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The Blessed Lord said:
Again shall I declare to thee
Knowledge, above all knowledge, best,
The sages, knowing which, attain
To highest goal beyond this life.
Abiding in this knowledge, they
Attaining to my essence, all,
At life's creation are not born,
Nor troubled when destruction comes.
My womb is Brahma's Prakriti,
And in that do I cast my seed;
And know, the birth of beings all
Ariseth thence, O Bharata.
O son of Kunti, whatever forms
From all the wombs that are produced,
Their womb is Brahma's Prakriti,
And their seed giving Father I.
And Sattva, Rajas, Tamas, these
Are Gunas born of Prakriti,
Within the body binding fast
The deathless soul, O mighty one.
And Sattva, luminous and free
Form evil, and without a taint,
Bindeth the soul, O sinless one,
With bonds of knowledge and of joy.
Know Rajas unto passion kin,
Born of attachment and desire,
Bindeth the embodied one with bonds
Of action, O thou Kunti's son.
Know Tamas, born of ignorance,
Deluding all the embodied ones,
With heedlessness and indolence,
And sleep it binds, O Bharata.
Sattva doth link the soul to joy;
Rajas to action, Bharata;
Tamas all knowledge doth enshroud,
And links the soul to heedlessness. |
And sometimes Sattva doth prevail,
Repressing Rajas, Tamas both;
Rajas, repressing Tamas, Sattva;
And Tamas, Sattva and Rajas both.
When through the open portals all
Of body, shineth everywhere
The light of knowledge, then it is known
That Sattva doth predominate.
And undertaking actions, greed,
Activity, unrest, desire,
Known these arise, O Bharata,
When Rajas doth predominate.
Inaction, darkness all around,
Delusion fond, and heedlessness,
O joy of Kurus, know they rise
When Tamas doth predominate.
If the embodied one departs
When Sattva doth predominate,
To spotless regions he attains
Of those who worship the Supreme.
And if he dies when Rajas rules,
Among action-seekers he is born;
And if, when Tamas doth prevail,
His birth is in the womb of fools.
The fruit of actions well performed
Is Sattvic said to be and pure;
The fruit of Rajas is but pain:
And ignorance is Tamas fruit.
From Sattva knowledge doth arise;
From Rajas avarice is born;
Delusion fond and heedlessness
And ignorance doth Tamas yield.
The Sattva dwellers upward go;
And Rajasic have middle place;
And following the lowest path,
Downward the Tamasic decline.
And when the seer doth see indeed
No actor save the Gunas three,
And knoweth Him who is beyond
The Gunas, he attains to me. |
The embodied one, transcending these
Three Gunas, whence all bodies rise,
Is freed from age, pain, birth and death,
And gaineth immortality.
Arjuna said:
What are the marks of him, O Lord,
Who crosses over these Gunas three?
What is his conduct, how doth he
Cross over all the Gunas three?
The Blessed Lord said:
Who hates nor light, nor action, nor
Delusion fond, O Pandava,
When they are present, nor desires
To have them when they cease to be;
Who, sitting like one unconcerned,
Is not by Gunas ever moved;
And knowing how the Gunas act,
Is steady and unwavering;
Centered within, and firm, alike
In joy and pain, or praise or blame,
Alike to him earth, stone, and gold,
And pleasant or unpleasant things;
Alike in honour and disgrace;
Alike to friend and enemy;
Renouncing all his deeds begun,
He is said to have crossed the Gunas three.
Who worships me with steady mind,
Devotion in the light of Yoga,
Crossing over Gunas, doth deserve
With Brahma to be made as one.
For I am Brahma's true abode,
The immortal and immutable,
Of everlasting Dharma I,
And perfect joy and happiness. |
