BHAGAVAD-GITA 14:5

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BHAGAVAD-GITA 14:5

 

sattvam rajas tama iti

gunah prakrti-sambhavah

nibadhnanti maha-baho

dehe dehinam avyayam

 

WORD FOR WORD

 

sattvam--the mode of goodness; rajah--the mode of passion; tamah--the

mode of ignorance; iti--thus; gunah--the qualities; prakrti--material

nature; sambhavah--produced of; nibadhnanti--do condition;

maha-baho--O mighty-armed one; dehe--in this body; dehinam--the living

entity; avyayam--eternal.

 

TRANSLATION

 

Material nature consists of three modes--goodness, passion and

ignorance. When the eternal living entity comes in contact with

nature, O mighty-armed Arjuna, he becomes conditioned by these modes.

 

PURPORT

 

The living entity, because he is transcendental, has nothing to do

with this material nature. Still, because he has become conditioned by

the material world, he is acting under the spell of the three modes of

material nature. Because living entities have different kinds of

bodies, in terms of the different aspects of nature, they are induced

to act according to that nature. This is the cause of the varieties of

happiness and distress.

 

Copyright 1983 The Bhaktivedanta Book Trust International. Used with

permission.