Gita 2.45

Sadhak: "Guru, Krishna says the Vedas deal with the three gunas. But I was taught that the Vedas are eternal truth beyond all limitation. How can they be limited to the gunas?"

Guru: "The Vedas are vast, containing teachings at many levels. The ritualistic portions (karma-kāṇḍa) deal with actions and their results within the world of gunas—how to gain prosperity, how to reach heaven, how to propitiate deities. These are within the realm of prakṛti. But the Vedas also contain the Upanishads, which point beyond the gunas to the Self. Krishna is distinguishing the level of teaching, not rejecting the scripture. Those who read the Vedas only for worldly and heavenly benefits miss the deeper teaching."

Sadhak: "What does it mean to be "nistraiguṇya"—free from the three gunas? Don't we always have some guna predominant in us?"

Guru: "The body-mind complex always operates through gunas—sometimes sattvic (clear, peaceful), sometimes rajasic (active, agitated), sometimes tamasic (dull, inert). These fluctuations continue even for the wise. What changes is identification. The unenlightened person says "I am peaceful" or "I am agitated," taking the guna as identity. The wise person observes: "Sattva is arising" or "Rajas is arising"—recognizing these as weather patterns in consciousness, not as self. You are free from gunas not by having no gunas but by knowing yourself as their witness."

Sadhak: "Krishna says "nirdvandva"—free from dualities. What dualities does he mean?"

Guru: "All pairs of opposites that govern ordinary experience: pleasure and pain, gain and loss, honor and dishonor, hot and cold, success and failure. These dualities create the constant oscillation of human life—seeking one pole, fleeing the other. Freedom from duality does not mean becoming numb or indifferent. You still prefer comfort to pain. But you are not governed by this preference; you can accept whatever comes because your happiness is not dependent on which pole of duality is present. The Self is beyond both pleasure and pain; established there, you are at peace in either."

Sadhak: "What is "nitya-sattva-stha"? If we're supposed to transcend even sattva, why be "ever established in sattva"?"

Guru: "This phrase can be read two ways. "Nitya-sattva" can mean "eternal being" (sat = being)—established in the eternal Self. Or it can mean cultivating predominant sattva as a preparation for transcendence. Both readings have validity. At the relative level, sattva makes the mind clear enough to perceive truth; therefore, cultivate sattva. At the ultimate level, rest in sat (being) which is beyond sattva. The one established in the Self naturally radiates sattvic qualities without effort—clarity, peace, harmony—as side effects of realization."

Sadhak: ""Niryoga-kṣema"—free from concern for acquisition and preservation. But don't we need to plan and save for the future? Isn't that responsible living?"

Guru: "Practical planning is not the concern here. "Yoga-kṣema" refers to the psychological anxiety—the constant worry about getting more and keeping what you have. You can plan without anxiety; you can save without fear. The teaching is about inner freedom, not outer irresponsibility. The person who has nothing but worries constantly about money is not free. The person who has much but holds it lightly—willing to use it, share it, lose it if necessary—is free. Freedom is in the relationship with things, not in the presence or absence of things."

Sadhak: "What does "ātmavān" mean—established in the Self? How do I know if I am ātmavān?"

Guru: "Ātmavān means one who possesses the Self—which is paradoxical because the Self is what you already are. It really means one who knows oneself as Self, not as the body-mind complex. You know you are approaching this state when your sense of "I" begins to shift—from "I am this body, these thoughts, this history" to "I am the awareness in which body, thoughts, and history appear." When happiness becomes independent of circumstances, when peace persists through changing conditions, when the question "Who am I?" resolves not into answers but into silent being—these are signs."

Sadhak: "This seems like such a high teaching. How can ordinary people like me hope to achieve it?"

Guru: "The Self is not achieved; it is recognized. It is not far away; it is closer than your breath. The difficulty is not in reaching something distant but in seeing what is always present. Every glimpse of peace, every moment of selfless absorption in beauty or love, every instant when self-concern drops away—these are tastes of ātman. You have had these experiences; you know them. The path is simply stabilizing in what you have already glimpsed. Practice, study, good company, and grace gradually make permanent what was once fleeting."