Bhagavad Gita

भगवद् गीता

Text & Audio

with paraphrase

Chapter 14

1. Audio

By Swami Brahmananda
Duet
By Jagannath Vedalankar

श्रीभगवानुवाच:

परं भूयः प्रवक्ष्यामि ज्ञानानां ज्ञानमुत्तमम् ।

यज्ज्ञात्वा मुनयः सर्वे परां सिद्धिमितो गताः ॥

śrībhagavānuvāca:

paraṃ bhūyaḥ pravakṣyāmi jñānānāṃ jñānamuttamam,

yajjñātvā munayaḥ sarve parāṃ siddhimito gatāḥ.

The Blessed Lord said: I will again declare the supreme Knowledge, the highest of all blowings, which having known, all the sages have gone hence to the highest perfection.

इदं ज्ञानमुपाश्रित्य मम साधर्म्यमागताः ।

सर्गेऽपि नोपजायन्ते प्रलये न व्यथन्ति च ॥

idaṃ jñānamupāśritya mama sādharmyamāgatāḥ,

sarge’pi nopajāyante pralaye na vyathanti ca.

Having taken refuge in this knowledge and become of like nature and law of being with Me, they are not born in the creation, nor troubled by the anguish of the universal dissolution.

मम योनिर्महद् ब्रह्म तस्मिन्गर्भं दधाम्यहम् ।

संभवः सर्वभूतानां ततो भवति भारत ॥

mama yonirmahad brahma tasmingarbhaṃ dadhāmyaham,

saṃbhavaḥ sarvabhūtānāṃ tato bhavati bhārata.

My womb is the Mahat Brahman; into that I cast the seed; thence spring all beings, O Bharata.

सर्वयोनिषु कौन्तेय मूर्तयः संभवन्ति याः ।

तासां ब्रह्म महद्योनिरहं बीजप्रदः पिता ॥

sarvayoniṣu kaunteya mūrtayaḥ saṃbhavanti yāḥ,

tāsāṃ brahma mahadyonirahaṃ bījapradaḥ pitā.

Whatever forms are produced in whatsoever wombs, O Kaunteya, the Mahat Brahman is their womb, and I am the Father who casts the seed.

सत्त्वं रजस्तम इति गुणाः प्रकृतिसम्भवाः ।

निबध्नन्ति महाबाहो देहे देहिनमव्ययम् ॥

sattvaṃ rajastama iti guṇāḥ prakṛtisambhavāḥ,

nibadhnanti mahābāho dehe dehinamavyayam.

The three gunas born of Prakriti, Sattwa, Rajas and Tamas bind in the body, O great-armed one, the imperishable dweller in the body.

तत्र सत्त्वं निर्मलत्वात्प्रकाशकमनामयम् ।

सुखसंगेन बध्नाति ज्ञानसंगेन चानघ ॥

tatra sattvaṃ nirmalatvātprakāśakamanāmayam,

sukhasaṅgena badhnāti jñānasaṅgena cānagha.

Of these Sattwa is by the purity of its quality a cause of light and illumination, and by virtue of that purity produces no disease or morbidity or suffering in the nature: it binds by attachment to knowledge and attachment to happiness, O sinless one.

रजो रागात्मकं विद्धि तृष्णासंगसमुद्भवम् ।

तन्निबध्नाति कौन्तेय कर्मसंगेन देहिनम् ॥

rajo rāgātmakaṃ viddhi tṛṣṇāsaṅgasamudbhavam,

tannibadhnāti kaunteya karmasaṅgena dehinam.

Rajas, know thou, has for its essence attraction of liking and longing; it is a child of the attachment of the soul to the desire of objects; O Kaunteya, it binds the embodied spirit by attachment to works.

तमस्त्वज्ञानजं विद्धि मोहनं सर्वदेहिनाम् ।

प्रमादालस्यनिद्राभिस्तन्निबध्नाति भारत ॥

tamastvajñānajaṃ viddhi mohanaṃ sarvadehinām,

pramādālasyanidrābhistannibadhnāti bhārata.

But Tamas, know thou, born of ignorance, is the deluded of all embodied beings’ it binds by negligence, indolence and sleep, O Bharata.

सत्त्वं सुखे सञ्जयति रजः कर्मणि भारत ।

ज्ञानमावृत्य तु तमः प्रमादे सञ्जयत्युत ॥

sattvaṃ sukhe sañjayati rajaḥ karmaṇi bhārata,

jñānamāvṛtya tu tamaḥ pramāde sañjayatyuta.

