Chapter 14. "Distinction of the Three Gunas".
The Blessed Lord said:
1. Now I shall again declare unto thee that supreme wisdom, which is above all wisdom, by knowing which all the Sages after this life attain to the highest perfection.
2. Abiding by this wisdom, and having attained to My Being, neither do they come forth in evolution nor are they affected in involution.
3. O descendant of Bharata, the great Prakriti is My womb; in that I place the seed, from thence is the birth of all beings.
4. O son of Kunti, whatever forms are produced in all the wombs, the great Prakriti is the womb and I am the seed-giving Father.
5. O mighty-armed, Sattwa, Rajas, Tamas, these Gunas (qualities), born of Prakriti, bind the immutable, embodied soul in the body.
6. O sinless one, of these (Gunas) Sattwa, being transparent, luminous and free from evil, binds (the embodied) by attachment to happiness and attachment to knowledge.
7. O son of Kunti, know thou Rajas to be of the nature of passion, giving rise to thirst (for pleasure) and attachment. It binds the embodied by attachment to action.
8. O Bharata (Arjuna), know thou Tamas to be born of ignorance; it deludes all embodied beings and binds by false perception, indolence and sleep.
9. O bharata, Sattwa attaches one to happiness; Rajas to action; while Tamas, covering wisdom, attaches one to false perception.
10. O Bharata (sometimes) Sattwa predominates over Rajas and Tamas; (sometimes) Rajas predominates over Sattwa and Tamas; and (sometimes) Tamas over Sattwa and Rajas.
11. When through all the senses of this body the light of understanding shines forth, then it is to be known that Sattwa is predominant.
12. O Prince of the Bharata race, greed, (excessive) activity, enterprise, restlessness, longing, these prevail when Rajas is predominant.
13. O descendant of Kuru, darkness, inertia, false perception, and also delusion prevail when Tamas is predominant.
14. If the embodied meets with death when Sattwa is predominant, then he attains the spotless regions of the knowers of teh Highest.
15. Meeting with death in Rajas, one is born among those attached to action; and dying in Tamas, one is born in the wombs of senseless beings.
16. The fruit of good deeds is declared to be Sattwika and pure; the fruit of Rajas (passionate deeds) is pain; and ignorance is the fruit of Tamas.
17. Wisdom is born of Sattwa; greed, of Rajas; false perception, delusion and ignorance arise from Tamas.
18. The dwellers of Sattwa go upward; the Rajasic (of passionate natures) stay in the middle; and the Tamasic, abiding in the functions of the lowest Guna, go downward.
19. When the Seer beholds no other agent than the Gunas, and knows also That which is higher than the Gunas, then he attains to My Being.
20. The embodied, having gone beyond these three Gunas, out of which the body is evolved, is liberated from birth, death, decay and pain, and attains to immortality.
Arjuna said:
21. O Lord, what are the signs of him who has gone beyond the three Gunas? What are his characteristics and how does he go beyond these three Gunas?
The Blessed Lord said:
22. O Pandava, he who neither hates the presence of illumination (Sattwa), activity (Rajas) or delusion (Tamas), nor craves for them when they are absent;
23. He who is seated unconcerned (like a witness) and is not moved by the Gunas, who is established and unshaken, knowing that the Gunas alone operate;
24. He who is alike in pleasure and pain; self-possessed; regarding alke a lump of earth, a stone and gold; who is the same in pleasant and unpleasant,in praise and blame, and steady;
25. He who is alike in honor and dishonor, the same to friend and foe, giving up all (selfish) undertakings, he is said to have crossed beyond the Gunas.
26. And he who, crossing over these Gunas, serves me with unwavering devotion, becomes fit to attain oneness with Brahman.
27. For I am the Abode of Brahman, the Immutable, the Immortal, the eternal Dharma and Absolute Bliss.
Here ends the Fourteenth Chapter called "Distinction of the Three Gunas"
The Blessed Lord said:
1. Now I shall again declare unto thee that supreme wisdom, which is above all wisdom, by knowing which all the Sages after this life attain to the highest perfection.
