Chapter XIV

Krishna announces he will reveal the highest wisdom that leads all his saints to perfection and liberation from rebirth.

Krishna explains that he is the father of all beings, the universe is the womb, and Brahma is the conceiver of all forms.

Krishna names and defines Sattwan (purity/truth), Rajas (passion), and Tamas (ignorance) as three binding qualities of nature that bind the eternal spirit.

Sattwan, being pure and enlightening, binds the soul pleasantly to happiness and truth.

Passion, akin to appetite and impulse, binds the embodied soul through attachment to works.

Ignorance, born of darkness and blindness, binds souls to stupor, sloth, and drowsiness.

Krishna restates that Sattwan binds pleasantly, Passion through toil, and Ignorance to sloth, with different manifestations in each.

Krishna describes how when Passion and Ignorance are overcome, Sattwan remains; when Ignorance and Sattwan are absent, Passion dominates; and Ignorance prevails in hearts lacking goodness.

When the lamp of knowledge shines at all bodily gateways, Sattwan manifests; longing and ardor indicate Passion; darkness and sloth indicate Ignorance.

Souls departing while established in Sattwan reach the pure realm of those who know all truth.

Souls departing in habitual impulse are born into worlds of spirits bound to works.

Souls dying in hardened ignorance are reborn in unlighted wombs.

Sattwan produces true and sweet fruit; Passion produces pain and toil; Ignorance produces darkness and bewilderment.

Those established in Sattwan rise ever higher, those in Passion maintain a middle place, and those in Ignorance sink to lower depths.

When a living person perceives that only the qualities are the actors and recognizes what lies beyond them, he approaches Krishna.

The soul that passes beyond the three qualities overcomes birth, death, sorrow, and age, and drinks the undying nectar of immortality.

Arjuna asks for the signs and means to recognize and reach those who have transcended the three qualities.

The transcendent person surveys the qualities with equanimity, neither angry when they manifest nor wishful when they disappear.

The transcendent person sits as a stranger among the qualities, remaining unruffled and saying 'These be the Qualities!' when troubles arise.

For the transcendent person, grief and joy sound as one word, and all objects—clod, marble, gold—appear identical to his deep-seeing eyes.

The transcendent person maintains equal gentleness toward all things, holds the same equanimity in praise and dispraise, and shows tolerance to both friends and foes.

The transcendent person is detached from undertakings, defined as the surmounter of the qualities.

Such a person, with single fervent faith adoring Krishna, passes beyond the qualities, conforms to Brahma, and attains Krishna.

Krishna declares that he is the source of Brahma, the amrit (immortality), and perfect felicity.