Overview

You are your desire; you are the quality of your desire. Just see what you are getting. Just see which relationships are strengthening. Just see who you are drifting away from. Just see where you are found. Just see where you are not found. Just see what ultimately is the result of all this.

Not caring for results is all right only if you are a sāttvika mind or if you have transcended the ego. Then it is all right to not care for results. But if you are a rājasika person or a tāmasika person—as 99.9 per cent of people are—then you need to be very, very conscious of the future and the results of your actions.

Bhagavad Gita

What is Sattvika?

नियतं सङ्गरहितमरागद्वेषतः कृतम । अफलप्रेप्सुना कर्म यत्तत्सात्त्विकमुच्यते ॥

An ordained action done without love or hatred by one not desirous of the fruit and free from attachment is declared to be sāttvika.

—Shrimad Bhagavad Gita, Chapter 18, Verse 23

What is Rajasika?

यत्तु कामेप्सुना कर्म साहङ्कारेण वा पुनः । क्रियते बहुलायासं तद्राजसमुदाहृतम ॥

But that action which is performed desiring results, or with self-conceit and with much effort, is declared to be rājasika.

—Shrimad Bhagavad Gita, Chapter 18, Verse 24

What is Tamasika?

अनुबन्धं क्षयं हिंसामनपेक्ष्य च पौरुषम । मोहादारभ्यते कर्म यत्तत्तामसमुच्यते ॥

That action is declared to be tāmasika which is undertaken through delusion, without heed to the consequence, loss (of power and wealth), injury (to others), and to (one’s own) ability.

—Shrimad Bhagavad Gita, Chapter 18, Verse 25

Difference between Sattvika, Rajasika and Tamasika

Questioner (Q): Shri Krishna says sāttvika action is done without desire for the fruit, and then he says tāmasika action is done through delusion, without paying heed to consequences. It seems Shri Krishna has drawn a very fine line here. Please help me understand the right action in light of the above verses.

Acharya Prashant (AP): Good question. So, on the one hand, Shri Krishna is saying here that in sāttvika action you do not care for the results. On the other hand, the tāmasika person, too, has been defined as the one who does not care for the result; he continues in his self-destructive ways without caring for the results at all.

So, the questioner is asking, what is this fine line that Shri Krishna seems to have drawn here? Good question.

Who is a Sattvika person?

You see, there are two reasons, two possibilities, two scenarios where you don’t care for the results.

One is because you know that you are absolutely right, so now you have no option left. Therefore, there is no point caring for the results. This is the only thing that you can rightly do, so what is the point in talking or bothering so much about the results? That is one possibility. That is the sāttvika possibility. You are deeply contented just doing what you are doing. It is all right now.

Who is a Tamasika person?

Then there is the tāmasika person. The tāmasika person is compelled to not care for the results for reasons that are totally opposite to the sāttvika case. The tāmasika person gets deeply bitter and harmful results for being what he is and doing what he does because that is the nature of his being. Everything that he does actually brings him hurtful consequences. Now it is extremely important for him to not care for those consequences if he is to continue remaining the deluded one that he currently is. Otherwise, the very force of the results would show him a mirror; the very tribulations of life would compel him to change. But he doesn’t want to change. Therefore, what is his tagline? ‘I don’t care for the results.’

This is not his joy. This is his compulsion. He will have to deliberately and stubbornly ignore the results because the results are shrieking to him, ‘You are living a very bad life!’ The moment he pays attention to the results he will have to change, but his deep and unyielding ego refuses to change even while suffering deeply. That is tāmasikta.

What is the definition of the tāmasikta? You are in the wrong place and you don’t even want to leave that place. You are living badly and you are saying, ‘This is what is called the right life.’

Who is a Rajasika person?

The rājasika mind says, ‘I am not all right; I need to do something to become better. I feel inferior, I feel incomplete; I need to rise, I need to achieve.’ That is the rājasika mind. The rājasika mind at least admits that it is not all right, that it needs to change and improve, though it tries to improve in an unwise and foolish way. But at least that admission is there. ‘I am not all right.’

Is Rajasika is better than Tamasika?

