In the sixteenth chapter of Srimad Bhagavad Gita, Lord Krishna explains traits of persons possessing a divine nature and also of persons possessing a demoniac nature. In verse one, the Lord says,
श्रीभगवानुवाच
अभयं सत्त्वसंशुद्धिर्ज्ञानियोगव्यवसिथतिः ।
दानं दमश्च यज्ञश्च स्वाध्यायस्तप आर्जवम् ।। १६.१ ।।
"Fearlessness, purity of mind and heart, steadfastness in yoga, knowledge, charity, self control, sacrifice, study of the scriptures, austerity and straightforwardness."
Fearlessness: Nervous excitement, caused by the undesirable thought of losing something is called fear. Total absence of this sort of fear is fearlessness. Fears can be of two types - a) External: One is afraid of thieves, robbers, lions, snakes etc. b) Internal: hen a person wants to perform forbidden actions which involve sin, injustice and atrocity etc.; he is full of fear.
Purity of mind and heart: When a person is detached from the world and attached to the Lord, his heart is purified.
Steadfast in yoga for knowledge: it is inevitable for a striver to be fixed in yoga in order to have true knowledge of God.
Charity: is giving away one's own things in a disinterested manner as a matter of duty to others according to place, time and circumstances etc.
Self-control: consists of controlling one's senses. One should not perform any forbidden action with senses, body and mind.
Sacrifice (Yagna): offering daily oblation to sacred fire.
Swadhyaya: study of self and sacred scriptures.
Austerity (Tapa): suffering hardships such as hunger, thirst, cold, heat and rain etc. and knowing tolerance of hardships while discharging one's duty and earring livelihood is real austerity.
Straightforwardness: being straightforward and simple in one's dealings.
This story is from the December 2022 edition of Yoga and Total Health.
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This story is from the December 2022 edition of Yoga and Total Health.
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