| 5. Sattva, Rajas,
Tamas,these gunas, O mightyarmed, born of Prakriti, bind fast in the body
the embodied, the indestructible.Sattva (goodness), Rajas (vigour, activity,
passion) and Tamas (darkness)thus are the gunas named Guna is a technical
term. It does not mean a property, attribute or quality, such as colour,
as opposed to the substance in which it is said to inhere No separate existence
of a guna and a guninof an attribute and a substanceis meant here. Accordingly,
the gunas here meant are so called because, like the attributes of substances,
they are ever dependent on another, namely, the Kshetrajna, as they are
only forms of avidya or nescience ; and they bind fast ad at were the Kshetrajna.
They are said to bind Kshetrajna because they come into being with Kshetrajna
as the basis of their existence. Born of the Lords Maya, they bind fast
as it were in the body the embodied one, the indestructible Self. That the
Self is indestructible has been shown in xiii. 31. Mightyarmed: with powerful
arms reaching down to the knees.(Objection):It has been said that the embodied
one is not tainted (xiii. 31). How then, on the contrary, is it said here
that the gunas bind him ?(Answer):We have met this objection by adding as
it were, they bind him as it were,The nature and functions of the gunas.
Of these three gunas, Sattva is thus defined ; |
