Bhagavad Gita 14.5
Spoken by Krishna ☆ Key verse · Verse 5 of 27
सत्त्वं रजस् तम इति गुणाः प्रकृतिसम्भवाः । निबध्नन्ति महाबाहो देहे देहिनम् अव्ययम् ॥
sattvaṃ rajas tama iti guṇāḥ prakṛti-sambhavāḥ | nibadhnanti mahā-bāho dehe dehinam avyayam ||
Sattva, rajas, tamas — three guṇas born of Prakṛti — bind the indestructible ātman in every body.
Word by word (3)
- sattvaṃ rajas tamaḥ iti guṇāḥ
- — sattva, rajas, tamas — these three are the guṇas (guṇa = quality, strand, rope-strand; the triple binding cord of Prakṛti)
- prakṛti-sambhavāḥ
- — born of Prakṛti (sambhava = arising; NOT from Puruṣa — this distinction is the liberation-key)
- nibadhnanti mahā-bāho dehe dehinam avyayam
- — they bind (nibadh = bind tight) the imperishable dehin (avyayam dehinam = the indestructible ātman within the body); O mighty-armed (mahā-bāho)
Sattva, rajas, and tamas — these three guṇas, born of Prakṛti — bind fast in the body the indestructible ātman (dehin). This, O mighty-armed, is the mechanism of all bondage.
A modern analogy
Three colored lenses — clear/white, red, and dark/black — placed over a pure light. The light itself doesn't change, but through the lenses the world appears as calm (sattva), agitated (rajas), or confused (tamas). Remove the lenses and the pure light shines. You are the light — not the lens.
Public-domain translations (4) compare all →
Sattva, Rajas, Tamas — these guṇas, O mighty-armed, born of Prakṛti, bind fast in the body the embodied, the indestructible. [1]
Sattva, Rajas, and Tamas — these Gunas, O mighty-armed, born of Prakriti, bind fast in the body the indestructible embodied one. [4]
Goodness, passion, darkness — these qualities born from nature, O you of mighty arms, bind down the inexhaustible soul in the body. [9]
Goodness, passion, darkness — these qualities, born of nature, O thou of mighty arms, bind down the eternal embodied soul in the body. [13]
This verse speaks to
Where this thread continues
Rajas — passion, thirst, attachment — binds the embodied one specifically through attachment to action.
Dying in rajas, one is born among the action-attached; dying in tamas, one is born in irrational wombs.
Bodies end — the soul does not. Therefore: fight.
The Vedas deal in the three qualities of nature — go beyond them: free from opposites, self-possessed.
Sattva binds to happiness; rajas to action; tamas veils wisdom and chains to heedlessness.
Sattva, rajas, or tamas — each can become dominant over the others, alternating in every mind.
Verse 5 of 27 · back to Chapter 14