That is why the rājasika mind is better than the tāmasika mind. The tāmasika mind is a tough nut to crack. ‘I am all right.’ ‘But you’re not all right.’ ‘But I am all right!’ ‘But you are unhappy!’ ‘Oh, I am joyful.’ ‘But last night you were wailing and sobbing!’ ‘In that is my pleasure!’ That kind of an argument. ‘I made a video. You are frothing from the mouth and flowing in the eye. Your face was just froth and tears, and you are cursing your life. Here, I shot it!’ And what does the fellow say? ‘In that is my pleasure. I love to wail; I love to yell. I love to shriek; I love to cry. Tears give me a high!’

And now, how do you talk to this fellow? He says, ‘I am all right. I am all right as I am.’ In his own eyes he is some goddamn philosopher—especially after he is a bit high. It is very, very important for him—it is a matter of survival—to not care about the results, to not even inquire into the results. The day he starts inquiring into the results, he will be forced to change.

Do you care about results of your actions?

Therefore, I deeply oppose this neo-pop spiritual culture of living in the present. I do not want people to not care about the results because not caring for results is all right only if you are a sāttvika mind or if you have transcended the ego. Then it is all right to not care for results. But if you are a rājasika person or a tāmasika person—as 99.9 per cent of people are— then you need to be very, very conscious of the future and the results of your actions.

Do you think of future?

The tāmasika mind desperately wants to avoid looking at the consequences of his actions. That is the reason why the saints, if you visit their literature, constantly reminded us to think of the results of our actions and of death. They kept saying, ‘Think of death.’ Now, all that is in the future, but today’s pop spirituality is about ignoring the future totally. ‘Don’t think of the future, live in the present!’ Then why were the saints continuously telling us to think of death? Death is always in the future, right now you aren’t dead.

It is because the saints knew better; they knew who they were talking to. They knew they were talking to rājasika and tāmasika minds, and they need to be cautioned of the future. That’s the tāmasika mind’s ultimate fantasy: to do what he wants to do and then not bear the consequences. Is that not a great fantasy? ‘I will do what I want to do; I will consume what I want to consume, and I won’t even have to foot the bill!’

The saints are saying the bill will need to be paid—with due interest. Mind the bill!

Mind your actions and results

It is a very unfortunate trend these days, living in the now, living in the present. No wonder it is coming from the centre of consumerism and is only serving to promote it. ‘Consume right now, don’t worry about the consequences!’ No wonder the country this cult is coming from is the most debt-ridden country in the world. No wonder the society this cult is coming from carries the highest per capita debt on its head. Do you know about the average credit card dues of the common American? They are the highest in the world. ‘Spend on your credit card. Live in the present. Don’t worry about the future.’

In fact, the 2008 crisis was, in many ways, a crisis of credit. Loans had been given to people who were in no condition to pay them back. And what did those people do with those loans? They lived in the present. They enjoyed that money to not think about the future and to be joyful in the present. And when the banks wanted their money back, there was no money to be had back. The banks didn’t know what to do, and then they started rolling one after the other, declaring bankruptcy. On paper, they all had a lot of assets: ‘So much has been lent to this person, and that person owes so much to me.’ All that was on paper. In reality, nothing—because those debts had all been happily consumed. So, when the bank said, ‘Please return my money . . .’ (Shrugs) That is ‘now’, ‘in the present’!

What is the centre (source) of your actions?

Be very conscious of your action and its results.

You know, sometimes people ask me, ‘How do we know where our actions are coming from? You keep on talking about the importance of acting from the right centre. But how exactly do we determine the centre our action is coming from?’

Pay attention to the results for the result is the source

And I say, the centre your actions are coming from is probably a bit hidden. It is an inner thing, and you don’t have the eyes to look inwards. But you can at least pay attention to the results of your action. And when you do that, here is a formula for you: the result of your action is the exact point your action is coming from; the source of your action is exactly the same as the consequence of your action.

So, watch the consequences of your actions, and you will realize what the source of the action is. If you have done something, just figure out what the net result of that entire activity or episode was, and then you should know that the entire episode happened just for the sake of that particular result. That was your hidden intention.

For example, you do something, and in some convoluted way, finally it leads you to break away from a friend. That is the net output of that episode. Now, if you have to ask, ‘Where did my actions come from?’ then you should know that your action actually came from your subconscious desire to get rid of that friend. That is all that you wanted.

The beginning is the end

The beginning is the end. The result is the source. If you cannot know the source, know the result.

We are very complicated and deceitful beings. You will never know why you are acting in a particular way because you do not want to admit that to yourself. But one good way of realizing why you act as you act is to just see the final result of what you are doing. Obviously, you can turn back and say there is nothing called a final result. All right, then look at the intermediate result. It is for the sake of that intermediate result that you are doing what you are doing.

