“Shri Manache Shlok” — Shloka/Verse 140 — a Dialogue With Our Mind
By: Shashi Kulkarni
Tags: Meditation, Spirituality, Lifestyle, Mindset, God

Introduction

Samarth Ramdas Swami teaches us how our mind is our friend, our enemy, and how it can be our Guru.

Note that this is focused on our own internal dialogue, with ourselves, with our mind, so wherever there are references of God, it will still apply to every human being, irrespective of religions and beliefs about God. Just replace the name of God with the one from your own religion, and if you don’t believe in one, talk with your mind.

Marathi Language Phonetics Transliteration

Refer to my article on the Marathi language phonetics transliteration — which is being used in these shloka explanation articles.

Shlok/ Verse # 140 from “Shri Manache Shlok”

Shloka in Marathi (Verse in the Marathi language)

जयाचे तया चूकले प्राप्त नाहीं।

गुणे गोविले जाहले दुःख देहीं ॥

गुणावेगळी वृत्ति तेहि वळेना।

जुने ठेवणे मीपणे आकळेना॥१४०॥

Shloka/verse in English

Jayāce tayā cūkale prāpta nāhī

Guṇe govile jāhale dukkha dehī

Guṇāvegaḷī vr̥utti tehi vaḷenā

June ṭhevaṇe mīpaṇe ākaḷenā — 140

Meaning

Those who mistake the spiritual truth for matter, do not attain spiritual wisdom. The body suffers in misery due to the entanglement in the three guṇās — the qualities.

They fail to free their attitude from these three guṇās. Their ego comes in between and they cannot understand the age old wisdom.

Keywords and their meanings

जयाचे — Jayāce— whose; तया —tayā — to him; चूकले — cūkale— mistake; प्राप्त — prāpta— attained; नाही —nāhī — not

गुणे —Guṇe — by qualities(sattva, raja, tama); गोविले —govile — bound; जाहले — jāhale— happened; दुःख —dukkha — grief; देही —dehī — in one’s self

गुणावेगळी — Guṇāvegaḷī— beyond the qualities; वृत्ति — vr̥utti— attitude; तेही — tehi— that also; वळेना — vaḷenā— change

जुने —June — ancient; ठेवणे — ṭhevaṇe— wealth (eternal truth); मीपणे —mīpaṇe — due to egoism; आकळेना — ākaḷenā— understand not

निरूपण — Explanation or conceptualization

Samarth Ramdas Swami explains how the entanglement of our mind and body in the three guṇās — सत्व, रजो, तम — Sattva, Rajas, Tamas, prevents ourselves from understanding the age old wisdom about the eternal truth.

Due to the bondage of these three guṇās, some cannot recognize the eternal truth, the supreme reality and mistake it as a part of matter.

If they cannot recognize it, then how are they going to get the benefit from it and gather the spiritual merit?

In the Bhagavad Gita, Lord Shri Krishna explains these three guṇās in depth in the chapter 14.

सत्त्वं रजस्तम इति गुणा: प्रकृतिसम्भवा: |

निबध्नन्ति महाबाहो देहे देहिनमव्ययम् || 5|| sattvaṁ rajas tama iti guṇāḥ prakṛiti-sambhavāḥ

nibadhnanti mahā-bāho dehe dehinam avyayam

Oh Arjuna, the material energy consists of three guṇās (qualities) — sattva (purity, holiness, goodness), rajas (passion, action and drive), and tamas (ignorance, laziness, intertia). These modes bind the eternal soul to the perishable body.

सत्त्वं सुखे सञ्जयति रज: कर्मणि भारत |

ज्ञानमावृत्य तु तम: प्रमादे सञ्जयत्युत || 9|| sattvaṁ sukhe sañjayati rajaḥ karmaṇi bhārata

jñānam āvṛitya tu tamaḥ pramāde sañjayaty uta

Sattva binds one to material happiness; rajas conditions the soul toward actions; and tamas clouds wisdom and binds one to delusion.

Sattva guṇa is the quality of goodness. It makes a person become serene, helpful, compassionate and charitable. But then it binds the soul by creating attachment for a sense of happiness and knowledge. It tends to take people towards pride.

Rajo guṇa is the quality of passion. People who have this guṇa as a dominant one, are action oriented, result driven people. They get engrossed in the pursuit of status, wealth, prestige and career. This binds the soul to the worldly desires and affections. People with this guṇa get attracted to the sensual enjoyment, lust, attachment and greed.

Tamo guṇa is the quality of delusion or ignorance. People with this guṇa as dominant one, tend to be lazy, negligent and adapting immoral behavior.

Every one has all these three guṇās in varying proportion, and it is the dominant guṇa which decides the nature of a person.

But everyone gets entangled in these guṇās and hence everyone suffers from the effect of these guṇās.

Ramakrishna Paramahamsa — the story of three thieves

Ramakrishna Paramahamsa — who was the Guru of Swami Vivekananda, explains the three gunas by telling a story of three thieves.

Once a rich man was traveling though a forest. Midway, he was suddenly surrounded by three thieves and they relieved him of all his possessions. Then one of the thieves said, “What’s the point in leaving him as such? Let’s kill him;” He advanced towards the rich man with his weapon. At that moment, the second thief intervened and said, “No. There is no use killing him; let us bind him thoroughly so that he cannot go and complain to the police.” He bound the man with a rope and all the thieves left the place.

After a while, the third thief returned to the place alone. He came near the rich man and said, “I am really sorry about the shabby treatment we have done to you. I will release you right now.”

He unbound the rich man, took him along showing the way through the winding paths of the jungle; finally they reached the outskirts of the forest and the highway was now visible. The thief said to the rich man “See, this is the road you can take now to reach your home.”

The rich man was moved. He said, “I am so grateful to you; won’t you please accompany me to my house? Our family will be very much pleased.” The thief replied: “I can’t come there. I will get caught by the police.” He bid goodbye to the man.

Ramakrishna explains that in the above parable, the thief who wanted to kill the rich man represents tamo guna. Tamas destroys.

The second thief is rajas. It binds. It binds people to activities and make them forget God.

The third thief is sattwa. It shows the way to reach God. Qualities like devotion, compassion, charity etc. come from Sattva.

The rich man’s “own house” is the “Parabrahman.” One cannot attain the knowledge of the Brahman without transcending the three gunas.”