There are three guṇas. We should always remember. The material nature is working under three guṇas, three divisions. Just like . . . the example is that the fire, smoke and the wood. Wood . . . there is fire. Everyone knows that from wood, fire will come out. And when you ignite wood, there is smoke first of all. And then the blazing or the flame of the . . . comes out. So one may say . . . they are saying like that, that "After all, from . . . it is wood. So there is fire, there is smoke and there is no smoke—it is wood. It is all one." No. Although it is one, still, you require the flame, not the smoke, neither the wood. If you want work, then . . . "Now I have got the wood. My work is finished." No. From the wood, when you get fire, flame, then you can work. You can cook; you can get heat; you can get light, so many things. So that is required, not that, "Because I have got the wood, I have got everything." This is rascaldom. You have to ignite fire, blazing fire, flame. And that is sattva-guṇa.
Therefore, in our Society we first of all try to reform the fallen soul, or most infected materially person, to reform, to come to the stage of flame, because without there being flame you cannot work. It is not possible. It is very practical example. We want flame. Just like yajña. Yajña . . . we perform fire sacrifice, but we want to see there is flame, not smoke, although the same thing. You cannot be satisfied, "Now there is smoke. It is all right. There is fire." Without there being fire, there cannot be smoke. Parvato mandimān dhūmāt. When there is smoke one can understand there is fire, even it is far away. When there is forest fire, people understand, when the smoke is coming from the forest, then can immediately understand there is forest fire. So smoke is, although indication of the fire, but it is not fire. So similarly, so-called meditation, so-called spiritualism, concocted idea, there is some touch of spiritual life, but that is not spiritual life. One should understand. That is not spiritual life. It is called ābhāsa. Ābhāsa means just like day, sunlight, full sunlight. But early in the morning, you cannot see the sun, but there is light, there is no darkness.
So similarly, Kṛṣṇa's . . . Arjuna's inquiry is very nice, that "One who is not following the śāstra-vidhi, the direction of the śāstra, but has got some faith, some vague idea, then what will be considered? They will be taken as sattva-guṇa or rajo-guṇa or tamo-guṇa?" It is . . . Kṛṣṇa . . . now, this is very important question, and Kṛṣṇa . . . it not said: "Kṛṣṇa said." It is said, it is mentioned here, śrī bhagavān uvāca. Kṛṣṇa may be taken by low-grade person as a ordinary human being, as it is done sometimes. Big, big scholars, big, big philosophers, they also become bewildered. Just like in India, there is a party called Ārya-samājī. They accept Kṛṣṇa as a very big person but not God. Not God. There is some mistake some time. Avajānanti māṁ mūḍhāḥ (BG 9.11):
"Those who are rascals, they sometimes take Me as ordinary human being." That is mentioned in the Bhagavad-gītā. He is Supreme Personality of Godhead. Therefore, when there is an authoritative judgment is required, you'll find in the Bhagavad-gītā, it is said, śrī bhagavān uvāca. That means you cannot defy this judgement. Bhagavān. Because the Supreme Personality of Godhead is speaking, that is final. No argument. No commentation. This is the meaning of śrī bhagavān uvāca.