Chapter 18
THE YOGA OF LIBERATION BY RENUNCIATION
(…continued)
Verse 17
He who is ever free from the egoistic
notion, whose intelligence is not tainted by (good or evil), though he slays
these people, he slayeth not, nor is he bound (by the action).
Verse 18
Knowledge, the knowable and the knower
form the threefold impulse to action; the organ, the action and the agent form
the threefold basis of action.
Verse 19
Knowledge, action and the actor are
declared in the science of the Gunas (the Sankhya philosophy) to be of three
kinds only, according to the distinction of the Gunas. Hear them also duly.
Verse 20
That by which one sees the one
indestructible Reality in all beings, not separate in all the separate
beings—know thou that knowledge to be Sattwic (pure).
Verse 21
But that knowledge which sees in all
beings various entities of distinct kinds as different from one another—know
thou that knowledge to be Rajasic (passionate).
Verse 22
But that which clings to one single
effect as if it were the whole, without reason, without foundation in Truth,
and trivial—that is declared to be Tamasic (dark).
Verse 23
An action which is ordained, which is
free from attachment, which is done without love or hatred by one who is not
desirous of any reward—that action is declared to be Sattwic.
Verse 24
But that action which is done by one
longing for the fulfilment of desires or gain, with egoism or with much
effort—that is declared to be Rajasic.
Verse 25
That action which is undertaken from
delusion, without regard to the consequences of loss, injury and (one’s own)
ability—that is declared to be Tamasic.
Verse 26
He who is free from attachment,
non-egoistic, endowed with firmness and enthusiasm and unaffected by success or
failure, is called Sattwic.
Verse 27
Passionate, desiring to obtain the
rewards of actions, cruel, greedy, impure, moved by joy and sorrow, such an
agent is said to be Rajasic.
Verse 28
Unsteady, dejected, unbending, cheating,
malicious, vulgar, lazy and procrastinating—such an agent is called Tamasic.
Verse 29
Hear thou the threefold division of the
intellect and firmness according to the Gunas, as I declare them fully and
distinctly, O Arjuna!
Verse 30
That which knows the path of work and
renunciation, what ought to be done and what ought not to be done, fear and
fearlessness, bondage and liberation—that intellect is Sattwic, O Arjuna!
Verse 31
That by which one incorrectly understands
Dharma and Adharma, and also what ought to be done and what ought not to be
done—that intellect, O Arjuna, is Rajasic!
Verse 32
That which, enveloped in darkness, views
Adharma as Dharma and all things perverted—that intellect, O Arjuna, is called
Tamasic!
Continued...
Love.
