The Power of Three: Understanding Our Inner Forces

It's time for Thursday Tale Time (TTT 26/2024).

Today, I'm sharing a story from Osho's discourse "Geeta Darshan Chapter 3."

Arjun asked Krishna a profound question: "If God is behind everything, if everything happens naturally, and if humans aren't really responsible, then why do people commit sins even when they don't want to? Where does this evil come from?"

This is one of the deepest questions humanity has ever asked. We often find ourselves doing things we know are wrong, so why would God allow that? Who or what pushes us to do bad things?

Science tells us that nature is made up of three basic qualities. When scientists analyzed atoms, they found they could be broken into three parts: electrons, neutrons, and protons. These three parts are like the three qualities we've always talked about: Sattva (truth and goodness), Rajas (activity and passion), and Tamas (darkness and destruction).

Krishna explains that everything happening inside and outside of us is due to the interaction of these three forces. These forces shape our actions, emotions, and thoughts. Anger, for example, is a negative force that can lead to destruction, while love is a positive force that creates. Wisdom balances these forces.

If someone focuses all their energy on anger, they'll be drawn toward negative outcomes, even if they don't want to be. If they focus on love, positive things will happen in their life, and if they balance everything with wisdom, they'll move toward spiritual liberation.

To illustrate this, Osho shares a story from Dostoevsky's novel "Crime and Punishment."

Dostoevsky's novel, Crime and Punishment, introduces a character named Raskolnikov. He lives in a building owned by an elderly landlady, around seventy years old. She lends money at high interest rates, showing no pity for the poor people who borrow from her. Despite being close to death, she is ruthless, taking everything from those in debt. Raskolnikov, a student, watches this daily from his window. The poor beg, cry, and suffer, but she remains unmoved. Often, he wonders why no one kills her to free the people trapped by her cruelty.

Poor farmers, laborers, widows, and the sick all borrow money from her, but when they can’t repay, they are taken to court and punished. Day after day, Raskolnikov thinks about strangling her, his hands trembling with the thought. But then he asks himself, “Why should I care? What harm has she done to me?” And the thought fades, only to return repeatedly over the years.

One day, he finds himself in need of money to pay his fees, and having received nothing from home, he decides to pawn his watch to the old woman. It’s evening, and as she examines the watch under the light, something snaps inside Raskolnikov. Without realizing it, he moves close to her and strangles her. It happens so suddenly that he doesn't even know when it started. As he presses her neck, his hands bulge with effort, and blood drips from her mouth. Horrified by his actions, he watches her fall, realizing he has murdered her. Panic-stricken, he runs away, spending the entire night in bed wondering how he could have committed such a crime.

What learning we have from this story?

Sattva is the quality which makes things stable, rajas is the quality which gives action, tamas is the quality of inertia. These three are the basic qualities. This whole world exists through these three. This is the Yoga trinity. We've often misunderstood the word tamas, thinking it's bad. But tamas itself isn't bad. It's only a problem when someone is completely filled by it.

As per the explanation given by Krishna in Geeta that it's not a devil or evil spirit that made Raskolnikov do this. It was the seeds of anger he had sown in his mind over the years. Once those seeds are planted, the forces of the universe start working to make them grow.

If you plant seeds of anger, revenge, doubt, jealous, blame, sorrow, negative self-talk, worry, guilt, fear, insecurity, failure, depression, disappointment, all the negative forces will be drawn to you. If you plant seeds of love, compassion, abundance, trust, forgiveness, joy, acceptance, belief, unconditional-love, courage, all the positive forces will come your way. And if you cultivate wisdom, harmony, purity, creativity, being-ness, goodness, you'll find balance and peace.

Krishna says that there is no external devil or god controlling us, it's these three forces within us. Whatever seeds you plant within yourself, those are the forces that will become active in your life.