Quiz · 16.21–16.24
Three gates
Cover the answer. Read the Devanagari of the verse before you open it.
1
In 16.24, what case is vyavasthitau (व्यवस्थितौ), and what question does that case answer?
Answer
Locative singular of vyavasthiti (व्यवस्थिति). It answers "in what." The śāstra (शास्त्र) is the measure in the settling of what is to be done and what is not to be done. kārya (कार्य) is what is to be done. akārya (अकार्य) is what is to be left.
2
tasmāt (तस्मात्) stands in front of śāstram (शास्त्रम्) in 16.24. What is recited, and which sandhi makes it?
Answer
tasmāc chāstram (तस्माच्छास्त्रम्). त् + श् t + ś becomes cch (च्छ्). The word is still tasmāt (तस्मात्), "therefore."
3
What does 16.21 say, in one sentence?
Answer
Triple is this gate of hell, the ruin of the self: desire, anger, and greed, and therefore one should leave this triad.
4
Where do 16.21–16.24 sit in the talk between Arjuna and Kṛṣṇa (कृष्ण)?
Answer
Kṛṣṇa (कृष्ण) is still speaking, at the close of the chapter, and Arjuna has not spoken. After the portrait of the demonic mind, he names the three gates of hell, desire, anger, and greed, and says to leave them. The man freed from those three gates of darkness practices what is good for the self and goes to the highest course. The man who throws aside the rule of the śāstra (शास्त्र) and acts from desire obtains neither success, nor happiness, nor that course. Therefore the śāstra (शास्त्र) is his measure for what to do and what to leave.
5
Say the three gates of 16.21 back. Which word fails the sitting if it comes out wrong?
Answer
kāmaḥ krodhaḥ tathā lobhaḥ (कामः क्रोधः तथा लोभः). If lobhaḥ (लोभः) is dropped, the gate is no longer threefold. If tyajet (त्यजेत्) comes out as "he left," the optative has been made a past. Stay there.