XIV
Knowledge
of the three cosmic qualities or Gunas, namely, Sattwa, Rajas and Tamas is now given
through this discourse. The knowledge of these three Gunas, which hold the entire universe
and all creatures under their sway, is of vital importance to each and everyone for their
progress and happiness in life. Without this knowledge one will be forever bound by
sorrow. In this knowledge we have the secret of success in worldly life as well as in
spiritual life. Therefore, one should acquire this precious knowledge.
Lord
Krishna reveals that these three qualities compose the Cosmic Nature. This Cosmic Nature
is the primal source and origin of the entire creation and all things in it. Hence all
things created are subject to their influence and irresistible power. The individual soul
also is bound to the body by these three qualities present in Cosmic Nature. The Supreme
Being brings about creation through the help of His Prakriti (Nature) endowed with these
threefold qualities.
The highest
of the three qualities is Sattwa. It is pure. It brings about happiness, wisdom and also
illumination. The second quality of Rajas gives rise to passion manifested by intense
attachment and greed. It causes sorrow and suffering. The third, termed Tamas, is the
worst of all. It arises due to ignorance and results in darkness, lethargy and delusion.
Krishna
asks us to diligently endeavour to cast out Tamas from our nature. We should control and
master Rajas, and by holding it in check, wisely divert its power towards good kinds of
activities. Sattwa should be carefully cultivated, developed and conserved in order to
enable us to attain immortality. The realised sage, of course, goes beyond all these
qualities, for, although it is Sattwa that enables him to reach God, even this quality
will bind him if he is attached to it.
The
aspirant should know the symptoms and signs of their presence in his personality and
acquire a knowledge of their subtle workings. Then only can he maintain an unhampered and
smooth progress in all activities of his life, both secular as well as spiritual. Lord
Krishna teaches us this important subject in this discourse from the ninth to the
eighteenth verse. He declares that one who rises beyond all the three Gunas through
spiritual practices, becomes free from birth, death, old age and sorrow, and enjoys
immortality.
In reply to
a question from Arjuna, the blessed Lord describes the marks of one who has risen above
the three Gunas. He states that if one constantly worships Him with exclusive devotion one
will attain the highest divine experience and supreme peace and blessedness.
The Blessed Lord said:
1. I will
again declare (to thee) that supreme knowledge, the best of all knowledge, having known
which all the sages have gone to the supreme perfection after this life.
2. They
who, having taken refuge in this knowledge, attain to unity with Me, are neither born at
the time of creation nor are they disturbed at the time of dissolution.
COMMENTARY:
In this verse it is knowledge of the Supreme Self that is eulogised by the Lord.
3. My womb
is the great Brahma; in that I place the germ; thence, O Arjuna, is the birth of all
beings!
4. Whatever
forms are produced, O Arjuna, in any womb whatsoever, the great Brahma is their womb and I
am the seed-giving father.
5. Purity,
passion and inertia—these qualities, O mighty-armed Arjuna, born of Nature, bind fast
in the body, the embodied, the indestructible!
COMMENTARY:
The three Gunas are present in all human beings. None is free from the operation of
any one of the three qualities. They are not constant. Sometimes Sattwa predominates and
at other times Rajas or Tamas predominates. One should analyse and stand as a witness of
these three qualities.
6. Of
these, Sattwa, which from its stainlessness is luminous and healthy, binds by attachment
to knowledge and to happiness, O sinless one!
7. Know
thou Rajas to be of the nature of passion, the source of thirst (for sensual enjoyment)
and attachment; it binds fast, O Arjuna, the embodied one by attachment to action!
8. But know
thou Tamas to be born of ignorance, deluding all embodied beings; it binds fast, O Arjuna,
by heedlessness, sleep and indolence!
9. Sattwa
attaches to happiness, Rajas to action, O Arjuna, while Tamas, shrouding knowledge,
attaches to heedlessness only!
10. Now
Sattwa prevails, O Arjuna, having overpowered Rajas and Tamas; now Rajas, having
overpowered Sattwa and Tamas; and now Tamas, having overpowered Sattwa and Rajas!
11. When,
through every gate (sense) in this body, the wisdom-light shines, then it may be known
that Sattwa is predominant.
12. Greed,
activity, the undertaking of actions, restlessness, longing—these arise when Rajas is
predominant, O Arjuna!
13.
Darkness, inertness, heedlessness and delusion—these arise when Tamas is predominant,
O Arjuna!
14. If the
embodied one meets with death when Sattwa has become predominant, then he attains to the
spotless worlds of the knowers of the Highest.
15. Meeting
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 senseless.
16. The
fruit of good action, they say, is Sattwic and pure; the fruit of Rajas is pain, and
ignorance is the fruit of Tamas.
17. From
Sattwa arises knowledge, and greed from Rajas; heedlessness and delusion arise from Tamas,
and ignorance also.
18. Those
who are seated in Sattwa proceed 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, knowing that which is higher than them, he
attains to My Being.
COMMENTARY:
The seer knows that the Gunas alone are responsible for all actions and He is distinct
from them.
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.
Arjuna said:
21. What
are the marks of him who has crossed over the three qualities, O Lord? What is his conduct
and how does he go beyond these three qualities?
The Blessed Lord said:
22. Light,
activity and delusion,—when they are present, O Arjuna, he hates not, nor does he
long for them when they are absent!
23. He who,
seated like one unconcerned, is not moved by the qualities, and who, knowing that the
qualities are active, is self-centred and moves not,
24. Alike
in pleasure and pain, who dwells in the Self, to whom a clod of earth, stone and gold are
alike, to whom the dear and the unfriendly are alike, firm, the same in censure and
praise,
25. The
same in honour and dishonour, the same to friend and foe, abandoning all
undertakings—he is said to have crossed the qualities.
26. And he
who serves Me with unswerving devotion, he, crossing beyond the qualities, is fit for
becoming Brahman.
27. For I
am the abode of Brahman, the immortal and the immutable, of everlasting Dharma and of
absolute bliss.
Thus in the
Upanishads of the glorious Bhagavad Gita, the science of the Eternal, the
scripture of Yoga, the dialogue between Sri Krishna and Arjuna, ends the fourteenth
discourse entitled:
“The Yoga of the Division Of the
Three Gunas”