Chapter 14Verse 22 of 27

Bhagavad Gita 14.22

श्रीभगवानुवाच । प्रकाशं च प्रवृत्तिं च मोहमेव च पाण्डव । न द्वेष्टि सम्प्रवृत्तानि न निवृत्तानि काङ्क्षति ॥ २२ ॥

śrī-bhagavān uvāca | prakāśaṁ ca pravṛttiṁ ca moham eva ca pāṇḍava | na dveṣṭi sampravṛttāni na nivṛttāni kāṅkṣati ||22||

Translation

The Holy One said: he does not hate light, activity, or delusion when they have arisen, nor long for them when they have ceased.

The first mark of the guna-atita is a particular relationship with the three signatures already named. Prakasha (sattva's mark), pravritti (rajas's mark), moha (tamas's mark) all still arise in him; the gunas have not vanished from his system. What has vanished is the second-order reaction. When sattva comes, he does not chase its disappearance; when sattva goes, he does not call after it. When rajas flares, no hate; when it fades, no want. Same for tamas. The gunas pass through his weather; he no longer trades with them. Equanimity here is not numbness; it is the absence of the trade.

Reflection

Which mood in you most needs to be neither chased nor pushed away today?

Read this verse in its chapter: Chapter Fourteen

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