Commentary on the Bhagavadgita

by Swami Krishnananda

Our speech also has to be restrained. In the same way as there is a restraint of the body by discipline of this kind, there has to be a discipline of the speech. Anudvega-karam vakyam satyam priya-hitam cha yat, svadhyayabhyasanam chaiva vangmayam tapa uchyate (17.15): The discipline of the speech is considered to be that which is pleasing, which does not agitate the mind of the person who hears it, which is very beneficial, kind and sweet, and is also is truthful and not camouflaged with any kind of untruth – purely factual, verbal expression, which is very dear and happy to hear, and good for the people who hear it, and also daily study of the holy scriptures, svadhyaya. As we have discipline of the body, there is discipline of speech. What are these? Sweet speech, not speaking like a thorn pricking people – and truthful speech, kind speech, beneficial speech, and daily study of holy scriptures for our own inner illumination. The svadhyaya of the Veda Samhitas, patha of Ramayana, Bhagavata, Bhagavadgita, etc., all come under svadhyaya-yajna, by which we purify and discipline our speech.

Manah-prasadah saumyatvam maunam atma-vinigrahah, bhava-samsuddhir ity etat tapo manasam uchyate (17.16): There is also mental tapas. The discipline of the mind is mental tapas – calmness, composure, satisfaction, happiness, contentment inside. Such a person is always happy, contented, and asks for nothing. “Everything is well with me. I want nothing. I am always very happy. I need nothing.” This kind of inner satisfaction is called manah prasada. Saumyatvam – we must be very composed in our behaviour, delightful for people to see, not putting on an agitated look. If we are very graceful in our behaviour, it is saumyatvam.

We should not speak unless it is necessary to speak. Where it is necessary to speak, we speak. Where it is not called for on our behalf to speak, we do not speak. There are people who butt in. If two people are speaking, a third man comes and butts in, and says something else and spoils the entire talk. “What are you saying? What are you saying? Hmm,” he will butt in. We should not interferet. We should not speak at all unless it is obligatory on our part to speak at a given moment. “It is necessary for me to speak at this moment. Therefore, I speak.” When speaking is unwarranted and we can keep quiet – maunam santih, Om Om Om Om – we should hold our tongue, and maintain peace in our mind. That is maunam.

Atma-vinigrahah is self-control – the restraint of the lower self by the higher self. Concentrating on the universality of our selfhood puts a restraint or check on our lower, instinctive self. That is atma-vinigrahah.

Bhavasam-suddhih: Our motive should always be pure. When we do an action, we must have a pure motive for the benefit of somebody. It does good to some person; it is doing good to at least one person, if not more. And if it does good to the whole of humanity, the entire kingdom of mankind, very good. It does good to the family, to the community, to the nation, or at least it does good to one person – that much is indicative of a pure motive. But if it is a concentration of the mind on our own personal, selfish welfare – let anything happen to others, and we are not at all concerned with what is happening in the atmosphere around, but we very much are concerned with our own personal welfare, physical in its nature – if we are so selfish, then there is impurity in the mind. The unselfishness that characterises our motive is bhavasam-suddhih. This is mental tapas. Thus, we have here a description of three kinds of austerities – physical, verbal and mental.    

Sraddhaya paraya taptam tapas tat tri-vidham naraih, aphalakankshibhir yuktaih sattvikam parichakshate (17.17): Sattvic tapas is attended with intense faith that it will bring the noble fruit of inner spiritual illumination, and not because it will bring some material benefit. Spiritual aspiration is always a movement of our consciousness towards the higher values of life which are God-oriented in every way and, therefore, the question of expecting some material benefit out of our performance is totally out of point. If this tapas or worship is done with no such eye on fruit that is material in its nature, and is undertaken for the salvation of our soul finally, then worship or tapas is considered to be sattvic.

Satkara-mana-pujartham tapo dambhena chaiva yat, kriyate tad iha proktam rajasam chalam adhruvam (17.18): Fickle-minded people with no concentration whatsoever, with no understanding, with no knowledge of what they are doing at all, who are idiotic in their attitude and cause suffering to themselves as well as to others, and perhaps even harm other people – if that kind of undertaking is our desire, we should be considered as tamasic. Satkara-mana-pujartham tapo dambhena chaiva yat, kriyate tad iha proktam rajasam chalam adhruvam: If we do sacrifice for respect, for gaining recognition from people, and for ostentation, it is rajasic; but if we do it for harming people, if our sacrifice is not motivated with pious intentions, then it is tamasic.

Datavyam – now comes charity. There are three kinds of charities – sattvica, rajasica and tamasica. Datavyam iti yad danam diyate’nupakarine, dese kale cha patre cha tad danam sattvikam smrtam (17.20): When we do charity, we should give to that person from whom we expect nothing, or rather from whom we cannot expect anything. If we help a person from whom we cannot expect any kind of recompense – we may not get even a word of thanks from that person, yet we help that person – that is pratyupakarartha rahitam, expecting no recompense to follow from the good deed that we perform. We should not expect our charity to bring us something visible. We will be blessed by the divinities that rule the world. That will be enough for us. Unless we do that, it will not be real charity. We must give in charity because it is necessary under that condition. We feel for the suffering of another because that person is deprived of physical, mental or social needs. If a person is deprived of even minimum needs and does have access to even the minimum needs of life, and we are in a position to help that person merely because it is good to be of assistance to people of that kind, that would be sattvic charity; and again anupakarine – we should not expect anything from that person. It has to be given in the proper place, proper time, and to the proper person. Three conditions are there in order that charity may be sattvic. We should not give charity at a wrong place where it will be disturbing either to ourselves or to others; it has to be given at the proper time, and not when the person is not in the proper mood to receive it; and he must be a really deserving person, and not a person who does not need our gesture of goodwill. So dese kale cha patre cha – if all these conditions are fulfilled, we give a charity or express a gesture of goodwill because it is to be done in the case of a person who needs it, in the proper place, proper time, and to proper person – that charity, that gesture of goodwill of ours, that kindness, mercy that we show is sattvic in its nature.

Yat tu pratyupakarartham (17.21): If we give in charity because something will come out of it, because if we give something a double benefit will follow – that cannot be regarded as real charity, because we expect something from the good that we do. It cannot be called really a good deed. Phalam uddisya va punah: Because we always concentrate on what follows from this little sacrifice that we have performed, it is not real sacrifice. Diyate cha pariklishtam: If we give charity with great difficulty, reluctantly, niggardly, throw it as the face of a man and say “Go! Don’t come again!”, it is not charity. Diyate cha pariklishtam is when we give charity with great reluctance and sorrow inside. “Hey, the wretchedest thing has come. Here. Go!” We must offer help with delight in our heart, with satisfaction in our mind, seeing divinity in things, as God manifests in that person who is requiring assistance from us. The kind of charity that is done with an eye on fruit or what we expect from somebody else, and we do it with reluctance, is rajasic charity.

Adesa-kale yad danam apatrebhyas cha diyate, asatkrtam avajnatam tat tamasam udahrtam (17.22): If we offer something in a wrong place, at a wrong time and to a wrong person, without understanding the pros and cons of it, if it is totally out of place and unwarranted – that kind of gesture on our part, the work that we do, the charity, whatever we do which is blunderous in its effect, should be considered as tamasic. That is the worst kind of charity.

In the verses that follow, we shall be taken to a very lofty thought of the highest kind of contemplation on the Supreme Being. Om tat sat will be described – what it means, and how we have to meditate upon that. We shall discuss its meaning, etc., next time.