BG 14.21 — Guṇatraya-Vibhāga-Yoga

Bhagavad Gītā 14.21Chapter 14 · Guṇatraya-Vibhāga-Yoga · Krishna → Arjuna · anuṣṭubh

कैर् लिङ्गैस् त्रीन् गुणानेतानतीतो भवति प्रभो ।

किम्आचारः कथं चैतांस् त्रीन् गुणानतिवर्तते ॥

kair liṅgais trīn guṇān etān atīto bhavati prabho

kim-ācāraḥ kathaṃ caitāṃs trīn guṇān ativartate

spokensingle-voice recital; rendered via IndicF5 conditioned on a Sanskrit reference clip

meaning

Arjuna asks: by what marks is a person who has gone beyond the three *guṇas* recognized, O Lord, and what is his conduct, and how does he cross them?

ekras · bhāṣya

By what lingaih — marks — is one trin-gunan-atita, gone beyond the three gunas? What is his achara — conduct? And how — katham — does he ativartate, cross beyond? Three questions in one shloka.

Krishna has named the goal in 14.20; Arjuna now asks for the recognizable shape of the one who has reached it.

Shankara reads the question as double — laksana-prashna and acara-prashna and means-prashna. By what marks does the gunatita appear externally and internally? What is his behavior? And by what means does he cross? The three together compose the disciple's full inquiry: how do I recognize him, how does he live, and how do I become him? Krishna's answer in 14.22 onward addresses each in turn.

Madhusudana structures the verse as three distinct prashnas, a precision the other commentators do not make explicit. First prashna: by what marks is the gunatita distinguished — how can he be known? Second prashna: kim-acharah — is his conduct self-directed, yatheshta-cheshtah, or regulated, niyantritah? Third prashna: katham ativartate — by what means does he cross the gunas? Each prashna receives its own treatment in the verses that follow. The chapter's most technical question is asked here.

Ramanuja's reading frames Arjuna's question as a request for svarupa-avagati — knowledge of the true nature of the gunatita. What outward marks identify such a soul? What conduct flows from that nature as its visible expression? The gunatita is not a contentless abstraction but a bhakta whose realized svarupa manifests in discernible behavior. The bhakta wants to see what the chapter's transcendent state actually looks like in human form.

Madhva reads the threefold question on the bheda-frame: what marks, what conduct, what crossing-mechanism. The answer turns on svatantra Hari and the paratantra jiva. The gunatita's marks are the marks of the jiva who has fully aligned with its dependent mode; his conduct is what flows from that alignment; his crossing is by Hari's grace operating through that alignment. Each question is addressed in real categories, not collapsed into one.

Vallabha's tika frames Arjuna's question as a jijnasa — earnest desire to know — about three interconnected things: lakshana, achara, and hetu. The gunatita in pushti-marga is one who lives in Krishna's lila-prasada, no longer bound by the gunas that constitute maya's web. The question opens the door to the chapter's mukti-lila portrait.

Shridhara reads the verse as Arjuna's samyag-bubhutsana — thorough desire to understand — upon hearing in 14.20 that the gunatita attains amrita. The lakshana-prashna asks what signs arise within the person — atmany utpannaih chinhaih — that identify the gunatita. The achara-prashna asks what conduct flows outwardly. The upaya-prashna asks by what means — kena upayena — the gunatita has crossed. The three questions are not redundant; each is a different angle on the same realized state, and Krishna's answer addresses each.

Context

where

Chapter 14 · Guṇatraya-Vibhāga-Yoga · meter anuṣṭubh

who speaks

Krishna → Arjuna

preceded by — BG 14.20

When the embodied soul rises above all three guṇas, the very forces that generate bodily birth, it is freed from the cycle of birth, death, old age, and sorrow, and tastes immortality.

What's going on

Arjuna asks: by what marks is a person who has gone beyond the three guṇas recognized, O Lord, and what is his conduct, and how does he cross them?

Sūtras through this verse (29)

MadhvaclassicalT3

Ranking is real — and it never collapsesbetween

6.9Devas, asuras, mortals are three native kinds.───→here14.21───→14.27Brahman has gradations within its own form.

ŚrīdharaclassicalC

Devotion is both the way and the homebetween

12.20These devotees are exceedingly dear.───→here14.21───→14.26Unwavering love fits one for brahman.

VallabhaclassicalB

Grace alone — the technical markbetween

11.54Undivided love — sādhana stripped, grace-clothed.───→here14.21───→14.26Beyond the modes is grace-rooted love.

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MadhvaclassicalT4

Liberation is bliss in body — not absorptionbetween

14.2At creation's reissue the released remain free.───→here14.21───→15.6The supreme abode does not return its dwellers.

MadhvaclassicalT6

Citation is the spine — texts carry the loadbetween

14.3Kāṣāyaṇa-śruti gives three goddesses one job each.───→here14.21───→18.14Āyāsya-śruti closes the agency question.

MadhvaclassicalT10

The deluder is named — three goddesses, one Lordbetween

14.3Three goddesses named in a single śruti.───→here14.21───→15.4Cut the world-tree by knowing whose play it is.

