Original Face – In Gita Verse 14.21 Arjuna inquired: O my dear Lord, by which symptoms is one known who is transcendental to these three modes? What is his behaviour? And how does he transcend the modes of nature?
In Bhagavad Gita Verse 14.21, Arjuna’s inquiry penetrates deep into the existential fabric: What are the marks of one who has transcended the three modes? How does such a person act?
Firstly, understanding mind and consciousness is instrumental in recognising the subtleties in transcending the gunas. The mind, as you’ve meticulously noted, is a complex tapestry woven with society’s threads. It is constantly fluctuating within the grips of sattva, rajas, and tamas – the three strands of Prakriti’s loom.
The mind, therefore, is akin to an artist’s palette, mixed with varying shades of these three modes, constantly creating new hues with each brushstroke of experience and thought. A person’s actions, reactions, beliefs, and all manner of thinking are deeply colored by which of the gunas predominates at any given moment.
In contrast, Consciousness is beyond these transitory colors. It is a pure, white canvas before any color is applied. It is unchangeable, eternal, and unmanifested. It does not dance to the tune of the gunas; rather, it is the silent space that allows the dance.
The journey to transcend the three modes of nature begins with distinguishing between what is eternal and what is ephemeral. It is a shift from identification with the mind to an identification with Consciousness. This profound shift is the essence of meditation – the vessel that carries you from the shores of the mind’s restless waves to the tranquil depths of pure Consciousness.
A person who has transcended the three gunas is identifiable by their equanimity. They remain undisturbed by the dualities of life – honor and dishonor, pleasure and pain, success and failure. Their actions are not motivated by the fruits but by a sense of duty and deep inner contentment.
The world indeed functions in perfect order – a cosmos, yet we perceive chaos because of the mind’s changing nature. When the veil of the mind is lifted through meditation, the cosmos is clearly seen in all its glory. Here, catharsis plays a crucial role, not just to clear the mind’s clutter but to dissolve it, allowing one’s consciousness to shine forth in its pristine form.
To experience life through Consciousness, we must drop our many-faced masks, the identities shaped and hardened by time and society. This is the core message of Zen’s “Original Face,” which reflects the same timeless truth illustrated by Krishna to Arjuna. It is the unchanging oneness that pervades all existence, seen only when the mind’s multiplicity is transcended.
Arjuna’s quest, as resonated in our personal journey, reveals the “original face” of Consciousness – pristine, untouched by the mind’s stories or material nature’s push and pull. Like the lotus rising from murky waters, this Consciousness stands unblemished, above the swirling dance of the gunas. In the stillness of such a pure being, liberation is not just understood but lived; we transcend the constant oscillation of nature’s qualities to embrace the immutable divinity within us.
In the hallowed silence of our communion with this boundless Consciousness, life’s tempests rage on, yet our core remains unshaken. The gunas – sattva, rajas, tamas – cease to dictate our actions. Instead, equanimity becomes our steadying force, ensuring that our every decision is not a reaction to externalities but an expression of profound inner wisdom. Our deeds become the very embodiment of our highest understanding, our every gesture a testament to an inner truth that is unshakably tranquil.
The journey that Arjuna confronts on the battlefield of Kurukshetra is a symbolic mirror of our own battles within. As we traverse this path of inner awakening, we realise the impermanent nature of the mind’s constructs and begin to appreciate the timeless continuum of our true Consciousness. It is there, in the light of awareness, that we finally grasp our immutable core and the blissful freedom of our purest state of being – where we embrace our inherent divinity with an open heart and a serene mind.
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