📿 Shloka Collection

Gunan Etan Atitya Trin

Gita 14.20 Bhagavad Gita
📖 Bhagavad Gita, Chapter 14 — Gunatraya Vibhaga Yoga
गुणानेतानतीत्य त्रीन्देही देहसमुद्भवान् ।
जन्ममृत्युजरादुःखैर्विमुक्तोऽमृतमश्नुते ॥
Gunan etan atitya trin dehi deha-samudbhavan
Janma-mrityu-jara-duhkhair vimukto amritam ashnute
गुणान्
the gunas
एतान्
these
अतीत्य
having transcended
त्रीन्
three
देही
the embodied soul
देहसमुद्भवान्
born of the body
जन्म
birth
मृत्यु
death
जरा
old age
दुःखैः
from suffering
विमुक्तः
freed
अमृतम्
immortality / moksha
अश्नुते
attains

This is the chapter's most hopeful declaration. The embodied soul that crosses beyond these three gunas — which arise because of its association with the body — becomes free from birth, death, old age, and suffering. It attains amrita, the nectar of immortality.

Being bound by the gunas is not the soul's permanent fate. Krishna is saying that this binding can be undone. The ropes can be cut. And when they are, the soul no longer needs to be born, to grow old, to suffer, or to die. It touches something deathless.

The phrase "deha-samudbhavan" is crucial. The gunas belong to the body and to Prakriti, not to the soul. The soul was always free. It only seemed bound because of its identification with the body. Transcendence is not gaining something new. It is recognizing what was always true.

Hearing this, a natural question arises in Arjuna's mind: what does a person who has transcended the gunas look like? How do they behave? How does one get there? Arjuna will ask exactly this in the next shloka (14.21), and Krishna's answer will run through shlokas 14.22-26.

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