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Oppiliappan List Archive: Message 00011 Feb 2004

 
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Dear friends,

Many well-read friends of mine on several occasions
have come up to me and asked challengingly whether I
believed in the principle or reality of the three
"gUNa" --'sattva', 'rajas' and 'tamas'. "If yes", they
then go on to demand, "what is the objective basis of
your belief?".

I often respond to such questions half with amusement
and half with good-natured mischief. I usually say to
them tongue-in-cheek, "Yes, I believe in the reality
of the "tri-guNa". The basis of my belief is the
'Bhagavath-gita'. There are approximately 50 stanzas
in the Gita which are devoted to describing 'sattva',
'rajas' and 'tamas' and how they operate in the world.
I have read those stanzas. I find them to be sound and
objective basis... "objective" enough on which I can
confidently found my belief in the reality of
"tri-gUNa". Have you by any chance read them?"

Often my response not only counters but also silences
my interrogators. They await and expect me to launch
into some long-winded (and thoroughly un-convincing)
explanation of how and why I have come to believe in
the concept of "tri-gUna". But the moment they hear me
say blandly that the "Gita" is the fundamental
grounding for my belief, the sheer simplicity of the
response stops them dead in their tracks. It is not
what they anticipate and it effectively takes the wind
out of their sails. They are also silenced by the
response since few amongst them have even a nodding
acquaintance with the 50-odd 'shlOkA-s' of the Gita I
am talking about. 

Stymied thus by their own ignorance and realizing the
futility of engaging me in further discussion, they
usually decide it is far better to leave me alone.

So have I, on many an occasion, managed or manuevered
to escape being dragged, against my wish, into
discussions on probably one of the most talked about
but little understood (I speak for myself here)
principles of Vedantic philosophy -- the "tattva" of
"tri-gUNa".

More to follow.

Regards,

dAsan,
Sudarshan 

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