Introducing the theme that is to follow, Lord Krishna enumerates the topics that He is going to discuss. The temperamental influences that govern the mind and its thought-life express themselves in all departments of activity in which the individual employs himself. His choice of food, of friends, of the type of emotions in his bosom, of the
view-of-life that he will be entertaining are all indicative of the type to which the seeker belongs. As a matter of fact, everyone living on the surface of the earth expresses himself in one of these classifications, due to the preponderance of one or the other of the three temperaments (gunas).
Yajna, Tapa, Daana — In the choice of ‘food,’ in the type of ‘sacrifices’ which he would feel inspired to make, in the texture of his ‘self-denials,’ and in the quality and quantity of his ‘charity,’ he will declare himself as belonging to one or the other of the three types.
Here follows a detailed analysis of one’s inner nature, and naturally, one’s outward expressions, when one is under the irresistible influence of any one particular guna. These verses are NOT to be misconstrued as ready-reckoners TO CLASSIFY OTHERS. Hinduism, in its essential beauty, is a subjective science for bringing about a fuller unfoldment of the dormant potentialities in AN INDIVIDUAL’S OWN PERSONALITY. In unravelling the beauties of the soul and in exploiting the strength of the heart, each one will have to purify himself from the dullness of Tamas, and from the agitations of Rajas, and keep oneself in the creative alertness and spiritual glow of Sattwa.
HEREUNDER, WE FIND ENUMERATED A SERIES OF SYMPTOMS BY WHICH WE CAN CORRECTLY CLASSIFY OURSELVES:
