The three inseparable gunas always remain in the inner constitution of every living creature, in varying proportions. The mind and intellect are constituted of this triple-stuff. To go beyond these three temperaments is literally to go beyond the mind. If there is an alloy constituted of copper, zinc, and tin, and a pot is made of that alloy, then to remove all tin, zinc and copper from the pot is to destroy the pot completely. Tea is made of hot water, tea leaves, sugar and milk; and from a cup of tea if you are asked to remove these four components of tea, it amounts to saying ’empty the cup.’ In the direct language of the Upanishads, man has been advised to transcend the mind and intellect, and they promise that the individual shall thereby re-discover himself to be God. This direct explanation came to frighten away the Hindu folk out of the Aryan-fold, and so the CALL OF THE RENAISSANCE here, though meaning the same, puts it in different words when it says: “Arjuna, transcend the gunas.”

If a doctor were to prescribe a medicine which is nowhere in the catalogue of any pharmaceutical company in the world, and, naturally, therefore, not available in any bazaar, that prescription is certainly useless. Similarly, it may be a great prescription for Self-perfection when the Lord advises: “Be free from the triad of the gunas,” but it is useless unless a student, practical-minded and adventurous enough to try to live this advice, can be instructed as to how he can go beyond these instinctive temperaments in man, viz., unactivity (Sattwa), activity (Rajas) and inactivity (Tamas).

The second line in the stanza gives us a very practical and direct method of transporting ourselves from the realm of imperfection to the boundless regions of Bliss and Beatitude. Earlier, Krishna had indicated how Arjuna should enter the field and wage the war. The same mental equanimity is being advised here in a different language.

Pairs-of-opposites are the experiences in our life such as joy and sorrow, health and disease, success and failure, heat and cold, etc. Each one of them can be experienced and known only with reference to and as a contrast to its opposite. Therefore the term ‘pairs-of-opposites’ (Dwandwas) envisages, in its comprehensive meaning, all the experiences of man in life. Krishna advises Arjuna to be free from all pairs-of-opposites (Dwandwas).

NITYA-SATTWA-STHAH — “Ever established in purity.” The purity, Sattwa, the subtlest of the three gunas, often becomes impure by its contact with attachments and the consequent agitations (Rajas) that attack the intellect with delusion and grief, and veil it from the right cognition of the Real Nature of things (Tamas). To be established in purity (Sattwa) would, therefore, mean keeping ourselves least agitated, and so, least deluded in our perceptions of things and beings, and in our estimation of their true nature.

Yoga and Kshema in their meaning include all the activities of every living being in the universe. These are the two urges which goad every one in all one’s activities. ‘Yoga’ means ‘to acquire’ for purposes of possessing; and ‘Kshema’ means ‘all efforts at preserving the acquired.’ Thus the two terms Yoga and Kshema encompass all our ego-centric activities motivated by selfish desires to acquire and, compelled by equally selfish wishes, to hoard and preserve what has been acquired. To renounce these two temperaments is to get away immediately from the two main fields that yield the poisonous harvest of extreme restlessness and sorrow in life.

It is very easy for a spiritual master to advise an aspirant to be “free from the pairs-of-opposites, and remain ever pure and free from the natural appetites for acquisition, and the usual greed for preservation.” But the philosophy will be practical only when the seeker is advised as to HOW he can do so. This ‘how’ of it all has been indicated by the last word in the stanza: Atmavan — “be established in the Self.” The persecutions of the pairs-of-opposites, the instinct to be impure, the desire to possess and the anxiety to preserve, all belong to the ego-centre, which is born when the Self identifies with the body, mind and intellect, and when the consequent ego suffers the pangs of anxieties, pains and sorrows.

To detach ourselves from these by keeping a constant sense of awareness of our pure Divine Nature is the Path shown in the Geeta. Established in the Self, the individual-ego, ever pure and free from all anxieties, finds itself beyond the experiences of the world. Necessarily, he will be trans-gunas. One who is beyond the gunas has no more use for the Veda Text Books — he is the Master, thereafter, to amend the Vedas or to add to them; he is the Master who shall give the Divine sanction for the very Vedic declarations.

IF ALL THOSE ENDLESS PROFITS WHICH ARE SAID TO RESULT FROM THE VEDIC RITUALS ARE NOT TO BE SOUGHT AFTER, THEN TO WHAT END ARE THEY TO BE PERFORMED AND DEDICATED TO ISWARA? LISTEN TO WHAT FOLLOWS:

To those who are thus devoid of discriminating wisdom, who indulge in pleasure, [Here Ast. adds ‘yat phalam tad aha, what result accrues, that the Lord states:’-Tr.] O Arjuna, vedah, the Vedas; traigunya-visayah, have the three qualities as their object, have the three gunas, [Traigunya means the collection of the three qualities, viz sattva (purity), rajas (energy) and tamas (darkness); i.e. the collection of virtuous, vicious and mixed activities, as also their results. In this derivative sense traigunya means the worldly life.] i.e. the worldly life, as the object to be revealed. But you bhava, become; nistraigunyah, free from the three qualities, i.e. be free from desires. [There is a seeming conflict between the advices to be free from the three qualities and to be ever-poised in the quality of sattva. Hence, the Commentator takes the phrase nistraigunya to mean niskama, free from desires.] (Be) nirdvandvah, free from the pairs of duality — by the word dvandva, duality, are meant the conflicting pairs [Of heat and cold, etc.] which are the causes of happiness and sorrow; you become free from them. [From heat, cold, etc. That is, forbear them.] You become nitya-sattvasthah, ever-poised in the quality of sattva; (and) so also niryoga-ksemah, without (desire for) acquisition and protection. Yoga means acquisition of what one has not, and ksema means the protection of what one has. For one who as ‘acquisition and protection’ foremost in his mind, it is difficult to seek Liberation. Hence, you be free from acquisition and protection. And also be atmavan, self-collected, vigilant. This is the advice given to you while you are engaged in your own duty. [And not from the point of view of seeking Liberation.]