Link to purport by A C Bhaktivedanta Swami Srila Prabhupada

Transcript of Bhakti-Shastri class on this verse by Chaitanya Charan

Krishna will now start describing about the modes

5-9: How the modes bind the soul

Bg 14.5

sattvaṁ rajas tama iti
guṇāḥ prakṛti-sambhavāḥ
nibadhnanti mahā-bāho
dehe dehinam avyayam

Synonyms: 

sattvam — the mode of goodness; rajaḥ — the mode of passion; tamaḥ — the mode of ignorance; iti — thus; guṇāḥ — the qualities; prakṛti — material nature; sambhavāḥ — produced of; nibadhnanti — do condition; mahā–bāho — O mighty-armed one; dehe — in this body; dehinam — the living entity; avyayam — eternal.

Translation: 

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.

sattvaṁ rajas tama iti, so Sattva raja and tama these three modes are there

guṇāḥ prakṛti-sambhavāḥ, prakṛti-sambhavāḥ, they are born from material nature

And when they are born from material nature what happens?

nibadhnanti mahā-bāho, mahā-bāho, O Arjuna you are mahā-bāho very powerful but no matter how much strong you are, you also along with other living entities are nibadhnanti, they are bound,

dehe dehinam avyayam, refers to the fact that the soul becomes bound to the body avyayam, it is imperishable, it doesn’t get old, it doesn’t get detoriated   

So Krishna is introducing the three modes here and He is telling that these three gunas are born from material nature, and they bind the soul no matter how powerful the soul may be the soul becomes bound.

Now what exactly are the modes?

So are the modes things or concepts? Modes are not just concepts they are things but they are not gross things they are subtle things, and we have to harmonize our intellectual concepts then we understand how it is. 

So being subtle they have to be perceived thorough the arena of understanding. 

What are the modes?

Modes are the subtle forces that shape the interaction between gross matter and consciousness through the route of subtle matter e.g. route –staircase, modes –forces that push up and down.

So different people react differently in different situations e.g. someone become angry shouts, someone drinks and someone seeks wisdom…so these are the examples of acting in passion, ignorance and goodness.

OR there is fire breakdown in movie theatre some people runs and stampede, some just froze and not able to move and some sees a fire extinguisher and applies it. 

So in passion one reacts without thinking much, ignorance one cannot think and can become frozen and immobilize and in goodness one thinks and acts. So these differences are because people are in different modes. So it shapes the interaction between consciousness and gross matter.

So the choice we have to make but once we choose mode of passion then we have to act passionately.

End of transcription.