Guṇatraya Vibhāga Yoga

The Supreme Lord said: I shall again declare that supreme knowledge, the best of all knowledge, having known which all the sages have attained supreme perfection from this world.

By taking refuge in this knowledge and attaining My nature, they are not born again at the time of creation, nor are they disturbed at the time of dissolution.

My womb is the great Brahman (Prakriti); in that I place the seed. From that, O Bharata, is the birth of all beings.

Whatever forms are produced in all wombs, O son of Kunti, the great Brahman (Prakriti) is their womb, and I am the seed-giving father.

Sattva, Rajas, and Tamas - these gunas born of Prakriti bind the imperishable embodied soul in the body, O mighty-armed one.

Of these, Sattva, being pure, is illuminating and free from evil. It binds by attachment to happiness and by attachment to knowledge, O sinless one.

Know that Rajas is of the nature of passion, arising from craving and attachment. It binds the embodied soul by attachment to action, O son of Kunti.

But know Tamas to be born of ignorance, deluding all embodied beings. It binds through negligence, laziness, and sleep, O Bharata.

Sattva attaches one to happiness, Rajas to action, O Bharata; while Tamas, veiling knowledge, attaches one to heedlessness.

Sometimes Sattva prevails, overpowering Rajas and Tamas; sometimes Rajas prevails, overpowering Sattva and Tamas; and sometimes Tamas prevails, overpowering Sattva and Rajas, O Bharata.

When through every gate of the body the light of intelligence shines, then it should be known that Sattva is predominant.

Greed, activity, the undertaking of actions, restlessness, and longing - these arise when Rajas is predominant, O best of the Bharatas.

Darkness, inactivity, heedlessness, and delusion - these arise when Tamas is predominant, O joy of the Kurus.

If the embodied one meets death when Sattva is predominant, then he attains the pure worlds of those who know the highest.

Meeting death in Rajas, one is born among those attached to action; and dying in Tamas, one is born in the wombs of the deluded (lower species).

The fruit of good action is said to be sattvic and pure; the fruit of Rajas is pain; and the fruit of Tamas is ignorance.

From Sattva arises knowledge; from Rajas, greed; and from Tamas arise heedlessness, delusion, and ignorance.

Those established in Sattva go upward; the rajasic remain in the middle; and the tamasic, abiding in the function of the lowest guna, go downward.

When the seer perceives no agent other than the gunas and knows that which is beyond the gunas, he attains My nature.

When the embodied one transcends these three gunas which give rise to the body, he is freed from birth, death, old age, and sorrow, and attains immortality.

Arjuna said: By what signs is he known who has transcended these three gunas, O Lord? What is his conduct, and how does he transcend these three gunas?

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.

He who sits like one unconcerned, undisturbed by the gunas, who knows that the gunas alone act, remains firm and does not waver.

He who is alike in pleasure and pain, who is self-abiding, to whom a clod of earth, a stone, and gold are alike, who is the same toward the agreeable and disagreeable, who is wise, and to whom censure and praise are equal.

He who is the same in honor and dishonor, the same toward friend and foe, who has renounced all undertakings - he is said to have transcended the gunas.

And he who serves Me with unswerving devotion, transcending these gunas, is fit for becoming Brahman.

For I am the abode of Brahman, the immortal and imperishable, of eternal dharma, and of absolute bliss.