Chapter 14 of the Bhagavad Gita is called Gunatraya Vibhaga Yoga, the yoga of the distinction of the three gunas. It has 27 verses. The word guna means a strand or quality, and the chapter’s whole subject is that nature is woven of three strands: sattva, which is clear and bright, rajas, which is restless and driven by desire, and tamas, which is heavy and dull. Chapter 13 closed with the field and the knower of the field. This chapter takes the field further and asks what it is made of, and how a person living inside it can stand free of it.
Where we are in the story
Krishna is still speaking to Arjuna on the chariot between the two armies. Nothing in the war has moved. The Gita is now in its third and last block of six chapters, in which the earlier teaching on knowledge, action and devotion is joined into a picture of the whole of reality and of the person who sees it clearly. The three gunas were mentioned briefly in chapter 3 (verses 27 and 28), where the sense of being the only doer was called a mistake. Here they are given a full chapter, and chapters 17 and 18 use them again to classify faith, food, action and happiness.
How the chapter moves
- Verses 1 to 4: Krishna promises the highest knowledge and says that those who hold it are not shaken when the world dissolves (14.2). He then says that the great Brahman is the womb of all beings and that he gives the seed (14.3 and 14.4). Commentators read the “great Brahman” in these verses as primal nature, the source from which every form is born.
- Verses 5 to 9: The three gunas are named, and each is shown binding the embodied self. Sattva binds through attachment to happiness and knowledge (14.6), rajas through attachment to action (14.7), and tamas through carelessness, laziness and sleep (14.8).
- Verses 10 to 13: The gunas are never present alone. Each rises by overcoming the other two (14.10), and the chapter gives plain signs for each: the light of knowledge for sattva (14.11), greed and restless activity for rajas (14.12), and dullness and delusion for tamas (14.13).
- Verses 14 to 18: What each guna leads to, in life and after it. Krishna says sattva leads upward, rajas to the middle and tamas downward (14.18). These verses speak of rebirth in the manner of the tradition, and the chapter describes tendencies, not a sentence passed on anyone.
- Verses 19 and 20: The turning point. When a person sees that the gunas are the only doers and knows what lies beyond them, he reaches Krishna’s own being and is freed from birth, death, old age and sorrow.
- Verses 21 to 25: Arjuna asks three questions: what marks such a person, how he behaves and how he crosses over. Krishna answers with a portrait of evenness: no hatred of light, effort or confusion when they come, no longing when they go, the same attitude to pain and pleasure, praise and blame, friend and foe.
- Verses 26 and 27: The way across is steady devotion, and the chapter ends with Krishna as the foundation of Brahman, of the immortal and of lasting happiness.
Three ideas to hold on to
Even the good guna binds. Most readers expect rajas and tamas to be the problem. Verse 6 says that sattva also binds, through attachment to happiness and to knowledge. This is one of the more honest points in the Gita: a calm and learned person can be as attached as a restless one, only in a more comfortable way. The goal is to go beyond all three, and not to settle in the best of them.
The gunas mix and shift. Verse 10 says each guna rises by overcoming the others. No person is wholly sattvic or tamasic. A day can contain all three, and the chapter gives signs you can notice in yourself: whether the mind is clear, driven or dull. The signs are descriptions to observe, not labels to fear.
The person beyond the gunas is not cold. Verses 22 to 25 describe evenness, and verse 23 gives the clue: this person knows that the gunas are what act, and so does not take every wave of mood as who they are. It is a calm that comes from understanding, held together with devotion in verse 26.
A note on reading
Chapter 14 uses the language of its time, including statements about the worlds one reaches after death. Teachers read these as literal, as symbolic of states of mind, or as both. This page gives the verses as they are and does not choose between those readings.
The text, transliteration and meaning
All 27 verses follow. The speaker is shown on each card. Verse 21 is Arjuna’s question, and all the others are spoken by Krishna.
