Link to purport by A C Bhaktivedanta Swami Srila Prabhupada

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

Bg 14.6

tatra sattvaṁ nirmalatvāt
prakāśakam anāmayam
sukha-saṅgena badhnāti
jñāna-saṅgena cānagha

Synonyms: 

tatra — there; sattvam — the mode of goodness; nirmalatvāt — being purest in the material world; prakāśakam — illuminating; anāmayam — without any sinful reaction; sukha — with happiness; saṅgena — by association; badhnāti — conditions; jñāna — with knowledge; saṅgena — by association; ca — also; anagha — O sinless one.

Translation: 

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.

tatra sattvaṁ nirmalatv

āt, among them Sattva is Nirmala, pure, 

prakāśakam anāmayam, prakāśakam it is illuminating, 

anāmayam, it frees from sin. 

What is the meaning of mode frees one from sin? When one choose a particular mode then one’s behavior is directed accordingly, of course in the starting we have an option to choose a particular mode but once we have chosen we act according to that mode.

So one who is in mode of goodness, prakāśakam anāmayam, things becomes clear to him, he is a seeker of knowledge, is a seeker of understanding, a seeker of wisdom, so he understand that actions are having consequences so I should choose an action which brings good consequences. So therefore anāmayam. So one will not act in sinful ways and one becomes free from sinful reactions, so this is very positive description of modes, one should be attracted by it but Krishna told that all the three modes binds the soul that i.e. what is descried over here, 

So

sukha-saṅgena badhnāti
jñāna-saṅgena cānagha

so one become bound by sukha and one becomes bound by Jyana, 

prakāśakam part because soul is illuminated so that illumination leads to Jyana, and one becomes jñāna-saṅgena, one feels that I am cleaver than others, I know more than others, so that is what causes bondage. 

And because anāmayam, one is free from sinful reactions so suffering is also less, and one gets sense of happiness, in being situated peacefully and that also causes bondage, 

So Srila Prabhupada gave examples of different shackles gold shackles and iron shackles. So basically the fundamental reality is both are bound.

One should seek liberation which is by the process of devotional service. 

SP discussed that poet scientists philosophers they are often more evolved in their thinking, they try to think of deeper concepts and they try to gain understanding which are not easily available so that search of deeper understanding is not always spiritual but it is not superficial material also, these people are looking for deeper material things and when they start looking for deeper material things they start getting elevated by that,   

sukha-saṅgena badhnāti
jñāna-saṅgena cānagha

that one gets sukha and one uses Jyana, and by these two one becomes bound, so mode of goodness are in many ways good Srila Prabhupada talks about Brahmana being in mode of goodness, so SP makes it very clear that “Thus there is no likelihood of liberation, or of being transferred to the spiritual world. Repeatedly one may become a philosopher, a scientist or a poet, and repeatedly become entangled in the same disadvantages of birth and death. But, due to the illusion of the material energy, one thinks that that sort of life is pleasant. “

End of transcription.