Chapter 14, Verse 22
श्रीभगवानुवाच | प्रकाशं च प्रवृत्तिं च मोहमेव च पाण्डव | न द्वेष्टि सम्प्रवृत्तानि न निवृत्तानि काङ्क्षति ||१४-२२||
śrībhagavānuvāca . prakāśaṃ ca pravṛttiṃ ca mohameva ca pāṇḍava . na dveṣṭi sampravṛttāni na nivṛttāni kāṅkṣati ||14-22||
Meaning
14.22 The Blessed Lord said When light, activity and delusion are present, he hates them not, nor does he long for them when they are absent.
Word-by-Word Meaning
Explanation & Commentary
Krishna begins his answer by describing the inner poise of one who has transcended the guṇas. He names them by their effects — prakāśa (the light of sattva), pravṛtti (the activity of rajas), and moha (the delusion of tamas). The liberated soul's mark is a profound evenness toward all three: when they arise, he does not resent them; when they pass, he does not crave their return.
This is subtle and beautiful. The guṇātīta does not pretend the qualities have stopped operating — light, activity, and even dullness still come and go in his nature, for he still wears a body. What has changed is his relationship to them. He no longer pushes the unpleasant away or clutches at the pleasant, because he no longer identifies with any passing state. Freedom is not the absence of the guṇas but the absence of attachment and aversion toward them. He watches the weather of the mind with the same calm, whether it shines or darkens.
💡 Key Takeaway
The free soul neither resists unpleasant states nor chases pleasant ones — it meets all the mind's weather with equal calm.
Related Verses
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.
तत्र सत्त्वं निर्मलत्वात्प्रकाशकमनामयम् | सुखसङ्गेन बध्नाति ज्ञानसङ्गेन चानघ ||१४-६||
tatra sattvaṃ nirmalatvātprakāśakamanāmayam . sukhasaṅgena badhnāti jñānasaṅgena cānagha ||14-6||
14.6 Of these, Sattva, which from its stainlessness is luminous and healthy, binds by attachment to happiness and by attachment to knowledge, O sinless one.
रजो रागात्मकं विद्धि तृष्णासङ्गसमुद्भवम् | तन्निबध्नाति कौन्तेय कर्मसङ्गेन देहिनम् ||१४-७||
rajo rāgātmakaṃ viddhi tṛṣṇāsaṅgasamudbhavam . tannibadhnāti kaunteya karmasaṅgena dehinam ||14-7||
14.7 Know thou Rajas to be of the nature of passion, the source of thirst (for sensual enjoyment) and attachment; it binds fast, O Arjuna, the embodied one by attachment to action.