Bhagavad Gita Chapter 14
Chapter 14 Bhagavad Gita
- Again I shall explain this wisdom supreme
Of all kinds of knowledge, this is the cream
Fixed in this knowledge one can surely attain
A nature like Mine, and never take birth again
- O Arjuna, of all species of life
I’m the seed giving father, nature’s my wife
- Material nature consists of three modes
Goodness, passion and ignorance are the roads
- The mode of goodness is better than the rest
It frees one from sin and brings happiness
- The mode of passion is born of endless desire
Binding one to work hard and never retire
- The mode of ignorance is delusion deep
It results in madness, indolence and sleep
- Goodness brings joy, passion brings work for gain
Ignorance covers knowledge and makes one insane
14&15. When one dies in goodness, higher planets are attained
When dying in passion, one comes back to this plane
But ignorance is the most dangerous of all
For to the animal kingdom one does fall
- Goodness gives us the real knowledge we need
The mode of passion produces lust and greed
If the mode of ignorance comes to prevail
Madness, illusion, and ignorance will hail
- When one sees that in all activity
No other performer works than these modes three
And when he knows the Lord who is beyond all these
He attains my spiritual nature with ease
- When one is able to transcend these modes three
From birth, old age and death he’ll be free
And saved from all their stresses and strife
And thus enjoy nectar within this life
- O Krsna, tell me what symptoms will I to see
In one not affected by these modes three
What is his behavior, how is it known
How does he transcend the material modes?
22-25 He sees earth, stone and gold as one and the same
And sees praise and blame different only in name
He treats all alike, both enemy and friend
And thus the three modes he is said to transcend
- If one who follows this devotional line
And never fails at any place or time
The modes of nature will never pull him on
And thus he’ll come to the level of Brahman
(He’ll rise above these modes without hesitation
And thus come to the plane of Brahman realization)
- Of this Brahman, this impersonal force
I am the basis, the ultimate source
It cannot be destroyed, it never dies
It is where ultimate happiness lies
