Transcending the gunas brings divine steadiness.
Krishna speaks to Arjuna
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||
Use this verse when change feels destabilizing.
Meaning
Taking refuge in this knowledge, those who attain My nature are not born at creation and are not disturbed at dissolution.
Translation: Gita Guidance (original English rendering).
In plain words
This knowledge leads beyond birth and cosmic disturbance.
Word-by-word meaning
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Explanation
Krishna says guna-knowledge is not merely psychological; it is spiritual freedom. Knowing and transcending the gunas aligns the seeker with Krishna’s nature.
Read the traditional commentary
Krishna states the fruit of the supreme knowledge before unfolding its details. Those who take refuge in it attain sādharmya — kinship with His own divine nature. Such a soul is no longer caught in the great wheel of cosmic time: at the dawn of creation (sarga) it is not flung back into birth, and at the cosmic dissolution (pralaya) it does not tremble.
The phrase upāśritya — 'having taken refuge' — is the heart of the verse. Liberation is not earned by force of will alone but by leaning the whole self upon this wisdom. To be free of birth and dissolution is to be free of fear, for fear is rooted in time's two great shocks: coming into being and passing away.
One who rests in Krishna's nature stands outside that anxiety, steady while worlds rise and fall.
In daily life
Use self-knowledge to become less shaken by change.
A person who understands restlessness as rajas may not panic when it arises.
Try this today
Notice one disturbance and identify the guna behind it.
I take refuge in knowledge that steadies me.Reflect
What change currently disturbs me most?
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Quick check
What does ‘न व्यथन्ति च’ mean in this verse?
Krishna on eternity, in other chapters
- Verse 15.6The supreme goal is a self-luminous, eternal home from which the soul never has to return.
- Verse 5.28Master your faculties and release desire, fear, and anger, fixing on liberation alone — and you are already, ever, free.
- Verse 4.10Release attachment, fear, and anger; let knowledge purify you — and union with the divine becomes not rare but attainable.
- Verse 7.14You cannot out-think illusion with the very mind it deludes — but wholehearted refuge in the Divine carries you across.
Swipe left for 14.3 · Krishna is the conscious source of creation.
Questions about Bhagavad Gita 14.2
Who says Bhagavad Gita 14.2, and to whom?
Krishna speaks to Arjuna in verse 14.2, in Chapter 14, Gunatraya Vibhaga Yoga (Gunatraya Vibhaga Yoga).
What does Bhagavad Gita 14.2 mean?
Taking refuge in this knowledge, those who attain My nature are not born at creation and are not disturbed at dissolution. (Translation: Gita Guidance (original English rendering).)
What is the lesson of Bhagavad Gita 14.2 for daily life?
Use self-knowledge to become less shaken by change. A person who understands restlessness as rajas may not panic when it arises.
What do the Sanskrit words in Bhagavad Gita 14.2 mean?
इदम् ज्ञानम् — this knowledge; उपाश्रित्य — having taken refuge in; मम साधर्म्यम् — unity with My nature; आगताः — having attained; सर्गे अपि — even at creation.
Where does verse 14.2 come in the Bhagavad Gita?
It is verse 2 of 27 in Chapter 14, Gunatraya Vibhaga Yoga. The next verse is 14.3.