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Chapter 14

गुणत्रयविभागयोग

The Three Qualities (Guṇatrayavibhāgayoga)

Krishna explains the three qualities of nature: sattva brings clarity and calm, rajas brings restless desire and activity, and tamas brings dullness and delay. He describes the person who rises above all three and stays steady through every change.

Notice which quality is driving you right now, and choose clarity.

  1. 14.1परं भूयः प्रवक्ष्यामि ज्ञानानां ज्ञानमुत्तमम्।Krishna tells Arjuna that he will once more explain the highest knowledge, the finest of all kinds of knowing. By understanding it, all the great sages passed from this life to the highest perfection.
  2. 14.2इदं ज्ञानमुपाश्रित्य मम साधर्म्यमागताः।Those who take shelter in this knowledge come to share Krishna's own nature. They are not born again when the world is created, and they are not shaken when it dissolves.
  3. 14.3मम योनिर्महद्ब्रह्म तस्मिन् गर्भं दधाम्यहम्।Krishna says: the vast primal nature (mahad brahma) is my womb. Into it I place the seed, and from that all living beings come into existence, Arjuna.
  4. 14.4सर्वयोनिषु कौन्तेय मूर्तयः सम्भवन्ति याः।Whatever bodies are born from any womb, Krishna says, the great primal nature is their mother and he is the father who gives the seed.
  5. 14.5सत्त्वं रजस्तम इति गुणाः प्रकृतिसंभवाः।Sattva (clarity), rajas (restless drive) and tamas (inertia) are the three gunas, the qualities born of nature. They tie the deathless self to the body.
  6. 14.6तत्र सत्त्वं निर्मलत्वात्प्रकाशकमनामयम्।Of these, sattva is pure, so it brings light and health. Yet even sattva binds, Krishna tells sinless Arjuna, through attachment to happiness and to knowledge.
  7. 14.7रजो रागात्मकं विद्धि तृष्णासङ्गसमुद्भवम्।Know rajas as the nature of passion, springing from craving and attachment. It binds the embodied self through attachment to action, Krishna says.
  8. 14.8तमस्त्वज्ञानजं विद्धि मोहनं सर्वदेहिनाम्।Know tamas as born of ignorance, deluding every embodied being. It binds through carelessness, laziness and too much sleep, Arjuna.
  9. 14.9सत्त्वं सुखे सञ्जयति रजः कर्मणि भारत।Sattva attaches a person to happiness, rajas to action, while tamas covers up understanding and attaches one to carelessness.
  10. 14.10रजस्तमश्चाभिभूय सत्त्वं भवति भारत।Sometimes sattva rises by overpowering rajas and tamas; sometimes rajas overpowers sattva and tamas; and sometimes tamas overpowers sattva and rajas.
  11. 14.11सर्वद्वारेषु देहेऽस्मिन्प्रकाश उपजायते।When the light of understanding shines through every gate of the body, the senses and the mind, know that sattva has grown strong.
  12. 14.12लोभः प्रवृत्तिरारम्भः कर्मणामशमः स्पृहा।When rajas grows strong, Krishna says, greed, constant busyness, the urge to start new ventures, restlessness and longing all arise.
  13. 14.13अप्रकाशोऽप्रवृत्तिश्च प्रमादो मोह एव च।When tamas grows strong, Arjuna, darkness of mind, lack of effort, carelessness and confusion all arise.
  14. 14.14यदा सत्त्वे प्रवृद्धे तु प्रलयं याति देहभृत्।If a person dies while sattva is strong in them, they reach the pure worlds of those who know the highest.
  15. 14.15रजसि प्रलयं गत्वा कर्मसङ्गिषु जायते।One who dies while rajas dominates is born among people attached to action. One who dies in tamas is born in the wombs of the deluded.
  16. 14.16कर्मणः सुकृतस्याहुः सात्त्विकं निर्मलं फलम्।The wise say that good action done in sattva bears a pure fruit. The fruit of rajas is pain, and the fruit of tamas is ignorance.
  17. 14.17सत्त्वात्सञ्जायते ज्ञानं रजसो लोभ एव च।From sattva comes understanding, from rajas comes greed, and from tamas come carelessness, confusion and ignorance.
  18. 14.18ऊर्ध्वं गच्छन्ति सत्त्वस्था मध्ये तिष्ठन्ति राजसाः।Those grounded in sattva rise upward, those in rajas stay in the middle, and those caught in tamas, the lowest quality, sink downward.
  19. 14.19नान्यं गुणेभ्यः कर्तारं यदा द्रष्टानुपश्यति।When the seer understands that no one but the gunas is the doer, and knows what lies beyond them, that person reaches Krishna's own being.
  20. 14.20गुणानेतानतीत्य त्रीन्देही देहसमुद्भवान्।Going beyond these three gunas that give rise to the body, the embodied self is freed from birth, death, old age and sorrow, and tastes immortality.
  21. 14.21कैर्लिंगैस्त्रीन्गुणानेतानतीतो भवति प्रभो।Arjuna asks Krishna: By what signs can one who has gone beyond the three gunas be recognised? How do they live, and how do they rise above these qualities?
  22. 14.22प्रकाशं च प्रवृत्तिं च मोहमेव च पाण्डव।Krishna answers: such a person does not resent clarity, activity or confusion when they arise, nor long for them when they fade away.
  23. 14.23उदासीनवदासीनो गुणैर्यो न विचाल्यते।Such a person sits like a neutral witness, unshaken by the gunas. Knowing "it is only the gunas at work," they stay steady and do not waver.
  24. 14.24समदुःखसुखः स्वस्थः समलोष्टाश्मकाञ्चनः।They are the same in pain and pleasure, rooted in the self. A clod of earth, a stone and gold are alike to them. Steady, they treat the pleasant and unpleasant, and blame and praise of themselves, equally.
  25. 14.25मानापमानयोस्तुल्यस्तुल्यो मित्रारिपक्षयोः।The same in honour and insult, the same towards friend and enemy, having given up every self-driven undertaking: such a person is said to have gone beyond the gunas.
  26. 14.26मां च योऽव्यभिचारेण भक्तियोगेन सेवते।Whoever serves Krishna with unwavering devotion rises above these three gunas and becomes fit to become one with Brahman (the Absolute).
  27. 14.27ब्रह्मणो हि प्रतिष्ठाऽहममृतस्याव्ययस्य च।Krishna says: I am the foundation of Brahman, the immortal and unchanging, of eternal dharma (the everlasting right order), and of perfect, complete happiness.