CHAPTER
14: THE YOGA OF THE THREE MODES OF NATURE
On the inherent qualities
of material nature
(1) The Supreme
Lord said: 'Again about the transcendental, I will tell you, of all
knowledge the utmost knowledge, knowing which all the sages from this
world attained. (2)
Taking shelter of this knowledge, having attained My selfsame nature,
one is not born at the time of creation, nor is one lost on
annihilation.
(3) My channel of
birth is the total material existence and of the Supreme in that I
impregnate, creating the conditions of all living entities who find
thereafter their existence, o son of Bharata. (4) Of all that are born, o son of Kuntî,
of all the forms that manifest, am I the creator, the source of birth
and the seed-giving father. (5)
The modes of goodness, passion and ignorance are the qualities produced
by material nature which condition, o mighty armed one, this body of
the imperishable living being. (6) Of them, is the mode of goodness the purest;
it illumines without reactions, and conditions with a sense of
happiness the feeling for knowledge, o sinless one. (7) Know that the mode of passion is
characterized by desires, born from attachment and longing, that bind,
o son of Kuntî, the one embodied to the outcome of the deeds in
the past. (8)
The mode of ignorance is the result of a lack of knowledge; know it as
deluding all embodied beings, binding them to carelessness, indolence
and sleep, o son of Bharata.
(9) The mode of
goodness conditions one to happiness, passion binds one to fruitive
activities, o son of Bharata, but from the ignorance that covers the
knowledge one is bound to errors. (10) Then goodness prevails defeating passion and
ignorance, then o son of Bharata, ignorance does so with passion and
goodness and then passion overrules goodness as well as the ignorance;
this is how the modes of sattva, rajas and tamas are. (11) When to all the gates of the body the
enlightenment of knowledge develops, at that time one says is the mode
of goodness prevailing. (12)
Greed, overexertion, enterprising and restless desire all develop when
the mode of passion predominates, o chief of the Bhâratas. (13) Darkness, slowness, negligence and surely
illusion too manifest themselves when the mode of ignorance is
developed, o son of Kuru.
(14) When with the
development of the mode of goodness the embodied one finds dissolution,
then one attains the world of those who are pure and of great wisdom. (15) When one is in passion finding ones end, one
takes birth among those who work for material results and similarly
when one is in ignorance one takes birth among the ignorant. (16) Of pious activities in the mode of goodness
is said that one is purified, the mode of passion results in misery and
stupidity is the result of the mode of ignorance. (17) The way from the mode of goodness knowledge
develops and greed surely develops from the mode of passion, so do
illusion and certainly perplexity develop from the mode of ignorance. (18) Those in the mode of goodness rise up, those
in passion stay in between while the ones in ignorance whose occupation
is of an abominable quality go down. (19) When a seer properly sees that the doer is
no one other than these three qualities to the modes of nature and
knows the beyond, he is promoted to My spiritual nature. (20) Transcending all three qualities the
embodied one will enjoy the nectar of being freed from the physical
result of the distress of birth, death and old age.'
(21) Arjuna said:
'By which symptoms is the one that transcended the qualities
recognized, o master, what is his conduct and how does he rise above
these three modes?'
(22-25) The
Supreme Lord said: 'He who, despite of their development, does not hate
the revelation nor the attachment nor the illusion, o son of
Pându, nor desires to stop that development; one who, knowing
that the qualities are acting, is never agitated by them staying the
witness in continuing selfperception; he who equal in distress and
happiness from within is equal about a clod, a stone or gold, who is
the same towards what is desirable and what is undesirable and steady
and equal under criticism and praise for himself; he who is equal in
honor and dishonor and equal towards both sides of friends and enemies
and is renounced in all his endeavors - he is said to be transcendental
to the modes. (26)
A person who unswerving renders service in devotion unto Me - he,
transcending all these modes of nature, will rise to the spiritual
platform. (27)
For certain I am the base of the spiritual, the immortal and the
imperishable, the original nature and the ultimate happiness.
Spoken by Anand Aadhar Prabhu
to the text offered below