Bhagavad Gita 14.23उदासीनवदासीनो गुणैर्यो न विचाल्यते।गुणा वर्तन्त इत्येव योऽवतिष्ठति नेङ्गते ॥
udāsīna-vad āsīno guṇair yo na vichālyate
guṇā vartanta ity evaṁ yo ’vatiṣhṭhati neṅgate
Sanskrit recitation
Rising above the gunas · 14.19–14.27 · Teaching
Translation
He who, seated like one unconcerned, is not moved by the dualities, and who, knowing that the dualities are active, is self-centered and does not move.
Hindi translation
जो उदासीनकी तरह स्थित है और जो गुणोंके द्वारा विचलित नहीं किया जा सकता तथा गुण ही (गुणोंमें) बरत रहे हैं -- इस भावसे जो अपने स्वरूपमें ही स्थित रहता है और स्वयं कोई भी चेष्टा नहीं करता।
Meaning
He is seated as a neutral (one who inclines to neither party). He is free from likes and dislikes. He is entirely unconcerned whether the alities with their effects and the body come or go. He is like the spectator at a football or a cricket match or a drama. Just as the sky remains unconcerned when the wind blows, so also he remains ite unconcerned when the alities operate.He does not swerve from the path of Selfrealisation. He treads the path firmly. He thinks and feels The alities are modified into the body, senses and senseobjects. They act and react upon one another, remains unshaken by them. He abides in his own Self and stands firm like the mountain Meru. (Cf.III.28V.8to11)
After Swami Sivananda
Rising above the gunas· 14.19–14.27→
Teachers usually read this idea across several verses together, one shared reflection covers the whole unit.
- 14.19When the seer beholds no agent other than the Gunas and knows that which is higher than…
- 14.20The embodied one, having crossed beyond these three Gunas from which the body is evolved,…
- 14.21Arjuna said, "What are the marks of one who has transcended the three qualities, O Lord?…
- 14.22The Blessed Lord said, "When light, activity, and delusion are present, he does not hate…
14.23He who, seated like one unconcerned, is not moved by the dualities, and who, knowing that…
- 14.24Who is the same in pleasure and pain, who dwells in the Self, to whom a clod of earth, a…
- 14.25Who is the same in honor and dishonor, the same to friend and foe, abandoning all…
- 14.26And he who serves Me with unwavering devotion, he, crossing beyond the dualities, is fit…
- 14.27For I am the abode of Brahman, the immortal, immutable, and everlasting Dharma, and…
Word-by-word→
- na
- not
- yaḥ
- who
- iti-evam
- knowing it in this way
- iṅgate
- wavering
- vartante
- act
- guṇaiḥ
- to the modes of material nature
- guṇāḥ
- modes of material nature
- āsīnaḥ
- situated
- vichālyate
- are disturbed
- udāsīna-vat
- neutral
- avatiṣhṭhati
- established in the self
Related verses
- 2.69That which is night to all beings, in that the self-controlled man is awake; when all…
- 13.10Non-attachment, non-identification of the Self with son, wife, home, and the rest, and…
- 5.16But to those whose ignorance is destroyed by knowledge of the Self, like the sun,…
- 4.22Content with what comes to him without effort, free from the pairs of opposites and envy,…