Chapter 14Verse 11 of 27

Bhagavad Gita 14.11

सर्वद्वारेषु देहेऽस्मिन्प्रकाश उपजायते । ज्ञानं यदा तदा विद्याद्विवृद्धं सत्त्वमित्युत ॥ ११ ॥

sarva-dvāreṣu dehe 'smin prakāśa upajāyate | jñānaṁ yadā tadā vidyād vivṛddhaṁ sattvam ity uta ||11||

Translation

When the light of knowledge shines in all the gates of this body, then one should know that sattva has increased.

The chapter now gives diagnostic signs. The first is sattvic. When every doorway of the body, the senses and the mind, lets light through evenly, when nothing is fogged or jammed, the dominant guna is sattva. The senses report cleanly; the mind comprehends; the body feels light. This is a useful self-check rather than a goal. It tells the seeker, right now sattva is in charge, and so any decisions made now should also remember that sattva itself is a guna. The brightness is real and pleasant; the warning of verse six still stands.

Reflection

When you last felt all senses and mind reporting clearly, what were you doing?

Read this verse in its chapter: Chapter Fourteen

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