Shloka 43
The Song of the Avantī Brāhmaṇa (Avanti-brāhmaṇa-gītā): Mind as the Root of Suffering and Equanimity Amid Insult
मनो गुणान् वै सृजते बलीय- स्ततश्च कर्माणि विलक्षणानि । शुक्लानि कृष्णान्यथ लोहितानि तेभ्य: सवर्णा: सृतयो भवन्ति ॥ ४३ ॥
mano guṇān vai sṛjate balīyas tataś ca karmāṇi vilakṣaṇāni śuklāni kṛṣṇāny atha lohitāni tebhyaḥ sa-varṇāḥ sṛtayo bhavanti
အင်အားကြီးသော စိတ်သည် ဂုဏ်သုံးပါး၏ လှုပ်ရှားမှုကို ဖြစ်စေပြီး၊ ထို့မှ ကံအမျိုးမျိုး ပေါ်ထွက်လာသည်—စတ္တဝတွင် အဖြူ၊ တမသတွင် အမည်း၊ ရဇသတွင် အနီ။ ဂုဏ်တစ်ခုချင်းစီ၏ ကံမှ ထိုနှင့်ကိုက်ညီသော ဘဝအဆင့်အတန်းများ ပေါ်ပေါက်လာသည်။
In the mode of goodness one considers oneself to be a saintly or wise person, in the mode of passion one struggles for material success, and in the mode of ignorance one becomes cruel, lazy and sinful. By the combination of the material modes one identifies oneself as a demigod, a king, a rich capitalist, a wise scholar, etc. These conceptions are material designations generated from the modes of nature, and they arrange themselves according to the tendency of the powerful mind to enjoy temporary sense gratification. The word balīyas in this verse, meaning “very strong,” indicates that the material mind becomes insensitive to intelligent advice. Even if we are informed that we are committing many sins and offenses in order to earn money, we may still think that money should be acquired at all costs, since without it one can neither perform religious ceremonies nor gratify the senses with beautiful women, mansions and vehicles. Once the money is achieved, one suffers further problems, but the stubborn mind will never heed good advice in this regard. One must therefore give up mental concoction and control the mind in Kṛṣṇa consciousness, as exemplified here by the brāhmaṇa from Avantī.
FAQs
This verse explains that the mind generates the three guṇas, which then shape one’s actions (karma); from those actions arise corresponding life-paths and destinations.
In the Uddhava Gītā, Kṛṣṇa guides Uddhava toward liberation by showing how the mind’s identification with the guṇas produces karma and bondage, so one can learn to transcend them.
Observe how thoughts color choices: cultivate sattvic habits (clarity, restraint, truthfulness), reduce rajasic agitation (restless craving), and avoid tamasic inertia (neglect, intoxication), thereby purifying actions and outcomes.