Gyaneshwari -Sant Gyaneshwar
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Chapter-14
The Three Qualities
5. Sattva, rajas and tamas are qualities born of prakriti; they bind fast, O mighty-armed (Arjuna), the immutable Self to the body. Sattva, rajas and tamas are the names of these three gunas and they are born of prakriti. Of these three gunas, sattva is the best, rajas is of middling quality and tamas is inferior. All these three qualifies, are seen in every mental state. Just as the same body undergoes childhood, youth and old age (136-140), or when gold is mixed with an alloy, its weight increases with a consequent loss of purity, or one falls into deep sleep through sloth, so the mental state which is caused by tamas besides sattva and rajas, grows strong through ignorance. Such are the gunas and I shall tell you now, how these gunas bind the Self. The Self becomes embodied by reason of his body-consciousness, at an inauspicious time (141-145). From birth till death, he identifies himself with his body and ascribes its properties to himself. As soon as the fish swallows the bait, the angler winds his line. |
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