Sacred Scripture / Chapter 14
27 published verses from Srimad Bhagavad Gita (गुणत्रयविभागयोगः). The Yoga of Gunatraya Vibhaga Yoga. Krishna introduces liberating knowledge and describes the generation of beings through the great womb and the divine seed. Sattva, rajas and tamas are named as modes of prakriti that bind the embodied self. Their differing attachments, shifting predominance, recognizable signs and traditional consequences are explained. The teaching then turns from observing the gunas to knowing what lies beyond them. Arjuna asks for the signs, conduct and method of transcendence. Krishna describes freedom from craving and aversion, witness-like steadiness, equanimity and renunciation. Unwavering bhakti yoga leads beyond the gunas, and the chapter closes with Krishna as the foundation of Brahman, eternal dharma and absolute happiness.
Explore original Sanskrit, word-by-word padartha, trilingual translations, commentary, reflections, and modern life applications.
27 verses
Verse 14.1
paraṃ bhūyaḥ pravakṣyāmi jñānānāṃ jñānamuttamam | yajjñātvā munayaḥ sarve parāṃ siddhimito gatāḥ ||1||
The Lord said: I will again explain the highest knowledge, the finest among forms of knowledge, by knowing which all sages have attained supreme fulfillment beyond this existence.
Verse 14.2
idaṃ jñānamupāśritya mama sādharmyamāgatāḥ | sarge'pi nopajāyante pralaye na vyathanti ca ||2||
Taking refuge in this knowledge and attaining likeness to My nature, they are not born at creation and are not distressed at dissolution.
Verse 14.3
mama yonirmahad brahma tasmingarbhaṃ dadhāmyaham | sambhavaḥ sarvabhūtānāṃ tato bhavati bhārata ||3||
The great Brahman is My womb; in it I place the germ. From that arises the birth of all beings, Bharata.
Verse 14.4
sarvayoniṣu kaunteya mūrtayaḥ sambhavanti yāḥ | tāsāṃ brahma mahadyonirahaṃ bījapradaḥ pitā ||4||
Kaunteya, whatever embodied forms arise in all wombs, the great Brahman is their womb, and I am the father who provides the seed.
Verse 14.5
sattvaṃ rajastama iti guṇāḥ prakṛtisambhavāḥ | nibadhnanti mahābāho dehe dehinamavyayam ||5||
Mighty-armed One, sattva, rajas and tamas are the gunas born of prakriti; they bind the imperishable embodied self within the body.
Verse 14.6
tatra sattvaṃ nirmalatvātprakāśakamanāmayam | sukhasaṅgena badhnāti jñānasaṅgena cānagha ||6||
Among these, sattva, through its purity, gives illumination and is free from affliction. Yet it binds through attachment to happiness and knowledge, blameless One.
Verse 14.7
rajo rāgātmakaṃ viddhi tṛṣṇāsaṅgasamudbhavam | tannibadhnāti kaunteya karmasaṅgena dehinam ||7||
Know rajas to be passionate in nature, arising from craving and attachment. Kaunteya, it binds the embodied self through attachment to action.
Verse 14.8
tamastvajñānajaṃ viddhi mohanaṃ sarvadehinām | pramādālasyanidrābhistannibadhnāti bhārata ||8||
Know tamas to arise from ignorance and to bewilder all embodied beings. Bharata, it binds through negligence, laziness and sleep.
Verse 14.9
sattvaṃ sukhe sañjayati rajaḥ karmaṇi bhārata | jñānamāvṛtya tu tamaḥ pramāde sañjayatyuta ||9||
Bharata, sattva attaches one to happiness and rajas to action; tamas, covering knowledge, attaches one to negligence.
Verse 14.10
rajastamaścābhibhūya sattvaṃ bhavati bhārata | rajaḥ sattvaṃ tamaścaiva tamaḥ sattvaṃ rajastathā ||10||
Bharata, sattva prevails by overcoming rajas and tamas; rajas overcomes sattva and tamas, and tamas likewise overcomes sattva and rajas.
Verse 14.11
sarvadvāreṣu dehe'sminprakāśa upajāyate | jñānaṃ yadā tadā vidyādvivṛddhaṃ sattvamityuta ||11||
When illumination in the form of knowledge arises through all the gateways of this body, one should recognize that sattva has increased.
Verse 14.12
lobhaḥ pravṛttirārambhaḥ karmaṇāmaśamaḥ spṛhā | rajasyetāni jāyante vivṛddhe bharatarṣabha ||12||
Foremost Bharata, when rajas increases, greed, activity, the launching of undertakings, restlessness and craving arise.
