Chapter Fourteen

Verse 1

śrī-bhagavān uvāca
paraṁ bhūyaḥ pravakṣyāmi
jñānānāṁ jñānam uttamam
yaj jñātvā munayaḥ sarve
parāṁ siddhim ito gatāḥ

Çré Bhagavän said: I shall impart to you further knowledge which transcends all other knowledge. The sages who have understood and followed these instructions have all attained ultimate liberation from bondage to the body.

Verse 2

idaṁ jñānam upāśritya
mama sādharmyam āgatāḥ
sarge ’pi nopajāyante
pralaye na vyathanti ca

Taking refuge of this knowledge, the sages attain a transcendental nature similar to Mine. Thus they do not take birth again, even at the time of creation, nor do they experience death at the time of devastation.

Verse 3

mama yonir mahad brahma
tasmin garbhaṁ dadhāmy aham
sambhavaḥ sarva-bhūtānāṁ
tato bhavati bhārata

O descendant of Bharata, the immense sum-total of the material reality (brahma) is My womb, which I impregnate with the seeds of the living entities, who are marginal by nature. It is from here that all souls take birth.

Verse 4

sarva-yoniṣu kaunteya
mūrtayaḥ sambhavanti yāḥ
tāsāṁ brahma mahad yonir
ahaṁ bīja-pradaḥ pitā

O son of Kunté, the mahad-brahma (immense material nature) is the mother from whose womb all species of life, such as demigods and animals, are born, and I am the seed-giving father.

Verse 5

sattvaṁ rajas tama iti
guṇāḥ prakṛti-sambhavāḥ
nibadhnanti mahā-bāho
dehe dehinam avyayam

O mighty-armed Arjuna, the three qualities born of material nature – goodness, passion and ignorance – bind the immutable living entity who dwells within the body.

Verse 6

tatra sattvaṁ nirmalatvāt
prakāśakam anāmayam
sukha-saṅgena badhnāti
jñāna-saṅgena cānagha

O sinless one, of these three modes, the quality of goodness is illuminating and free from vice due to its purity. It binds the living entity by attachment to happiness and knowledge.

Verse 7

rajo rāgātmakaṁ viddhi
tṛṣṇā-saṅga-samudbhavam
tan nibadhnāti kaunteya
karma-saṅgena dehinam

O son of Kunté, know that the quality of passion manifests through attachment to sense objects and an intense hankering to enjoy them. It binds the embodied living entity by attachment to fruitive actions.

Verse 8

tamas tv ajñāna-jaṁ viddhi
mohanaṁ sarva-dehinām
pramādālasya-nidrābhis
tan nibadhnāti bhārata

O Bhärata, know, however, that the quality of darkness, which is born of ignorance, is the cause of delusion for all living entities. It binds the embodied soul by carelessness, laziness and sleep.

Verse 9

sattvaṁ sukhe sañjayati
rajaḥ karmaṇi bhārata
jñānam āvṛtya tu tamaḥ
pramāde sañjayaty uta

O Bhärata, the quality of goodness generates attachment to happiness, and the quality of passion generates attachment to fruitive work, but the quality of ignorance covers all knowledge and binds one to madness.

Verse 10

rajas tamaś cābhibhūya
sattvaṁ bhavati bhārata
rajaḥ sattvaṁ tamaś caiva
tamaḥ sattvaṁ rajas tathā

O descendant of Bharata, when the quality of goodness arises, it overwhelms passion and ignorance. When the quality of passion appears, it subdues goodness and ignorance, and when the quality of ignorance manifests, it overpowers both goodness and passion.

Verse 11

sarva-dvāreṣu dehe ’smin
prakāśa upajāyate
jñānaṁ yadā tadā vidyād
vivṛddhaṁ sattvam ity uta

When all the gates of the body – the knowledge-acquiring senses such as the ears and nose – are illuminated by the awakening of true knowledge of sense objects, and when signs of such happiness manifest, one should know for certain that the mode of goodness is predominating.

Verse 12

lobhaḥ pravṛttir ārambhaḥ
karmaṇām aśamaḥ spṛhā
rajasy etāni jāyante
vivṛddhe bharatarṣabha

O best of the Bharata dynasty, when the quality of passion becomes prominent, certain symptoms appear: intense greed, profuse activity, fervent endeavour for fruitive undertakings, dissatisfaction with the results of one’s work and constant hankering for sense pleasure.

Verse 13

aprakāśo ’pravṛttiś ca
pramādo moha eva ca
tamasy etāni jāyante
vivṛddhe kuru-nandana

O descendant of the Kuru dynasty, a predominance of the quality of ignorance gives rise to a lack of discrimination, as well as to apathy, madness and illusion.

