CHAPTER FOURTEEN
GUṆATRAYA-VIBHĀGA-YOGA
THE THREE MODES OF NATURE
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VERSES 1-4: KṚṢṆA GIVES LIFE TO THIS MATERIAL WORLD
14.1
Lord Kṛṣṇa says:
I shall speak to you again of another kind of knowledge; this is the best of all forms of knowledge. By knowing this, all the sages have attained the highest perfection beyond this world.
śri bhagavān uvāca
paraṁ bhūyaḥ pravakṣyāmi jñānānāṁ jñānam uttamam |
yaj-jñātvā munayaḥ sarve parāṁ siddhim ito gatāḥ || 1 ||
14.2
Dedicating themselves to this knowledge, they attain the same nature and quality as Me. As a result, they are not born at the time of creation, and are unaffected at the time of its dissolution.
idaṁ jñānam upāśritya mama sadharmyam āgatāḥ |
sarge’pi nopajāyante pralaye na vyathanti ca || 2 ||
14.3
My womb is the totality of material existence, within which I place the seed of life. From that, O Arjuna, all beings are born.
mama yonir mahad-brahma tasmin garbham dadhāmyaham |
saṁbhavaḥ sarva bhūtānāṁ tato bhavati bhārata || 3 ||
14.4
Different beings come from various wombs, O Arjuna, but this material nature is the womb for all of them and I am the seed-giving Father.
sarva yoniṣu kaunteya mūrtayaḥ sambhavanti yāḥ |
tāsāṁ brahma mahad-yonir ahaṁ bīja-pradaḥ pitā || 4 ||
VERSES 5-18: HOW THE GUṆAS INFLUENCE OUR EXPERIENCE
14.5
Sattva, rajas and tamas are the guṇas that arise from prakṛti. They are responsible for the bondage of the unchanging Self to the body, O Arjuna.
sattvaṁ-rajas-tama iti guṇāḥ prakṛti saṁbhavāḥ |
nibadhnanti mahābāho dehe dehinam avyayam || 5 ||
14.6
Of these, because sattva is pure, it is illuminating and free from contamination. It causes bondage, O Arjuna, through attachment to happiness and to learning.
tatra sattvaṁ nirmalatvāt prakāśakam anāmayam |
sukha-saṅgena badhnāti jñāna-saṅgena cānagha || 6 ||
14.7
O Arjuna, understand that rajas is the nature of passion and arises from craving and attachment, it causes bondage through attachment to action.
rajo rāgātmakaṁ viddhi tṛṣṇā-saṅga samudbhavam |
tan nibadhnāti kaunteya karma-saṅgena dehinam || 7 ||
14.8
Arjuna, know that tamas is born of ignorance and causes the delusion of all embodied souls. It creates bondage, through negligence, laziness and sleep.
tamas tvajñānajaṁ viddhi mohanaṁ sarva dehinām |
pramād-ālasya nidrābhis-tan nibadhnāti bhārata || 8 ||
14.9
The mode of sattva generates attachment to pleasure and rajas to action, O Arjuna. But the mode of tamas, obscuring wisdom, creates attachment to negligence.
sattvaṁ sukhe sañjayati rajaḥ karmaṇi bhārata |
jñānam āvṛtya tu tamaḥ pramāde sañjayaty-uta ||
14.10
Sometimes sattva prevails by subduing rajas and tamas, O Arjuna. Sometimes rajas prevails by subduing tamas and sattva, and other times tamas prevails by subduing rajas and sattva.
rajas tamaścābhibhūya sattvaṁ bhavati bhārata |
rajas sattvaṁ tamaścaiva tamas sattvaṁ rajas-tathā ||
14.11
When the light of wisdom radiates in all the doorways (senses) of the body, then one should know that sattva prevails.
sarva dvāreṣu dehe’smin prakāśa upajāyate |
jñānaṁ yadā tadā vidyād vivṛddhaṁ sattvam ityuta ||
14.12
Greed, intense endeavour, the undertaking of different tasks, restlessness and craving, arise, O Arjuna, when rajas is dominant.
lobhaḥ pravṛttir āraṁbhaḥ karmaṇām aśamaḥ spṛhā |
rajasyetāni jāyante vivṛddhe bharatarṣabha ||
14.13
Dullness, stagnation, negligence and even delusion arise, O Arjuna, when tamas dominates.
aprakāśo’pravṛttiśca pramādo moha eva ca |
tamasyetāni jāyante vivṛddhe kuru-nandana ||
14.14
If the embodied Self meets death when sattva predominates, then It proceeds to the pure realms of those who know the highest Truth.
