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The Bhagavad Gita
Chapter XIV - The Yoga of the Distinction of the Three Gunas

  1. Krishna said:
    I shall further explain to you
    That supreme knowledge, the best of all knowledge,
    Knowing that all the sages have attained
    Supreme perfection after this life.


  2. Those who have taken refuge
    In this knowledge attain unity with Me,
    And are neither born at the time of creation
    Nor afflicted at the time of dissolution.


  3. O Arjuna, My Prakriti is the womb
    Wherein I place the seed from which
    All beings are born.


  4. Whatever forms are produced
    In all different wombs, O Arjuna,
    The great Prakriti is their mother,
    And the Purusha is the father.


  5. Sattva or goodness, Rajas or activity, and Tamas or inertia;
    These three Gunas of mind bind
    The imperishable soul to the body, O Arjuna.


  6. Of these, Sattva, being calm,
    Is illuminating and ethical.
    It fetters the embodied being,
    The Jeevaatma or Purusha, by attachment
    To happiness and knowledge, O Arjuna.


  7. O Arjuna, know that Rajas
    Is characterized by intense And is born of desire and attachment.
    It binds the Jeeva by attachment
    To the fruits of work.


  8. Know, O Arjuna, that Tamas, the deluder of Jeeva,
    Is born of inertia. It binds by ignorance, laziness, and sleep. (14.08)>


  9. O Arjuna, Sattva attaches one to happiness,
    Rajas to action, and Tamas to ignorance
    By covering the knowledge.


  10. Sattva dominates by suppressing Rajas and Tamas;
    Rajas dominates by suppressing Sattva and Tamas;
    And Tamas dominates by suppressing Sattva and Rajas, O Arjuna.


  11. When the lamp of knowledge
    Shines through all the (nine) gates of the body,
    Then it should be known that Sattva is predominant.


  12. Greed, activity, restlessness, passion,
    And undertaking of (selfish) works
    Arise when Rajas is predominant, O Arjuna.


  13. Ignorance, inactivity, carelessness,
    And delusion arise when Tamas is predominant, O Arjuna.


  14. One who dies during the dominance of Sattva
    Goes to heaven, the pure world of the knowers of Supreme.


  15. When one dies during the dominance of Rajas,
    One is reborn as attached to action;
    And dying in Tamas, one is reborn as ignorant.


  16. The fruit of good action
    Is said to be Saattvika and pure,
    The fruit of Raajasika action is pain,
    And the fruit of Taamasika action is ignorance.


  17. Knowledge arises from Sattva;
    Desires arise from Rajas; and negligence,
    Delusion, and ignorance arise from Tamas.


  18. Those who are established in Sattva go to heaven;
    Raajasika persons are reborn in the mortal world;
    And the Taamasika persons,
    Abiding in the lowest Guna, go to hell.


  19. When visionaries perceive no doer
    Other than the Gunas, and know That
    Which is above and beyond the Gunas;
    Then they attain nirvana.


  20. When one transcends the three Gunas
    That originate in the mind;
    One is freed from birth, old age,
    Disease, and death; and attains nirvana.


  21. Arjuna said:
    What are the characteristics of those
    Who have transcended the three Gunas,
    And what is their conduct?
    How does one transcend these three Gunas, O Lord Krishna?


  22. Krishna said:
    One who neither hates the presence of
    Enlightenment, activity, and delusion
    Nor desires for them when they are absent; and


  23. The one who remains like a witness;
    Who is not moved by the Gunas, Thinking that the Gunas only are operating;
    Who stands firm and does not waver; and


  24. The one who depends on the Lord
    And is indifferent to pain and pleasure;
    To whom a clod, a stone, and gold are alike;
    To whom the dear and the unfriendly are alike;
    Who is of firm mind; who is calm
    In censure and in praise; and


  25. The one who is indifferent
    Ro honor and disgrace; who is the same To friend and foe; who has renounced
    Rhe sense of doership; is said
    To have transcended the Gunas.


  26. The one who offers service to Me
    With love and unswerving devotion transcends Gunas,
    And becomes fit for realizing Brahman.


  27. Because, I am the abode
    Of the immortal and eternal Brahman,
    Of everlasting Dharma,
    And of the absolute bliss.

This is the end of Chapter XIV of the Bhagavad Gita
Entitled "unatrayavibhaga-Yoga,"
Or "The Yoga of the Distinction of the Three Gunas"