Chapter 14, Verse 21
अर्जुन उवाच | कैर्लिङ्गैस्त्रीन्गुणानेतानतीतो भवति प्रभो | किमाचारः कथं चैतांस्त्रीन्गुणानतिवर्तते ||१४-२१||
arjuna uvāca . kairliṅgaistrīnguṇānetānatīto bhavati prabho . kimācāraḥ kathaṃ caitāṃstrīnguṇānativartate ||14-21||
Meaning
14.21 Arjuna said What are the marks of him who has transcended the three alities, O Lord? What is his conduct and how does he go beyond these three alities?
Word-by-Word Meaning
Explanation & Commentary
Arjuna, ever the practical seeker, responds to Krishna's lofty promise with three down-to-earth questions. First, by what liṅgas — outward signs — can one recognise a person who has transcended the guṇas? Second, what is his ācāra, his actual conduct and way of living? Third, how does he accomplish this transcendence — by what means is it reached?
This is the Gita's characteristic movement, and Arjuna here is our representative. Abstract attainment must be made recognisable and reachable. It is not enough to be told that the liberated soul is 'beyond the guṇas'; the disciple wants to know what such a person looks like, how he behaves among others, and what road leads there. By asking, Arjuna draws from Krishna the beautiful portrait of the guṇātīta — the one beyond the qualities — that fills the verses to come, turning a metaphysical ideal into a living, imitable example.
💡 Key Takeaway
It is wise to ask not only what the goal is, but what its signs look like and how the road there is walked.
Related Verses
श्रीभगवानुवाच | परं भूयः प्रवक्ष्यामि ज्ञानानां ज्ञानमुत्तमम् | यज्ज्ञात्वा मुनयः सर्वे परां सिद्धिमितो गताः ||१४-१||
śrībhagavānuvāca . paraṃ bhūyaḥ pravakṣyāmi jñānānāṃ jñānamuttamam . yajjñātvā munayaḥ sarve parāṃ siddhimito gatāḥ ||14-1||
14.1 The Blessed Lord said I will again declare (to thee) that supreme knowledge, the best of all knowledge, having known which all the sages have gone to the supreme perfection after this life.
इदं ज्ञानमुपाश्रित्य मम साधर्म्यमागताः | सर्गेऽपि नोपजायन्ते प्रलये न व्यथन्ति च ||१४-२||
idaṃ jñānamupāśritya mama sādharmyamāgatāḥ . sarge.api nopajāyante pralaye na vyathanti ca ||14-2||
14.2 They who, having taken refuge in this knowledge, have attained to unity with Me, are neither born at the time of creation nor are they disturbed at the time of dissolution.
सत्त्वं रजस्तम इति गुणाः प्रकृतिसम्भवाः | निबध्नन्ति महाबाहो देहे देहिनमव्ययम् ||१४-५||
sattvaṃ rajastama iti guṇāḥ prakṛtisambhavāḥ . nibadhnanti mahābāho dehe dehinamavyayam ||14-5||
14.5 Purity, passion and inertia these alities, O Arjuna, born of Nature, bind fast in the body, the embodied, the indestructible.