Bhagavad Gita Chapter 14: Gunatraya Vibhaga Yoga — Summary, Key Verses & Meaning

Bhagavad Gita Chapter 14 — Gunatraya Vibhaga Yoga (The Yoga of the Three Gunas)

Sattva, rajas and tamas — goodness, passion and inertia — bind the self to the body; Krishna describes their signs and the person who rises above them.

Chapter 14 · Gunatraya Vibhaga Yoga (The Yoga of the Three Gunas) · 27 verses

What happens in Chapter 14

Everything in nature is woven from three gunas: sattva (clarity, harmony, goodness), rajas (passion, activity, restlessness) and tamas (inertia, dullness, ignorance). Sattva binds through attachment to happiness and knowledge, rajas through attachment to action, tamas through negligence and sleep. Each in turn rises and overpowers the others, and each leads to its own kind of results.

Arjuna asks how to recognise someone who has gone beyond the gunas. Krishna describes them: unmoved by whichever guna is active, equal towards pleasure and pain, praise and blame, friend and foe, and serving the Lord with unwavering devotion.

Main themes

Sattva, rajas and tamas
How the gunas bind
The person beyond the gunas (gunatita)

Key verses

सत्त्वं रजस्तम इति गुणाः प्रकृतिसम्भवाः।
निबध्नन्ति महाबाहो देहे देहिनमव्ययम्॥

sattvaṁ rajas tama iti guṇāḥ prakṛti-sambhavāḥ
nibadhnanti mahā-bāho dehe dehinam avyayam

14.5 — Sattva, rajas and tamas — these gunas born of nature bind the imperishable self to the body, mighty-armed one.

For daily life

Notice which guna is strong in you today — restless, dull or clear — and choose food, company and activity that bring more clarity.

Sanskrit text: traditional (Gita Press numbering). English translation and explanation: MyPujaWorld.

Frequently asked questions

How many verses are in Bhagavad Gita Chapter 14?

Chapter 14, Gunatraya Vibhaga Yoga, has 27 verses in the standard (Gita Press) text.

What is Chapter 14 of the Bhagavad Gita about?