परं भूयः प्रवक्ष्यामि ज्ञानानां ज्ञानमुत्तमम्
यज्ज्ञात्वा मुनयः सर्वे परां सिद्धिमितो गताः ॥ १४.१ ॥
Param bhuyah pravakshyami jnananam jnanam uttamam
Yaj jnatva munayah sarve param siddhim ito gatah
MeaningThe Blessed Lord says: I will tell you again the highest of all kinds of knowledge, the best of them, knowing which all the sages went from this world to the highest perfection.
NoteA fresh start. Krishna says he will give the highest knowledge again, and the chapter then treats nature in three strands, which chapter 13 had only prepared.
इदं ज्ञानमुपाश्रित्य मम साधर्म्यमागताः
सर्गेऽपि नोपजायन्ते प्रलये न व्यथन्ति च ॥ १४.२ ॥
Idam jnanam upashritya mama sadharmyam agatah
Sarge 'pi nopajayante pralaye na vyathanti cha
MeaningThose who take refuge in this knowledge come to share my own nature. They are not born again when a new world is created, and they are not shaken when it is dissolved.
मम योनिर्महद्ब्रह्म तस्मिन्गर्भं दधाम्यहम्
संभवः सर्वभूतानां ततो भवति भारत ॥ १४.३ ॥
Mama yonir mahad brahma tasmin garbham dadhamy aham
Sambhavah sarvabhutanam tato bhavati bharata
MeaningThe great Brahman is my womb. In it I place the seed, Arjuna, and from that all beings come into being.
NoteThe phrase mahad brahma, the great Brahman, is read by the commentators as primal nature, the womb into which Krishna places the seed. It does not mean the supreme Brahman of other verses.
सर्वयोनिषु कौन्तेय मूर्तयः संभवन्ति याः
तासां ब्रह्म महद्योनिरहं बीजप्रदः पिता ॥ १४.४ ॥
Sarvayonishu kaunteya murtayah sambhavanti yah
Tasam brahma mahad yonir aham bijapradah pita
MeaningWhatever forms are born from any womb, son of Kunti, the great Brahman is their womb, and I am the father who gives the seed.
सत्त्वं रजस्तम इति गुणाः प्रकृतिसंभवाः
निबध्नन्ति महाबाहो देहे देहिनमव्ययम् ॥ १४.५ ॥
Sattvam rajas tama iti gunah prakritisambhavah
Nibadhnanti mahabaho dehe dehinam avyayam
MeaningSattva, rajas and tamas are the three gunas, the strands that arise from nature. They bind the unchanging embodied self to the body, mighty-armed Arjuna.
NoteThe three gunas are named here. A short sketch of them already appeared in chapter 3, and chapters 17 and 18 use them again to sort faith, food, action and happiness.
तत्र सत्त्वं निर्मलत्वात्प्रकाशकमनामयम्
सुखसङ्गेन बध्नाति ज्ञानसङ्गेन चानघ ॥ १४.६ ॥
Tatra sattvam nirmalatvat prakashakam anamayam
Sukhasangena badhnati jnanasangena chanagha
MeaningOf these, sattva is clear and luminous because of its purity, and free from illness. Yet it binds, sinless one, through attachment to happiness and attachment to knowledge.
NoteEven the best guna binds. Sattva ties a person to the comfort of happiness and to the pleasure of knowing, and the verse says so openly.
रजो रागात्मकं विद्धि तृष्णासङ्गसमुद्भवम्
तन्निबध्नाति कौन्तेय कर्मसङ्गेन देहिनम् ॥ १४.७ ॥
Rajo ragatmakam viddhi trishnasangasamudbhavam
Tan nibadhnati kaunteya karmasangena dehinam
MeaningKnow that rajas is of the nature of passion, born from thirst and attachment. It binds the embodied self, son of Kunti, through attachment to action.
तमस्त्वज्ञानजं विद्धि मोहनं सर्वदेहिनाम्
प्रमादालस्यनिद्राभिस्तन्निबध्नाति भारत ॥ १४.८ ॥
Tamas tv ajnanajam viddhi mohanam sarvadehinam
Pramadalasyanidrabhis tan nibadhnati bharata
MeaningTamas, on the other hand, is born of ignorance and deludes every embodied being. It binds through carelessness, laziness and sleep, Arjuna.
