View source for If the fire spark falls down on the ground, then for some time it looks like fiery, but again it becomes extinguished. That is rajo-guna

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[[Category:fire]]
[[Category:Spark]]
[[Category:Fall Down]]
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[[Category:Rajo-guna]]
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<div id="Lectures" class="section" sec_index="4" parent="compilation" text="Lectures"><h2>Lectures</h2>
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<div id="Bhagavad-gita_As_It_Is_Lectures" class="sub_section" sec_index="0" parent="Lectures" text="Bhagavad-gita As It Is Lectures"><h3>Bhagavad-gita As It Is Lectures</h3>
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<div id="LectureonBG1713HonoluluJuly41974_0" class="quote" parent="Bhagavad-gita_As_It_Is_Lectures" book="Lec" index="402" link="Lecture on BG 17.1-3 -- Honolulu, July 4, 1974" link_text="Lecture on BG 17.1-3 -- Honolulu, July 4, 1974">
<div class="heading">When it falls down it comes in the material world and... Now what kind of falldown it is? Now, the spark may fall down in dry grass. As soon as it falls down in dry grass, there is chance of igniting fire in the dry grass—sattva-guṇa. That is sattva-guṇa. And if the fire spark falls down on the ground, then for some time it looks like fiery, but again it becomes extinguished. That is rajo-guṇa. And if the fire sparks falls down in water—immediately finished, no more fire. So that is the distinction, the tamo-guṇa, rajo-guṇa and sattva-guṇa. So those who are in the tamo-guṇa, they are hopeless. They can do something, waste time, but being in the tamo-guṇa.
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<span class="link">[[Vanisource:Lecture on BG 17.1-3 -- Honolulu, July 4, 1974|Lecture on BG 17.1-3 -- Honolulu, July 4, 1974]]: </span><div style="display: inline;" class="text"><p style="display: inline;">Now, to come to the real knowledge, real platform of knowledge, the cultivation is required. So cultivation is required. Suppose somebody has said, the same example, that there is fire in the wood. So if you simply remain satisfied with the wood—"There is fire"—that is called tamo-guṇa, not developed. Again, when there is smoke, that is another platform. But when one appreciates the flames of (the fire), that is sattva-guṇa. Therefore Kṛṣṇa says here, tri-vidhā bhavati śraddhā dehināṁ sā svabhāva-jā. If one is cultivating his life like hogs and cats and dogs—the behavior is also like that and remaining in that position—so his faith and one who is advanced, who is worshiping Deity, and having three times bath, and chanting mantras, Hare Kṛṣṇa, they are not equal. That is not possible because one is situated in the sattva-guṇa and the other is situated in tamo-guṇa, although the tamo-guṇas, the persons who are in the darkness of knowledge, they have got their faith. It is not that they have no faith. They have got faith. But that faith is in the lowest status of life. That faith will not help him for spiritual realization. Therefore Kṛṣṇa said, tri-vidhā bhavati śraddhā dehināṁ sā svabhāva-jā. Svabhāva-jā means natural. Because his body is not yet purified, therefore he remains in the status of tamo-guṇa or ignorance. Tri-vidhā bhavati śraddhā dehināṁ sā svabhāva-jā.</p>
<p>Therefore we have to change. Just like a man diseased, he can be changed into a healthy person provided he follows the medical rules and regulation, takes medicine, diet and... That is possible. So if one does not follow the regulation, rules and regulation, he remains there, diseased. It is not that, that "We have become now free. We can talk nonsensically and we can behave like nonsense. Still, we are advanced," That is not possible. Sāttvikī rājasī caiva tāmasī ceti tāṁ śṛṇu. How? What are the symptoms to know that one is situated in the sattva-guṇa or one is situated in the rajo-guṇa or one is situated in tamo-guṇa? By the symptoms. The symptoms are also mentioned. The sattva-guṇa means brāhmaṇa. Sattva-guṇa in brāhmaṇa, their symptoms are mentioned in the Bhagavad-gītā. Everything is there, characteristic. You have to test it. Just like in the chemistry there is analytical study, whether it is pure or not. So every chemical has got characteristics, Its color, its formation, its taste, so many things. Those who are chemists, they know how to test. So when the characteristic and the test of the chemical is found as "Yes, it is according to the standard," then it is accepted as a pure chemical, and it can be used for the purpose. And if it is adulterated... Everything... We are cooking food. If the ghee is pure, then taste is different. If the ghee is impure, the taste is different. And if it is not ghee at all. oil, the taste is different. It is like that.</p>
