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Chapter 14 · Verse 5
🪈 Krishna speaks
Illustration for Chapter 14, Verse 5

सत्त्वं रजस्तम इति गुणाः प्रकृतिसंभवाः। निबध्नन्ति महाबाहो देहे देहिनमव्ययम्॥

sattvaṁ rajastama iti guṇāḥ prakṛtisambhavāḥ | nibadhnanti mahābāho dehe dehinamavyayam ||

Word by Word 11 words
सत्त्वम्
as to be — sat, what is true, real, pure -tva -ness

sattva — the quality of light, calm, and clearness

रजः
rañj to color, to be stirred, to be excited

rajas — the quality of restlessness and busy action

तमः
tam to grow dark, to be still, to faint

tamas — the quality of heaviness, dullness, and sleep

इति
iti thus, so-called

these, so named

गुणाः
guṇa strand, thread, quality

the gunas — the three qualities, like three threads

प्रकृतिसंभवाः
pra forth kṛ to make, to do — prakṛti, Nature sam together bhū to be, to become

born of Nature, arising from prakriti

निबध्नन्ति
ni down, fast bandh to bind, to tie

they bind, they tie down

महाबाहो
mahā great bāhu arm

O mighty-armed one (Arjuna)

देहे
dih to smear, to form — deha, the body

in the body

देहिनम्
dih to smear, to form — dehin, the one who wears a body

the embodied one, the Self who lives inside the body

अव्ययम्
a not vi apart i to go — vyaya, to wear away

the unchanging, the one that never wears out or dies

names the three qualities, called gunas, that all of Nature is woven from, like three threads twisted together: , which is calm and bright; , which is restless and busy; and , which is heavy and sleepy. These three are born from Nature, and they wrap themselves around the true Self who lives inside your body. That Self never changes and never dies, yet the three threads tie it down, the way ropes can hold even a strong, free creature.

कथा

The Three Threads That Tied the Swan

From the Upanishadic image / Vedantic allegory

told of a swan, a bright white swan, a hamsa, who in the old stories stands for the Self that lives inside every person.

"Picture this swan," said. "She is made of light. She cannot be hurt. She cannot grow old. She cannot die. By her own nature she belongs to the open sky, free to fly anywhere she pleases, forever."

pictured her: shining, weightless, longing for the wide blue air.

"But the swan has come down to rest upon the earth, to live for a while inside a body, the way you and I do," said . "And the earth is the home of great Nature, who is woven from three fine threads."

"What are the threads like?" asked.

"The first thread is white and clear, like a ribbon of morning light," said . "That is — calm, happy, full of knowing. The second thread is red and quick, always tugging, never still, like a restless little fire. That is — the busy thread, full of wanting and doing. And the third thread is dark and heavy, like a wet woollen blanket. That is — the sleepy thread, dull and slow."

"And the swan?" said .

"The three threads gently wrap around her feet," said. "Even the white thread, even the lovely shining one. One by one they loop and knot, and soon the swan, who could fly anywhere in all the heavens, sits tied to the ground, forgetting that she ever had the sky."

frowned. "But she is made of light. She cannot be hurt. Why doesn't she just fly away?"

"That," said softly, "is the great riddle. The swan is never truly harmed — not for one moment. The threads cannot change what she is. But while she forgets herself, while she lets them wrap around her, she feels tied, and she stays upon the ground, and she cries that she cannot fly."

He looked kindly at .

"Every person carries that swan inside — your true, shining, undying Self. And the three threads of Nature are always near, ready to wind around it. To understand the threads," he said, "is the first step to slipping free of them."

चिन्तनम्

The swan was made of light and could never really be harmed, yet three soft threads kept her on the ground because she forgot she could fly. What is something small that sometimes keeps you from doing what you truly can?