सत्त्वं सुखे सञ्जयति रजः कर्मणि भारत
ज्ञानमावृत्य तु तमः प्रमादे सञ्जयत्युत ॥ १४.९ ॥
Sattvam sukhe sanjayati rajah karmani bharata
Jnanam avritya tu tamah pramade sanjayaty uta
MeaningSattva attaches a person to happiness, rajas to action, and tamas, which covers knowledge, attaches a person to carelessness.
रजस्तमश्चाभिभूय सत्त्वं भवति भारत
रजः सत्त्वं तमश्चैव तमः सत्त्वं रजस्तथा ॥ १४.१० ॥
Rajas tamash chabhibhuya sattvam bhavati bharata
Rajah sattvam tamash chaiva tamah sattvam rajas tatha
MeaningSattva rises by overcoming rajas and tamas, Arjuna. Rajas rises by overcoming sattva and tamas, and tamas rises by overcoming sattva and rajas.
NoteNo guna stands alone. Each one rises when it overcomes the other two, so a person moves among all three over a day and over a life.
सर्वद्वारेषु देहेऽस्मिन्प्रकाश उपजायते
ज्ञानं यदा तदा विद्याद्विवृद्धं सत्त्वमित्युत ॥ १४.११ ॥
Sarvadvareshu dehe 'smin prakasha upajayate
Jnanam yada tada vidyad vivriddham sattvam ity uta
MeaningWhen the light of knowledge shines out through every gate of this body, then one may know that sattva has grown strong.
लोभः प्रवृत्तिरारम्भः कर्मणामशमः स्पृहा
रजस्येतानि जायन्ते विवृद्धे भरतर्षभ ॥ १४.१२ ॥
Lobhah pravrittir arambhah karmanam ashamah spriha
Rajasy etani jayante vivriddhe bharatarshabha
MeaningGreed, restless busyness, the starting of projects, unrest and craving arise when rajas has grown strong, best of the Bharatas.
अप्रकाशोऽप्रवृत्तिश्च प्रमादो मोह एव च
तमस्येतानि जायन्ते विवृद्धे कुरुनन्दन ॥ १४.१३ ॥
Aprakasho 'pravrittish cha pramado moha eva cha
Tamasy etani jayante vivriddhe kurunandana
MeaningDullness, lack of effort, carelessness and delusion arise when tamas has grown strong, joy of the Kurus.
यदा सत्त्वे प्रवृद्धे तु प्रलयं याति देहभृत्
तदोत्तमविदां लोकानमलान्प्रतिपद्यते ॥ १४.१४ ॥
Yada sattve pravriddhe tu pralayam yati dehabhrit
Tadottamavidam lokan amalan pratipadyate
MeaningIf the embodied one meets death when sattva is strong, he reaches the pure worlds of those who know what is highest.
NoteVerses 14 and 15 speak of what follows death, in the manner of the tradition. Teachers read them as literal, as pictures of states of mind, or as both.
रजसि प्रलयं गत्वा कर्मसङ्गिषु जायते
तथा प्रलीनस्तमसि मूढयोनिषु जायते ॥ १४.१५ ॥
Rajasi pralayam gatva karmasangishu jayate
Tatha pralinas tamasi mudhayonishu jayate
MeaningOne who dies in rajas is born among people attached to action, and one who dies in tamas is born in the wombs of the dull-minded.
कर्मणः सुकृतस्याहुः सात्त्विकं निर्मलं फलम्
रजसस्तु फलं दुःखमज्ञानं तमसः फलम् ॥ १४.१६ ॥
Karmanah sukritasyahuh sattvikam nirmalam phalam
Rajasas tu phalam duhkham ajnanam tamasah phalam
MeaningThey say that the fruit of good action is sattvic and pure, that the fruit of rajas is pain, and that the fruit of tamas is ignorance.
