BHAGAVAD GITA · CHAPTER 14
Chapter 14
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- Verse 1: The Supreme Lord said: I shall again declare to you that supreme wisdom, the best of all knowledge, knowing which all the sages have attaine
- Verse 2: By taking refuge in this knowledge, having attained oneness with My divine nature, seekers are not born again at the time of creation, nor a
- Verse 3: My womb is the vast material nature (Mahad Brahma); in that I place the seed of consciousness, and from there, O descendant of Bharata, aris
- Verse 4: Whatever forms are produced in all species of life, O son of Kunti, material nature is their womb, and I am the seed-giving Father.
- Verse 5: Sattva (goodness), Rajas (passion), and Tamas (ignorance)—these three modes born of material nature bind the imperishable soul to the body,
- Verse 6: Among these, Sattva (the mode of goodness), being pure, luminous, and free from disease, binds the soul through attachment to happiness and
- Verse 7: Know Rajas (the mode of passion) to be born of desire and craving, characterized by intense attraction. It binds the embodied soul through a
- Verse 8: But know Tamas (the mode of ignorance) to be born of darkness, deluding all embodied beings. It binds the soul through negligence, indolence
- Verse 9: Sattva attaches one to happiness, Rajas attaches one to action, O Bharata, while Tamas, veiling wisdom, binds one to negligence and error.
- Verse 10: Sometimes Sattva prevails by overpowering Rajas and Tamas; sometimes Rajas prevails over Sattva and Tamas; and sometimes Tamas dominates Sat
- Verse 11: When the light of wisdom shines through all the gates (senses) of this body, then one should know that the mode of goodness (Sattva) is pred
- Verse 12: Greed, restless activity, undertaking of works, intense longing, and desire arise when the mode of passion (Rajas) is predominant, O best of
- Verse 13: Darkness, inertia, negligence, and delusion—these arise when the mode of ignorance (Tamas) is predominant, O child of the Kurus.
- Verse 14: If the embodied soul meets death when Sattva is predominant, it reaches the pure, higher realms of the knowers of the highest truth.
- Verse 15: Meeting death in Rajas, one is reborn among those attached to work; and dying in Tamas, one is reborn in ignorant species.
- Verse 16: The fruit of good action is declared to be pure and Sattvic; the fruit of Rajas is suffering; and the fruit of Tamas is ignorance.
- Verse 17: From Sattva arises wisdom; from Rajas arises greed; and from Tamas arise negligence, delusion, and ignorance.
- Verse 18: Those established in Sattva ascend upward; those in Rajas remain in the middle; and those steeped in the lowest mode, Tamas, sink downward.
- Verse 19: When a seer beholds no agent of action other than the modes of nature, and knows that which is beyond the modes, that seer attains My divine
- Verse 20: When the embodied soul transcends these three modes originating in the body, it is freed from birth, death, old age, and pain, and attains i
- Verse 21: Arjuna said: What are the marks of one who has transcended these three modes, O Lord? What is their conduct, and how does one rise beyond th
- Verse 22: The Supreme Lord said: One who does not hate illumination (Sattva), activity (Rajas), or delusion (Tamas) when they arise, nor craves them w
- Verse 23: ...who remains seated as an unconcerned witness, undisturbed by the modes, thinking, 'It is only the modes that are operating,' and remains
- Verse 24: ...who is equal in pleasure and pain, established in the Self, regarding a clod of earth, a stone, and gold as equal, balanced toward the pl
- Verse 25: ...who is equal in honor and dishonor, equal toward friends and enemies, and who has renounced all selfish undertakings—that person is said
- Verse 26: And one who serves Me with unswerving Bhakti Yoga completely transcends these three modes and becomes eligible for attaining Brahman.
- Verse 27: For I am the foundation of the immortal and imperishable Brahman, of eternal Dharma, and of ultimate, absolute bliss.