The Bhagavad Gita: The Power of Faith and Freedom & Renunciation
XVII. The Power of Faith
The Hindu word for “faith” is “shraddha”.
Our shraddha is the sum total of our values, what we really hold to be important in our lives. Every human being, Krisha says, is “shraddhamaya”, made up of faith. What we think in our heart, so we are.
Krishna says: “Those who are sattvic worship God; those who are rajsic worship power and wealth; those who are tamasic worship spirits and ghosts.”
“The sattvic follow the teachings of the scriptures without thoughts of reward.
The rajasic do things for the sake of show and the good it will bring them.
The tamasic ignore both the letter and spirit of the scriptures.”
XVIII. Freedom and Renunciation
Krishna says: “To refrain from selfish acts in one kind of renunciation, called sannyasa; to renounce the fruit of action is another, call tyaga.”
“True renunciation is giving up all desire for personal reward. Those who are attached to personal reward will reap the consequences of their actions, some pleasant, some mixed. But those who renounce every desire for personal reward go beyond the reach of karma.”
“Sattvic knowledge sees the one indestructible Being in all beings, the unity underlying the multiplicity of creation. Rajasic knowledge sees all things and creatures as separate and distinct. Tamasic knowledge, lacking any sense of perspective, sees one small part and mistakes it for the whole.”
“One who is free from selfish attachments, who has mastered himself and his passions, attains the supreme perfection of wisdom from action…Unerring in discrimination, sovereignty of the senses and passions, free from the clamor of likes and dislikes, such a one leads a simple, self-reliant life based on meditation, controlling speech, body and mind.”