The Three modes of Material nature

In Bhagavad Gita 14th Chapter, Lord Krsna explains the Three modes of natures that are controlling the activities of all the living entities in the material world. Lord Krsna says,

sattvaḿ rajas tama iti

guṇāḥ prakṛti-sambhavāḥ

nibadhnanti mahā-bāho

dehe dehinam avyayam [ B.g 14.5]

"Material nature consists of three modes — goodness, passion and ignorance. When the eternal living entity comes in contact with nature, O mighty-armed Arjuna, he becomes conditioned by these modes."

 These three modes control the activities of the pure living entity in this world based on their desires and permitted by their karma. It is very important to understand these three modes of nature and how they act upon a living entity, In the Bhagavad Gita for our understanding Lord Krsna gives the symptoms by which one can recognise these three modes in a person. 

" The manifestations of the mode of goodness can be experienced when all the gates of the body are illuminated by knowledge. [ B.g. 14.11]"
"O chief of the Bhāratas, when there is an increase in the mode of passion the symptoms of great attachment, fruitive activity, intense endeavor, and uncontrollable desire and hankering develop.[ B.g 14.12]"
"When there is an increase in the mode of ignorance, O son of Kuru, darkness, inertia, madness and illusion are manifested." [ B.g.14.13]

Moreover he also explains that mode of goodness is purer than the other two modes of nature viz passion and ignorance, Since in mode of goodness one develops knowledge.

tatra sattvaḿ nirmalatvāt
prakāśakam anāmayam
sukha-sańgena badhnāti
jñāna-sańgena cānagha [ B.g 14.6]

"O sinless one, the mode of goodness, being purer than the others, is illuminating, and it frees one from all sinful reactions. Those situated in that mode become conditioned by a sense of happiness and knowledge."


Srila Prabhupada says in his purport that mode of goodness is better than the others because in this mode one is able to see all the things in their right prespective and hence it gives chance to develop devotional service to Godhead.  So if one wants to develop this Love for Godhead and become eternally blissful he has to work inorder to maintain this mode of goodness and eventually transcend this . Modes of passion and ignorance are not conducive qualities for developing devotional service and hence they should be completely avoided.

Just like inorder to become a Masters of Science one has to atleast have a Bachelor's deegree , similarly inorder to develop the transcendental love for Godhead one has to be situated in the mode of goodness atleast, that is a pre- requisite. It is for this reason as Srila Prabhupada explains, that the four regulative principles viz no meat eating, no intoxication, no gambling and no illicit sex  have to be followed strictly for whoever is interested in spiritual progress. Since these four acitivies are considered to be the four pillars of sinful life and prominently are in the mode of passion and ignorance, avoiding them will help in cultivating the mode of goodness.

As explained by Lord Sri Krsna in Bhagavad Gita, these three modes are constantly competing to gain supremacy

rajas tamaś cābhibhūya
sattvaḿ bhavati bhārata
rajaḥ sattvaḿ tamaś caiva
tamaḥ sattvaḿ rajas tathā [ B.G. 14.10]

"Sometimes the mode of goodness becomes prominent, defeating the modes of passion and ignorance, O son of Bharata. Sometimes the mode of passion defeats goodness and ignorance, and at other times ignorance defeats goodness and passion. In this way there is always competition for supremacy."

In this case one has to very firmly practice the four regulative principles and at the same time Chant the holy names of the Lord Hare Krsna Hare Krsna Krsna Krsna Hare Hare / Hare Rama Hare Rama Rama Rama Hare Hare to cleanse the dirt from the heart or in other words to cleanse the  affects of mode of passion and mode of ignorance to remain constantly situated in the mode of goodness. In age of Kaliyuga chanting the holy names of the Lord is the recommended process as mentioned in the scriptures.

harer näma harer näma
harer nämaiva kevalam
kalau nästy eva nästy eva
nästy eva gatir anyathä [ C.c adi 17.21]

“‘In this Age of Kali there is no other means, no other means, no other means for self-realization than chanting the holy name, chanting the holy name, chanting the holy name of Lord Hari."

