श्रीभगवानुवाच |
प्रकाशं च प्रवृत्तिं च मोहमेव च पाण्डव |
न द्वेष्टि सम्प्रवृत्तानि न निवृत्तानि काङ् क्षति || 22||
उदासीनवदासीनो गुणैर्यो न विचाल्यते |
गुणा वर्तन्त इत्येवं योऽवतिष्ठति नेङ्गते || 23||
समदु:खसुख: स्वस्थ: समलोष्टाश्मकाञ्चन: |
तुल्यप्रियाप्रियो धीरस्तुल्यनिन्दात्मसंस्तुति: || 24||
मानापमानयोस्तुल्यस्तुल्यो मित्रारिपक्षयो: |
सर्वारम्भपरित्यागी गुणातीत: स उच्यते || 25||
śhrī-bhagavān uvācha
prakāśhaṁ cha pravṛittiṁ cha moham eva cha pāṇḍava
na dveṣhṭi sampravṛittāni na nivṛittāni kāṅkṣhati
udāsīna-vad āsīno guṇair yo na vichālyate
guṇā vartanta ity evaṁ yo ’vatiṣhṭhati neṅgate
sama-duḥkha-sukhaḥ sva-sthaḥ sama-loṣhṭāśhma-kāñchanaḥ
tulya-priyāpriyo dhīras tulya-nindātma-sanstutiḥ
mānāpamānayos tulyas tulyo mitrāri-pakṣhayoḥ
sarvārambha-parityāgī guṇātītaḥ sa uchyate
śhrī-bhagavān uvācha—the Supreme Divine Personality said; prakāśham—illumination; cha—and; pravṛittim—activity; cha—and; moham—delusion; eva—even; cha—and; pāṇḍava—Arjun, the son of Pandu; na dveṣhṭi—do not hate; sampravṛittāni—when present; na—nor; nivṛittāni—when absent; kāṅkṣhati—longs; udāsīna-vat—neutral; āsīnaḥ—situated; guṇaiḥ—to the modes of material nature; yaḥ—who; na—not; vichālyate—are disturbed; guṇāḥ—modes of material nature; vartante—act; iti-evam—knowing it in this way; yaḥ—who; avatiṣhṭhati—established in the self; na—not; iṅgate—wavering; sama—alike; duḥkha—distress; sukhaḥ—happiness; sva-sthaḥ—established in the self; sama—equally; loṣhṭa—a clod; aśhma—stone; kāñchanaḥ—gold; tulya—of equal value; priya—pleasant; apriyaḥ—unpleasant; dhīraḥ—steady; tulya—the same; nindā—blame; ātma-sanstutiḥ—praise; māna—honor; apamānayoḥ—dishonor; tulyaḥ—equal; tulyaḥ—equal; mitra—friend; ari—foe; pakṣhayoḥ—to the parties; sarva—all; ārambha—enterprises; parityāgī—renouncer; guṇa-atītaḥ—risen above the three modes of material nature; saḥ—they; uchyate—are said to have
Translation:
The blessed Lord said: O Arjuna! He (the Gunatita) does not hate when the three Gunas bring happiness (from Sattva), action (from Rajo-guna), and delusion (from Tamo-guna): nor does he long for them when they are absent.
He sits like one unconcerned, unaffected by the Gunas, knowing that the Gunas are functioning, and is not moved.
He is equal-minded in joy and sorrow, established in Self; regards a clod, a stone, and gold alike; the same in pleasant and unpleasant things; heroic, equal in censure and praise.
He is the same in honour and dishonour; the same towards friends and enemies; abadons all actions; he is said to be Gunatita.
Commentary:
In the 22nd verse, it is declared that the Gunatita is indifferent to the functioning of three qualities. Sattva may bring happiness; Rajas may bring action; Tamas may cause delusion. When these effects are produced, he does not hate them. Nor does he long for them, when they are absent. In other words, he is indifferent whether the Gunas are existing or not. They may function or they may cease to function; he is not at all concerned. He does not hate them when they function, nor does he long for them when they cease to function.
The effects of the three Gunas are mentioned here to lend force to the idea that the Gunatita is above the Gunas, and so their functioning or non-functioning is no concern for him. We have to understand that the Gunatita would not be subject to the power of the Gunas like the common people. Otherwise, he would not be a Gunatita. The point is that one should be regardless of these qualities, and their functions, having established himself in the Self. Whether it is the knowledge of Sattva, or the activity of Rajas, or the delusion of Tamas, he (the Gunatita) neither hates nor longs for them. He has nothing to do with them at all.
The permanent characters of the Gunatita strike our attention. 1. Immovable firmness (Nischalatvam), 2. Equal-mindedness (samatvam).
(1) The difference between the Yogi and the common man is seen in critical moments. Small things perturb the common man. Little disappointments, worries, anxieties, throw him off the balance. He becomes restless, discontented, and dispirited by any kind of adversity. The Gunatita is exactly the opposite type. He is imperturbable, undaunted by anything that may happen. The waves may dash against the mountain endlessly, but the mountain remains immovable. So, difficulties and dangers may come to the Gunatita but he remains immovable. Is the sun in any way troubled by the storms and tempests, the thunders and lightning that occur under him? So is the Gunatita. He is above these storms and tempests, resting firmly in Atma. He does not move away from Atma. He knows full well that whatever happens in the world is only a mental phenomenon with which he has no contact whatsoever. Such a man is the very embodiment of courage and boldness. It is not the bravado of the ordinary mortals, but the courage that comes from Brahma Jnana. This is the first and the greatest mark of the Gunatita. The Gunatita is in this sense a Sthithaprajna.
