guṇatrayavibhāgayoga

MeaningThe Blessed Lord said, "I will again declare to thee that supreme knowledge, the best of all knowledge, having known which all the sages have gone to supreme perfection after this life."

MeaningThose who, having taken refuge in this knowledge, have attained unity with Me, are neither born at the time of creation nor disturbed at the time of dissolution.

MeaningMy womb is the great Brahma; in it I place the germ; thence, O Arjuna, is the birth of all beings.

MeaningWhatever forms are produced, O Arjuna, in any womb whatsoever, the great Brahma is their womb, and I am the seed-giving father.

MeaningThese qualities, O Arjuna, born of Nature, bind fast in the body of the embodied, the indestructible: purity, passion, and inertia.

MeaningOf these, sattva, which is luminous and healthy due to its stainlessness, binds one by attachment to happiness and knowledge, O sinless one.

MeaningKnow, O Arjuna, that Rajas is of the nature of passion, the source of thirst and attachment; it binds fast the embodied one by attachment to action.

MeaningBut know thou Tamas to be born of ignorance, deluding all embodied beings; it binds fast, O Arjuna, through heedlessness, indolence, and sleep.

MeaningSattva attaches to happiness, Rajas to action, O Arjuna, while Tamas, verily shrouding knowledge, attaches to heedlessness.

MeaningNow, O Arjuna, Sattva prevails, having overpowered Rajas and Tamas; then Rajas, having overpowered Sattva and Tamas; and then Tamas, having overpowered Sattva and Rajas.

MeaningWhen the wisdom-light shines through every gate of this body, then it may be known that Sattva is predominant.

MeaningGreed, activity, the undertaking of actions, restlessness, and longing—these arise when Rajas is predominant, O Arjuna.

MeaningDarkness, inertia, carelessness, and delusion—these arise when Tamas is predominant, O Arjuna.

MeaningIf the embodied one meets death when Sattva is predominant, then they attain the spotless worlds of the knowers of the Highest.

MeaningMeeting death in Rajas, he is born among those who are attached to action; and dying in Tamas, he is born in the womb of the thoughtless.

MeaningThey say that the fruit of good action is Sattvic and pure; indeed, the fruit of Rajas is pain, and the fruit of Tamas is ignorance.

MeaningFrom Sattva arises knowledge, and greed from Rajas; heedlessness and delusion arise from Tamas, and also ignorance.

MeaningThose seated in Sattva ascend; those of Rajasic nature dwell in the middle; and those of Tamasic nature, abiding in the function of the lowest Guna, descend.

MeaningWhen the seer beholds no agent other than the Gunas and knows that which is higher than them, he attains to My Being.

MeaningThe embodied one, having crossed beyond these three Gunas from which the body is evolved, is freed from birth, death, decay, and pain, and attains immortality.

MeaningArjuna said, "What are the marks of one who has transcended the three qualities, O Lord? What is their conduct, and how do they go beyond these three qualities?"

MeaningThe Blessed Lord said, "When light, activity, and delusion are present, he does not hate them, nor does he long for them when they are absent.

MeaningHe who, seated like one unconcerned, is not moved by the dualities, and who, knowing that the dualities are active, is self-centered and does not move.

MeaningWho is the same in pleasure and pain, who dwells in the Self, to whom a clod of earth, a stone, and gold are all alike, who is the same to the dear and the unfriendly, who is firm, and to whom censure and praise are one and the same.

MeaningWho is the same in honor and dishonor, the same to friend and foe, abandoning all undertakings, he is said to have transcended the dualities.

MeaningAnd he who serves Me with unwavering devotion, he, crossing beyond the dualities, is fit for becoming Brahman.

MeaningFor I am the abode of Brahman, the immortal, immutable, and everlasting Dharma, and absolute bliss.