सत्त्वं रजस्तम इति गुणा: प्रकृतिसम्भवा: |
निबध्नन्ति महाबाहो देहे देहिनमव्ययम् || 5||
sattvaṁ rajas tama iti guṇāḥ prakṛiti-sambhavāḥ
nibadhnanti mahā-bāho dehe dehinam avyayam
sattvam—mode of goodness; rajaḥ—mode of passion; tamaḥ—mode of ignorance; iti—thus; guṇāḥ—modes; prakṛiti—material nature; sambhavāḥ—consists of; nibadhnanti—bind; mahā-bāho—mighty-armed one; dehe—in the body; dehinam—the embodied soul; avyayam—eternal
Translation:
O Arjuna! Born of Prakriti, the three Gunas, Sattva, Rajas, and Tamas bind the imperishable Jivatma in the body.
Commentary:
The three Gunas, Sattva, Rajas and Tamas are born of prakriti. Atma is free from them. Atma is Nirguna, devoid of these qualities. It transcends them. Even so, the individual man having forgotten his Atma and its transcendental nature, associates himself with the Gunas, identifies himself with them, and binds himself to the inert perishable body. Thus the Imperishable ever-fee Atma is lost by the jiva who becomes an embodied being subject to all the ills of life and death. This mistaken identity is (avidya) ignorance. Man has to release himself from every one of these gunas, and rise to the Atmic plane which is free and perfect. The Sattva Guna which is free is also mentioned as one of the bonds, because it is only in the Nirvikalpa Samadhi that man goes beyond all the gunas and realises Paramatma. In that state, there are no qualities or states or thoughts. As the aspirant rises higher and higher, he finds that Sattva guna also is like a screen (a thin screen but yet a screen) between him and the ultimate.
The seekers must have a longing to march. Tamas has to be conqureed by Rajas; and Rajas has to be purified by Sattva and Sattva has to be discarded at the end to reach Atma. That is Moksha.
Mahabaho: Arjuna is addressed as the ‘Mighty armed’. He has, no doubt, defeated many powerful enemies in the world, but he has yet to conquer the internal enemies, the three gunas with greater strength and higher courage.
Dehe dehinam avyayam: Atma, the Lord, the Imperishable Light, is in the body, nearest to man. Therefore, by intense search and clear discrimination one has to discover this even in this life. It is Imperishable. Atma is changeless, has no birth and therefore it has no death. All the other things are ‘vyayam‘ perishable. Each man has to turn the searchlight on himself and know that he has his life and being, not in the perishable body but in the Imperishable Atma. He has to strive for purifying himself from the contaminating influence of the three Gunas and ascend to the plane of Atma. This is the fulfillment of life.
Sri Ramakrishna Says — (BG 14.5, BG 14.9, BG 14.17)
M: “Is daya also a bondage?”
MASTER: “Yes, it is. But that concept is something far beyond the ordinary man. Daya springs from sattva. Sattva preserves, rajas creates, and tamas destroys. But Brahman is beyond the three gunas. It is beyond Prakriti.
“None of the three gunas can reach Truth; they are like robbers, who cannot come to a public place for fear of being arrested. Sattva, rajas, and tamas are like so many robbers.
“Listen to a story. Once a man was going through a forest, when three robbers fell upon him and robbed him of all his possessions. One of the robbers said, “What’s the use of keeping this man alive?’ So saying, he was about to kill him with his sword, when the second robber interrupted him, saying: ‘Oh, no! What is the use of killing him? Tie him hand and foot and leave him here.’ The robbers bound his hands and feet and went away.
After a while the third robber returned and said to the man: ‘Ah, I am sorry. Are you hurt? I will release you from your bonds.’ After setting the man free, the thief said; Come with me. I will take you to the public highway.’ After a long time they reached the road. Then the robber said: ‘Follow this road. Over there is your house.’ At this the man said: ‘Sir, you have been very good to me. Come with me to my house.’ ‘Oh, no!’ the robber replied. ‘I can’t go there. The police will know it.’
“This world itself is the forest. The three robbers prowling here are sattva, rajas, and tamas. It is they that rob a man of the Knowledge of Truth. Tamas wants to destroy him. Rajas binds him to the world. But sattva rescues him from the clutches of rajas and tamas. Under the protection of sattva, man is rescued from anger, passion, and the other evil effects of tamas. Further, sattva loosens the bonds of the world. But sattva also is a robber. It cannot give him the ultimate Knowledge of Truth, though it shows him the road leading to the Supreme Abode of God. Setting him on the path, sattva tells him: ‘Look yonder. There is your home.’ Even sattva is far away from the Knowledge of Brahman.
“What Brahman is cannot be described. Even he who knows It cannot talk about It. There is a saying that a boat, once reaching the ‘black waters’ of the ocean, cannot come back.
“Once four friends, in the course of a walk, saw a place enclosed by a wall. The wall was very high. They all became eager to know what was inside. One of them climbed to the top of the wall. What he saw on looking inside made him speechless with wonder. He only cried, ‘Ah! Ah!’ and dropped in. He could not give any information about what he saw. The others, too, climbed the wall, uttered the same cry, ‘Ah! Ah!’, and jumped in. Now who could tell what was inside? (Source: Gospel of Sri Ramakrishna)
Question: What is the nature of Atma?
Answer: Imperishable.
Question: What binds the Jiva?
Answer: Though the ‘jiva’ is really ‘Atma’, yet by his ignorance, he is bound by the three ‘Gunas’.
Question: What is the origin of the three Gunas?
Answer: ‘Prakriti’ (Prakriti – sambhavah).
Question: What is the way to attain liberation?
Answer: To reach ‘Paramatma’, who is beyond the three ‘Gunas’.
Bhagavad Gita: Chapter 14 
(27 Verses)
