Shri Krishna Loves You: Sattvic Penance

This threefold penance, performed by balanced people with supreme faith, without expectation of reward, is called sattvic.

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|| जय श्री कृष्ण ||

॥ श्रीमद्‍भगवद्‍गीता ॥ 17.17॥



_श्रद्धया परया तप्तं तपस्तत्त्रिविधं नरैः ।_

_अफलाकाङ्क्षिभिर्युक्तैः सात्त्विकं परिचक्षते॥_



भावार्थ :

पूर्ण श्रद्धा से युक्त होकर मनुष्यों द्वारा बिना किसी फल की इच्छा से उपर्युक्त तीनों प्रकार से जो तप किया जाता है उसे सात्विक (सतोगुणी) तप कहा जाता है। (१७)



Meaning:

This threefold penance, performed by balanced people with supreme faith, without expectation of reward, is called sattvic.



Explanation:

So far, we saw that tapas or penance comprises three aspects. Bodily or shaaririka tapas, speech or vaangmaya tapas, and mental or maanasika tapas. Tapas is used to conserve and channel our energy in the pursuit of a goal or objective, whether it be material or spiritual. Shri Krishna now describes three types of tapas, and how they can be used to assess the texture of our faith. He first describes the conditions under which penance is revealed to be sattvic.

The unique nature of sattvic tapas is that it is performed in the pursuit of the highest possible goal, which is self realization. It is not performed for any material gain, or the pursuit of physical or mental powers. Furthermore, it is performed with the utmost faith in the statements of the scriptures. Shri Krishna uses the word naraha or human in this shloka, and not in the shlokas that described the other two types of penance. He implies that only humans have the ability to perform penance without expectation of material gain.

Who has the ability to perform this highest level of penance, this sattvic penance? It is one who is yukta, one who has integrated his mind with his intellect, one who can remain balanced in success and failure. Only such a person is able to incorporate all the three aspects of penance, physical, mental and speech, referred in the shloka as three fold. Even if one of these is missing, the tapas loses its sattvic aspects. Mental penance is the toughest of all the three, since it is hardest to conquer the mind.

Chant the mantra you have faith in

Hare Krishna

The Hare Krishna maha-mantra is composed of three Sanskrit words, which are “Hare”, “Krishna” and “Rama”. According to the scriptures “Obstruction or problem can’t come into their lives, who do chant this mantra continuously”. The Great Mantra is:

Hare Krishna, Hare Krishna, Krishna Krishna, Hare Hare

Hare Rama, Hare Rama, Rama Rama, Hare Hare

हरे कृष्ण हरे कृष्ण , कृष्ण कृष्ण हरे हरे |

हरे राम हरे राम , राम राम हरे हरे ||