What You Put Your Faith In

Chapter 17 · Verse 1

ये शास्त्रविधिमुत्सृज्य यजन्ते श्रद्धयाऽन्विताः।तेषां निष्ठा तु का कृष्ण सत्त्वमाहो रजस्तमः॥

What about people who set the rules of scripture aside and still worship, and do it with real faith? Where do they stand, Krishna - in clarity, in drive, or in darkness?

Arjuna has been listening, and he has spotted the gap.

Chapter 17 · Verse 2

त्रिविधा भवति श्रद्धा देहिनां सा स्वभावजा ।सात्त्विकी राजसी चैव तामसी चेति तां शृणु॥

Faith in people comes in three kinds, and it grows out of what a person already is. Clear, driven, or dark. Listen.

The answer begins by refusing the question slightly.

Chapter 17 · Verse 3

सत्त्वानुरूपा सर्वस्य श्रद्धा भवति भारत।श्रद्धामयोऽयं पुरुषो यो यच्छ्रद्धः स एव सः॥

Everyone's faith matches what they are made of. A person is built out of faith. Whatever a man's faith is, that is what he is.

One of the most quoted lines in the book, and it is a definition.

Chapter 17 · Verse 4

यजन्ते सात्त्विका देवान्यक्षरक्षांसि राजसाः।प्रेतान्भूतगणांश्चान्ये यजन्ते तामसा जनाः॥

Those in clarity make offerings to the bright powers. The driven offer to powers of wealth and force. The dark ones offer to ghosts and the crowd of spirits.

A list that can be read badly, so read it slowly.

Chapter 17 · Verse 5

अशास्त्रविहितं घोरं तप्यन्ते ये तपो जनाः।दम्भाहङ्कारसंयुक्ताः कामरागबलान्विताः॥

Some people put themselves through terrible discipline that no teaching ever asked for, full of show and self-importance, pushed along by wanting and by the force of attachment.

A warning about extremes, and about who they are really for.

Chapter 17 · Verse 6

कर्षयन्तः शरीरस्थं भूतग्राममचेतसः।मां चैवान्तःशरीरस्थं तान्विद्ध्यासुरनिश्चयान्॥

They wear down the gathered elements inside the body - and me, who am sitting inside that body too. Know that their resolve has gone over to the demonic.

Here is the line that makes the previous one serious.

Chapter 17 · Verse 7

आहारस्त्वपि सर्वस्य त्रिविधो भवति प्रियः ।यज्ञस्तपस्तथा दानं तेषां भेदमिमं शृणु॥

Even food comes in three kinds, and people love the kind that matches them. So do offering, discipline and giving. Hear how they differ.

The word that matters here is 'even'.

Chapter 17 · Verse 8

आयुःसत्त्वबलारोग्यसुखप्रीतिविवर्धनाः।रस्याः स्निग्धाः स्थिरा हृद्या आहाराः सात्त्विकप्रियाः॥

Food that adds to life, clarity, strength, health, cheer and contentment - juicy, smooth, solid, kind to the heart. That is what the clear love.

Six things this food adds to, and the list is worth reading.

Chapter 17 · Verse 9

कट्वम्ललवणात्युष्णतीक्ष्णरूक्षविदाहिनः।आहारा राजसस्येष्टा दुःखशोकामयप्रदाः॥

Too bitter, too sour, too salty, scorching, sharp, dry, burning - this is what the driven love, and it brings pain, grief and sickness after it.

Everything in this list is an extreme.

Chapter 17 · Verse 10

यातयामं गतरसं पूति पर्युषितं च यत्।उच्छिष्टमपि चामेध्यं भोजनं तामसप्रियम्॥

Food that has stood too long, that has lost its taste, gone off, kept overnight, picked over or unclean - that is what the dull prefer.

This one needs a guard rail before anything else, because it is easy to turn into a verse about poor people.

Chapter 17 · Verse 11

अफलाकाङ्क्षिभिर्यज्ञो विधिदृष्टो य इज्यते।यष्टव्यमेवेति मनः समाधाय स सात्त्विकः॥

An offering made the way it should be made, by people wanting nothing back, with the mind settled on this simply being what is done - that one is clear.

Three parts, and the third does the work.

Chapter 17 · Verse 12

अभिसंधाय तु फलं दम्भार्थमपि चैव यत्।इज्यते भरतश्रेष्ठ तं यज्ञं विद्धि राजसम्॥

But an offering made with one eye on what it will bring, or made so as to be seen - know that one as driven, Arjuna.

Two faults, and they are cousins.

Chapter 17 · Verse 13

विधिहीनमसृष्टान्नं मन्त्रहीनमदक्षिणम्।श्रद्धाविरहितं यज्ञं तामसं परिचक्षते॥

An offering made with no rule followed, no food shared out, nothing said over it and nothing given to anyone, and no faith behind it - that one is called dark.

Five absences.

Chapter 17 · Verse 14

देवद्विजगुरुप्राज्ञपूजनं शौचमार्जवम्।ब्रह्मचर्यमहिंसा च शारीरं तप उच्यते॥

Respect shown to the bright powers, to teachers, to the learned and the old; cleanness, straightness, restraint, not harming - this is called the discipline of the body.

