Chapter 14, Verse 5
सत्त्वं रजस्तम इति गुणाः प्रकृतिसम्भवाः | निबध्नन्ति महाबाहो देहे देहिनमव्ययम् ||१४-५||
sattvaṃ rajastama iti guṇāḥ prakṛtisambhavāḥ . nibadhnanti mahābāho dehe dehinamavyayam ||14-5||
Meaning
14.5 Purity, passion and inertia these alities, O Arjuna, born of Nature, bind fast in the body, the embodied, the indestructible.
Word-by-Word Meaning
Explanation & Commentary
Here Krishna names the three guṇas that are the chapter's central teaching: sattva (clarity and harmony), rajas (passion and restless activity), and tamas (inertia and darkness). All three are prakṛti-sambhavāḥ — born of Nature, not of the Self. They are the threads from which every state of mind and mood is woven.
The striking word is avyayam — the indestructible. The true Self is imperishable and ever-free, yet the guṇas 'bind fast' the dehī, the embodied one, within the body. How can the unbindable be bound? Through identification. When the Self forgets itself and takes the moods of Nature as its own — 'I am happy, I am driven, I am dull' — it experiences bondage though it was never truly chained. The whole chapter is a map for loosening that knot of mistaken identity.
💡 Key Takeaway
Your moods of clarity, drive, and dullness belong to Nature, not to the changeless Self you truly are.
Related Verses
मम योनिर्महद् ब्रह्म तस्मिन्गर्भं दधाम्यहम् | सम्भवः सर्वभूतानां ततो भवति भारत ||१४-३||
mama yonirmahad brahma tasmingarbhaṃ dadhāmyaham . sambhavaḥ sarvabhūtānāṃ tato bhavati bhārata ||14-3||
14.3 My womb is the great Brahma; in that I place the germ; thence, O Arjuna, is the birth of all beings.
सर्वयोनिषु कौन्तेय मूर्तयः सम्भवन्ति याः | तासां ब्रह्म महद्योनिरहं बीजप्रदः पिता ||१४-४||
sarvayoniṣu kaunteya mūrtayaḥ sambhavanti yāḥ . tāsāṃ brahma mahadyonirahaṃ bījapradaḥ pitā ||14-4||
14.4 Whatever forms are produced, O Arjuna, in any womb whatsoever, the great Brahma is their womb and I am the seed-giving father.
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.