Public domain translation by Sir Edwin Arnold (1885), via Project Gutenberg. Presented unabridged.
Krishna.<br/> Yet farther will I open unto thee<br/> This wisdom of all wisdoms, uttermost,<br/> The which possessing, all My saints have passed<br/> To perfectness. On such high verities<br/> Reliant, rising into fellowship<br/> With Me, they are not born again at birth<br/> Of Kalpas, nor at Pralyas suffer change!
This Universe the womb is where I plant<br/> Seed of all lives! Thence, Prince of India, comes<br/> Birth to all beings! Whoso, Kunti's Son!<br/> Mothers each mortal form, Brahma conceives,<br/> And I am He that fathers, sending seed!
Sattwan, Rajas, and Tamas, so are named<br/> The qualities of Nature, "Soothfastness,"<br/> "Passion," and "Ignorance." These three bind down<br/> The changeless Spirit in the changeful flesh.<br/> Whereof sweet "Soothfastness," by purity<br/> Living unsullied and enlightened, binds<br/> The sinless Soul to happiness and truth;<br/> And Passion, being kin to appetite,<br/> And breeding impulse and propensity,<br/> Binds the embodied Soul, O Kunti's Son!<br/> By tie of works. But Ignorance, begot<br/> Of Darkness, blinding mortal men, binds down<br/> Their souls to stupor, sloth, and drowsiness.<br/> Yea, Prince of India! Soothfastness binds souls<br/> In pleasant wise to flesh; and Passion binds<br/> By toilsome strain; but Ignorance, which blots<br/> The beams of wisdom, binds the soul to sloth.<br/> Passion and Ignorance, once overcome,<br/> Leave Soothfastness, O Bharata! Where this<br/> With Ignorance are absent, Passion rules;<br/> And Ignorance in hearts not good nor quick.<br/> When at all gateways of the Body shines<br/> The Lamp of Knowledge, then may one see well<br/> Soothfastness settled in that city reigns;<br/> Where longing is, and ardour, and unrest,<br/> Impulse to strive and gain, and avarice,<br/> Those spring from Passion--Prince!--engrained; and where<br/> Darkness and dulness, sloth and stupor are,<br/> 'Tis Ignorance hath caused them, Kuru Chief!
Moreover, when a soul departeth, fixed<br/> In Soothfastness, it goeth to the place--<br/> Perfect and pure--of those that know all Truth.<br/> If it departeth in set habitude<br/> Of Impulse, it shall pass into the world<br/> Of spirits tied to works; and, if it dies<br/> In hardened Ignorance, that blinded soul<br/> Is born anew in some unlighted womb.
The fruit of Soothfastness is true and sweet;<br/> The fruit of lusts is pain and toil; the fruit<br/> Of Ignorance is deeper darkness. Yea!<br/> For Light brings light, and Passion ache to have;<br/> And gloom, bewilderments, and ignorance<br/> Grow forth from Ignorance. Those of the first<br/> Rise ever higher; those of the second mode<br/> Take a mid place; the darkened souls sink back<br/> To lower deeps, loaded with witlessness!
When, watching life, the living man perceives<br/> The only actors are the Qualities,<br/> And knows what rules beyond the Qualities,<br/> Then is he come nigh unto Me!
The Soul,<br/> Thus passing forth from the Three Qualities--<br/> Whereby arise all bodies--overcomes<br/> Birth, Death, Sorrow, and Age; and drinketh deep<br/> The undying wine of Amrit.
Arjuna.<br/> Oh, my Lord!<br/> Which be the signs to know him that hath gone<br/> Past the Three Modes? How liveth he? What way<br/> Leadeth him safe beyond the threefold Modes?
Krishna.<br/> He who with equanimity surveys<br/> Lustre of goodness, strife of passion, sloth<br/> Of ignorance, not angry if they are,<br/> Not wishful when they are not: he who sits<br/> A sojourner and stranger in their midst<br/> Unruffled, standing off, saying--serene--<br/> When troubles break, "These be the Qualities!"<br/> He unto whom--self-centred--grief and joy<br/> Sound as one word; to whose deep-seeing eyes<br/> The clod, the marble, and the gold are one;<br/> Whose equal heart holds the same gentleness<br/> For lovely and unlovely things, firm-set,<br/> Well-pleased in praise and dispraise; satisfied<br/> With honour or dishonour; unto friends<br/> And unto foes alike in tolerance;<br/> Detached from undertakings,--he is named<br/> Surmounter of the Qualities!
And such--<br/> With single, fervent faith adoring Me,<br/> Passing beyond the Qualities, conforms<br/> To Brahma, and attains Me!
For I am<br/> That whereof Brahma is the likeness! Mine<br/> The Amrit is; and Immortality<br/> Is mine; and mine perfect Felicity!
HERE ENDS CHAPTER XIV. OF THE BHAGAVAD-GITA<br/> Entitled "Gunatrayavibhagayog,"<br/> Or "The Book of Religion by Separation from the Qualities."