Chapter 14: Guṇa-traya-vibhāga-yoga:: Verse 20
गुणानेतानतीत्य त्रीन्देही देहसमुद्भवान् ।
जन्ममृत्युजरादु:खैर्विमुक्तोऽमृतमश्नुते ॥
guṇān-etān-atītya trīn-dehī deha-samudbhavān
janma-mṛtyu-jarā-du:khair-vimukto’mṛtam-aśnute – 14.20
By transcending these three guṇas, which give rise to embodiment, one gets freed from the torments of birth, death and decrepitude, and enjoys the bliss of immortality.
Chapter 14: Guṇa-traya-vibhāga-yoga: - Verse 20
Swami Bhoomananda Tirtha
Krishna spoke so far about Nature’s three gunas, individually as well as collectively, instilling emotional and intellectual outcomes like joy, greed, possessiveness as also knowledge and brilliance. Gunas also create ignorance and delusion. All the three gunas together bind the human.
Krishna now points specifically that despite all these binding effects, there is a way of outliving them all and gaining the ecstasy of freedom, letting the gunas have their role intact. This inner, spiritual transcendence of gunas is the unique gift of spiritual wisdom. One has to think deeply and recognize his inner spiritual potential as well as the possibilities extended before him.
Krishna says spiritual freedom enables one to let Prakrti display its gunas, while still being what he really is – the supreme unconditioned Self!
