सूत्रकृत्·Sūtrakṛt-Gītā
Ch 14 · Guṇatraya-Vibhāga-Yoga
← back to plaincompare← 14.1714.19 →

Bhagavad Gītā Chapter 14, Verse 18: Krishna to Arjuna — Guṇatraya-Vibhāga-Yoga

Bhagavad Gītā 14.18Chapter 14 · Guṇatraya-Vibhāga-Yoga · Krishna → Arjuna · anuṣṭubh
ऊर्ध्वं गच्छन्ति सत्त्वस्था मध्ये तिष्ठन्ति राजसाः ।
जघन्यगुणवृत्तस्था अधो गच्छन्ति तामसाः ॥
ūrdhvaṃ← ūrdhvam(3 verses)upward, above gacchanti← gam(14 verses)present indicative 3rd person plural verbto go (verbal root)attested in commentariesadvaitaदेवलोकादिषु उत्पद्यन्ते सत्त्वस्थाः सत्त्वगुणवृत्तस्थाःviśiṣṭādvaitaक्रमेण संसारबन्धात् मोक्षं गच्छन्तिśuddhādvaita। ततोऽधोभागरूपं जघन्यत्वेन निरूपितं स्थानमतलादि -- यथाऽसुराणां वैरोचनादीनाम् -- तत्र स्थितिः। नीचयोन्यादिषु वा नरकादौ याbhakti। सत्त्वोत्कर्षतारतम्यादुत्तरोत्तरशतगुणानन्दान्मनुष्यगन्धर्वपितृदेवादिलोकान्सत्यलोकपर्यन्तान्प्राप्नुवन्तीत्यर्थः। राजसाadvaita-bhaktiते देवेषूत्पद्यन्ते ज्ञानकर्मतारतम्येन sattva← sattva(20 verses)compound (compound member)purity, lightness (the first guṇa); being, essence-sthā← stha(22 verses)nominative masculine plural nounstanding, situated (suffix) madhye← madhya(11 verses)locative neuter singular nounmiddle, midstattested in commentariesadvaitaतिष्ठन्ति मनुष्येषु उत्पद्यन्ते राजसाःviśiṣṭādvaitaतिष्ठन्ति, पुनरावृत्तिरूपतया दुःखप्रायम्śuddhādvaitaततोऽधरस्थाने लोभस्यbhaktiतिष्ठन्ति मनुष्यलोक एवोत्पद्यन्तेadvaita-bhaktiमनुष्यलोके पुण्यपापमिश्रे तिष्ठन्ति नतूर्ध्वं गच्छन्त्यधो वा मनुष्येषूत्पद्यन्ते tiṣṭhanti← √sthā(27 verses)present indicative 3rd person plural verbto stand, remain (verbal root)attested in commentariesadvaitaमनुष्येषु उत्पद्यन्ते राजसाःviśiṣṭādvaita, पुनरावृत्तिरूपतया दुःखप्रायम्bhaktiमनुष्यलोक एवोत्पद्यन्तेadvaita-bhaktiनतूर्ध्वं गच्छन्त्यधो वा मनुष्येषूत्पद्यन्ते rājasāḥ← rājasa(15 verses)nominative masculine plural nounrājasic; pertaining to the rajas guṇa (passion, activity)attested in commentariesadvaita। जघन्यगुणवृत्तस्थाः जघन्यश्च असौ गुणश्च जघन्यगुणः तमः, तस्य वृत्तं निद्रालस्यादि, तस्मिन् स्थिताः जघन्यगुणवृत्तस्थाः मूviśiṣṭādvaitaफलसाधनभूतं कर्म अनुष्ठाय तत्फलम् अनुभूय पुनः
jaghanya← jaghanyacompound (compound member)hindmost, lowest, vile-guṇa← guṇa(35 verses)compound (compound member)quality, attribute (esp. the three guṇas: sattva/rajas/tamas)-vṛtta← vṛttacompound (compound member)conduct; round; past-pple. of √vṛt 'turned'-sthā← stha(22 verses)nominative masculine plural nounstanding, situated (suffix) adho gacchanti← gam(14 verses)present indicative 3rd person plural verbto go (verbal root)attested in commentariesadvaitaदेवलोकादिषु उत्पद्यन्ते सत्त्वस्थाः सत्त्वगुणवृत्तस्थाःviśiṣṭādvaitaक्रमेण संसारबन्धात् मोक्षं गच्छन्तिśuddhādvaita। ततोऽधोभागरूपं जघन्यत्वेन निरूपितं स्थानमतलादि -- यथाऽसुराणां वैरोचनादीनाम् -- तत्र स्थितिः। नीचयोन्यादिषु वा नरकादौ याbhakti। सत्त्वोत्कर्षतारतम्यादुत्तरोत्तरशतगुणानन्दान्मनुष्यगन्धर्वपितृदेवादिलोकान्सत्यलोकपर्यन्तान्प्राप्नुवन्तीत्यर्थः। राजसाadvaita-bhaktiते देवेषूत्पद्यन्ते ज्ञानकर्मतारतम्येन tāmasāḥ← tāmasa(15 verses)nominative masculine plural nountāmasa (derived from tamas 'darkness': 'pertaining to the tamas guṇa')attested in commentariesadvaita।। पुरुषस्य प्रकृतिस्थत्वरूपेण मिथ्याज्ञानेन युक्तस्य भोग्येषु गुणेषु सुखदुःखमोहात्मकेषु सुखी दुःखी मूढः अहम् अस्मि इत्viśiṣṭādvaitaतु जघन्यगुणवृत्तिस्था उत्तरोत्तरनिकृष्टतमोगुणवृत्तिषु स्थिता अधो गच्छन्तिadvaita-bhaktiसर्वदा तमःप्रधाना इतरेषां कदाचित्तद्वृत्तस्थत्वेऽपि न तत्प्रधानतेति भावः
spokensingle-voice recital; rendered via IndicF5 conditioned on a Sanskrit reference clip
meaning

Those grounded in sattva rise upward, the rajasic stay in the middle, and the tamasic, fixed in the conduct of the lowest guna, sink down.

Bhāṣyakāra purports

  • Śaṅkaraadvaita

    Those established in sattva (clarity) ascend to the divine worlds (deva-loka), while those bound to rajas (passion) remain in the human middle realm, and the tamasic (inert), anchored in the lowest guna's operations of sleep and delusion, descend into animal births. Shankara reads this verse as the concluding proof that misidentification with the gunas — believing 'I am happy, I am miserable, I am deluded' — is the entire cause of samsara across good and bad wombs. The verse sets up the pivot: all this guna-bondage arises from false knowledge, and liberation requires its replacement by samyag-darsana (right seeing), which Shankara will introduce in the next verse.

  • Rāmānujaviśiṣṭādvaita

    Ramanuja reads the upward movement not as mere celestial promotion but as progressive moksha (liberation) via gradual guna-purification: sattva-dominant souls ascend step by step toward final release from samsara-bondage. The rajasic remain cycling through worlds of desire, repeatedly taking birth, performing action for fruit, experiencing it, and returning — a treadmill of mixed pleasure and pain. The tamasic descend through successively degraded births — outcast status, animal, insect, worm, plant, then inert matter like rock and wood — each step a further deepening of tamas. He adds that proper diet and meritless (nishkama) good deeds gradually increase sattva, and this sattva-growth is the door to upward movement described here.

  • Madhvadvaita

    *Ūrdhvaṃ gacchanti sattva-sthāḥ* — those established in *sattva* (the quality of luminosity and clarity) ascend. *Madhye tiṣṭhanti rājasāḥ* — the *rājasāḥ* (those governed by passion and activity) remain in the middle. *Jaghanya-guṇa-vṛtta-sthā adho gacchanti tāmasāḥ* — those fixed in the conduct of the lowest *guṇa* (quality), *tamas* (darkness and inertia), descend downward. These three trajectories are not conditional outcomes of a soul's momentary choices alone but express the *taratamya* (graded ontological hierarchy) in which each *jīva* (individual self) stands as *paratantra* (eternally dependent) under *Hari's* sovereign will. The ascending *sattva-sthita* moves toward Viṣṇu's domain — the highest station within the *taratamya* — while the *tāmasa* descends into lower births, a descent that, for those in whom *tamas* is constitutive of the *jīva*'s very nature, admits no reversal. *Bheda* (real distinction) between *jīva* and *jīva*, and between each *jīva* and Hari, is preserved across all three movements: no ascent dissolves the *paratantra* *jīva* into the *svatantra* (independently real, self-sufficient) Lord, and no descent abolishes *bheda*. The verse thus maps the *pañca-bheda* (the five-fold real distinction) onto cosmic movement itself — ascent, stasis, and descent each occur within an order of irreducible ontological differences governed entirely by Hari.

    divergence: No Madhva or Jayatīrtha bhāṣya survives on this verse; the reading is voiced directly from dvaita siddhānta applied to the mūla.

  • Vallabhaśuddhādvaita

    Vallabha glosses the upward movement as extending all the way to Brahmaloka and even moksha, showing that sattva's range of ascent is maximal. The rajasic occupy the middle region, which is characterized by lobha (greed) and the continuous friction of desire-driven action — already described in the prior verses as an inherently lower station. The tamasic, fixed in the operations of pramada (carelessness) and moha (delusion), descend to the lowest stations — the sub-worlds (atala and below) where demonic beings like Vairocana reside, or into low-caste births, hell-realms, or subhuman species. For Vallabha the guna-scheme is Krsna's own lila-structure, and navigating it rightly means recognizing Krsna as the one who assigns these stations as prasada.

  • Śrīdharabhakti

    Sridhara frames this as a systematic exposition of the fruit-differences (phala-bheda) among those characterized by sattva, rajas, and tamas. The sattvika, led by progressively intensifying grades of sattva, ascend through the worlds of humans, gandharvas, ancestors, devas, up to Satya-loka — each tier offering bliss a hundredfold greater than the last. The rajasic, tormented by trishna (craving) and similar afflictions, remain in the human realm and take birth there again. Those established in the lowest, most degraded form of tamas — characterized by pramada and moha — descend into hell-realms (tamisra and similar) according to the degree of their tamas-dominance. NOTE: The payload commentary for Sridhara appeared clean of HTML/JS artifacts; rendering is anchored in the supplied prose.

  • Madhusūdanaadvaita-bhakti

    Madhusudana notes that the word 'vrtta' (conduct, operation) appears explicitly only with the third guna (tamas) in the compound 'jaghanya-guna-vrtta-stha', but that this signals the same vrtta-framing applies to all three — so the verse is about conduct-patterns (vrtta), not mere guna-presence. The sattvika, engaged in shastriya jnana (scriptural knowledge) and its associated karma, rise to the divine worlds up to Satya-loka; the rajasic, absorbed in lobha-motivated action, remain in the middle mixed realm of punya and papa; the tamasic, established in sleep and sloth (nidra-lasya), descend into animal births. He also clarifies that 'jaghanya-guna-vrtta-stha' modifies the tamasic specifically because others only occasionally fall into tamas-conduct, while the tamasic are always tamas-dominant — a precise doctrinal distinction preserving the purity of the category.

Sūtrakṛt-Gītā · v1.0 · gita.ekrasworks.com