The Three Qualities — Gunatraya Vibhaga Yoga
Chapter 14 of Bhagavad Gita by Vyasa
Krishna said: 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.
