Shloka 20
भीमसेननादः तथा प्रथमसंमर्दः
Bhīmasena’s Roar and the First Clash
गुणानेतानतीत्य त्रीन् देही देहसमुद्धवान् । जन्ममृत्युजरादु:खैरविंमुक्तो5मृतम श्ुते,यह पुरुष शरीरकी उत्पत्तिके कारणरूप इन तीनों गुणोंको उल्लंघन करकेः जन्म, मृत्यु, वृद्धावस्था और सब प्रकारके दु:खोंसे मुक्त हुआ परमानन्दको प्राप्त होता हैः
arjuna uvāca | guṇān etān atītya trīn dehī deha-samudbhavān | janma-mṛtyu-jarā-duḥkhair vimukto 'mṛtam aśnute ||
Arjuna dijo: Cuando el ser encarnado se eleva más allá de estas tres cualidades—nacidas de la naturaleza del cuerpo—queda libre del nacimiento, la muerte, la vejez y de toda la carga del sufrimiento, y alcanza el estado inmortal. En el marco ético de la Gītā, esto señala una liberación interior: se actúa sin quedar sometido a las fuerzas cambiantes de la naturaleza, y así se llega a una libertad perdurable, no a ganancias pasajeras.
अजुन उवाच
Educational Q&A
The core teaching is that liberation comes from transcending the three guṇas—sattva, rajas, and tamas—which govern embodied experience. When one is no longer driven by these qualities, one becomes free from the cycle marked by birth, death, aging, and suffering, and attains the ‘deathless’ state (amṛta), i.e., mokṣa.
In the dialogue on the battlefield, Arjuna is questioning the nature of spiritual freedom. Here he articulates (and prompts clarification of) the idea that the embodied self can go beyond the guṇas that arise with bodily existence, and that such transcendence results in release from existential suffering and attainment of immortality.