सत्त्वात्संजायते ज्ञानं रजसो लोभ एव च
प्रमादमोहौ तमसो भवतोऽज्ञानमेव च ॥ १४.१७ ॥
Sattvat sanjayate jnanam rajaso lobha eva cha
Pramadamohau tamaso bhavato 'jnanam eva cha
MeaningFrom sattva arises knowledge, from rajas greed, and from tamas come carelessness, delusion and also ignorance.
ऊर्ध्वं गच्छन्ति सत्त्वस्था मध्ये तिष्ठन्ति राजसाः
जघन्यगुणवृत्तस्था अधो गच्छन्ति तामसाः ॥ १४.१८ ॥
Urdhvam gachchhanti sattvastha madhye tishthanti rajasah
Jaghanyagunavrittastha adho gachchhanti tamasah
MeaningThose established in sattva go upward. Those of rajas stay in the middle. Those of tamas, held down by the lowest of the qualities, go downward.
NoteThe three directions, up, middle and down, give the chapter's summary of where each guna tends to lead.
नान्यं गुणेभ्यः कर्तारं यदा द्रष्टानुपश्यति
गुणेभ्यश्च परं वेत्ति मद्भावं सोऽधिगच्छति ॥ १४.१९ ॥
Nanyam gunebhyah kartaram yada drashtanupashyati
Gunebhyash cha param vetti madbhavam so 'dhigachchhati
MeaningWhen the seer sees no doer other than the gunas, and knows what stands beyond the gunas, he comes to my own being.
NoteThe turning point of the chapter. Seeing the gunas as the doers is the same insight as in chapter 3, verse 27, now taken to its conclusion.
गुणानेतानतीत्य त्रीन्देही देहसमुद्भवान्
जन्ममृत्युजरादुःखैर्विमुक्तोऽमृतमश्नुते ॥ १४.२० ॥
Gunan etan atitya trin dehi dehasamudbhavan
Janmamrityujaraduhkhair vimukto 'mritam ashnute
MeaningHaving gone beyond these three gunas, from which the body arises, the embodied one is freed from birth, death, old age and sorrow, and reaches the immortal.
कैर्लिङ्गैस्त्रीन्गुणानेतानतीतो भवति प्रभो
किमाचारः कथं चैतांस्त्रीन्गुणानतिवर्तते ॥ १४.२१ ॥
Kair lingais trin gunan etan atito bhavati prabho
Kimacharah katham chaitams trin gunan ativartate
MeaningArjuna says: By what marks, Lord, is a person known who has gone beyond these three gunas? How does he live, and how does he rise above them?
NoteArjuna asks three questions in one verse: the marks, the conduct and the means. Krishna answers the first two in verses 22 to 25 and the third in verse 26.
प्रकाशं च प्रवृत्तिं च मोहमेव च पाण्डव
न द्वेष्टि संप्रवृत्तानि न निवृत्तानि काङ्क्षति ॥ १४.२२ ॥
Prakasham cha pravrittim cha moham eva cha pandava
Na dveshti sampravrittani na nivrittani kankshati
MeaningThe Blessed Lord says: Pandava, one who does not hate light, activity or delusion when they are present, and does not long for them when they have gone,
उदासीनवदासीनो गुणैर्यो न विचाल्यते
गुणा वर्तन्त इत्येव योऽवतिष्ठति नेङ्गते ॥ १४.२३ ॥
Udasinavad asino gunair yo na vichalyate
Guna vartanta ity eva yo 'vatishthati nengate
Meaningwho sits like one who takes no side, who is not shaken by the gunas, who stands firm and does not waver, knowing only that the gunas are at work,
NoteThe word udasinavat means like one who is neutral. It does not mean cold. It describes a person who watches the gunas at work without being carried off by them.