Verse 14

yadā sattve pravṛddhe tu
pralayaṁ yāti deha-bhṛt
tadottama-vidāṁ lokān
amalān pratipadyate

When a person leaves his body under the predominance of the mode of goodness (sattva-guëa), he attains the pure, higher planets, which are the abodes of great sages who are worshippers of Hiraëyagarbha, and which are free from the modes of passion and ignorance.

Verse 15

rajasi pralayaṁ gatvā
karma-saṅgiṣu jāyate
tathā pralīnas tamasi
mūḍha-yoniṣu jāyate

One who gives up the body when the mode of passion is predominant takes a human birth among those attached to fruitive work, while one who dies under the predominance of the mode of ignorance takes birth among animals and other such ignorant species.

Verse 16

karmaṇaḥ sukṛtasyāhuḥ
sāttvikaṁ nirmalaṁ phalam
rajasas tu phalaṁ duḥkham
ajñānaṁ tamasaḥ phalam

The wise say that pious action in the mode of goodness gives blissful and pure results. Action in the mode of passion incurs only misery, and the sole result of action in the mode of ignorance is ignorance.

Verse 17

sattvāt sañjāyate jñānaṁ
rajaso lobha eva ca
pramāda-mohau tamaso
bhavato ’jñānam eva ca

Knowledge is born from the mode of goodness, while the mode of passion gives rise to greed. Carelessness, delusion and ignorance are the products of the mode of ignorance.

Verse 18

ūrdhvaṁ gacchanti sattva-sthā
madhye tiṣṭhanti rājasāḥ
jaghanya-guṇa-vṛtti-sthā
adho gacchanti tāmasāḥ

Those situated in the mode of goodness go to the higher celestial planets. Those in the mode of passion remain as human beings within the Earth planet, and those in the mode of ignorance, being absorbed in laziness, madness and so forth, descend to the lower planets.

Verse 19

nānyaṁ guṇebhyaḥ kartāraṁ
yadā draṣṭānupaśyati
guṇebhyaś ca paraṁ vetti
mad-bhāvaṁ so ’dhigacchati

When the living entity does not see any agent of action besides the three modes of material nature, and when he realizes the spirit soul to be transcendental to those modes, he fully attains pure devotion to Me.

Verse 20

guṇān etān atītya trīn
dehī deha-samudbhavān
janma-mṛtyu-jarā-duḥkhair
vimukto ’mṛtam aśnute

After transcending these three binding qualities, which are the cause of the material body, the embodied living entity attains freedom from the bondage of birth, death, old age and other miseries, and he attains liberation.

Verse 21

arjuna uvāca
kair liṅgais trīn guṇān etān
atīto bhavati prabho
kim-ācāraḥ kathaṁ caitāṁs
trīn guṇān ativartate

Arjuna inquired: O Lord, what are the symptoms of one who is transcendental to these three binding forces? How does he behave? And how does he transcend the modes?

Verses 22–25

śrī-bhagavān uvāca
prakāśaṁ ca pravṛttiṁ ca
moham eva ca pāṇḍava
na dveṣṭi sampravṛttāni
na nivṛttāni kāṅkṣati

udāsīna-vad āsīno
guṇair yo na vicālyate
guṇā vartanta ity evaṁ
yo ’vatiṣṭhati neṅgate

sama-duḥkha-sukhaḥ sva-sthaḥ
sama-loṣṭāśma-kāñcanaḥ
tulya-priyāpriyo dhīras
tulya-nindātma-saṁstutiḥ

mānāpamānayos tulyas
tulyo mitrāri-pakṣayoḥ
sarvārambha-parityāgī
guṇātītaḥ sa ucyate

Çré Bhagavän said: O son of Päëòu, a person who is transcendental to the three modes of material nature does not hate illumination, activity and delusion when they occur nor does he long for them to cease. Therefore, as if indifferent to and unmoved by the actions of the three modes such as happiness and misery, he knows that it is the modes alone that are active. He remains undisturbed and even-minded, he is always situated in his svarüpa, and he considers dirt, stone and gold to be the same. He maintains his equilibrium amidst pleasant and unpleasant circumstances, he is intelligent, and he is equipoised in both fame and defamation, honour and dishonour. He treats friend and foe equally, and he renounces all actions except those required to maintain the body.

Verse 26

māṁ ca yo ’vyabhicāreṇa
bhakti-yogena sevate
sa guṇān samatītyaitān
brahma-bhūyāya kalpate

One who renders service with one-pointed devotion to Me, in My form as Çyämasundara, can transcend these three binding influences of material nature and become qualified to realize brahma, My spiritual nature.

Verse 27

brahmaṇo hi pratiṣṭhāham
amṛtasyāvyayasya ca
śāśvatasya ca dharmasya
sukhasyaikāntikasya ca

I alone am the basis of that undifferentiated, impersonal brahma and the sole refuge of everlasting immortality, eternal dharma and the transcendental bliss of prema arising from one-pointed, pure devotion.