12. lobhah pravrttir arambhah
karmanam asamah sprha
rajasy etam jayante
vivrddhe bharat arsabha
(12) Greed, activity, the undertaking of actions, unrest and craving—these spring up, 0 Best of the Bharatas (Arjuna), when rajas increases The passionate seeking of life and its pleasures arises from the dominance of rajas.
13. aprakago 'pravrttit ca
pramado moha eva ca
tamasy etam jayante
vivrddhe kurunandana
(13) Unillumination, inactivity, negligence and mere delusion—these arise, 0 joy of the Kurus (Arjuna), when dullness increases while prakasa or illumination is the effect of sattva, aprakasa or non-illumination is the result of tamas. Error, misunderstanding, negligence and inaction are the characteristic marks of a tamasa temperament.
14. yada sattve pravrddhe
tu pralayam yati dehabhert
tado 'Itamavidam lokan
amaldn -pratipadyate
(14) When the embodied soul meets with dissolution, when goodness prevails, then it attains to the pure worlds of those who know the Highest, They do not obtain release but birth in brahmaloka. Nistraigunya or the transcendence of the three gunas is the condition of release.
15. rajasi pralayam gatva
karmasangisu jayate
tatha pralinas tamasi
mudhayonisu jayate
(15) Meeting with dissolution when passion prevails, it is born among those attached to action; and if it is dissolved when dullness prevails, it is born in the wombs of the deluded.
16. karmavah sukytasya 'huh
sattvikam nirmalam _phalam
rajasas tu phalam duhkham
ajnanam tamasah phalam
(16) The fruit of good action is said to be of the nature of "goodness" and pure; while the fruit of passion is pain, the fruit of dullness is ignorance.
17. sattvat sampayate
jnanam rajaso lobha eva ca
pramadamohau tamaso
bhavato 'jnanam eva ca
(17) From goodness arises knowledge and from passion greed, negligence and error arise from dullness, as also ignorance. The psychological effects of the three modes are here set forth.
18. urdhvam gacchanti sattvastha
madhye tishanti rajasah
jaghanyaguiiavttistha
adho gacchanti tamasah
(18) Those who are established in goodness rise upwards ; the passionate remain in the middle (regions) ; the dull steeped in the lower occurrences of the modes sink downwards The soul evolves through these three stages ; it rises from dull inertia and subjection to ignorance, through the struggle for material enjoyments to the pursuit of knowledge and happiness. But so long as we are attached, even though it may be to very noble objects, we are limited and there is always a sense of insecurity since rajas and tamas may overcome the sattva in us. The highest ideal is to transcend the ethical level and rise to the spiritual. The good man (sattvika) should become a saint (trigunatita). Until we reach this stage, we are only in the making; our evolution is incomplete
19. na 'nyam gunebhyah kartdram
yada drasta 'nupasyati
gunebhyas` ca param vetti
mad badvam so 'dhigacchati
(19) When the seer perceives no agent other than the modes, and knows also that which is beyond the modes, he attains to My being. "Then his identity with Brahman becomes manifest." Anandagiri.
