Ye caiva sattvika bhava rajasas tamasas ca ye, matta eveti tan viddhi na tv aham tesu te mayi
All states of being — whether in goodness, passion, or ignorance — proceed from Me alone. Know this, yet I am not in them; they are in Me. The three gunas arise from God, but God transcends them. This establishes both divine immanence and divine transcendence simultaneously.
- •The three gunas originate from God but do not limit God
- •God is both the source and transcendent of all qualities
- •Understanding the gunas helps one go beyond them
Tribhir guna-mayair bhavair ebhih sarvamidam jagat, mohitam nabhijanati mam ebhyah param avyayam
Deluded by these three states of being composed of the gunas, the entire world does not know Me, who am above them and inexhaustible. The three gunas create a veil of illusion that prevents people from recognizing the eternal, unchanging nature that underlies all phenomena.
- •The gunas create delusion that conceals the Divine
- •Most people are lost in the play of the three qualities
- •The Supreme is beyond all qualities and inexhaustible
Sattvam rajas tama iti gunah prakriti-sambhavah, nibadhnanti maha-baho dehe dehinam avyayam
The three gunas—sattva (goodness), rajas (passion), and tamas (ignorance)—born of material nature, bind the eternal soul to the body.
- •Three modes govern material existence
- •Even the soul becomes bound by qualities
- •Understanding the gunas leads to freedom
sri bhagavan uvaca: tri-vidha bhavati sraddha dehinam sa svabhava-ja, sattviki rajasi caiva tamasi ceti tam srinu
Krishna answers that the innate faith of embodied beings is of three kinds — sattvic, rajasic, and tamasic — each arising from one's own nature. He invites Arjuna to hear the distinctions.
- •Faith is threefold according to the gunas
- •One's nature (svabhava) determines the quality of one's faith
- •All three types of faith are naturally occurring in human beings