समदुःखसुखः स्वस्थः समलोष्टाश्मकाञ्चनः
तुल्यप्रियाप्रियो धीरस्तुल्यनिन्दात्मसंस्तुतिः ॥ १४.२४ ॥
Samaduhkhasukhah svasthah samaloshtashmakanchanah
Tulyapriyapriyo dhiras tulyanindatmasamstutih
Meaningwho is the same in pain and pleasure, rests in himself, treats a clod of earth, a stone and gold as equal, is even towards the welcome and the unwelcome, is steady, and takes blame and praise of himself alike,
मानावमानयोस्तुल्यस्तुल्यो मित्रारिपक्षयोः
सर्वारम्भपरित्यागी गुणातीतः स उच्यते ॥ १४.२५ ॥
Manavamanayos tulyas tulyo mitraripakshayoh
Sarvarambhaparityagi gunatitah sa uchyate
Meaningwho is the same in honour and dishonour, the same towards the side of friends and the side of enemies, and who has given up every self-driven undertaking: such a person is said to have gone beyond the gunas.
मां च योऽव्यभिचारेण भक्तियोगेन सेवते
स गुणान्समतीत्यैतान्ब्रह्मभूयाय कल्पते ॥ १४.२६ ॥
Mam cha yo 'vyabhicharena bhaktiyogena sevate
Sa gunan samatityaitan brahmabhuyaya kalpate
MeaningAnd one who serves me with unwavering devotion rises above these gunas and becomes fit to become Brahman.
NoteDevotion, bhakti yoga, is named as the way across. Chapter 12 described this devotion, and chapter 15 goes on to the Purushottama.
ब्रह्मणो हि प्रतिष्ठाहममृतस्याव्ययस्य च
शाश्वतस्य च धर्मस्य सुखस्यैकान्तिकस्य च ॥ १४.२७ ॥
Brahmano hi pratishthaham amritasyavyayasya cha
Shashvatasya cha dharmasya sukhasyaikantikasya cha
MeaningFor I am the foundation of Brahman, of the immortal and unchanging, of everlasting dharma and of complete happiness.
NoteBrahman here has Krishna as its foundation. Teachers read this as the link between the formless and the personal in the Gita's own teaching.
Chapter summary
Chapter 14 gives a map of nature in three strands. Sattva is clear and brings knowledge and ease, rajas is driven and brings activity and craving, and tamas is heavy and brings dullness and carelessness. Each one binds the embodied self in its own way, and each rises by pushing the other two down. Where a person’s life leans, so does the direction of that life, upward, in the middle or downward, as the tradition describes it.
The chapter’s real aim is to show how to stand outside the map. A person who sees that the gunas are the doers, and who knows what lies beyond them, is freed from the cycle of birth, ageing and sorrow. Arjuna asks how such a person can be recognised, and Krishna answers with a portrait of evenness, in praise and blame, pleasure and pain, friend and foe, with no self-driven scheming. The way to reach this state is devotion that does not waver.
Chapter 15 continues from here. It goes on to the tree of the world and the highest person, the Purushottama.
Where the two source texts differ
We compared the critical edition text held at GRETIL with the Sanskrit Wikisource text, verse by verse. All 27 verses are present in both. Differences only in spacing, in the way a nasal sound is written, and in how words are joined are not listed. Two verses differ in the words:
- Verse 18: the critical edition reads jaghanyaguṇavṛttasthāḥ, “those who stand in the working of the lowest quality”, and the printed text reads jaghanyaguṇavṛttisthāḥ. The two words mean the same thing.
- Verse 25: the critical edition has mānāvamānayoḥ and the printed text has mānāpamānayoḥ. Both mean “in honour and dishonour”.
So 2 of the 27 verses differ in the words between the two texts, and neither difference changes the meaning.
Source of the text on this page. The Sanskrit is the critical edition text of the Bhagavad Gita held at GRETIL, based on the Bhandarkar Oriental Research Institute edition of the Mahabharata, where this chapter is chapter 36 of the Bhishma Parva. It is in Roman script, and we converted it to Devanagari ourselves. We checked every verse against Sanskrit Wikisource. The transliteration is a simple guide to sound and the meanings are our own wording. See the Bhagavad Gita hub for the full note on sources.