Bhagavad Gita Summary Chapter 17: Shraddhatraya Vibhagayoga or The Yoga of the Threefold Faith.

Chapter 17: Shraddhatraya Vibhagayoga (28 verses) or The Yoga of the Threefold Faith.

The second of three chapters devoted to the Gunas,  verse 4 contains an important key to the whole problem of modern spiritualism and channeling.

1- Faith and the three gunas (1-6)

The three kinds of Faith. (2-4)

2. Threefold is that faith born of the individual nature of the embodied,—Sattvic, Rajasic, and Tamasic. Do thou hear of it.

3. The faith of each is in accordance with his nature, O Bharata. The man is made up of his faith ; as a man's faith is, so is he.

4 Sattvic men worship the Gods ; Rajasic, the Yakshas and the Rakshasas; the others,—Tamasic men,—the Pretas and the hosts of Bhutas.

Men of Rajasic and Tamasic Faiths. (5-6)

2- Threefold Food, Worship, Austerity and Gift. (7-16)

The three kinds of Food (8-10)

The three kinds of Worship (9-13)

Physical Austerity (14)

Now the three kinds of austerity will be described :

14. Worshipping the Gods, the twice-born, teachers and wise men,—purity, straightforwardness, continence, and abstinence

Corporal Tapas: The feet of a person doing corporal tapas are always engaged in going to the temple of or going on a pilgrimage to the places of his favourite deity Shiva or Vishnu. His hands are ever ready for decorating the front yard of the temple, for supplying the materials for performing the worship rituals and for serving God. He prostrates as soon as he sees a Shivalinga or an idol of Vishnu. He serves brahmins who are venerable due to their learning and humility. Or brings succour to people who are tired by travel or tortured by calamities. He sacrifices even his body for serving parents who are the best among all the holy locations. He serves his Guru who is kind to impart knowledge and who goes and brings succour to them in this difficult world. In the fire of Swadharma he adds the practice of yoga to remove the impurity of ego. He makes obeisance to all creatures realising the same Soul exists in all of them. He is always ready for helping others. He controls from time to time his desire for having sex. Not wanting to repeat contact with a female body which he had had at the time of birth, he remains chaste all his life. Realising that there is life in every creature he does not tread on even a blade of grass and does not break anything. When the affairs of the body are thus purified, understand that the corporal tapas has reached perfection. I call this corporal tapas because it is performed mainly with the body. (Dnyaneshwari; 17:201-214, transl. M.R. Yardi)   

Austerity in Speech (15)

15. The speech which causes no excitement and is true, as also pleasant and beneficial, and also the practice of sacred recitation, are said to form the austerity of speech.

The speech that is true, that causes no excitement, that is agreeable and good, forms the austerity of speech; as for example, " Be tranquil, my son, study (the Vedas) and practise yoga, and this will do thee good." Practice of sacred recitation : according to ordinances. .  (Baghavad Gita, with the Commentary of Sri Sankaracharya, transl. A. Mahadeva Sastri, 1901)

Vocal tapas: Now I shall tell you about the pure vocal tapas. The speech of a person who performs this tapas is straightforward and pleases the listener without hurting him. He speaks to one but it is beneficial to all. His words makes one shed bad thoughts and lead to realisation of the Self. Like nectar, one does not get tired of them even after listening for a long time. He speaks only when somebody asks him something otherwise he keeps himself busy studying Vedas or in repeating the name of God. He has installed the three Vedas in the temple of his speech and converted it into a school of Vedas. The name of Shiva, Vishnu or some other deity always occurs in his speech. This should be understood as the vocal tapas.  (Dnyaneshwari; 17:215-223, transl. M.R. Yardi)   

Mental Austerity (16)

16. Serenity of mind, good-heartedness, silence, self-control, purity of nature,—this is called the mental austerity.

Mental tapas: Now I shall also tell you the characteristics of a (person doing) mental tapas. Free of entanglement of doubts, his mind is engrossed in the Self. He sees the Self as light without heat or space without vacuum. Just as limbs numbed by cold no longer feel it, his mind, having got rid of its fickle nature, does not exist any more. In this state he is not troubled by the strains of detachment and becomes free of greed and fear. Only thing that remains is the realisation of the Self. Lips which are capable of giving advice on the Shastras remain silent. Having attained Self-realisation, mind loses its mind-ness. In such a state, how can feelings occur in the mind? And how will the mind rush to sense pleasures through the organs? Therefore the mind is always free from any feelings. Arjuna, when the mind reaches this state it is fit to be called mental tapas. (Dnyaneshwari; 17: 224-237, transl. M.R. Yardi)   

The three kinds of Austerity according: to Gunas. (17-19)

The Lord proceeds to show that the foregoing austerity, — bodily, vocal and mental,—as practised by men, is divided into classes according to Sattva and other gunas.  (Baghavad Gita, with the Commentary of Sri Sankaracharya, transl. A. Mahadeva Sastri, 1901)

The three kinds of Gift.  (20-22)

3- How to perfect the defective acts. (23-28)

The following instructions are given with a view to perfecting sacrifices, gifts, austerities, &c.

23. " Om,Tat, Sat ": this has been taught to be the triple designation of Brahman. By that were created of old the Brahmanas and the Vedas and the sacrifices.

24. Therefore, with the utterance of 'Om' are the acts of sacrifice, gift and austerity, as enjoined in the scriptures, always begun by the students of Brahman]:. he, brahmanas and the Vedas and the sacrifices.

25. With ' Tat, ' without aiming at the fruits, are the acts of sacrifice and austerity and the various acts of gift performed by the seekers of moksha.

26. The word ' Sat ' is used in the sense of reality and of goodness ; and so also, O Partha, the word ' Sat ' is used in the sense of an auspicious act.

27. Devotion to sacrifice, austerity and gift is also spoken of as ' Sat ' ; and even action in connection with these is called ' Sat.'

Works without faith are fruitless. (28)