Nothing happens coincidentally in the realm of the ego, for the ego is the doer. The ego doesn’t let things happen; it does them. It doesn’t let things happen, does it?

Mind the consequences

So, when you are doing something, rest assured that the output is something that the ego wanted. Even if the output appears shocking, even if you want to claim that it is quite an unintended output or outcome, that unintended outcome is not really unintended. You wanted it. You caused it. But you caused it in a very hidden way, in a very abstruse way because you didn’t want to admit to yourself that you are directly or intentionally doing it.

And that is one solid reason why you must mind the consequences: because the consequence will tell you about your centre. If you look even at the gross actions and their results carefully, you will come to know of the subtle forces operating within.

Your intention causes your actions

So, something has been happening with you over the last one month, let’s say, and you narrate the entire story to someone. If that someone is wise, he will ask, ‘All right, what is the net result of all this that has been happening with you?’ And you say, ‘Well, the net result is . . .’ He will say, ‘Okay, I will help you out. Compared to one month back, how have things changed for you right now? What has changed?’ And you will say, ‘All right, now that’s easier to answer. These are the three things that have changed over that last one month.’

Then that someone will tell you, ‘It is with the intention of changing these three things that you have been acting the way you have over the last one month. It is not that your actions have coincidentally brought about this result; it is because you wanted this result deep within, hence you have been acting the way you have been acting. You are just fulfilling your deep desires.’

So, always ask yourself, ‘All this happened ultimately to what result, to what effect, to what end?’ Never ignore the consequences. Never.

Keeping a check on the consequences is a great way to self-reflect. Otherwise, how will you know who you are? Unless you know what you desire, how will you know who you are? And how will you know what you desire? By seeing what you get because you are only getting what you are desiring. That’s the way of the ego. It proceeds on desire.

You are your desire

So, see what you are getting from life continuously as a result of your actions. That is what you are desiring. And who are you? You are your desire; you are the quality of your desire. Just see what you are getting. Just see which relationships are strengthening. Just see who you are drifting away from. Just see where you are found. Just see where you are not found. Just see what ultimately is the result of all this. Because stories are complicated, you know. If you get lost in the details of the stories, you will never come to know the truth. So, keep the story aside, just ask for the conclusion. What is the conclusion? What happened as a result of all this that you are trying to tell me? Ask.

‘So, this happened and that happened, and then he brought this, then I did this, and then I said that, then he met me there, and then we agreed, and then we disagreed, and then we fought, and then we hugged, and then I sent him this letter, and then he wrote me a mail,’ and a thousand things. All right, please conclude. ‘Well, you see, then we broke up.’

So, fine. That’s it. This is exactly what you wanted, and for the sake of this result you enacted the entire drama. Maybe not intentionally, just subconsciously, but this is the result that you ultimately wanted anyway.

What is Law of Karma?

Be particular about the consequences. That is the reason why the wise ones gave us the principle of karma. What did the principle of karma imply? ‘Oh, you will have to pay up. You can’t go scot-free.’ To the layman, the principle of karma is just the principle of consequences. And it is very important that most people are mindful of karmaphala. What is karmaphala? Consequences. It is only now that the time-tested theory of karma is being rubbished aside in favour of pop theories of ‘living in the now’, etc.

What is your bondage? How will you gain freedom?

Living in the now is something very special; only the ones already liberated have the right to live in the now. The others must be very conscious of the future. It is by remaining conscious of the future that you will ultimately get freedom from the future. It is by being extremely conscious that you will gain freedom from consciousness itself. It is by minding your actions and their results that you will ultimately gain freedom from the actor. How else will you gain freedom from the actor? If you do not know the actor, will you be able to be free from the actor?

What is your bondage? Your bondage is ignorance. Your bondage is that you do not know the actor, and that’s why there is no freedom from the actor.

Who is the actor of your actions?

And how will you know the actor? The actor is hidden, subtle; the actor doesn’t have a face. How do you know the actor? By looking at the actions. But in one’s eyes, his actions are anyway always all right. So, how do you know your actions really? By looking at the results of the actions. Looking at the results of the actions is one foolproof way to know the actor, and when you know the actor, that gains you freedom from the actor.

In order to gain more clarity about the above topic, please refer Acharya Prashant's book Bhagavad Gita - Volume1 .

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