Mode of goodness though conducive to attain devotional service is not the target, since even in the mode of goodness, the living entity is not liberated. So the ultimate aim is to transcend all these three modes of material nature and be situated in transcedence as confirmed by Bhagavad Gita

guṇān etān atītya trīn
dehī deha-samudbhavān
janma-mṛtyu-jarā-duḥkhair
vimukto 'mṛtam aśnute [ Bg. 14.20]

"When the embodied being is able to transcend these three modes associated with the material body, he can become free from birth, death, old age and their distresses and can enjoy nectar even in this life."

From all these evidences it is very clear that inorder to be happy in this life and to make a permanent solution to all the problems, one has to transcend these three modes of nature viz goodness, passion and ignorance. But as we see around us, we only see these modes to be in prominence in every part of the globe, practically more than 95% of the human society is being conditioned by modes of passion and ignorance. An employee in a company is continously motivated to develop the mode of passion in order to be promoted or for that matter to keep the job itself, the media is constantly bombarding peoples mind with images of sex, violence, cheating etc, schools and colleges are only imparting technical knowledge which will fetch them good jobs only without teaching the value of life. If we consider our current situation, and compare the teachings of Bhagavad Gita, we  can understand that no wonder people  are unhappy. Be it the richest nation of the world America or a poor country like India.  There is no science in any university which teaches how to transcend these three modes of material nature and become happy as recommended by Lord Sri Krsna. the mode of goodness which is the first step towards understanding God, has become very scarce. Hence it is a very precarious condition that we are in and it needs to be addressed with great concern, but unfortunately there is not many people interested in this and only the devotees of the Lord all over the world are trying to make menial efforts to make this science understandable. The statement  of Sukadeva Goswami in Srimad Bhagavatam when he was speaking to Maharaja Parikshit, which was documented about  5000 years ago appear to be coming true.

kaler doña-nidhe räjann
asti hy eko mahän guëaù
kértanäd eva kåñëasya
mukta-saìgaù paraà vrajet [ S.B. 12.3.51]

"My dear King, although Kali-yuga is an ocean of faults, there is still one good quality about this age: Simply by chanting the Hare Krsna mahä-mantra, one can become free from material bondage and be promoted to the transcendental kingdom."

Chant and be happy

 Hare Krsna Hare Krsna Krsna Krsna Hare Hare
Hare Rama Hare Rama Rama Rama Hare Hare

Steps in Attaining Love of God - lecture series from New Seva kunj , Chicago, IL

Recently the New Seva Kunj , ISKCON temple located in Chicago, IL has started a lecture series on describing different setps involved in attaining love of Godhead as explained by the acaryas. These lectures are expertly given by Temple President Nityananda Prana Prabhu and one of the most prominent Brahmacari of the temple Jaya Jaggannath prabhu. Following are some of the points that were gathered during these lectures , please forgive my incompetencies in presenting these points owing to my imperfect senses and intelligence.

There are specific steps which are identified by the great acaryas in development of  Love of Godhead and they have narrated them in various wirtings. The lectures were intended to explain these points in the ascending order of progress.

First lecture given by Jaya Jaggannath prabhu  on the first step in achieving love of Godhead

Shradda (faith) :

  His Grace Jaya Jagganath prabhu very nicely described the importance of this first step and also decribed the real meaning of faith which commonly is misunderstood. As he explained he pointed out that generally faith is taken to be some kind of a blind trust and mostly considered to be sentimental, but astonishingly he connected faith with intelligence and explained that faith was a function of intelligence and not just a blind sentiment.

   He explained that faith is a constant companion of a living soul and without faith one cannot live even for a moment, he supported his statements with wonderful examples as to how on the basis of faith on the words of  mother we are identifying who our father is, and how even while travelling by plane we put our faith in pilot of the plane, if we did not have faith then it would be very difficult for anyone to even board a plane. He explained that even a atehist has faith that there is no God, that is also a kind of faith.

