Unfair assessment of capabilities of our associate may be another cause of anger. Sometimes, we do not assess the capability of a person and expect him to do a certain act. If performance requires A grade knowledge but the performer possesses B grade (lower than A grade) knowledge, then we should not expect that performer will do the act properly. Similarly, an act done by a child should not be evaluated by comparing it with the act performed by a young person. We should give margin for short experience and lack of knowledge. If we expect then we should expect and we should assess the result considering these aspects.

Lack of our tolerance limit may be another cause for anger. In order to avoid anger, we should -

(i) avoid expectations and if those cannot be avoided then they should be based on fair assessment of capabilities of the person from whom we expect;

(ii) enlarge our tolerance limit;

(iii) cultivate habit of forgiveness.

We are human being and we have been blessed with enormous power to fight evils. Lord will not forgive us if we do not use these powers in improving our nature.