Srimad Bhagavad Gita

An Original Translation from the Sanskrit by Jagannatha Om Prakash aka John of AllFaith (© 1993)

Gunatraya Vibhaga Yoga
The Yoga Of The Three Qualities of Material Nature And Their Divisions

14:1: Sri Krishna [the Blessed One] said: I will further describe the highest, most Supreme knowledge, knowing which, all the sages have gone forth and attained incomparable perfection.

14:2: By taking refuge in this knowledge and attaining a nature like My own, one is not born at the time of creation nor disturbed even at the time of the dissolution of the material universes.

14:3: From My womb, which is the great Brahman [Creator of material nature], all living entities are conceived, impregnated, and born, O descendant of Bharata.

14:4: O Arjuna [Son of Kunti], Brahman [material nature] is the great womb from which all species are born, and I am the seed-giving Father.

14:5: The material qualities of goodness (sattva), passion (raja), and ignorance (tamas) are born of material nature. O mighty-armed one, they bind the imperishable embodied being to the body.

14:6: Of these, the quality of sattva (goodness), because of its purity, is luminous and healthy. It binds, O Arjuna [sinless one], through attachment to happiness and knowledge.

14:7: Know the quality of raja (passion), which is composed of desires born of lust and attachment, to bind the embodied being who is attached to fruitive activities, O Arjuna [Son of Kunti].

14:8: Know the quality of tamas (ignorance), which is born of ignorance, deludes all embodied beings. It binds them through negligence, apathy, and sleep, O Ajuna [descendant of Bharata].

14:9: The quality of sattva binds one to happiness, the quality of rajas to fruitive activities, and the quality of tamas envelops knowledge, binding one to negligence and apathy, O Arjuna [descendant of Bharata].

14:10: Sometimes the quality of goodness overpowers the qualities of passion and ignorance, Arjuna [descendant of Bharata]. At other times, the quality of passion surpasses goodness and ignorance, while at yet other times ignorance excels in goodness and passion.

14:11: When the birth of knowledge illuminates every gate in the body, know that the quality of goodness (sattva) has increased.

14:12: Greed, activity, endeavor, mischief, and desire are the manifestations of the augmented quality of passion (raja), O Best of the Bharatas.

14:13: Darkness, inactivity, negligence, and delusion. These are the manifestations of the augmented quality of ignorance (tamas), O Child of Kuru.

14:14: If the embodied living entity dies with the quality of goodness predominating, they attain the undefiled worlds of those who know the supreme.

14:15: One who dies in the quality of passion is born in the association of fruitive workers. Those who die in the state of ignorance are reborn in the wombs of fools.

14:16: Pious activities are said to be the pure fruit of sattva. Suffering is the fruit of raja, and ignorance is the fruit of tamas.

14:17: From the quality of goodness, knowledge is born; from the quality of passion, greed arises; and from the quality of ignorance, negligence, and delusion are born.

14:18: Those who abide in the quality of goodness are elevated, those who abide in the quality of passion dwell in the middle, and those who abide in the quality of ignorance, the basest of all material qualities, are degraded.

14:19: When the seer beholds no other doer of activities than these qualities of material nature and knows My nature to be superior to these material qualities, that seer attains Me.

14:20: Crossing beyond these three qualities, which are produced from the body, the embodied entity is freed from birth, death, old age, and affliction and attains the nectar of immortality.

14:21: Arjuna inquired: O my God, what are the distinguishing marks of one who has transcended the three qualities of material nature? How does such a person act? How does one transcend the three gunas?

14:22-25: Sri Krishna [the Blessed One] replied: O Arjuna [Son of Pandu], one who does not hate illumination, engagements, and delusion when beginning, nor desires them when concluding, who lives detached, yet remains firm in the presence of the gunas, who are not deviated by them, and who continue to function without beings taken, who is equipoise in suffering and happiness, who abides in the Self, who views a lump of dirt, a stone and gold equally, who is equal to friends and foes alike, who is sober and dispassionate in the face of approach or personal praise, who is objective in honor and dishonor, who is fair to friends and foes, and who renounces all undertakings - such a one is said to have transcended the qualities of material nature.

14:26: One who is steady in bhakti-yoga and serves Me, and who transcends the qualities of material nature, is fit for attaining Brahman realization.

14:27: I am the abode of the immortal and immutable Brahman, the source of eternal religious and moral duties that bring absolute happiness.

Here Ends Chapter Fourteen

Go to: Chapter Fifteen.

Go to: Notes and References.

Go to: Cover Page.

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