Bhagavad Gītā · Chapter 14, Verse 5
सत्त्वं रजस्तम इति गुणाः प्रकृतिसंभवाः।निबध्नन्ति महाबाहो देहे देहिनमव्ययम्।।
sattvaṁ rajas tama iti guṇāḥ prakṛti-sambhavāḥ
nibadhnanti mahā-bāho dehe dehinam avyayam
also searched as "sattvam rajas tama iti gunah prakriti-sambhavah"
Translation
The Gunas of Sattva, Rajas, and Tamas arise from Prakrti and bind the immutable Self in the body, O Arjuna.
Vāṇi's rendering
Three strands twist out of nature — clarity, restlessness, darkness — and bind the deathless dweller into the body.
Word by word
| Sanskrit & transliteration | Meaning |
|---|---|
| सत्त्वम्sattvaṁ | clarity, lucidity — the first strand |
| रजःrajas | restlessness, drive, passion (sandhi form of rajaḥ) |
| तमःtama | darkness, inertia, heaviness (sandhi form of tamaḥ before iti) |
| इतिiti | these, so named |
| गुणाःguṇāḥ | strands, the three constituents |
| प्रकृति-संभवाःprakṛti-sambhavāḥ | born out of nature, arising from prakṛti |
| निबध्नन्तिnibadhnanti | they bind fast, they tie down |
| महाबाहोmahā-bāho | O mighty-armed one — Krishna's address to Arjuna |
| देहेdehe | in the body |
| देहिनम्dehinam | the one who dwells in the body |
| अव्ययम्avyayam | undiminishable, deathless, never worn away |
Frequently asked
What does Bhagavad Gita Chapter 14 Verse 5 mean?
It names the three strands of nature — sattva as clarity, rajas as restlessness, tamas as darkness — and says they arise from prakṛti, not from you. Their work is binding: they tie the deathless dweller into a body. The one bound is never damaged by the binding, only obscured to itself.
What does sattvam rajas tama iti gunah prakriti-sambhavah teach about my moods?
That your moods have a source outside your character. Clarity is not virtue earned, heaviness is not personal failure — both are strands turning in nature, passing through the body you live in. This does not excuse you from acting. It frees you from identifying with the mood while you act.
If the gunas bind the Self, how can the Self be called avyayam?
Because binding is not injury. A rope tied around a flame does not burn or shrink the flame. The guṇas fasten the dweller to a particular body, a particular temperament, a particular set of urges — and none of that touches what the dweller actually is. Bondage here means forgetting, not being diminished.
Why does Krishna call Arjuna mighty-armed in this verse?
Because strength is exactly what is being redefined. Arjuna's arms can carry a bow through a war and still cannot cut a single one of these three strands. Krishna says the name to a man about to learn that his real strength lies elsewhere — in seeing the strands rather than wrestling them.
Themes in this verse
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Commentary
Not qualities you have. Strands you are woven of. Krishna names three — sattva, rajas, tamas — and calls them prakṛti's own, neither Arjuna's fault nor his achievement. Then the strange word: avyayam. The one they bind cannot be diminished. Rope around a flame. The clarity you feel this morning, the restlessness at three in the afternoon, the heaviness that swallows tonight — all three are weather, all three are rope. What they tie stays untouched. So when the heaviness comes, stop asking what is wrong with you. Ask which strand is pulling, and notice that you are not it.