(2). Equal-mindedness is the next distinguishing quality of the Gunatita. Towards friends and enemies, in pleasure and pain, honour and dishonour, censure and praise, toward worthless and valuable things like stone or gold, he is equal-minded. Suka, when he visited the Court of Janaka, was put to severe test by the latter. He was made to stay without food for some days, he was not even recognised for some days, he was provided the highest luxuries for some days, – in these ways, his equanimity was tested by the King. Suka stood the test, because he was a perfect Jnani, a Gunatita. Such great sages have their life and being in Atma and so they do not recognise the objective world and react to it in the way that common people do. To them, the objective world and all that is occurring in it, is merely a grand show without any reality in it. They are only reflected images of the mind. The pairs of opposites can touch the mind, but they cannot touch Atma, which is beyond Buddhi (Yo buddheh paratastu sah).
Sarvarambhaparityagi: It would be appropriate to interpret this as a person who has given up the sense of doership in all undertakings, a person who has given up all desire-prompted actions. (Kamya Karma) or a person who is in constant absorption in the Self, and so does not act in any way.
Yah: The state of Gunatita can be achieved by anyone who possesses the above-mentioned qualities. There is no bar for any earnest soul to attain this state by the accident of birth or wealth or position. In fact, the aim of the Gunatita is to transcend all distinctions caused by Prakriti. Such a man who has gone beyond the three Gunas is the Gunatita.
Sri Ramakrishna Says —
MASTER (to the devotees): “Why shouldn’t one be able to attain spirituality, living the life of a householder? But it is extremely difficult. Sages like Janaka entered the world after attaining Knowledge. But still the world is a place of terror. Even a detached householder has to be careful. Once Janaka bent down his head at the sight of a bhairavi. He shrank from seeing a woman. The bhairavi said to him: ‘Janaka, I see you have not yet attained Knowledge. You still differentiate between man and woman.’
“If you move about in a room filled with soot, you will soil your body, however slightly, no matter how clever you may be. I have seen householder devotees filled with spiritual emotion while performing their daily worship wearing their silk clothes. They maintain that attitude even until they take their refreshments after the worship. But afterwards they become their old selves again. They display their rajasic and tamasic natures.
“Sattva begets bhakti. Even bhakti has three aspects: sattva, rajas, and tamas. The sattva of bhakti is pure sattva. When a devotee acquires it he doesn’t direct his mind to anything but God. He pays only as much attention to his body as is absolutely necessary for its protection.
“But a paramahamsa is beyond the three gunas. Though they exist in him, yet they are practically non-existent. Like a child, he is not under the control of any of the gunas. That is why paramahamsas allow small children to come near them — in order to assume their nature.
“Paramahamsas may not lay things up; but this rule does not apply to householders. They must provide tor their families.”
TANTRIK DEVOTEE: “Is a paramahamsa aware of virtue and vice?”
MASTER: “Keshab Sen also asked that question. I said to him, ‘If I explain that to you, then you won’t be able to keep your society together.’ ‘In that case we had better stop here’, said Keshab.
“Do you know the significance of virtue and vice? A paramahamsa sees that it is God who gives us evil tendencies as well as good tendencies. Haven’t you noticed that there are both sweet and bitter fruits? Some trees give sweet fruit, and some bitter or sour. God has made the mango-tree, which yields sweet fruit, and also the hog plum, which yields sour fruit.”
TANTRIK: “Yes, sir. That is true. On the hill-top one sees extensive rose gardens, reaching as far as the eye can see.”
MASTER: “The paramahamsa realises that all these — good and bad, virtue and vice, real and unreal — are only the glories of God’s maya. But these are very deep thoughts. One realizing this cannot keep an organization together or anything like that.”
TANTRIK: “But the law of karma exists, doesn’t it?”
MASTER: “That also is true. Good produces good, and bad produces bad. Don’t you get the hot taste if you eat chillies? But these are all God’s lila, His play.”
TANTRIK: “Then what is the way for us? We shall have to reap the result of our past karma, shall we not?”
MASTER: “That may be so. But it is different with the devotees of God. Listen to a song:
O mind, you do not know how to farm!
Fallow lies the field of your life.
If you had only worked it well,
How rich a harvest you might reap!
Hedge it about with Kali’s name
If you would keep your harvest safe;
This is the stoutest hedge of all,
For Death himself cannot come near it. …..
(Source: Gospel of Sri Ramakrishna)
Question: What are the marks of the Gunatita?
Answer: The Gunatita does not hate when the three Gunas bring happines, action and delusion; nor does he long for them when they are absent. He sits like one unconcerned, unaffected by the Gunas, knowing the Gunas are functioning and is not moved. He is equal minded in joy and sorrow, in a stone and gold alike; the same in pleasant and unpleasant things, heroic, and equal in censure and praise. He is the same in honour and dishonour, the same towards friends and enemies; He abandons all action. Such a person is said to be Gunatita.
Bhagavad Gita: Chapter 14 
(27 Verses)