Sattwa attaches to happiness, rajas to action, O Bharata; tamas covers up the knowledge and attaches to negligence of error and inaction.

रजस्तमश्चाभिभूय सत्त्वं भवति भारत ।

रजः सत्त्वं तमश्चैव तमः सत्त्वं रजस्तथा ॥

rajastamaścābhibhūya sattvaṃ bhavati bhārata,

rajaḥ sattvaṃ tamaścaiva tamaḥ sattvaṃ rajastathā.

Now sattwa leads, having overpowered rajas and tamas, O Bharata; now rajas, having overpowered sattwa and tamas; and now tamas, having overpowered sattwa and rajas.

सर्वद्वारेषु देहेऽस्मिन्प्रकाश उपजायते ।

ज्ञानं यदा तदा विद्याद्विवृद्धं सत्त्वमित्युत ॥

sarvadvāreṣu dehe’sminprakāśa upajāyate,

jñānaṃ yadā tadā vidyādvivṛddhaṃ sattvamityuta.

When into all the doors in the body there comes a flooding of light, a light of understanding, perception and knowledge, one should understand that there has been a great increase and uprising of the sattwic guna in the nature.

लोभः प्रवृत्तिरारम्भः कर्मणामशमः स्पृहा ।

रजस्येतानि जायन्ते विवृद्धे भरतर्षभ ॥

lobhaḥ pravṛttirārambhaḥ karmaṇāmaśamaḥ spṛhā,

rajasyetāni jāyante vivṛddhe bharatarṣabha.

Greed, seeking impulsions, initiative of actions, unrest, desire — all this mounts in us when rajas increases.

अप्रकाशोऽप्रवृत्तिश्च प्रमादो मोह एव च ।

तमस्येतानि जायन्ते विवृद्धे कुरुनन्दन ॥

aprakāśo’pravṛttiśca pramādo moha eva ca,

tamasyetāni jāyante vivṛddhe kurunandana.

Nescience, inertia, negligence and delusion — these are born when tamas predominates, O joy of the Kurus.

यदा सत्त्वे प्रवृद्धे तु प्रलयं याति देहभृत् ।

तदोत्तमविदां लोकानमलान्प्रतिपद्यते ॥

yadā sattve pravṛddhe tu pralayaṃ yāti dehabhṛt,

tadottamavidāṃ lokānamalānpratipadyate.

If sattwa prevails when the embodied goes to dissolution, then he attains to the spotless worlds of the knowers of the highest principles.

रजसि प्रलयं गत्वा कर्मसंगिषु जायते ।

तथा प्रलीनस्तमसि मूढयोनिषु जायते ॥

rajasi pralayaṃ gatvā karmasaṅgiṣu jāyate,

tathā pralīnastamasi mūḍhayoniṣu jāyate.

Going to dissolution when rajas prevails, he is born among those attached to action; if dissolved during the increase of tamas, he is born in the wombs of beings involved in nescience.

कर्मणः सुकृतस्याहुः सात्त्विकं निर्मलं फलम् ।

रजसस्तु फलं दुःखमज्ञानं तमसः फलम् ॥

karmaṇaḥ sukṛtasyāhuḥ sāttvikaṃ nirmalaṃ phalam,

rajasastu phalaṃ duḥkhamajñānaṃ tamasaḥ phalam.

It is said the fruit of works rightly done is pure and sattwic; pain is the consequence of rajasic works, ignorance is the result of tamasic action.

सत्त्वात्संजायते ज्ञानं रजसो लोभ एव च ।

प्रमादमोहौ तमसो भवतोऽज्ञानमेव च ॥

sattvātsaṃjāyate jñānaṃ rajaso lobha eva ca,

pramādamohau tamaso bhavato’jñānameva ca.

From sattwa knowledge is born, and greed from rajas; negligence and delusion are of tamas, and also ignorance.

ऊर्ध्वं गच्छन्ति सत्त्वस्था मध्ये तिष्ठन्ति राजसाः ।

जघन्यगुणवृत्तिस्था अधो गच्छन्ति तामसाः ॥

ūrdhvaṃ gacchanti sattvasthā madhye tiṣṭhanti rājasāḥ,

jaghanyaguṇavṛttisthā adho gacchanti tāmasāḥ.

They rise upwards who are in sattwa; those in rajas remain in the middle; the tamasic, those enveloped in ignorance and inertia, the effect of the lowest quality, go downwards.

नान्यं गुणेभ्यः कर्तारं यदा द्रष्टानुपश्यति ।

गुणेभ्यश्च परं वेत्ति मद्भावं सोऽधिगच्छति ॥

nānyaṃ guṇebhyaḥ kartāraṃ yadā draṣṭānupaśyati,

guṇebhyaśca paraṃ vetti madbhāvaṃ so’dhigacchati.

