Bhagavad Gita · 18.40 · Yoga through the Perfection of Renunciation and Surrender·40 of 78
न तदस्ति पृथिव्यां वा दिवि देवेषु वा पुनः।सत्त्वं प्रकृतिजैर्मुक्तं यदेभिः स्यात्ित्रभिर्गुणैः ॥
na tad asti pṛithivyāṁ vā divi deveṣhu vā punaḥ
sattvaṁ prakṛiti-jair muktaṁ yad ebhiḥ syāt tribhir guṇaiḥ
Sanskrit recitation
Knowledge, work, and the worker · 18.29–18.40 · Teaching
Translation
There is no being on earth or in heaven among the gods that is liberated from the three qualities born of Nature.
Meaning
The Gunas form the warp and woof of everything as threads do in the case of cloth.Here in the world of mortals or there in the heavenworld, there is no creature that is not bound by the three alities of Nature. Can there be a cloth without threads Can there be a man without blood and bones Can there be a mountain without stones Even so there is not a single creature in the whole universe into whose composition the three alities of matter do not enter. The whole of creation is wrought of these three alities. They have given rise to the Trinity (Brahma, Vishnu and Siva). In the world of mortals the triplicity of agent, action and fruit owe their origin to them. They are the cause of the different functions of the four castes. This Samsara has been compared to the peepul tree in chapter XV.1. This Samsara is made up of the three alities and is kept up by the force of ignorance.Action, instruments of action and fruits have set the wheel of Samsara in motion and this wheel is revolving from beginningless time. It is only a liberated sage who has attained knowledge of the Self who puts a check to this wheel, goes beyond the cause and the effect, and breaks the bonds of Karma.Cut this mysterious tree of Samsara with the strong sword of nonattachment, transcend the three Gunas and rest in your own essential divine nature as ExistenceKnowledgeBliss Absolute.
After Swami Sivananda
Knowledge, work, and the worker· 18.29–18.40→
Teachers usually read this idea across several verses together, one shared reflection covers the whole unit.
- 18.29Hear thou the threefold division of intellect and firmness, according to the Gunas, as I declare them fully and distinctly, O Arjuna.
- 18.30The intellect which knows the path of work and renunciation, what should be done and what should not be done, fear and fearlessness, bondage and liberation—that intellect is Sattvic (pure), O Arjuna.
- 18.31That by which one wrongly understands dharma and adharma, and also what ought to be done and what ought not to be done—that intellect, O Arjuna, is rajasic (passionate).
- 18.32That intellect, O Arjuna, which is enveloped in darkness and sees Adharma as Dharma and all things perverted, is Tamasic (dark).
- 18.33The unwavering firmness, through which Yoga restrains the functions of the mind, life-force, and senses—that firmness, O Arjuna, is Sattvic (pure).
- 18.34But that, O Arjuna, by which one holds fast to Dharma (duty), enjoyment of pleasures, and earning of wealth, on account of attachment and desire for reward—that firmness, O Arjuna, is Rajasic (passionate).
- 18.35That firmness, O Arjuna, by which a stupid man does not abandon sleep, fear, grief, despair, and conceit, is Tamasic.
- 18.36And now, O Arjuna, hear from Me of the threefold pleasure, in which one rejoices through practice and surely comes to the end of pain.
- 18.37That which is like poison at first but in the end like nectar—that happiness is declared to be sattvic, born of the purity of one's own mind due to self-realization.
- 18.38That happiness which arises from the contact of the senses with the objects, which is initially like nectar but eventually like poison, is said to be Rajasic.
- 18.39That happiness which at first, as well as in the end, deludes the self, and which arises from sleep, indolence, and heedlessness—that is declared to be Tamasic.
18.40There is no being on earth or in heaven among the gods that is liberated from the three qualities born of Nature.
Word-by-word→
- na
- no
- tat
- that
- vā
- or
- yat
- that
- asti
- exists
- divi
- the higher celestial abodes
- syāt
- is
- muktam
- liberated
- ebhiḥ
- from the influence of these
- punaḥ
- again
- sattvam
- existence
- deveṣhu
- amongst the celestial gods
- tribhiḥ
- three
- guṇaiḥ
- modes of material nature
- pṛithivyām
- on earth
- prakṛiti-jaiḥ
- born of material nature
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