गुणत्रयविभागयोग

परं भूयः प्रवक्ष्यामि ज्ञानानां ज्ञानमुत्तमम् |

The Blessed Lord said I shall speak again of the supreme Knowledge, the best of all knowledges, by realizing which all the contemplatives reached the highest Perfection from here.

सर्गेऽपि नोपजायन्ते प्रलये न व्यथन्ति च ||१४-२||

Those who attain identity with Me by resorting of this Knowledge are not born even during creation, nor do they suffer pain during dissolution.

सम्भवः सर्वभूतानां ततो भवति भारत ||१४-३||

My womb is the great-sustainer. In that I place the seed. From that, O scion of the Bharata dynasty, occurs the birth of all things.

तासां ब्रह्म महद्योनिरहं बीजप्रदः पिता ||१४-४||

O son of Kunti, whatever forms are born from all the wombs, of them the great-sustainer is the womb; I am the father who deposits the seed.

निबध्नन्ति महाबाहो देहे देहिनमव्ययम् ||१४-५||

O mighty-armed one, the alities, viz sattva, rajas and tamas, born of Nature, being the immutable embodies being to the body.

सुखसङ्गेन बध्नाति ज्ञानसङ्गेन चानघ ||१४-६||

Among them, sattva, being pure, [Nirmala, pure-transparent, i.e., capable of resisting any form of ignorance, and hence as illuminator, i.e.a revealer of Consciousness.] is an illuminator and is harmless. O sinless one, it binds through attachment to happiness and attachment to knowledge.

तन्निबध्नाति कौन्तेय कर्मसङ्गेन देहिनम् ||१४-७||

Know rajas to be of the nature of passion, born of hankering and attachment. O son of Kunti, that binds the embodied one through attachment to action.

प्रमादालस्यनिद्राभिस्तन्निबध्नाति भारत ||१४-८||

On the other hand, know tamas, which deludes all embodied beings, to be born of ignorance. O scion of the Bharata dynasty, that binds through inadvertence, laziness and sleep.

ज्ञानमावृत्य तु तमः प्रमादे सञ्जयत्युत ||१४-९||

O scion of the Bharata dynasty, sattva attaches one to happiness, rajas to action, while tamas, covering up knowledge, leads to inadvertence also.

रजः सत्त्वं तमश्चैव तमः सत्त्वं रजस्तथा ||१४-१०||

O scion of the Bharata dynasty, sattva increases by subduing rajas and tamas, rajas by overpowering sattva and tamas, and tamas by dominating over sattva and rajas.

ज्ञानं यदा तदा विद्याद्विवृद्धं सत्त्वमित्युत ||१४-११||

When the illumination that is knowledge radiates in this body through all the doors (of the senses), then one should know that sattva has increased greatly.

रजस्येतानि जायन्ते विवृद्धे भरतर्षभ ||१४-१२||

O best of the Bharata dynasty, when rajas becomes predominant, these come into being: avarice, movement, undertaking of actions, unrest and hankering.

तमस्येतानि जायन्ते विवृद्धे कुरुनन्दन ||१४-१३||

O descendant of the Kuru dynasty, when tamas predominates these surely [i.e. without exception.-M.S.] come into being: non-discrimination and inactivity, inadvertence and delusion.

तदोत्तमविदां लोकानमलान्प्रतिपद्यते ||१४-१४||

When an embodied one undergoes death while sattva is exclusively prodominant, then he attains the taintless worlds of those who know the highest (entities).

तथा प्रलीनस्तमसि मूढयोनिषु जायते ||१४-१५||

When one dies while rajas predominates, he is born among people attached to activity. Similarly, when one dies while tamas predominates, he takes birth among the stupid species.

रजसस्तु फलं दुःखमज्ञानं तमसः फलम् ||१४-१६||

They say that the result of good work is pure and is born of sattva. But the result of rajas is sorrow; the result of tamas is ignorance.

प्रमादमोहौ तमसो भवतोऽज्ञानमेव च ||१४-१७||

From sattva is born knowledge [Knowledge acired through the sense-organs.], and from rajas, verily, avarice. From tamas are born inadvertence and delusion as also ignorance, to be sure.

जघन्यगुणवृत्तिस्था अधो गच्छन्ति तामसाः ||१४-१८||

People who conform to sattva go higher up; those who conform to rajas stay in the middle; those who conform to tamas, who conform to the actions of the lowest ality, go down.

गुणेभ्यश्च परं वेत्ति मद्भावं सोऽधिगच्छति ||१४-१९||

When the witness sees none other than the alities as the agent, and knows that which is superior [i.e. different from.] to the alities, he attains My nature.

जन्ममृत्युजरादुःखैर्विमुक्तोऽमृतमश्नुते ||१४-२०||

Having transcended these three alities which are the origin of the body, the embodied one, becoming free from birth, death, old age and sorrows, experiences Immortality.

कैर्लिङ्गैस्त्रीन्गुणानेतानतीतो भवति प्रभो |

Arjuna said O Lord, by what signs is one (known) who has gone beyond these three alities? What is his behaviour, and how does he transcend these three alities?

प्रकाशं च प्रवृत्तिं च मोहमेव च पाण्डव |

The Blessed Lord said O son of Pandu, he neither dislikes illumination (knowledge), activity and delusion when they appear, nor does he long for them when they disappear.

गुणा वर्तन्त इत्येवं योऽवतिष्ठति नेङ्गते ||१४-२३||

He who, sitting like one indifferent, is not distracted by the three alities; he who, thinking that the alities alone act, remains firm and surely does not move;

तुल्यप्रियाप्रियो धीरस्तुल्यनिन्दात्मसंस्तुतिः ||१४-२४||

He to whom sorrow and happiness are alike, who is established in his own Self, to whom a lump of earth, iron and gold are the same, to whom the agreeable and the disagreeable are the same, who is wise, to whom censure and his own praise are the same;

सर्वारम्भपरित्यागी गुणातीतः स उच्यते ||१४-२५||

He who is the same under honour and dishonour, who is eally disposed both towards the side of the friend and of the foe, who has renounced all enterprise,-he is said to have gone beyond the alities.

स गुणान्समतीत्यैतान्ब्रह्मभूयाय कल्पते ||१४-२६||

And he who serves Me through the unswerving Yoga of Devotion, he, having gone beyond these alities, alifies for becoming Brahman.

शाश्वतस्य च धर्मस्य सुखस्यैकान्तिकस्य च ||१४-२७||

For I am the Abode of Brahman-the indestructible and immutable, the eternal, the Dharma and absolute Bliss.