III: 29

[Krishna Jaya]

Chapter 3, Verse 29

 

“Those who are deluded

By the properties of nature

Get attached to the actions

Of those properties.

The wise do not upset

The slow-witted

Who are unaware of them.”

 

Maharishi Mahesh Yogi:

 

“After committing a theft [or a murder], unenlightened people might use the following excuse: ‘It was only the three Gunas acting on each other, while my Self was uninvolved.’ They make an excuse of not having done anything.  This is why Krishna states that the enlightened do not reveal the inner state of their mind to the ignorant, for they will sometimes twist it to their own purposes.”

 

[This verse and commentary reminds of my favorite Hitchcock movie, “Rope”, in which two men kill another man, because they think they are above the law of ordinary folk.  The murderers perverted Nietzche’s idea of the Superman to justify their actions.  They might as easily have seized on the idea that “everything is only the Gunas acting on the Gunas and we are not doing anything” after reading this verse. 

 

“Do not give dogs what is holy and do not throw your pearls before swine, lest they trample them under foot and turn to attack you.”  (Matthew 7:6)]

 

Sri Eknath Easwaran:

 

“One day, when Gandhiji was observing his day of silence, someone asked him for a message.  He wrote, ‘My life is my message.’  This is true for us, also.  We are always influencing those around us by our daily lives, and when we tread the spiritual path, we cannot help but win them over in the end.”

 

Father Bede Griffiths:

 

“Many people think that when they are obeying the forces of nature, their instincts, appetites, desires, and ambitions, they are masters of their destiny.  In actual fact, such people are simply being driven by the forces of the unconscious.  The wise do not disturb the minds of the foolish.  The Hindu ideal is that the wise do not go about trying to change people.  They live their own lives in inner purity and do all their actions without attachment.  They are thus living examples to others without disturbing them.”

 

[Re: Father Bede’s comment: “Many people think that when they are obeying the forces of nature, their instincts, appetites, desires, and ambitions, they are masters of their destiny.  In actual fact, such people are simply being driven by the forces of the unconscious.”  In his novel Needful Things, Stephen King powerfully depicts the gambling mentality of one of his characters, vividly illustrating how unconsciously driven a person with this compulsion can be.  This illustration can be applied to all sorts of compulsive behaviors.  “The track was a place where people paid their money, took a ticket…and gave up their sanity for a little while.  Keeton had seen too much insanity in his own family to feel comfortable with the attraction the Lewiston Raceway held for him.  It was a pit with greasy sides, a snare with hidden teeth, a loaded gun with the safety removed.  When he went, he was unable to leave until the last race of the evening had been run.  Once he made it almost all the way to the exit turnstiles before something in the back of his mind, something powerful, enigmatic, and reptilian, had arisen, taken control, and turned his feet around.  Keeton was terrified of fully waking that reptile.  Better to let it sleep.”

 

“Letting it sleep” means giving in to it, which reinforces the Samskara.  "Do not resist what is" is a popular Mantra for attaining peace of mind, but in this case, as in the case of many compulsive behaviors, it is resistance through effort and the response of God’s grace which help to erase the Samskaras that keep us chained to Samsara.]