Shloka 22
सम्बन्ध--इस प्रकार अजुनिके पूछनेपर भगवान् उनके प्रश्नेमेंसे “लक्षण” और 'आचरण' विषयक दो प्रश्नोंका उत्तर चार शलोकोंद्वारा देते हैं-- श्रीभगवानुवाच प्रकाशं च प्रवृत्ति च मोहमेव च पाण्डव । न द्वेष्टि सम्प्रवृत्तानि न निवृत्तानि काड्क्षति,श्रीभगवान् बोले--हे अर्जुन! जो पुरुष सत्त्व-गुणके कार्यरूप प्रकाशकोः और रजोगुणके कार्यरूप प्रवृत्तिकोई तथा तमोगुणके कार्यरूप मोहको” भी न तो प्रवृत्त होनेपर उनसे द्वेष करता है और न निवृत्त होनेपर उनकी आकांक्षा करता है
śrībhagavān uvāca | prakāśaṁ ca pravṛttiṁ ca moham eva ca pāṇḍava | na dveṣṭi sampravṛttāni na nivṛttāni kāṅkṣati ||
The Blessed Lord said: “O Pāṇḍava, the person who neither resents the arising of illumination (born of sattva), activity (born of rajas), or delusion (born of tamas), nor longs for their return when they subside—such a one remains inwardly balanced. He does not build his ethics on attraction and aversion toward changing mental states, but stands steady as a witness to the play of the guṇas.”
अजुन उवाच
Educational Q&A
One should not base one’s inner stability on whether clarity, activity, or dullness is present. The wise person neither hates these guṇa-born states when they arise nor craves them when they pass, maintaining ethical steadiness beyond attraction and aversion.
After Arjuna’s inquiry about the marks and conduct of one who has transcended the three guṇas, Kṛṣṇa begins answering by describing the first sign: impartiality toward the coming and going of sattva’s clarity, rajas’s restlessness, and tamas’s delusion.