Bhagavad Gita 14.6
Spoken by Krishna · Verse 6 of 27
तत्र सत्त्वं निर्मलत्वात् प्रकाशकम् अनामयम् । सुखसङ्गेन बध्नाति ज्ञानसङ्गेन चानघ ॥
tatra sattvaṃ nirmalatvāt prakāśakam anāmayam | sukha-saṅgena badhnāti jñāna-saṅgena cānagha ||
Sattva — luminous and stainless — yet binds the jīva through attachment to happiness and attachment to knowledge.
Word by word (3)
- tatra sattvaṃ nirmalatvāt prakāśakam anāmayam
- — among these (tatra), sattva — owing to its stainlessness (nirmalatvāt) — is luminous (prakāśaka) and free from suffering (anāmaya = without disease/affliction)
- sukha-saṅgena badhnāti
- — it binds (badhnāti) through attachment to happiness (sukha-saṅga = saṅga in sukha)
- jñāna-saṅgena ca anagha
- — and through attachment to knowledge (jñāna-saṅga), O sinless one (anagha — Arjuna addressed as 'without sin')
Among the three guṇas, sattva — being stainless, luminous, and free from suffering — yet binds the embodied one through attachment to happiness and attachment to knowledge.
A modern analogy
Gold chains are still chains. Sattva is the most beautiful prison — you feel peaceful, wise, good. But attachment to that goodness ('I am a spiritual person', 'I am enlightened') is still saṅga. The only real freedom is guṇātīta — beyond all three.
Public-domain translations (4) compare all →
Of these, Sattva, which, from its stainlessness, is lucid and healthy, binds by attachment to happiness and by attachment to knowledge, O sinless one. [1]
Of these Sattva, because of its stainlessness, luminous and free from evil, binds, O sinless one, by attachment to happiness, and by attachment to knowledge. [4]
Of these, goodness which, in consequence of being untainted, is enlightening and free from all misery, binds the soul, O sinless one, with the bond of pleasure and the bond of knowledge. [9]
Of these, Goodness, from its unsullied nature, being enlightening and free from misery, binds the soul, O sinless one, with the attainment of happiness and of knowledge. [13]
This verse speaks to
Where this thread continues
The yogi abandons fruit and attains lasting peace. The non-yogi, bound to fruit by desire, is fettered.
Sattva begets wisdom; rajas begets greed; tamas begets heedlessness, delusion, and ignorance.
The tattva-vit sees gunas moving among gunas and does not become attached. Knowledge itself produces liberation.
Krishna reopens with the supreme jñāna above all knowledge — knowing which every muni has reached parāṃ siddhim.
Those who resort to this knowledge attain My own nature — neither reborn at creation nor disturbed at dissolution.
Sattva binds to happiness; rajas to action; tamas veils wisdom and chains to heedlessness.
Verse 6 of 27 · back to Chapter 14