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← Chapter 14: The Yoga of the Division of the Three Gunas

Verse 14.22

Speaker: Krishna

Sanskrit

श्रीभगवानुवाच | प्रकाशं च प्रवृत्तिं च मोहमेव च पाण्डव | न द्वेष्टि सम्प्रवृत्तानि न निवृत्तानि काङ्क्षति ||२२||

Transliteration (IAST)

śrī bhagavān uvāca | prakāśaṁ ca pravṛttiṁ ca moham eva ca pāṇḍava | na dveṣṭi sampravṛttāni na nivṛttāni kāṅkṣati ||22||

Word-by-Word Meanings

prakāśam-illumination (Sattva)
pravṛttim-activity (Rajas)
moham-delusion (Tamas)
na dveṣṭi-does not hate
sampravṛttāni-when present/arising
na kāṅkṣati-does not long for
nivṛttāni-when ceased/absent

Translation

The Supreme Lord said: He who does not hate illumination, activity, or delusion when they are present, nor longs for them when they are absent, O Pandava.

Commentary

Shankaracharya explains that the guṇātīta (one beyond the gunas) neither resists the natural arising of sattvic clarity, rajasic activity, or tamasic dullness, nor craves them when they subside. This equanimity comes from the realization that the gunas operate in the gunas - the Self is merely the witness. Ramanuja notes this describes the inner disposition, not external inaction.

Themes

jnanayogamoksha