2. Abiding by this wisdom, and having attained to My Being, neither do they come forth in evolution nor are they affected in involution.
3. O descendant of Bharata, the great Prakriti is My womb; in that I place the seed, from thence is the birth of all beings.
4. O son of Kunti, whatever forms are produced in all the wombs, the great Prakriti is the womb and I am the seed-giving Father.
5. O mighty-armed, Sattwa, Rajas, Tamas, these Gunas (qualities), born of Prakriti, bind the immutable, embodied soul in the body.
6. O sinless one, of these (Gunas) Sattwa, being transparent, luminous and free from evil, binds (the embodied) by attachment to happiness and attachment to knowledge.
7. O son of Kunti, know thou Rajas to be of the nature of passion, giving rise to thirst (for pleasure) and attachment. It binds the embodied by attachment to action.
8. O Bharata (Arjuna), know thou Tamas to be born of ignorance; it deludes all embodied beings and binds by false perception, indolence and sleep.
9. O bharata, Sattwa attaches one to happiness; Rajas to action; while Tamas, covering wisdom, attaches one to false perception.
10. O Bharata (sometimes) Sattwa predominates over Rajas and Tamas; (sometimes) Rajas predominates over Sattwa and Tamas; and (sometimes) Tamas over Sattwa and Rajas.
11. When through all the senses of this body the light of understanding shines forth, then it is to be known that Sattwa is predominant.
12. O Prince of the Bharata race, greed, (excessive) activity, enterprise, restlessness, longing, these prevail when Rajas is predominant.
13. O descendant of Kuru, darkness, inertia, false perception, and also delusion prevail when Tamas is predominant.
14. If the embodied meets with death when Sattwa is predominant, then he attains the spotless regions of the knowers of teh Highest.
15. Meeting with death in Rajas, one is born among those attached to action; and dying in Tamas, one is born in the wombs of senseless beings.
16. The fruit of good deeds is declared to be Sattwika and pure; the fruit of Rajas (passionate deeds) is pain; and ignorance is the fruit of Tamas.
17. Wisdom is born of Sattwa; greed, of Rajas; false perception, delusion and ignorance arise from Tamas.
18. The dwellers of Sattwa go upward; the Rajasic (of passionate natures) stay in the middle; and the Tamasic, abiding in the functions of the lowest Guna, go downward.
19. When the Seer beholds no other agent than the Gunas, and knows also That which is higher than the Gunas, then he attains to My Being.
20. The embodied, having gone beyond these three Gunas, out of which the body is evolved, is liberated from birth, death, decay and pain, and attains to immortality.
Arjuna said:
21. O Lord, what are the signs of him who has gone beyond the three Gunas? What are his characteristics and how does he go beyond these three Gunas?
The Blessed Lord said:
22. O Pandava, he who neither hates the presence of illumination (Sattwa), activity (Rajas) or delusion (Tamas), nor craves for them when they are absent;
23. He who is seated unconcerned (like a witness) and is not moved by the Gunas, who is established and unshaken, knowing that the Gunas alone operate;
24. He who is alike in pleasure and pain; self-possessed; regarding alke a lump of earth, a stone and gold; who is the same in pleasant and unpleasant,in praise and blame, and steady;
25. He who is alike in honor and dishonor, the same to friend and foe, giving up all (selfish) undertakings, he is said to have crossed beyond the Gunas.
26. And he who, crossing over these Gunas, serves me with unwavering devotion, becomes fit to attain oneness with Brahman.
27. For I am the Abode of Brahman, the Immutable, the Immortal, the eternal Dharma and Absolute Bliss.
Here ends the Fourteenth Chapter called "Distinction of the Three Gunas"
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Text source: Srimad-Bhagavad-Gita. Translated by Swami Paramananda.
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