When the seer perceives that the modes of Nature are the whole agency and cause of works and knows and turns to That which is supreme above the gunas. he attains to mad-bhava (the movement and status of the Divine).

गुणानेतानतीत्य त्रीन्देही देहसमुद्भवान् ।

जन्ममृत्युजरादुःखैर्विमुक्तोऽमृतमश्नुते ॥

guṇānetānatītya trīndehī dehasamudbhavān,

janmamṛtyujarāduḥkhairvimukto’mṛtamaśnute.

When the soul thus rises above the three gunas born of the embodiment in Nature, he is freed from subjection to birth and death and their concomitants, decay, old age and suffering, and enjoys in the end the Immortality of its self-existence.

अर्जुन उवाच:

कैर्लिंगैस्त्रीन्गुणानेतानतीतो भवति प्रभो ।

किमाचारः कथं चैतांस्त्रीन्गुणानतिवर्तते ॥

arjuna uvāca:

kairliṅgaistrīnguṇānetānatīto bhavati prabho,

kimācāraḥ kathaṃ caitāṃstrīnguṇānativartate.

Arjuna said: What are the signs of the man who has risen above the three gunas, O Lord? What is his action and how does he surmount the gunas?

श्रीभगवानुवाच:

प्रकाशं च प्रवृत्तिं च मोहमेव च पाण्डव ।

त द्वेष्टि संप्रवृत्तानि न निवृत्तानि काङ्क्षति ॥

śrībhagavānuvāca:

prakāśaṃ ca pravṛttiṃ ca mohameva ca pāṇḍava,

ta dveṣṭi saṃpravṛttāni na nivṛttāni kāňkṣati.

The Blessed Lord said: He, O Pandava, who does not abhor or shrink from the operation of enlightenment (the result of rising sattwa) or impulsion to works (the result of rising rajas) or the clouding over of the mental and nervous being (the result of rising tamas), nor longs after them, when they cease.

उदासीनवदासीनो गुणैर्यो न विचाल्यते ।

गुणा वर्तन्त इत्येव योऽवतिष्ठति नेंगते ॥

udāsīnavadāsīno guṇairyo na vicālyate,

guṇā vartanta ityeva yo’vatiṣṭhati neṅgate.

He who, established ill a position as of one seated high above, is unshaken by the gunas; who seeing that it is the gunas that are in process of action stands apart immovable.

समदुःखसुखः स्वस्थः समलोष्टाश्मकांचनः ।

तुल्यप्रियाप्रियो धीरस्तुल्यनिन्दात्मसंस्तुतिः ॥

samaduḥkhasukhaḥ svasthaḥ samaloṣṭāśmakāṃcanaḥ,

tulyapriyāpriyo dhīrastulyanindātmasaṃstutiḥ.

मानापमानयोस्तुल्यस्तुल्यो मित्रारिपक्षयोः ।

सर्वारम्भपरित्यागी गुणातीतः स उच्यते ॥

mānāpamānayostulyastulyo mitrāripakṣayoḥ,

sarvārambhaparityāgī guṇātītaḥ sa ucyate.

He who regards happiness and suffering alike, gold and mud and stone as of equal value, to whom the pleasant and the unpleasant, praise and blame, honour and insult, the faction of his friends and the faction of his enemies are equal things: who is steadfast in a wise imperturbable and immutable inner calm and quietude; who initiates no action (but leaves all works to be done by the gunas of Nature) — he is said to be above the gunas.

मां च योऽव्यभिचारेण भक्तियोगेन सेवते ।

स गुणान्समतीत्यैतान्ब्रह्मभूयाय कल्पते ॥

māṃ ca yo’vyabhicāreṇa bhaktiyogena sevate,

sa guṇānsamatītyaitānbrahmabhūyāya kalpate.

He also who loves and strives after Me with an undeviating love and adoration, passes beyond the three gunas and lie too is prepared for becoming the Brahman.

ब्रह्मणो हि प्रतिष्ठाहममृतस्याव्ययस्य च ।

शाश्वतस्य च धर्मस्य सुखस्यैकान्तिकस्य च ॥

brahmaṇo hi pratiṣṭhāhamamṛtasyāvyayasya ca,

śāśvatasya ca dharmasya sukhasyaikāntikasya ca.

I (the Purushottama) am the foundation of the silent Brahman and of Immortality and imperishable spiritual existence and of the eternal dharma and of an utter bliss of happiness.