OM
14.
Yoga of the Three Gunas
1)
SRI KRISHNA:
I will again declare (to you)
that Supreme Knowledge, the best of all knowledge’s, having known which, all
the sages have attained Supreme Perfection after this life.
2)
They who, having refuge in this ‘knowledge’ have
attained to My being, are neither born at the time of Creation, nor are they
disturbed at the time of dissolution.
3)
My womb is the great Brahman (Mula Prakriti); in
that I place the germ; from which, O Bharata (Arjuna), is the birth of all beings.
4)
Whatever forms are produced, O Kaunteya (Arjuna)
in all the wombs whatsoever, the great Brahma (Mula Prakriti) is their womb,
and I the seed-giving Father.
5)
Purity, Passion and inertia – these qualities
(Gunas), O Mahabaho, (Mighty Armed – Arjuna) born of Prakriti, bind the
Indestructible, Embodied one, fast in the body.
6)
Of these, Sattva, which because of
stainless-ness, is luminous and healthy, (un-obstructive). It binds by
(creating) attachment to ‘happiness’ and attachment to ‘knowldege’, O Sinless
one (Arjuna.)
7)
Know thou Rajas (to be) of the nature of
passion, the source of thirst and attachment; it binds fast, O Kaunteya
(Arjuna), the embodied one, by attachment to action.
8)
But know thou Tamas is born of ignorance,
deluding all embodied beings, it binds fast, O Bharata (Arjuna) by
heedlessness, indolence and sleep.
9)
Sattva attaches to happiness, Rajas to action, O
Bharata (Arjuna) while Tamas verily, shrouding knowledge, attaches to
heedlessness.
10)
Now Sattva rises (prevails), O Bharata (Arjuna)
having over-powered Rajas and inertia (Tamas); Now Rajas, having over-powered
Sattva and inertia (Tamas); and Inertia (Tamas), having over-powered Sattva and
Rajas.
11)
When, through every gate (senses) in this body,
the light-of-intelligence shines, then it may be known that ‘Sattva’ is
predominant.
12)
Greed, activity, undertaking of actions,
restlessness longing – these arise when Rajas is predominant, O Best in the
Bharata family (Arjuna).
13)
Darkness, inertness heedlessness and delusion –
these arise when Tamas is predominant, O descendant-of-Kuru (Arjuna)
14)
If the embodied one meets with death when Sattva
is predominant, then he attains to the spotless worlds of the ‘Knowers of the
Highest.’
15)
Meeting death in Rajas, he is born among those
attached to action; and dying in Tamas, he is born in the womb of the
senseless.
16)
The fruit of good action, they say is Sattvic
and pure; verily, the fruit of Rajas is pain, and the fruit of Tamas is
ignorance.
17)
Knowledge arises from Sattva, Greed from Rajas,
heedlessness, delusion and also ignorance arise from Tamas.
18)
Those who are abiding in Sattva go upwards; the
Rajasic dwell in the middle; and the Tamasic, abiding in the function of the
lowest Guna, go downwards.
19)
When the Seer beholds no agent other than the
Gunas and knows him who is higher than the Gunas, he attains to My Being.
20)
The embodied-one, having crossed beyond these
three Gunas out of which the body is evolved, is freed from birth, death, decay
and pain, and attains to Immortality.
21)
ARJUNA:
What are the marks of him who
has crossed over the three Gunas, O Lord (Krishan)? What is his conduct, and
how does he go beyond these three Gunas?
22)
SRI KRISHNA:
Light activity and delusion,
when present, O Pandava (Arjuna), he hates not, nor longs for them when absent.
23)
He who, seated like one unconcerned, is not
moved by the Gunas, wo knowing that the Gunas operate, is self-centered and
swerves not…
24)
Alike in pleasure and pain; who dwells in the
self; to whom a clod of earth, a precious stone, and gold are alike; to whom
the dear and the not dear are the same; firm; the same in censure and
self-praise…
25)
The same in honor and dishonor; the same to
friend and foe; abandoning all undertakings – he is said to have crossed beyond
the Gunas.
26)
And he, serving Me with unswerving devotion, and
crossing beyond the Gunas is fit to become Brahman.
27)
For I am the Abode of Brahman, the Immortal and
the Immutable, of everlasting Dharma, and Absolute Bliss.
Thus ends the 14th chapter of the Bhagavad Gita.
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