  Further inorder to explain the first step in acheiveing Love of  Godhead, he said faith is a very essential element. He quoted that Srila prabhupada often used to say that without knowing about God, there is no question of Love for God and explaining further he vividly explianed that inorder to know God one must have a preliminary faith , since without faith one cannot learn anything, even in this material world. If students donot have faith in their professors then there is no transaction of knowlege between the two.

 Stressing on faith he said that every one in this world has faith , but the problem is that this faith is incorrectly directed. Most commonly the faith is directed towards the material energy and hence in return we only get misery. If this same faith is directed in devotioanl service to GOD, i.e towards the spiritual energy , then everyone is happy.


Sadhu Sanga (Associating with the pure devotees of Lord)

Second important step in progressing towards Love of Godhead is Sadhu Sanga, which was explained in a eloquent manner by Temple President  His Grace Nityananda Prana Prabhu. Sadhu is one who is a pure devotee of the lord , reading a verse from Srimad Bhagvatam on how a moments association with Sadhu cannot be compared to anything in this material world, he addressed the most important step in the process of attaining Love of Godhead. Without the mercy of a Sadhu one cannot make any process in spiritual life.

 He explained that Sunday Love feast at all the temples was  a opportunity for all to associate with devotees fo the lord and increase their desires and determination to achieve Love of Godhead.  Continuing on the topic of faith, he also stressed that fiath is a preliminary step to achieve love of Godhead, because unless one has faith in the words of a Sadhu, one will not be able to make progress towards one the Goal.

Identifying Right from Wrong

  The capability to Identify Right from Wrong is of vital importance for everyone. Yet it is astonishing that most of us baffle and many a times walk into arguments regarding this basic concept. Most of the times the arguments conclude with an agreement, that right and wrong is based on individual discretion. It is true that Right and Wrong  depends on the Time, place and Circumstances of an individual, but nevertheless, there are guidelines given in any religion regarding this. Moreover , it is only with purified intelligence that a person can understand how to apply these guidelines in accordance to Time, Place and Circumstances.

Hence this discretion is not a liberty of an individual , but rather a function of intelligence. Though Bhagavad Gita is not just a code of moral instructions, it is a Great Sceince and Practical Knowledge,but if one is able to understand the Essesce of Bhagavad Gita, it would be very easy for him to purify his intelligence , by which Identifying Right from Wrong in any circumstance would not be difficult. Just Like any State or Country has a Law book , which is refered inorder to judge the actions of the citizen, Similarly Vedic Culture has a variety of Literature which guide a sincere soul towards the Right Path, and Bhagavad Gita is the essence of all.

If every one has the liberty to decide what is right and what is wrong and allowed to act in that manner, there will be total anarchy in the  society. For a thief stealing is right ,where as for a common man it is wrong, if a thief gives an argument that for me stealing is right , that does not convice the state from not punishing him. Simlarly there are definite Laws give by Krsna, which are found in the Vedic Culture which guide human being towards right actions in any sphere of life. We out of our ignorance may accept or reject those laws and claim that what is right and what is wrong depends on particular individual, that much independence we have, but  is that action in line with the rules set forth by Krsna is something which every one should think before perfoming any action.

Unless one is educated and has the knowledge of what his real identity is and what is the aim  of his existence, man kind will always be confused in their decisions regarding Right and Wrong. It is really  very sad and unfortunate that in todays mordern age, we have shifted our point of refernce in Identifying Rigth from Wrong, to media and news around us, rather than taking the instructions from the creator of this world ( Krsna). But those who have sincerely tired to understand the Divine knowledge of Bhagavad Gita As it was imparted by Krsna , they have consistently shown a perfect vision and a sense of happiness. Hence It is absolutely imperative in todays world more than ever to understand and take the teaching of Lord Sri Krsna from Bhagavad Gita As it is (without interpretation) and make one's life successful in every respect.