The final goal is to transcend all three gunas.
Krishna speaks to Arjuna
गुणानेतानतीत्य त्रीन्देही देहसमुद्भवान् |जन्ममृत्युजरादुःखैर्विमुक्तोऽमृतमश्नुते ||१४-२०||
guṇānetānatītya trīndehī dehasamudbhavān . janmamṛtyujarāduḥkhairvimukto.amṛtamaśnute ||14-20||
Use this verse as the goal of guna practice.
Meaning
Transcending these three gunas born of the body, the embodied one becomes free from birth, death, old age, and sorrow, and attains immortality.
Translation: Gita Guidance (original English rendering).
In plain words
Transcending the gunas leads to freedom from the deepest cycle of suffering.
Word-by-word meaning
Tap a word to see its meaning.
Explanation
The aim is not only to improve from tamas to rajas or rajas to sattva. The final aim is to go beyond all three gunas and rest in the immortal reality.
Read the traditional commentary
Krishna names the supreme reward of transcending the guṇas. The dehī, the soul wearing a body, crosses beyond the three qualities from which that very body and its experiences arise. Having stepped outside the field of Nature's play, it is freed from the four great sorrows of embodied existence: janma, birth; mṛtyu, death; jarā, decay; and the duḥkha, the pain, that runs through them all. And so it tastes amṛta — the deathless, immortality itself.
This is liberation stated in its fullness. The guṇas are the loom on which the changing, perishable body and its fortunes are woven; to rise above them is to be free of the whole fabric of mortality. Immortality here is not endless continuation of the body but realisation of the Self that was never born and cannot die.
The one who 'crosses beyond' does not flee life but lives it from a centre untouched by its decay — present, free, and at peace amid all that rises and passes.
In daily life
Cultivate sattva, then move beyond attachment to even sattva.
A meditator first builds clarity, then releases pride in being clear or spiritual.
Try this today
Write one way to cultivate sattva and one way to release attachment to it.
I move beyond the gunas toward freedom.Reflect
Am I trying only to feel better, or to become free?
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Quick check
What does ‘जन्ममृत्युजरादुःखैः’ mean in this verse?
Krishna on immortality, in other chapters
- Verse 13.13The ultimate reality cannot be boxed into our usual categories — knowing it directly is what liberates.
- Verse 7.12All your shifting moods arise within the Divine, yet the Divine remains untouched — learn to witness your states rather than be ruled by them.
- Verse 8.28The path of constant remembrance and devotion surpasses every ritual reward and leads unfailingly to the eternal home of the Divine.
- Verse 9.28Offer your actions to the Divine and release attachment to their outcomes; this very surrender is what sets you free.
Swipe left for 14.21 · Ask for signs, conduct, and method.
Questions about Bhagavad Gita 14.20
Who says Bhagavad Gita 14.20, and to whom?
Krishna speaks to Arjuna in verse 14.20, in Chapter 14, Gunatraya Vibhaga Yoga (Gunatraya Vibhaga Yoga).
What does Bhagavad Gita 14.20 mean?
Transcending these three gunas born of the body, the embodied one becomes free from birth, death, old age, and sorrow, and attains immortality. (Translation: Gita Guidance (original English rendering).)
What is the lesson of Bhagavad Gita 14.20 for daily life?
Cultivate sattva, then move beyond attachment to even sattva. A meditator first builds clarity, then releases pride in being clear or spiritual.
What do the Sanskrit words in Bhagavad Gita 14.20 mean?
गुणान् एतान् त्रीन् — these three gunas; अतीत्य — having transcended; देही — the embodied one; देहसमुद्भवान् — out of which the body arises; जन्ममृत्युजरादुःखैः — from birth, death, decay and pain.
Where does verse 14.20 come in the Bhagavad Gita?
It is verse 20 of 27 in Chapter 14, Gunatraya Vibhaga Yoga. The next verse is 14.21.