Chapter 1 |
Chapter 2 |
Chapter 3 |
Chapter 4 |
Chapter 5 |
Chapter 6 |
Chapter 7 |
Chapter 8 |
Chapter 9 |
Chapter 10 |
Chapter 11 |
Chapter 12 |
Chapter 13 |
Chapter 14 |
Chapter 15 |
Chapter 16 |
Chapter 17 |
Chapter 18 |
"The Yoga of Classification of the three Gunas."
Sri Krisna said:1 I shall impart to you once more the supreme wisdom, the best of all wisdoms, acquiring which all sages have attained highest perfection, being liberated from this mundane existence.
2 Those, who having acquired this wisdom, have entered into My Being, are not born again at the beginning of creation, and are not tormented during final dissolution.
3 My Prakrti or Nature in her primordial, undeveloped state is the womb of all creatures; in that I place the seed (of consciousness). The birth of all beings follows from this combination of Matter and Spirit, O descendant of Bharata.
4 Of all the bodies that take birth from different wombs, this Primordial Matter is the Mother, and I am the procreating Father, O son of Kunti.
5 The Nature - born qualities of Sattva, Rajas and Tamas firmly tie the imperishable soul to the body, O valiant Arjuna.
6 Of these Sattva, being immaculate, is illuminating and flawless; it binds through self-identification with happiness and wisdom, O sinless Arjuna.
7 Again, know Rajas, which is the nature of passion, as born of cupidity and attachment. It binds the soul through attachment to actions and their fruits, O son of Kunti.
8 And know Tamas, the deluder of all embodied beings, as born of ignorance, it binds the soul through error, sloth and sleep, Arjuna.
9 Arjuna, Sattva urges one to happiness, and Rajas to action; while Tamas, clouding wisdom, urges one to error.
10 Sattva prevails suppressing Rajas and Tamas; Rajas prevails suppressing Sattva and Tamas; and Tamas prevails suppressing Sattva and Rajas, O descendent of Bharata.
11 When in this body, as well as in the mind and senses, perspicuity and discernment make their appearance, then Sattva should be regarded as predominate.
12 With the preponderance of Rajas, O chief of Bharata, greed, activity, undertaking of actions with a selfish motive, restlessness and a thirst for enjoyment make their appearance.
13 With the growth of Tamas, Arjuna, obtuseness, inactivity, carelessness and stupor, - all these appear in the mind and senses.
14 When a person dies during the preponderance of Sattva, he obtains the faultless worlds (heaven, etc.) gained by men of noble deeds.
15 Dying when Rajas is in the ascendant, he is born among those attached to action; likewise expiring during the predominance of Tamas, he is born in the womb of stupid creatures.
16 It is said that the fruit of Sattvic actions is good and faultless (in the shape of happiness, wisdom, dispassion, etc.), the fruit of Rajas is sorrow and the fruit of Tamas, ignorance.
17 Wisdom arises from Sattva, and greed, undoubtedly from Rajas; likewise error, stupor and also ignorance arise from Tamas.
18 Those who are established in Sattva rise to higher regions (such as heaven, etc.); those of a Rajasic nature stay in the middle (ie., in this mortal world); while those of a Tamasic temperament, rooted in error, sloth, sleep, etc, born of Tamas, descend into the wombs of insects, birds and beasts, or into the infernal regions.
19 When the seer does not see any agent other that the three Gunas and knows Me, who stands beyond these Gunas, he enters into My Being.
20 Having transcended the three Gunas, which have produced the body, and freed from birth, death, old age and sorrow, he enjoys immortality.
Arjuna said:
21 What are the marks of him who has risen above the three Gunas, and what is his conduct? And how, Lord, does he rise above the three Gunas?
Sri Krisna said:
22 Arjuna, he who feels no aversion to light (which is born of Sattva) or activity (which is born of Rajas) or stupor (which is born of Tamas), when they are present, and does not long for them when they are absent.
23 He who, sitting like a witness, is not moved by the Gunas and who knowing that only 'the Gunas act', remains firmly estab¬lished in God, and is never shaken from that state.
24 He who takes sorrow and joy alike, is established in the self, regards a clod of earth, a stone and a piece of gold as equal in value, receives both pleasant and unpleasant things in the same spirit, and views censure and praise alike.
25 He who is alike to honour and ignominy, is equal to friend and foe, and has renouced the sense of doership in all undertak¬ings, he is said to have risen above the three Gunas.
26 And he who constantly worships Me through the Yoga of exclusive devotion, transcending these three Gunas he becomes eligible for attaining Brahma.
27 For, I am the abode of the imperishable Brahma, of immortal¬ity of ever - lasting virtue and of unending bliss.
