Gunatraya Vibhaga Yoga

Krishna said: I will speak again of the supreme knowledge, the highest of all knowledges. By knowing this, all the sages reached the highest perfection from this world.

Those who take refuge in this knowledge and attain oneness with me are not born at the time of creation, nor do they suffer at the time of dissolution.

The great Brahman is my womb. I place the seed in it. From that, O scion of the Bharata dynasty, the birth of all beings takes place.

O son of Kunti, whatever forms are born from any womb, the great Brahman is their womb, and I am the father who gives the seed.

O mighty-armed one, the qualities, sattva, rajas, and tamas, born of nature, bind the imperishable embodied soul to the body.

Among these, sattva, being pure, is illuminating and free from disease. O sinless one, it binds through attachment to happiness and attachment to knowledge.

Know rajas to be of the nature of passion, born of craving and attachment. O son of Kunti, it binds the embodied soul through attachment to action.

Know tamas to be born of ignorance, deluding all embodied beings. O scion of the Bharata dynasty, it binds through carelessness, laziness, and sleep.

O scion of the Bharata dynasty, sattva attaches one to happiness, rajas attaches one to action, and tamas, covering up knowledge, attaches one to carelessness.

O scion of the Bharata dynasty, sattva increases by overcoming rajas and tamas, rajas by overcoming sattva and tamas, and tamas by overcoming sattva and rajas.

When knowledge and light appear in this body through all the gates of the senses, then one should know that sattva has greatly increased.

O best of the Bharata dynasty, when rajas increases, these arise: greed, activity, the undertaking of actions, restlessness, and longing.

O descendant of the Kuru dynasty, when tamas increases, these arise: dullness, inactivity, carelessness, and delusion.

When an embodied being dies while sattva is predominant, he attains the pure worlds of those who know the highest.

One who dies while rajas is predominant is born among those attached to action. One who dies while tamas is predominant is born among deluded species.

They say the fruit of good action is pure and born of sattva. The fruit of rajas is sorrow. The fruit of tamas is ignorance.

From sattva, knowledge arises. From rajas, greed arises. From tamas come carelessness and delusion, and also ignorance.

Those who are established in sattva go upward. Those who are in rajas remain in the middle. Those who are in tamas, being in the lowest quality, go downward.

When the seer perceives no agent other than the qualities, and knows what is beyond the qualities, he attains my nature.

When the embodied soul transcends these three qualities that arise from the body, it is freed from birth, death, old age, and sorrow, and attains immortality.

Arjuna said: O Lord, by what signs is one known who has gone beyond these three qualities? What is his conduct, and how does he transcend these three qualities?

Krishna said: O son of Pandu, he does not dislike illumination, activity, and delusion when they arise, nor does he long for them when they cease.

He who sits as if indifferent, who is not moved by the qualities, who remains firm knowing that the qualities are acting, and who does not waver,

who is the same in pleasure and pain, who rests in himself, who sees a clod of earth, a stone, and gold as the same, who is the same toward the agreeable and the disagreeable, who is steady, who regards blame and his own praise equally,

who is the same in honor and dishonor, who is equally disposed toward friend and enemy, who has given up all undertakings, he is said to have gone beyond the qualities.

And he who serves me with unwavering devotion and the yoga of bhakti, he crosses beyond these qualities and becomes fit for Brahman.

For I am the foundation of Brahman, the immortal and the imperishable, the eternal, the eternal law, and the absolute happiness.