Verse 14.13
aprakāśo'pravṛttiśca pramādo moha eva ca | tamasyetāni jāyante vivṛddhe kurunandana ||13||
Descendant of Kuru, when tamas increases, lack of illumination, inactivity, negligence and delusion arise.
Verse 14.14
yadā sattve pravṛddhe tu pralayaṃ yāti dehabhṛt | tadottamavidāṃ lokānamalānpratipadyate ||14||
When an embodied being dies while sattva is predominant, that being reaches the pure worlds of those who know the highest.
Verse 14.15
rajasi pralayaṃ gatvā karmasaṅgiṣu jāyate | tathā pralīnastamasi mūḍhayoniṣu jāyate ||15||
Dying when rajas predominates, one is born among those attached to action; dying when tamas predominates, one is born in deluded wombs.
Verse 14.16
karmaṇaḥ sukṛtasyāhuḥ sāttvikaṃ nirmalaṃ phalam | rajasastu phalaṃ duḥkhamajñānaṃ tamasaḥ phalam ||16||
The fruit of well-performed action is said to be sattvic and pure; the fruit of rajas is sorrow, and the fruit of tamas is ignorance.
Verse 14.17
sattvātsañjāyate jñānaṃ rajaso lobha eva ca | pramādamohau tamaso bhavato'jñānameva ca ||17||
From sattva comes knowledge; from rajas, greed; from tamas come negligence, delusion and ignorance.
Verse 14.18
ūrdhvaṃ gacchanti sattvasthā madhye tiṣṭhanti rājasāḥ | jaghanyaguṇavṛttisthā adho gacchanti tāmasāḥ ||18||
Those established in sattva go upward; those of rajas remain in the middle; those of tamas, abiding in the ways of the lowest guna, go downward.
Verse 14.19
nānyaṃ guṇebhyaḥ kartāraṃ yadā draṣṭānupaśyati | guṇebhyaśca paraṃ vetti madbhāvaṃ so'dhigacchati ||19||
When the seer recognizes no agent other than the gunas and knows what is beyond the gunas, that seer attains My being.
Verse 14.20
guṇānetānatītya trīndehī dehasamudbhavān | janmamṛtyujarāduḥkhairvimukto'mṛtamaśnute ||20||
Transcending these three gunas from which the body arises, the embodied self is freed from the sorrows of birth, death and old age, and attains deathlessness.
Verse 14.21
kairliṅgaistrīnguṇānetānatīto bhavati prabho | kimācāraḥ kathaṃ caitāṃstrīnguṇānativartate ||21||
Arjuna said: Lord, by what signs is one who has gone beyond these three gunas recognized? What is that person’s conduct, and how does one transcend these three gunas?
Verse 14.22
prakāśaṃ ca pravṛttiṃ ca mohameva ca pāṇḍava | na dveṣṭi sampravṛttāni na nivṛttāni kāṅkṣati ||22||
The Lord said: Pandava, one who neither hates illumination, activity or delusion when they arise, nor longs for them when they cease—
Verse 14.23
udāsīnavadāsīno guṇairyo na vicālyate | guṇā vartanta ityeva yo'vatiṣṭhati neṅgate ||23||
—who sits as if impartial, is not shaken by the gunas, and remains steady, knowing that the gunas are at work, without wavering;
Verse 14.24
samaduḥkhasukhaḥ svasthaḥ samaloṣṭāśmakāñcanaḥ | tulyapriyāpriyo dhīrastulyanindātmasaṃstutiḥ ||24||
—even in sorrow and happiness, established in the self, regarding a clod, stone and gold alike; steady toward the pleasant and unpleasant, and equal in blame and praise;
Verse 14.25
mānāpamānayostulyastulyo mitrāripakṣayoḥ | sarvārambhaparityāgī guṇātītaḥ sa ucyate ||25||
—equal in honor and dishonor, equal toward the sides of friend and foe, and relinquishing all undertakings: such a person is called one who has gone beyond the gunas.
Verse 14.26
māṃ ca yo'vyabhicāreṇa bhaktiyogena sevate | sa guṇānsamatītyaitānbrahmabhūyāya kalpate ||26||
One who serves Me through unwavering bhakti yoga transcends these gunas and becomes fit for the state of Brahman.
Verse 14.27
brahmaṇo hi pratiṣṭhāhamamṛtasyāvyayasya ca | śāśvatasya ca dharmasya sukhasyaikāntikasya ca ||27||
For I am the foundation of Brahman, of the deathless and imperishable, of eternal dharma and of absolute happiness.
