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Shloka 22

Guṇa-vibhāga: The Three Modes and the Path Beyond Them

सत्त्वे प्रलीना: स्वर्यान्ति नरलोकं रजोलया: । तमोलयास्तु निरयं यान्ति मामेव निर्गुणा: ॥ २२ ॥

sattve pralīnāḥ svar yānti nara-lokaṁ rajo-layāḥ tamo-layās tu nirayaṁ yānti mām eva nirguṇāḥ

သတ္တဝဂုဏ်ဖြင့် ဤလောကမှ ထွက်ခွာသူတို့သည် နတ်ပြည်သို့ ရောက်ကြ၏။ ရဇဂုဏ်ဖြင့် သေဆုံးသူတို့သည် လူ့ပြည်၌ ကျန်ရစ်ကြ၏။ တမဂုဏ်ဖြင့် သေဆုံးသူတို့သည် ငရဲသို့ သွားရ၏။ သို့သော် ဂုဏ်သုံးပါးလုံးမှ လွတ်မြောက်သူတို့သည် ငါ့ထံသို့ ရောက်လာကြ၏။

सत्त्वेin sattva
सत्त्वे:
Adhikarana (अधिकरण)
TypeNoun
Rootसत्त्व (प्रातिपदिक)
FormNeuter, Locative (7th/सप्तमी), Singular
प्रलीनाःabsorbed (into)
प्रलीनाः:
Karta (कर्ता)
TypeAdjective
Rootप्र√ली (धातु)
FormPast Passive Participle (क्त), Masculine, Nominative, Plural; 'merged/absorbed'
स्वःheaven
स्वः:
Karma (कर्म)
TypeNoun
Rootस्वर्/स्वः (प्रातिपदिक)
FormNeuter (indeclinable-like stem), Accusative, Singular; object of यान्ति
यान्तिgo
यान्ति:
Kriya (क्रिया)
TypeVerb
Rootया (धातु)
FormPresent/लट्, 3rd Person, Plural, Parasmaipada
नरलोकम्the human world
नरलोकम्:
Karma (कर्म)
TypeNoun
Rootनर-लोक (प्रातिपदिक)
FormMasculine, Accusative, Singular; compound: नर (man) + लोक (world)
रजोलयाःthose absorbed in rajas
रजोलयाः:
Karta (कर्ता)
TypeAdjective
Rootरजस्-लय (प्रातिपदिक)
FormMasculine, Nominative, Plural; compound: रजस् (rajas) + लय (dissolution/absorption) meaning 'absorbed in rajas'
तमोलयाःthose absorbed in tamas
तमोलयाः:
Karta (कर्ता)
TypeAdjective
Rootतमस्-लय (प्रातिपदिक)
FormMasculine, Nominative, Plural; compound: तमस् + लय
तुbut
तु:
Sambandha (सम्बन्ध/निपात)
TypeIndeclinable
Rootतु (अव्यय)
FormParticle (निपात), contrastive
निरयम्hell
निरयम्:
Karma (कर्म)
TypeNoun
Rootनिरय (प्रातिपदिक)
FormMasculine, Accusative, Singular
यान्तिgo
यान्ति:
Kriya (क्रिया)
TypeVerb
Rootया (धातु)
FormPresent/लट्, 3rd Person, Plural, Parasmaipada
माम्me
माम्:
Karma (कर्म)
TypeNoun
Rootअस्मद् (सर्वनाम-प्रातिपदिक)
FormPronoun, Accusative, Singular
एवindeed/alone
एव:
Sambandha (सम्बन्ध/निपात)
TypeIndeclinable
Rootएव (अव्यय)
FormParticle (निपात), emphatic
निर्गुणाःthose beyond the guṇas
निर्गुणाः:
Karta (कर्ता)
TypeAdjective
Rootनिर्गुण (प्रातिपदिक)
FormMasculine, Nominative, Plural; bahuvrīhi: 'whose (state) is beyond guṇas' i.e., 'free from guṇas'
K
Krishna
U
Uddhava

FAQs

This verse states that absorption in goodness leads to heavenly worlds, passion leads to continued human birth, and ignorance leads to hellish conditions—each destination corresponding to one’s dominant mode.

In the Uddhava Gītā, Krishna teaches Uddhava how conditioned souls are carried to different births by the modes, and He emphasizes the higher goal: becoming nirguṇa and attaining the Lord Himself.

Cultivate devotion that is not driven by ego, reward, or lethargy—steadily offer your actions and mind to Krishna, so your identity shifts from mode-based habits to God-centered consciousness.