Shloka 6
Guṇa-viveka, Haṁsa-gītā, and the Yoga that Cuts False Ego
सात्त्विकान्येव सेवेत पुमान् सत्त्वविवृद्धये । ततो धर्मस्ततो ज्ञानं यावत् स्मृतिरपोहनम् ॥ ६ ॥
sāttvikāny eva seveta pumān sattva-vivṛddhaye tato dharmas tato jñānaṁ yāvat smṛtir apohanam
သတ္တဝ တိုးပွားစေရန် လူသည် သာတ္တဝိက အရာများကိုသာ လေ့ကျင့်သင့်သည်။ သတ္တဝ တိုးလျှင် ဓမ္မ ပေါ်လာပြီး ဓမ္မမှ ဉာဏ် ပွင့်လင်းသည်—အတ္တမန်ကို တိုက်ရိုက်သိမြင်မှု ပြန်လည်ရ၍ ကိုယ်-စိတ်ကို မိမိဟု ထင်မြင်သော မာယာကို ဖယ်ရှားနိုင်သည့်အထိ။
One who desires to cultivate the mode of goodness must consider the following points. One should study religious scriptures that teach detachment from mental speculation and material sense gratification, not scriptures that provide rituals and mantras to increase material ignorance. Such materialistic scriptures do not give attention to the Supreme Personality of Godhead and thus are basically atheistic. One should accept pure water for quenching thirst and cleaning the body. There is no need for a devotee to use colognes, perfume, whiskey, beer, etc., which are all polluted manifestations of water. One should associate with persons who are cultivating detachment from the material world and not with those who are materially attached or sinful in their behavior. One should live in a solitary place where devotional service is practiced and discussed among Vaiṣṇavas. One should not be spontaneously attracted to busy highways, shopping centers, sports stadiums, and so on. Concerning time, one should rise by four o’clock in the morning and utilize the auspicious brāhma-muhūrta to advance in Kṛṣṇa consciousness. Similarly, one should avoid the sinful influence of hours such as midnight, when ghosts and demons are encouraged to become active. Concerning work, one should execute one’s prescribed duties, follow the regulative principles of spiritual life and utilize all of one’s energy for pious purposes. Time should not be wasted in frivolous or materialistic activities, of which there are now literally millions in modern society. One can cultivate birth in the mode of goodness by accepting the second birth of initiation from a bona fide spiritual master and learning to chant the Hare Kṛṣṇa mantra. One should not accept initiation or so-called spiritual birth in unauthorized mystical or religious cults in the modes of passion and ignorance. One should meditate upon the Supreme Personality of Godhead as the enjoyer of all sacrifices, and similarly, one should meditate on the lives of great devotees and saintly persons. One should not meditate on lusty women and envious men. Concerning mantras, one should follow the example of Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu by chanting the Hare Kṛṣṇa mantra and not other songs, verses, poetry or mantras that glorify the kingdom of illusion. Purificatory rituals should be performed to purify the spirit soul and not to bring down material blessings on one’s material household.
FAQs
This verse says one should deliberately cultivate only sāttvika influences to increase purity (sattva-vivṛddhi), because that purity becomes the foundation for dharma, knowledge, and finally steady remembrance free from forgetfulness.
In the spiritual teachings of Canto 11, Śukadeva highlights the practical ladder of progress: purity (sattva) supports righteous living (dharma), which supports realized knowledge (jñāna), culminating in unwavering remembrance and the clearing away of delusion.
Choose habits, company, food, media, and routines that increase clarity and calm; this supports ethical living and deep study, and gradually strengthens remembrance of the soul and the Supreme while reducing distraction and forgetfulness.