BHAGAVAD GITA

Conversation 14. Distinction of the Three Gunas

Table of Contents

Chapter 13 - Chapter 15


  • Krishna said:
    I shall further explain to you
    That supreme knowledge, the best of all knowledge,
    Knowing that all the sages have attained
    Supreme perfection after this life.


  • Those who have taken refuge
    In this knowledge attain unity with Me,
    And are neither born at the time of creation
    Nor afflicted at the time of dissolution.


  • O Arjuna, My Prakriti is the womb
    Wherein I place the seed from which
    All beings are born.


  • Whatever forms are produced
    In all different wombs, O Arjuna,
    The great Prakriti is their mother,
    And the Purusha is the father.


  • Sattva or goodness, Rajas or activity, and Tamas or inertia;
    These three Gunas of mind bind
    The imperishable soul to the body, O Arjuna.


  • Of these, Sattva, being calm,
    Is illuminating and ethical.
    It fetters the embodied being,
    The Jeevaatma or Purusha, by attachment
    To happiness and knowledge, O Arjuna.


  • O Arjuna, know that Rajas
    Is characterized by intense And is born of desire and attachment.
    It binds the Jeeva by attachment
    To the fruits of work.


  • Know, O Arjuna, that Tamas, the deluder of Jeeva,
    Is born of inertia. It binds by ignorance, laziness, and sleep. (14.08)>


  • O Arjuna, Sattva attaches one to happiness,
    Rajas to action, and Tamas to ignorance
    By covering the knowledge.


  • Sattva dominates by suppressing Rajas and Tamas;
    Rajas dominates by suppressing Sattva and Tamas;
    And Tamas dominates by suppressing Sattva and Rajas, O Arjuna.


  • When the lamp of knowledge
    Shines through all the (nine) gates of the body,
    Then it should be known that Sattva is predominant.


  • Greed, activity, restlessness, passion,
    And undertaking of (selfish) works
    Arise when Rajas is predominant, O Arjuna.


  • Ignorance, inactivity, carelessness,
    And delusion arise when Tamas is predominant, O Arjuna.


  • One who dies during the dominance of Sattva
    Goes to heaven, the pure world of the knowers of Supreme.


  • When one dies during the dominance of Rajas,
    One is reborn as attached to action;
    And dying in Tamas, one is reborn as ignorant.


  • The fruit of good action
    Is said to be Saattvika and pure,
    The fruit of Raajasika action is pain,
    And the fruit of Taamasika action is ignorance.


  • Knowledge arises from Sattva;
    Desires arise from Rajas; and negligence,
    Delusion, and ignorance arise from Tamas.


  • Those who are established in Sattva go to heaven;
    Raajasika persons are reborn in the mortal world;
    And the Taamasika persons,
    Abiding in the lowest Guna, go to hell.


  • When visionaries perceive no doer
    Other than the Gunas, and know That
    Which is above and beyond the Gunas;
    Then they attain nirvana.


  • When one transcends the three Gunas
    That originate in the mind;
    One is freed from birth, old age,
    Disease, and death; and attains nirvana.


  • Arjuna said:
    What are the characteristics of those
    Who have transcended the three Gunas,
    And what is their conduct?
    How does one transcend these three Gunas, O Lord Krishna?


  • Krishna said:
    One who neither hates the presence of
    Enlightenment, activity, and delusion
    Nor desires for them when they are absent; and


  • The one who remains like a witness;
    Who is not moved by the Gunas, Thinking that the Gunas only are operating;
    Who stands firm and does not waver; and


  • The one who depends on the Lord
    And is indifferent to pain and pleasure;
    To whom a clod, a stone, and gold are alike;
    To whom the dear and the unfriendly are alike;
    Who is of firm mind; who is calm
    In censure and in praise; and


  • The one who is indifferent
    Ro honor and disgrace; who is the same To friend and foe; who has renounced
    Rhe sense of doership; is said
    To have transcended the Gunas.


  • The one who offers service to Me
    With love and unswerving devotion transcends Gunas,
    And becomes fit for realizing Brahman.


  • Because, I am the abode
    Of the immortal and eternal Brahman,
    Of everlasting Dharma,
    And of the absolute bliss.

    This is the end of Chapter XIV of the Bhagavad Gita
    Entitled "unatrayavibhaga-Yoga,"
    Or "The Yoga of the Distinction of the Three Gunas"