MEETING DEATH IN RAJAS, HE IS BORN AMONG THOSE ATTACHED TO ACTION — If, at the time it leaves the body, the mind is under the influence of Rajas, it takes, according to its tendencies and desires, to fulfil them, an embodiment among those who are extremely attached to action. It means that the mind will seek and successfully discover a field where it can completely exhaust its existing tendencies.

On the other hand, if one dies, when one’s mind is drowned in extreme ‘Tamas,’ one reaches the lower realms of irrational beings such as the animal and the vegetable kingdoms.

It is a consoling philosophy, no doubt, to believe that once having come up the ladder of evolution to become man, never shall we go into the lower strata of evolution. But it is against the truth of what we observe around us. We find, in fact, that even after having been given the best set of circumstances and environments, the members of the human community are not all equally ready to make use of them and evolve in their cultural status. A rich man’s son, having average intelligence and a good start in life, is not always ready to make use of those conducive circumstances, but invariably, he lives a careless unhealthy life and destroys himself later on.

Having been born as rational beings, how many of us behave with discrimination? A few in society even look up to the cattle and declare that they have a nobler life and a happier existence! That is to say, to a minority of bipeds the life of the quadrupeds is of higher evolution!! And, when such an idea is entertained in the mind of an individual, the life of the cattle is no devolution to him, but is only an acquisition of something which he is thirsting for. To a teetotaller, a drinking booth is nothing but a den of sorrow and death; but, to the drunkard the same is his haven of joy and harbour of happiness.

To the Tamasic, to be born in the animal kingdom is a wonderful chance to exhaust their appetites and to express fully their nature. Thus, philosophically viewed, we have to accept without any reservation that the ‘Tamasic’ must mentally find a complete fulfilment in animal embodiment. So they are born there to fulfil their own elected purpose.

HERE FOLLOWS A SUMMARY OF WHAT HAS BEEN TAUGHT IN THE PRECEDING FEW VERSES:

Pralayam gatva, when one does; rajasi, while the quality of rajas predominates; jayate, he is born; karma-sangisu, among people attached to activity, among human beings having attachment to work. Tatha, similarly, in that very way; pralinah, when one dies; tamasi, while tamas predominates; jayate, he takes birth; mudha-yonisu, among the stupid species, such as animals etc. A summary of the idea of the preceding (three) verses is being stated: