प्रकाशं च प्रवृत्तिं च मोहमेव च पाण्डव ।
न द्वेष्टि संप्रवृत्तानि न निवृत्तानि काङ्क्षति ॥
उदासीनवदासीनो गुणैर्यो न विचाल्यते ।
गुणा वर्तन्त इत्येव योऽवतिष्ठति नेङ्गते ॥
समदुःखसुखः स्वस्थः समलोष्टाश्मकाञ्चनः ।
तुल्य-प्रियाप्रियो धीरस्तुल्यनिन्दात्मसंस्तुतिः ॥
मानापमानयोस्तुल्यस्तुल्यो मित्रारिपक्षयोः ।
सर्वारम्भ-परित्यागी गुणातीतः स उच्यते ॥
prakāśaṁ ca pravṛttiṁ ca moham eva ca pāṇḍava |
na dveṣṭi saṁpravṛttāni na nivṛttāni kāṅkṣati ||
udāsīnavad āsīno guṇair yo na vicālyate |
guṇā vartanta ity eva yo’vatiṣṭhati neṅgate ||
sama-duḥkha-sukhaḥ svasthaḥ sama-loṣṭāśma-kāñcanaḥ |
tulya-priyāpriyo dhīras tulya-nindātma-saṁstutiḥ ||
mānāpamānayos tulyas tulyo mitrāri-pakṣayoḥ |
sarvārambha-parityāgī guṇātītaḥ sa ucyate ||
(Śrīmad Bhagavad-gītā: 14.22–25)
“O son of Pāṇḍu,
Illumination [i.e., the effect of sattva],
Activation [i.e., the effect of rajas],
And delusion [i.e., the effect of tamas]—
One who is not hostile
Towards these [when they have] commenced
[Because one considers them forms of hardship]
And does not hanker
For them [when they have] receded
[Because one considers them forms of pleasure];
Who being seated neutrally
Is not deviated by the guṇas
[i.e., not disturbed in mind by the guṇas’ effects, viz., pleasure, hardship, and so on];
Who as per [the understanding],
‘The guṇas proceed [in their respective functions of illumination, activation, and delusion; I, the self beyond, have no relation with these],’
Abides and does not waver
[i.e., does not act under the pull of the guṇas’ effects];
For whom pleasure and hardship are the same;
Who is situated in the self;
For whom a clod, a stone, and gold are the same;
For whom the dear and undear [i.e., the pleasing and non-pleasing] are equal;
[Who is] Sagacious;
For whom defamation and high praise of oneself are equal;
[Who is] Equal to honor and dishonor;
[Who is] equal to the sides of friends and foes;
And [who is] a relinquisher of all undertakings [i.e., all pursuit of worldly and celestial objects],
Is said to be beyond the guṇas.”
Commentary
Regarding the mention of “who being seated neutrally is not deviated by the guṇas” (udāsīnavad āsīno guṇair yo na vicālyate), Śrī Śrīdhara Svāmīpāda comments as follows, “Who being seated neutrally, that is, situated as a witness (sākṣī), is not deviated by the guṇas’ effects, that is, pleasure, hardship, and so on, meaning, one does not fall away from the true self [because of them]” (udāsīnavat sākṣitayāsīnaḥ sthitaḥ san guṇair guṇa-kāryaiḥ sukha-duḥkhādibhir na yo vicālyate svarūpān na pracyavate). Śrī Cakravartīpāda reiterates this view, whereas Śrī Vidyābhūṣaṇapāda offers the following interpretation, “As by being neutral, that is, impartial [lit., ‘situated in the middle’], one is not deviated from one’s intermediacy by taking sides between disputants [during a dispute], so one is not deviated by the transformed guṇas situated in the self [i.e., mind] in the form of pleasure, hardship, and so on” (udāsīno madhyastho yathā vivādinoḥ pakṣagrahaiḥ sva-mādhyasthyān na vicālyate, tathā sukha-duḥkhādi-bhāvena pariṇatair guṇair yo nātmāvasthitair vicālyate), meaning, one remans neutral towards the guṇas various effects, viz., pleasure, hardship, and so forth, which one experiences in so far as one does not favor or disfavor one or the other and rather forbears through them both without attachment (rāga) or aversion (dveṣa) to either.