Tapas is usually translated as austerity, which sounds like suffering.

Chapter 17 · Verse 15

अनुद्वेगकरं वाक्यं सत्यं प्रियहितं च यत्।स्वाध्यायाभ्यसनं चैव वाङ्मयं तप उच्यते॥

Words that do not wound, that are true, that are kind and that do some good; and keeping up your own reading. This is called the discipline of speech.

Four conditions on a sentence before you say it.

Chapter 17 · Verse 16

मनःप्रसादः सौम्यत्वं मौनमात्मविनिग्रहः।भावसंशुद्धिरित्येतत्तपो मानसमुच्यते॥

A settled mind, gentleness, quiet, keeping yourself in hand, and being clean through and through - this is called the discipline of the mind.

Five, and the middle one is the odd one.

Chapter 17 · Verse 17

श्रद्धया परया तप्तं तपस्तत्त्रिविधं नरैः ।अफलाकाङ्क्षिभिर्युक्तैः सात्त्विकं परिचक्षते॥

These three disciplines, kept up with real faith by people who are steady and want nothing back, are the clear kind.

The three are gathered up: body, speech, mind.

Chapter 17 · Verse 18

सत्कारमानपूजार्थं तपो दम्भेन चैव यत्।क्रियते तदिह प्रोक्तं राजसं चलमध्रुवम्॥

Discipline kept up to be thought well of, to be honoured, to be looked up to, and done for show - that is the driven kind, and it is called shaky and short-lived.

Two words are tacked on the end, and they are a prediction rather than a judgement.

Chapter 17 · Verse 19

मूढग्राहेणात्मनो यत्पीडया क्रियते तपः।परस्योत्सादनार्थं वा तत्तामसमुदाहृतम्॥

Discipline taken up out of a confused stubbornness, with pain inflicted on yourself, or in order to bring somebody else down - that one is dark.

Three things, and the third is unexpected.

Chapter 17 · Verse 20

दातव्यमिति यद्दानं दीयतेऽनुपकारिणे।देशे काले च पात्रे च तद्दानं सात्त्विकं स्मृतम्॥

A gift given because giving is what is done, to somebody who cannot pay it back, in the right place, at the right time, to the right person - that gift is the clear kind.

Four conditions, and the first two do all the work.

Chapter 17 · Verse 21

यत्तु प्रत्युपकारार्थं फलमुद्दिश्य वा पुनः।दीयते च परिक्लिष्टं तद्दानं राजसं स्मृतम्॥

A gift given with a return in mind, or with an eye on what it will bring, or given with a wince - that one is driven.

Three ways to spoil it, and the third is the surprise.

Chapter 17 · Verse 22

अदेशकाले यद्दानमपात्रेभ्यश्च दीयते।असत्कृतमवज्ञातं तत्तामसमुदाहृतम्॥

A gift given in the wrong place and at the wrong time, to the wrong people, without respect or with contempt in it - that one is dark.

The last word is the one that matters.

Chapter 17 · Verse 23

ॐतत्सदिति निर्देशो ब्रह्मणस्त्रिविधः स्मृतः ।ब्राह्मणास्तेन वेदाश्च यज्ञाश्च विहिताः पुरा॥

Om Tat Sat - these three words have always stood for the absolute. From them, long ago, came the priests, the scriptures and the offerings.

Three syllables, and the chapter changes gear.

Chapter 17 · Verse 24

तस्मादोमित्युदाहृत्य यज्ञदानतपःक्रियाः।प्रवर्तन्ते विधानोक्ताः सततं ब्रह्मवादिनाम्॥

So those who speak of the absolute always begin an offering, a gift or a discipline by saying Om, as the teaching lays down.

A word said at the start.

Chapter 17 · Verse 25

तदित्यनभिसन्धाय फलं यज्ञतपःक्रियाः ।दानक्रियाश्च विविधाः क्रियन्ते मोक्षकाङ्क्षिभिः॥

Saying Tat - that - and not aiming at any result, those who want to be free perform their offerings, their disciplines and their giving.

The second word is tat - that.

Chapter 17 · Verse 26

सद्भावे साधुभावे च सदित्येतत्प्रयुज्यते।प्रशस्ते कर्मणि तथा सच्छब्दः पार्थ युज्यते॥

Sat is used for what is real and for what is good. And it is used, Arjuna, for an action worth doing.

The third word does two jobs at once, and the two jobs turn out to be the same job.

Chapter 17 · Verse 27

यज्ञे तपसि दाने च स्थितिः सदिति चोच्यते।कर्म चैव तदर्थीयं सदित्येवाभिधीयते॥

Standing firm in offering, in discipline and in giving is also called Sat. And any action done for the sake of that is called Sat as well.

The word widens, and then it widens again.

Chapter 17 · Verse 28

अश्रद्धया हुतं दत्तं तपस्तप्तं कृतं च यत्।असदित्युच्यते पार्थ न च तत्प्रेत्य नो इह॥

Whatever is offered, given, or endured without faith is called unreal, Arjuna. It is nothing here, and nothing afterwards.

The chapter ends hard, and the word is asat - not real.