The Yoga of the Three Qualities of Nature

The Supreme Lord said: I shall once again declare to you the supreme knowledge, the best…

Those who take refuge in this knowledge attain oneness with me

The great material nature is my womb

O son of Kunti, whatever forms are produced in all the wombs of creation, the great…

Sattva, rajas, and tamas — these three gunas born of material nature bind the…

Among these, sattva, being pure, is illuminating and free from disease

Know that rajas is of the nature of passion, born of craving and attachment

Know that tamas, born of ignorance, is the deluder of all embodied beings

Sattva attaches one to happiness, rajas to action, O Arjuna

Sometimes sattva prevails over rajas and tamas; sometimes rajas prevails over sattva and…

When the light of knowledge shines through all the gates of the body, then it should be…

When rajas predominates, O best of the Bharatas, greed, excessive activity, restless…

When tamas predominates, O joy of the Kurus, darkness, inactivity, negligence, and…

When the embodied soul meets death while sattva is predominant, it attains the pure…

Dying in the mode of passion, one is born among those attached to action

The fruit of righteous action is said to be pure and sattvic

From sattva arises knowledge, from rajas arises greed, and from tamas arise negligence,…

Those established in sattva rise upward

When the seer perceives no doer other than the gunas and knows that which is beyond the…

When the embodied soul transcends these three gunas that are the source of the body, it…

Arjuna asked: O Lord, by what signs is one who has transcended the three gunas recognized

The Supreme Lord said: O Pandava, one who does not hate illumination, activity, or…

One who sits as if neutral, undisturbed by the gunas, who knows that the gunas alone act,…

One who is equal in happiness and sorrow, self-abiding, who regards a clod of earth, a…

One who is equal in honor and dishonor, equal toward friend and foe, and who has…

One who serves me with unwavering devotion, transcending these three gunas, becomes fit…

For I am the foundation of Brahman — the immortal, the imperishable, the eternal dharma,…