Bhagavad Gita · 14.23 · Yoga through Understanding the Three Modes of Material Nature·23 of 27
उदासीनवदासीनो गुणैर्यो न विचाल्यते।गुणा वर्तन्त इत्येव योऽवतिष्ठति नेङ्गते ॥
udāsīna-vad āsīno guṇair yo na vichālyate
guṇā vartanta ity evaṁ yo ’vatiṣhṭhati neṅgate
Sanskrit recitation
Rising above the gunas · 14.19–14.27 · Teaching
Translation
He who, seated like one unconcerned, is not moved by the dualities, and who, knowing that the dualities are active, is self-centered and does not move.
Meaning
He is seated as a neutral (one who inclines to neither party). He is free from likes and dislikes. He is entirely unconcerned whether the alities with their effects and the body come or go. He is like the spectator at a football or a cricket match or a drama. Just as the sky remains unconcerned when the wind blows, so also he remains ite unconcerned when the alities operate.He does not swerve from the path of Selfrealisation. He treads the path firmly. He thinks and feels The alities are modified into the body, senses and senseobjects. They act and react upon one another, remains unshaken by them. He abides in his own Self and stands firm like the mountain Meru. (Cf.III.28V.8to11)
After Swami Sivananda
Rising above the gunas· 14.19–14.27→
Teachers usually read this idea across several verses together, one shared reflection covers the whole unit.
- 14.19When the seer beholds no agent other than the Gunas and knows that which is higher than them, he attains to My Being.
- 14.20The embodied one, having crossed beyond these three Gunas from which the body is evolved, is freed from birth, death, decay, and pain, and attains immortality.
- 14.21Arjuna said, "What are the marks of one who has transcended the three qualities, O Lord? What is their conduct, and how do they go beyond these three qualities?"
- 14.22The Blessed Lord said, "When light, activity, and delusion are present, he does not hate them, nor does he long for them when they are absent.
14.23He who, seated like one unconcerned, is not moved by the dualities, and who, knowing that the dualities are active, is self-centered and does not move.
- 14.24Who is the same in pleasure and pain, who dwells in the Self, to whom a clod of earth, a stone, and gold are all alike, who is the same to the dear and the unfriendly, who is firm, and to whom censure and praise are one and the same.
- 14.25Who is the same in honor and dishonor, the same to friend and foe, abandoning all undertakings, he is said to have transcended the dualities.
- 14.26And he who serves Me with unwavering devotion, he, crossing beyond the dualities, is fit for becoming Brahman.
- 14.27For I am the abode of Brahman, the immortal, immutable, and everlasting Dharma, and absolute bliss.
Word-by-word→
- na
- not
- yaḥ
- who
- iti-evam
- knowing it in this way
- iṅgate
- wavering
- vartante
- act
- guṇaiḥ
- to the modes of material nature
- guṇāḥ
- modes of material nature
- āsīnaḥ
- situated
- vichālyate
- are disturbed
- udāsīna-vat
- neutral
- avatiṣhṭhati
- established in the self
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