Intellect has a choice, (KNOW YOUR DEATH - 7)

Types of Gunas / Karmas / Intelligence.

Instinct based desires emerge and  form the basis of Karma. Intellect takes decisions on its intention and priority. In order to study the nature of intellect, let us see later how this is classified in different ways. The ways and means to achieve the conscious emotional balance are best explained in the eastern philosophy. Let us briefly go through these details.

Satwik (सात्विक), Rajasik (राजसिक) and Tamasik (तामसिक) are the 3 types of Gunas. These may result in Satwik, Rajasik and Tamasik karma respectively.

According to the choice of the journey of life chosen by a person, his karmas can be classified broadly in three kinds.

The Satvik karma, which is without attachment, selfless and for the benefit of others. The Rajasik karma, which is selfish where the focus is on gains for oneself. The Tamasik karma, which is undertaken without heed to consequences, and is supremely selfish and savage.

The decision of intellect to perform the karma is also based on the past Karma which is related to the degree of realization of an individual. We shall discuss the concepts of level of intellect, which are broadly 3 as follows: (details in a separate article to follow.)

Rational Intelligence.Emotional Intelligence.Spiritual intelligence.

Beyond these 3 is the concept of Un-attached action (निष्काम कर्म). (Recommended by Bhagwat Gita)

The Discipline of Unattached Action

According to the scriptures, the discipline of unattached action (निष्काम कर्म) leads to salvation of the soul. So they recommend that one should remain detached while carrying out his duties in life.

How can one be designed to have natural inclination of Satwik desires? Or inbuilt tendency to practice un-attached actions which Holy Gita terms as Nishkam Karmayoga (निष्काम कर्मयोग)?

To analyze this further, let us go through the two broad types of karmas. Namely Sreyas and Preyas.

Sreyas (श्रेयस) / Preyas (प्रेयस).

Types of the Karma. (Ref. Book, “Sreyas – Preyas” Published by: Swami Vivekananda Yoga Prakashana).

In the journey of life, we often find ourselves standing at the junction of two paths, the good / noble (Sreyas) and pleasant (Preyas).

Preyas Karma :  Pleasant, Attractive, Tempting, May look very nice in the beginning but bring miseries later. Attractive objects give us pleasure temporarily and displeasure in the long run. Anything which pleases person’s ego may be Preyas.

Sreyas Karma : Good, Noble, Serves our highest purpose, it may not appear desirable in the beginning. May not appear so attractive in the beginning but in the long run it will realize our real welfare. It involves lot of efforts and perseverance.

The choice leads to the outcome.

The quality of our life depends upon what we chose between the two. We need to exercise this choice in our day to day life until we reach moksha, the ultimate freedom. Choice has to be made between good and pleasant. What appears pleasant in the beginning may not be good and vice versa.

Preyas is pleasant, which is attractive, tempting. Sreyas is good/noble, which serves our highest purpose. That which is wholesome may not appear desirable in the beginning. Preyas is opposite of Sreyas.  Preyas may look very nice in the beginning but may bring misery later. Preyas seems to make us happy temporarily but later on causes misery. To understand and comprehend this truth one requires some space, patience, and some leisurely time to contemplate.

Illustration: Men rush to objects like moths rush to the fatal attraction of the flame and destroy themselves. Objects first attract, bind and then destroy- may not be immediately like a flame destroys a moth but gradually. Indulgence is like slow death. Take the example of drug addicts. Initially one feels ecstatic but slowly when the person is hooked, he encounters untold misery till he is extinct.

Beware! What appears beautiful may not be so in reality! There are so many attractions in this world like power, position etc.  Attractive objects give us some pleasure temporarily then trap us. We get trapped like an addict. The drug gets into the chemistry of the body making a person helpless.

The mind and the Intellect gets trapped by the Preyas.

A weak mind opts for Preyas. Most of the people opt for Preyas.  All the sins in this world are committed due to attraction, Preyas. When one is possessed by lust, anger and greed then it is for sure that he had been following Preyas. Kama (lust), krodha (anger), dwesha (jealousy), these three vices is gateway to hell.  If there is something that pleases your ego then it is Preyas, not Sreyas.

Sreyas may not look so attractive in the beginning but later on it shows you are Sacchidananda (perfect bliss). In the beginning it is difficult. It involves a lot of tapas, control of sense-organs. A person who advises us not to be the slave of senses may look like an enemy, though he may be our own teacher.

Shreyas and Preyas sometimes come mixed up and may be difficult to separate one from the other. Preyas may come in the garb of Shreyas making us happy temporarily but real Shreyas is that which gives us everlasting happiness. People who give license to our fancies may appear very desirable but they are not. A person needs to see clearly what is proper and what is improper. Otherwise one has to suffer later on.

It is not only human beings who seek pleasure, all the creatures on this earth do. Even animals are pulled by the forces of ahara (food), nidra (sleep), bhaya (rage/fear) and maithuna (sexual intercourse). Food, Sleep, Fear and Sex these are the basic urges both in human beings and animals alike. Our thirst does not get quenched by satisfying these desires. It increases more and more. It is an unquenchable thirst.

A person following the path of Shreyas sees through and through this. Not that he develops a negative attitude towards the objects but he sees their limitation. Human being is gifted by nature to have the higher feelings to seek the pleasures than the above. If this capacity of compassion is not used then the human becomes alike animals.

Gita explains the fate of a person trapped in the storm of the selfish emotions.

As Lord Krishna said in the Bhagavat Gita:

"To the man thinking about the objects (preyas) creates attachment towards them; from attachment comes longing; and from longing crops up the anger. From anger comes delusion; and from delusion loss of memory; from loss of memory, the ruin of discrimination; and on the ruin of discrimination, he perishes". (Gita 2/62-63)

Intellect has a choice

We have seen from the above discussion that desired based actions throughout life result in the formation of the destiny of the last moment of the life.

There is always choice available between

Satwik, Rajasik and Tamasik.

Also

Sreyas and Preyas.

But as the materialistic, self-centered attitude of life-style is commonly seen prevailing, and also due to the predominance of the brain structure evolved earlier in the history of evolution, what would be the status of destiny?

देह बुद्धी व आत्म बुद्धी. (Materialistic and Spiritualistic Attitudes)

Any person would always protect the self-interest.  How one acts for this? It depends upon the person’s self-concept. It all depends on the answer to the question- Who am I”?

If one identifies self with the body then this is materialistic orientation. If the identification is beyond the material body in terms of non-material entity such as mind and soul then this can be considered as spiritual orientation. Both mind and soul are in the non-matter form. The difference is in the status of attachment. As we have seen, the mind has the influence of Trigunas. As the journey of the mind ascends from Tamasik to Satwik, the purity of the mind is improved. 

The next stage is to go beyond the Satwik, the stage of total detatchment. This is termed as Gunatit (गुणातीत).

Once this stage is attained, the mind reaches the stage of Soul. In short, the soul is the purest state of mind. Then the actions of such a Gunatit person can be termed as the yoga of desireless action.

(निष्काम कर्मयोग). We find detail discussion on this in Gita.

This orientation (answer to the question: “who am I?”) has significant implication towards the approach of a person towards the priorities and decisions during the activities of life. 

The concepts of Karma (कर्म), Akarma (अकर्म), and Vikarma (विकर्म) are worth understanding to see the Gita guidance to the humanity towards orientation of the life activities.  We shall see more about these concepts in the articles to follow.

Vijay R. Joshi.