Traigunyavishayaa vedaa nistraigunyo bhavaarjuna;
Nirdwandwo nityasatwastho niryogakshema aatmavaan.
45. The Vedas deal with the three attributes (of Nature); be thou above these three attributes,
O Arjuna! Free yourself from the pairs of opposites and ever remain in the quality of Sattwa
(goodness), freed from the thought of acquisition and preservation, and be established in the Self.
COMMENTARY
Guna means attribute or quality. It is substance as well as quality.
Nature is made up of three Gunas-Sattwa (purity, light, harmony), Rajas (passion, restlessness,
motion), and Tamas (inertia, darkness). The pairs of opposites are pleasure and pain, heat and cold,
gain and loss, victory and defeat, honour and dishonour, praise and censure.
