Bhagavad Gita Chapter 14 Verse 18 (14.18)
Reflective Prompt:
How do you achieve true spiritual freedom from the three qualities of nature?
- ▪ Option 1: By cultivating Sattva exclusively and trying to suppress Rajas and Tamas forever.
- ▪ Option 2: By recognizing that the qualities (gunas) are merely playing among themselves, and realizing the Self is the inactive witness beyond them.
Bhagavad Gita Chapter 14 Verse 18 (14.18)
ऊर्ध्वं गच्छन्ति सत्त्वस्था मध्ये तिष्ठन्ति राजसाः । जघन्यगुणवृत्तिस्था अधो गच्छन्ति तामसाः | | १४-१८ | |
ūrdhvaṁ gachchhanti sattvasthā madhye tiṣhṭhanti rājasāḥ jaghanyaguṇavṛittisthā adho gachchhanti tāmasāḥ
Word-by-word guide:
Line 1:
- ऊर्ध्वम्
(urdhvam)— ऊपर(upwards) - गच्छन्ति
(gacchanti)— जाते हैं(go) - सत्त्वस्थाः
(sattva-sthah)— सत्त्व में स्थित(those established in clarity) - मध्ये
(madhye)— मध्य में(in the middle) - तिष्ठन्ति
(tishthanti)— रहते हैं(stay) - रजसः
(rajasah)— रजस का(the passionate)
Line 2:
- जघन्यगुणवृत्तिस्थाः
(jaghanya-guna-vritti-sthah)— निम्न गुणों में स्थित(fixed in the lowest qualities) - अधः
(adhah)— नीचे(downwards) - गच्छन्ति
(gacchanti)— जाते हैं(go) - तमसः
(tamasah)— तमस का(the ignorant)
English: When clarity is in the ascendant, the man evolves; when restless desire, he neither evolves nor degenerates; when lack of understanding, he is lost.
Learnings from Shloka 18:
- The Three Gunas:: Nature is made of three qualities that bind us: Sattva (clarity, light, purity), Rajas (passion, active desires, greed), and Tamas (dullness, laziness, ignorance).
- How they bind:: Sattva binds us by attaching us to happiness and knowledge. Rajas binds us by attaching us to active work and results. Tamas binds us through laziness, carelessness, and deep sleep.
- The prevails of Gunas:: One quality is always trying to become stronger than the other two in our minds.
- Results and Destinations:: Sattva leads to wisdom, clean actions, and higher worlds. Rajas leads to greed, painful restlessness, and rebirth in active worlds. Tamas leads to blindness, foolish errors, and lower states of existence.
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Practice vocabulary
Those established in Sattva go upward; those in Rajas remain in the middle (mortal worlds); and those in Tamas sink downward, wrapped in negative qualities.
### Shlokas 19-27 **Means of God-realization, and marks of the soul who has transcended the Gunas.**