Stories of the Great Bharata - A Retelling Arc 2 - Bhagavad Gītā Parva - Chapter 19 - The Yoga of the T

Guṇatraya Vibhāga Yoga

Vaiśampāyana said

When Arjuna had heard of the Field and the Knower, the Blessed Lord—Śrī Bhagavān, the Eternal Source of all—spoke again, revealing the mystery of the three Guṇas, the strands of Nature that weave the web of existence.

The Supre Science of Liberation

Śrī Bhagavān said

“O son of Kuntī, once more I will declare to thee that highest wisdom—the sovereign science of all sciences, the secret of secrets—by knowing which the sages, freed from this mortal fra, have attained the highest perfection.

Having taken refuge in this wisdom and reaching My nature, they are not reborn when creation arises, nor do they tremble when all dissolves. For the mighty Brahman is My womb, O Bhārata; into it I cast the seed of life. From that union arises every being that lives. Whatever forms are born in every realm, O son of Kuntī, know that Brahman is their mother and I the seed-imparting Father.”

“The womb eternal is My field,

Where seed divine I sow;

From that all forms of life arise—

Their source, their end, I know.”

The Three Guṇas and Their Binding Power

“Goodness (Sattva), Passion (Rajas), and Darkness (Tamas)—these three qualities, born of Nature (Prakṛti), bind the imperishable soul to the body.

Goodness, being pure and luminous, binds by attachnt to happiness and to knowledge.

Passion, born of desire and attachnt, binds by attachnt to work.

Darkness, the child of ignorance, deludes all beings and binds them by sloth, negligence, and sleep.”

“Sattva binds with chains of joy,

Rajas binds through deeds of might;

Tamas veils the soul in gloom—

In slumber’s dark and heavy night.”

The Dominance and Signs of the Guṇas

“When, through every gate of the body, the light of knowledge shines forth, know that Goodness prevails there.

When greed, unrest, and thirst for action arise, Passion predominates.

When darkness, delusion, and heedlessness prevail, know that Darkness has taken hold.”

“Knowledge brightens when Sattva reigns,

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Desire burns when Rajas glows;

Sleep and sloth, when Tamas veils—

Thus Nature’s triad ever flows.”

The Journey of Souls Through the Guṇas

“When a man dies while Goodness predominates, he goes to the stainless realms of the wise.

Dying under the sway of Passion, he is reborn among those attached to action.

But if he dies in Darkness, he is born in the womb of the ignorant.

The fruit of Goodness is pure and lasting happiness;

the fruit of Passion is pain and restlessness;

the fruit of Darkness is delusion and ignorance.

From Goodness arises knowledge; from Passion, greed; from Darkness, confusion and error.

Those abiding in Goodness rise upward; the passionate remain in the middle; the darkened sink below.”

“Upward to light the pure ascend,

The restless toil and stay midway;

The dark fall low through sloth’s descent—

Thus souls their destined paths obey.”

The Vision of the Wise

“When the seer perceives no agent but the Guṇas,

and knows That which is beyond them,

he attains to My divine nature.

Transcending the three qualities,

which are the source of embodint,

the soul attains immortality—

freed from birth, decay, and sorrow.”

“He sees who knows the Guṇas move,

While he, the witness, stands apart;

Freed from their play, serene and still,

He finds My dwelling in his heart.”

Arjuna said

“O Lord, what are the marks of him who has transcended these three qualities?

How does he live and act? And how may one rise above them?”

The State Beyond the Guṇas

Śrī Bhagavān replied

“He neither hates illumination, activity, nor delusion when they appear,

nor longs for them when they vanish.

Unmoved, seated as one unconcerned,

he knows that it is only the qualities at play.

He is the sa in pleasure and pain,

self-contained, seeing clod, stone, and gold as one.

To him, praise and bla are equal,

honour and dishonour alike,

friend and foe the sa.

Having renounced all personal effort,

he is said to have transcended the Guṇas.”

“Who acts not when the Guṇas act,

Nor weeps nor hopes when they depart;

Whose peace no storm of change can shake—

That sage has found the deathless heart.”

The Path to the Supre

“He who serves with steadfast devotion,

who makes his supre refuge,

transcends the three qualities

and becos fit for union with Brahman.

For I am the support of Brahman—

of the immortal, imperishable, and eternal law,

and of unending bliss.”

“Beyond all Guṇas stands My grace,

The changeless truth, the deathless sea;

He who with single heart adores—

From Nature’s snare is born to .”

Then Vaiśampāyana said to Janajaya

O King, thus did the Lord reveal the secret of the Guṇas—the luminous, the passionate, and the dark—that govern the hearts of all beings.

He who knows their play, yet stands apart in the peace of devotion,

attains to the Supre Brahman and is never bound again by birth.

Thus ends the Fourteenth Chapter of the Bhagavad Gītā,

entitled Guṇatraya Vibhāga Yoga,

The Yoga of the Threefold Division of the Guṇas,

wherein Śrī Bhagavān teaches that the soul’s freedom lies not in destroying Nature,

but in transcending her through steadfast devotion to the Eternal.