Verse 1

श्रीभगवानुवाच |

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.

Verse 2

इदं ज्ञानमुपाश्रित्य मम साधर्म्यमागताः |

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

Verse 3

मम योनिर्महद् ब्रह्म तस्मिन्गर्भं दधाम्यहम् |

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.

Verse 4

सर्वयोनिषु कौन्तेय मूर्तयः सम्भवन्ति याः |

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.

Verse 5

सत्त्वं रजस्तम इति गुणाः प्रकृतिसम्भवाः |

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

Verse 6

तत्र सत्त्वं निर्मलत्वात्प्रकाशकमनामयम् |

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.

Verse 7

रजो रागात्मकं विद्धि तृष्णासङ्गसमुद्भवम् |

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.

Verse 8

तमस्त्वज्ञानजं विद्धि मोहनं सर्वदेहिनाम् |

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.

Verse 9

सत्त्वं सुखे सञ्जयति रजः कर्मणि भारत |

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

Verse 10

रजस्तमश्चाभिभूय सत्त्वं भवति भारत |

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.

Verse 11

सर्वद्वारेषु देहेऽस्मिन्प्रकाश उपजायते |

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.

Verse 12

लोभः प्रवृत्तिरारम्भः कर्मणामशमः स्पृहा |

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

Verse 13

अप्रकाशोऽप्रवृत्तिश्च प्रमादो मोह एव च |

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.

Verse 14

यदा सत्त्वे प्रवृद्धे तु प्रलयं याति देहभृत् |

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

Verse 15

रजसि प्रलयं गत्वा कर्मसङ्गिषु जायते |

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.

Verse 16

कर्मणः सुकृतस्याहुः सात्त्विकं निर्मलं फलम् |

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.

Verse 17

सत्त्वात्सञ्जायते ज्ञानं रजसो लोभ एव च |

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.

Verse 18

ऊर्ध्वं गच्छन्ति सत्त्वस्था मध्ये तिष्ठन्ति राजसाः |

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.

Verse 19

नान्यं गुणेभ्यः कर्तारं यदा द्रष्टानुपश्यति |

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.

Verse 20

गुणानेतानतीत्य त्रीन्देही देहसमुद्भवान् |

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.

Verse 21

अर्जुन उवाच |

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?

Verse 22

श्रीभगवानुवाच |

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.

Verse 23

उदासीनवदासीनो गुणैर्यो न विचाल्यते |

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;

Verse 24

समदुःखसुखः स्वस्थः समलोष्टाश्मकाञ्चनः |

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;

Verse 25

मानापमानयोस्तुल्यस्तुल्यो मित्रारिपक्षयोः |

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.

Verse 26

मां च योऽव्यभिचारेण भक्तियोगेन सेवते |

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

Verse 27

ब्रह्मणो हि प्रतिष्ठाहममृतस्याव्ययस्य च |

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