<p>So people are being controlled by the three kinds of material nature, and if they do not follow the shastric injunction, then he will concoct, he will create something according to his position, either in the tamo-guṇa or rajo-guṇa or sattva-guṇa. But those, means superficially doing something in the tamo-guṇa, he will not be successful. He will not be successful. Yaḥ śāstra-vidhim utsṛjya vartate kāma... ([[Vanisource:BG 16.23|BG 16.23]]). He is going on, conducting himself under the influence of the same modes of nature, material nature, which he has naturally adopted from his birth. There are... We have discussed all these, this verse, that sad-asad-janma, yoni-janmasu. Kāraṇaṁ guṇa-saṅgo 'sya ([[Vanisource:BG 13.22|BG 13.22]]). Everyone is getting a particular type of body. So one may say, "This body is very nice, this body is not so nice and this body is very good." So why it is so? Because according to the association of the material nature. After all, the living entity falls down from the spiritual world. Just like Jaya-Vijaya. There is possibility, if you do not stick to the spiritual principle, even if you are in Vaikuṇṭha, you will fall down, what to speak of this material world? Because in the Vaikuṇṭha or in the spiritual world, no contaminated soul can stay there. He will fall down.</p>
<p>Now, when the spirit soul falls down? Just like Jaya-Vijaya. Jaya and Vijaya became asuras. They fell down from Vaikuṇṭha. But they became asuras under the circumstances. That is mentioned we were reading Bhāgavata the Kaśyapa Ṛṣi, his wife... Diti? What is the name of? Anyway, she was very lusty during the sandhyā, just at the point of evening, the day's passing. So she wanted sex with her husband. He said, "No, this is not the time. This is not the time." But she was so lusty she obliged the husband to have sex life with her, and the result was two asuras were born. We have to take so much care. You see? According to the time, according to circumstances... Therefore the Vedic principle has got garbhādhāna-saṁskāra. To beget a child, it requires also reformation-time, mentality, situation. So... Not like cats and dogs. So, creating the background very nicely, sattva-guṇa, they will beget a child. That child will come, some great man, some great devotee. So everything has got the material relationship, how to do it. That is śāstra. So you do it, but follow the shastric injunction. So the shastric injunction, so far is concerned, as it is said here, that is sāttvikī, rājasī, tāmasī.</p>
<p>The example is: just like the same fire spark is falling down from the blazing fire... You have seen the sparks. There are sparks, fire sparks, with the blazing fire. Now, the sparks sometimes fall down outside the fire. So take the fire as spiritual world, and the spark is in the spiritual world, within the fire, but sometimes it falls down. Now, when it falls down it comes in the material world and... Now what kind of falldown it is? Now, the spark may fall down in dry grass. As soon as it falls down in dry grass, there is chance of igniting fire in the dry grass—sattva-guṇa. That is sattva-guṇa. And if the fire spark falls down on the ground, then for some time it looks like fiery, but again it becomes extinguished. That is rajo-guṇa. And if the fire sparks falls down in water—immediately finished, no more fire. So that is the distinction, the tamo-guṇa, rajo-guṇa and sattva-guṇa. So those who are in the tamo-guṇa, they are hopeless. They can do something, waste time, but being in the tamo-guṇa, just like the spark being in the water... Water and fire, they are two opposite. So if one remains in tamo-guṇa, he has no chance of coming out to become fire again. There is no chance.</p>
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