Bhagavad Gītā · Chapter 14, Verse 20
गुणानेतानतीत्य त्रीन्देही देहसमुद्भवान्।जन्ममृत्युजरादुःखैर्विमुक्तोऽमृतमश्नुते।।
guṇān etān atītya trīn dehī deha-samudbhavān
janma-mṛtyu-jarā-duḥkhair vimukto ’mṛtam aśnute
also searched as "gunan etan atitya trin dehi deha-samudbhavan"
Translation
The embodied Self, crossing beyond these three Gunas that arise in the body, and being freed from birth, death, aging, and pain, attains immortality.
Vāṇi's rendering
Cross these three strands that come with the body, and — freed from birth, death, age, and sorrow — taste the deathless.
Word by word
| Sanskrit & transliteration | Meaning |
|---|---|
| गुणान्guṇān | the strands, the three qualities of nature |
| एतान्etān | these |
| अतीत्यatītya | having crossed beyond, gone past |
| त्रीन्trīn | three |
| देहीdehī | the one who wears a body, the embodied self |
| देहसमुद्भवान्deha-samudbhavān | arising along with the body, born of embodiment |
| जन्ममृत्युजरादुःखैःjanma-mṛtyu-jarā-duḥkhaiḥ | from birth, death, aging and sorrows (sandhi: final ḥ becomes r before vimukto) |
| विमुक्तःvimuktaḥ | wholly released (sandhi: vimukto before amṛtam) |
| अमृतम्amṛtam | the deathless, what does not die |
| अश्नुतेaśnute | tastes, partakes of |
Frequently asked
What does Bhagavad Gita Chapter 14 Verse 20 mean?
It means the three strands — sattva, rajas, tamas — belong to embodiment, not to you. Cross them, and what falls away is the whole chain that comes with a body: being born, aging, sorrowing, dying. What remains is amṛtam, the deathless, and Krishna says you taste it, as something present now.
What does 'gunan etan atitya trin dehi deha-samudbhavan' mean?
The embodied one crosses these three strands that arise together with the body. Deha-samudbhavān is the key word: the qualities are born of having a form, so they are constitutional, not personal. You are not being blamed for them. You are being shown they are weather over ground you already are.
Does crossing the gunas mean suppressing emotion?
No. Suppression is still a wrestling match with the strands, and rajas loves a wrestling match. Crossing is a change of standpoint, not of behaviour. Restlessness still comes, dullness still comes, brightness still comes. You simply stop saying I am that, and let them move through as they were always going to.
Is the deathless something I get after death?
Krishna's verb is aśnute — tastes. Not inherits, not arrives at. Birth, death, aging and sorrow are things happening to what wears a body. Step out of that identification and the deathless is not postponed; it is what has been reading this line all along, untouched by any of it.
Read every verse this way, held — inside Vāṇi.
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Commentary
Notice where Krishna says the strands come from: the body. Not from your character, not from some flaw you should have corrected by now. Sattva, rajas, tamas arrive the way weight and hunger arrive — with having a form. So crossing them is not a war against yourself. It is stepping back from what was never yours to be. What waits on the other side is named mostly by its absences: no birth, no death, no aging, no sorrow. Then one word that is not an absence — amṛtam, and it is tasted, not achieved. You do not reach the deathless later. You stop standing where things die.