Bhagavad Gītā · Chapter 14, Verse 19
नान्यं गुणेभ्यः कर्तारं यदा द्रष्टानुपश्यति।गुणेभ्यश्च परं वेत्ति मद्भावं सोऽधिगच्छति।।
nānyaṁ guṇebhyaḥ kartāraṁ yadā draṣṭānupaśyati
guṇebhyaś ca paraṁ vetti mad-bhāvaṁ so ’dhigacchati
also searched as "nanyam gunebhyah kartaram yada drashtanupashyati"
Translation
When the seer beholds no agent of action other than the Gunas, and knows what is beyond the Gunas, he attains to My state.
Vāṇi's rendering
When you see that only nature's strands are acting — and know the one beyond them — you enter my being.
Word by word
| Sanskrit & transliteration | Meaning |
|---|---|
| नna | not |
| अन्यम्anyam | another, any other (joined with na as nānyaṁ) |
| गुणेभ्यःguṇebhyaḥ | than the guṇas, nature's three strands |
| कर्तारम्kartāram | doer, agent of action |
| यदाyadā | when |
| द्रष्टाdraṣṭā | the seer, the one who looks |
| अनुपश्यतिanupaśyati | clearly beholds, sees along (joined with draṣṭā as draṣṭānupaśyati) |
| गुणेभ्यःguṇebhyaḥ | than the strands (guṇebhyaś before ca) |
| चca | and |
| परम्param | beyond, higher |
| वेत्तिvetti | knows |
| मद्भावम्mad-bhāvam | my being, my state |
| सःsaḥ | he, that one (elided to so before adhigacchati) |
| अधिगच्छतिadhigacchati | reaches, enters into |
Frequently asked
What does Bhagavad Gita Chapter 14 Verse 19 mean?
It means the doer is not who you think. Every action arises from the three guṇas — sattva, rajas, tamas — moving through body and mind. When you see this plainly, and also know the one standing beyond that movement, Krishna says you enter his own being. Two sights, not one.
What is the meaning of nanyam gunebhyah kartaram?
No agent other than the guṇas. The clarity that lifts you, the restlessness that drives you, the heaviness that stalls you — these do the work, take their turns, and hand off to each other. Naming yourself the author of each mood is the old habit Krishna is loosening here.
Does this verse mean I am not responsible for what I do?
No. Krishna gives Arjuna this teaching to send him into battle, not out of it. Seeing the guṇas act does not stop action; it stops the frantic ownership of it. You still stand where you stand and do what is yours. You simply stop mistaking the weather for yourself.
What is mad-bhavam, the state Krishna promises here?
Not a place reached later. Mad-bhāvam is Krishna's own being — the unmoved knower behind every moving thing. To see the strands as strands is already to have stepped out of them. The verse does not say you travel there. It says you arrive by finally looking.
Themes in this verse
Read every verse this way, held — inside Vāṇi.
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Commentary
Watch your own anger arrive, and notice how little you had to do with it. Krishna is not saying you are innocent. He is saying the doer you defend so fiercely — the one who takes credit, the one who cannot sleep for shame — is made of the same strands as weather. Sattva, rajas, tamas act. They rise, they mix, they pass. Arjuna wants to know whether he is the killer; Krishna moves the question. See the strands working, and then see the one who is not a strand at all. That seeing is not detachment. It is the end of signing your name to the weather.