yadā sattve pravṛddhe tu pralayaṁ yāti deha-bhṛt |
tadottama vidāṁ lokān amalān pratipadyate ||
14.15
Meeting death when rajas predominates, one is born among those attached to action. Similarly, one who meets death when tamas prevails is born among beings in delusion.
rajasi pralayaṁ gatvā karma saṅgiṣu jāyate |
tathā pralīnas tamasi mūḍha-yoniṣu jāyate ||
14.16
The result of sattvic action is a pure good deed; the result of rajasic action is suffering; the result of tamasic action is ignorance.
karmaṇaḥ sukṛtasyāhuḥ sāttvikaṁ nirmalaṁ phalam |
rajas-astu phalaṁ duḥkham ajñānaṁ tamasaḥ phalam ||
14.17
From sattva arises wisdom, from rajas comes greed, and from tamas comes negligence, delusion, as well as ignorance.
sattvāt sañjāyate jñānaṁ rajaso lobha eva ca |
pramāda-mohau tamaso bhavato’jñānam eva ca ||
14.18
Those who are established in sattva rise upwards; those who dwell in rajas remain in the middle; and those who adhere to tamas, influenced by the lowest tendencies, go downwards.
ūrdhvaṁ gacchanti sattvasthā madhye tiṣṭhanti rājasāḥ |
jaghanya guṇa vṛttisthā adho gacchanti tāmasāḥ ||
VERSES 19-20: TRANSCENDING THE GUṆAS
14.19
When the enlightened one sees that nothing acts other than the guṇas, and when he realises what lies beyond the guṇas, then he attains My divine nature.
nānyaṁ guṇebhyaḥ kartāraṁ yadā draṣṭānupaśyati |
guṇebhyaśca paraṁ vetti madbhāvaṁ so’dhigacchati ||
14.20
By transcending these three guṇas from which the body arises, the embodied Self is freed from birth, death, old age and suffering, and thereby attains immortality.
guṇān etān atītya trīn dehī deha samudbhavān |
janma mṛtyu jarā duḥkhair vimukto’mṛtam aśnute ||
VERSES 21-25: QUALITIES OF THOSE ABOVE THE GUṆAS
14.21
Arjuna says:
What are the indications of one who has transcended the three guṇas? How does one behave? And how does one overcome the three guṇas?
arjuna uvāca
kair-liṅgais trīn guṇān etān atīto bhavati prabho |
kim ācāraḥ kathaṁ caitāṁs trīn guṇān ativartate ||
14.22
Lord Kṛṣṇa says:
O Arjuna, he does not resent illumination, activity or delusion when they appear, nor does he long for them when they are absent.
śrī bhagavān uvāca
prakāśaṁ ca pravṛttiṁ ca moham-eva ca pāṇḍava |
na dveṣṭi saṁpravṛttāni na nivṛttāni kāṅkṣati ||
14.23
He remains indifferent and undisturbed by the guṇas. He knows it is the guṇas alone that are active, and so he remains stable and unwavering.
udāsīnavad āsīno guṇair yo na vicālyate |
guṇā vartanta ityeva yo’vatiṣṭhati neṅgate ||
14.24
He is equal in pleasure and pain; he is focused within; he sees a lump of earth, a stone and a piece of gold as the same; he is firmly resolved; he is equal to those who are dear to him and those who are not; he regards praise and blame equally;
sama duḥkha sukhaḥ svasthaḥ sama loṣṭāśma kāñcanaḥ |
tulya priyāpriyo dhīras-tulya nindātma saṁstutiḥ ||
14.25
He is indifferent to honour and dishonour, he is equal to friends and enemies; and he has abandoned all worldly ambitions — such a person is said to have transcended the guṇas.
mānāpamānayos tulyas tulyo mitrāri pakṣayoḥ |
sarvārambha parityāgī guṇātītaḥ sa ucyate ||
VERSES 26-27: BY DEVOTION WE RISE ABOVE THE GUṆAS
14.26
And by serving Me with unswerving devotion, one transcends the guṇas and becomes fit to attain one’s true relationship with Me.
māṁ ca yo’vyabhicāreṇa bhakti yogena sevate |
sa guṇān samatītyaitān brahma-bhūyāya kalpate ||
14.27
For I am the foundation for the immortal, unchanging Brahman. I am also the basis for this eternal dharma and for perfect happiness.
brahmaṇo hi pratiṣṭhā’ham amṛtasyāvyayasya ca |
śāśvatasya ca dharmasya sukhasyaikāntikasya ca ||
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