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Yet once again, O mighty-armed! I speak For thy full knowledge, that supreme discourse Above all wisdom, hearing which the sages Have passed from mortal bonds to perfect peace. They who, by faith in this My word, attain To holiness of being — when worlds spring They are not born anew, nor suffer change When worlds are rolled together and destroyed.

In Brahma's bosom vast I plant the seed Of universal life; and from that womb All beings come, O Bharata! and know — Whatever form of life be born alive In any womb, its nature cometh forth From Brahma's vast womb, and I am He Who planteth it. The seed is named the Father.

Three qualities of Nature there exist: Sattva the bright, Rajas the passionate, And Tamas, dark and dull. These bind the soul Which hath no end nor death — within its form, O blameless one! Of these, Sattva, being pure, Illuminating, without any ill, Doth wrap the soul with bonds of happiness And bonds of knowledge, Prince! and Rajas, driven By passion, by the thirst of longings lit, Fastens the embodied soul to tireless toil; But Tamas, born of ignorance, the fool Of every jiva — know, O Bharata! — Bindeth the soul with bonds of sloth and sleep And negligence and witless wandering.

Sattva inclineth the soul to happiness, Rajas to works and restless enterprise, And Tamas, dimming wisdom, draweth down To negligence and slumber. When Sattva grows And conquers Rajas, Tamas — then the soul Is bright; when Rajas conquers Sattva, Tamas, Then toil and unrest and eager strife prevail; When Tamas conquers Sattva, Rajas — loss Of light, and dullness, and gross folly reign.

When at the gates of all the body's senses The lamp of knowledge shineth bright, then know That Sattva rules! Greed, restlessness, desire, Ambitiously attempting deeds of gain — These spring from Rajas. Darkness, sloth, and error, And vain delusion — these from Tamas grow. If, when the soul departeth, Sattva reigns, It goeth to the sinless, happy worlds Where dwell the souls that know the Highest; Dying in Rajas, it is born again Amongst those bound by works; and one who dies In Tamas sinks to birth in brutish wombs.

The fruit of Sattva's work is called true good, Pure and enlightening; that of Rajas, pain; The fruit of Tamas, ignorance and dark. From Sattva wisdom grows; from Rajas, greed; From Tamas, folly, dullness, blindness fall. They who are Sattvic rise on high; the souls Of Rajas keep the middle path; the Tamasic, Sunken in vilest nature, sink below.

When the beholder seeth no agent other Than the Qualities, and knows that which is higher Than the Qualities — then doth the beholder come To Me, My nature! Passing far beyond These three-fold Qualities whereof all bodies Are wrought, the embodied soul, from birth, and death, And age, and sorrow freed, drinketh the wine Of immortality.

By what marks is he known, O Keshava, Who hath transcended the three Qualities? How acts he? And by what road goeth he Beyond the three-fold ways of Nature's law?

He who regards with equal eye and heart Illumination, enterprise, and sloth; Hates none of these, nor longeth after one; Who, sitting like one unconcerned, remains Unmoved by Qualities, and, knowing well The Qualities do merely come and go, Standeth apart, swayed not by any one; Treating alike pleasure and pain, and praise And blame, and honour and dishonour; kind Alike to friends and foes; surrendering All plans for self — such is he who hath risen Above the Qualities! And he who serves Me with an unfailing love shall pass Beyond the three-fold Qualities, and win To oneness with the Eternal Brahma's peace. For I am Brahma's home, the deathless nectar, The changeless Right, and the Eternal Bliss.