MadhvaclassicalT11

Only revealed scripture decides — reason alone cannotbetween

2.72Akṣapāda and Kaṇāda are simply ruled out.───→here14.21───→14.27What stands behind brahman is fixed by named texts.

MadhvaclassicalT8

Direct vision — the only proximate causeexit

13.25Three classes, one ladder, each class on a different rung.───→here14.21───→

ŚrīdharaclassicalH

The grammar of single-pointednessbetween

12.6Single-aim devotion draws the lifting hand.───→here14.21───→14.26Unswerving devotion crosses the modes.

ŚrīdharaclassicalL

Chapter prefaces as the bhāṣya's spinebetween

14.1Now, the highest of all knowings.───→here14.21───→15.1Dispassion first; else neither knowing nor love.

RamsukhdasclassicalB

This human birth — your one chance to actbetween

14.18The modes decide which womb is next.───→here14.21───→15.7The self wears body as a costume.

RamsukhdasclassicalD

The three modes (sattva, rajas, tamas) at workbetween

14.18Sattva up, rajas mid, tamas downward.───→here14.21───→14.27Beyond the modes is the only ground.

RamsukhdasclassicalG

Equanimity in everythingbetween

12.13Friend to all, equal in cold and in heat.───→here14.21───→14.24Past the modes, equal in praise and blame.

Ramsukhdasclassical

Sādhaka Sañjīvanī commentary at this versebetween

───→here14.21───→

ŚrīdharaclassicalG

Soul as His portion, neither cut nor identicalapproach

───→here14.21───→14.26Fit for the state of brahman, not fused.

ŚrīdharaclassicalI

His evenness as ground for refugeexit

13.10A steady evenness is the seeker's mark.───→here14.21───→

VallabhaclassicalD

Chapter-opening preludesbetween

14.1Two-verse prelude names guṇa-vibhāga.───→here14.21───→18.1Closing chapter's prelude seals the program.

VallabhaclassicalI

A closed three-source citation gridbetween

11.54Bhāgavata + Brahmasūtra fuse at the vision-verse.───→here14.21───→14.26Brahman dwells in the one beyond the modes.

MadhusūdanaclassicalH

Krishna with form is the ground beneath formless Brahmanbetween

13.13Not a power-of-the-Lord; the Lord himself, formless.───→here14.21───→14.27I am the foundation of formless Brahman itself.

MadhusūdanaclassicalI

Liberation while alive — the body finishes its runbetween

12.20The middle six closes on the fearless ripened one.───→here14.21───→14.27The brahma-ground obtains in this body.

VallabhaclassicalE

Three paths, one teaching orderexit

13.2The third ṣaṭka is the Lord's own bhāṣya.───→here14.21───→

MadhusūdanaclassicalA

Three groups of six: you, the Lord, the joiningexit

13.1The last six work what 'are' really means.───→here14.21───→

ĀnandagiriclassicalG

Anūdyate, na vidhīyatebetween

13.7Twenty jñāna-qualities: still description.───→here14.21───→14.22Guṇātīta-lakṣaṇa follows the same rule.

ĀnandagiriclassicalJ

Prakṛti is never autonomousbetween

14.1Modes belong to the Lord's prakṛti.───→here14.21───→15.7Aṃśa pinned to the Lord, not free.

RāmānujaclassicalC

Three ṣaṭkas (1–6 / 7–12 / 13–18)between

14.1Beyond sāṅkhya: the modes that bind.───→here14.21───→18.1The closing chapter gathers all questions.

RāmānujaclassicalK

Tri-guṇa diagnostic for the bhaktabetween

14.18Up, middle, downward.───→here14.21───→14.27Even sattva sits inside the field.

AbhinavaguptaclassicalF

Three guṇas: contractions of one consciousnessbetween

14.19Past the modes by recognizing, not replacing.───→here14.21───→17.2Even faith is graded through the three.

Gauravmodernthree_yogas_braid

Three Yogas Braidexit

12.12'Shreyo hi jnanam abhyasaj jnanad dhyanam vishishyate, dhyanat karma-phala-tyaga───→here14.21───→

JayatīrthaclassicalA

Body and embodied — the inference runs on the dehī sideexit

13.5Field and knower: body-self cut returns.───→here14.21───→

Śabda · lemmas (13 unique · 16 occurrences)

त्रीन् tri ×2 — three · accusative masculine plural noun
गुणान् guṇa ×2 — quality, attribute (esp. the three guṇas: sattva/rajas/tamas) · accusative masculine plural noun
एतान् etad ×2 — this (proximal demonstrative) · accusative masculine plural noun
भवति √bhū — to be, become; the earth (verbal root / noun) · present indicative 3rd person singular verb
प्रभो prabhu — lord, master (pra- + √bhū 'come into being above') · vocative masculine singular noun · also at 11.4
आचारः ācāra — conduct, observance (ā- + √car) · nominative masculine singular noun
अतिवर्तते ati-√vṛt — (ati- + vṛt: to be) · present indicative 3rd person singular verb

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कैः ka — who? what? (interrogative) · instrumental masculine plural noun
लिङ्गैः liṅga — mark, sign, characteristic, gender · instrumental masculine plural noun
अतीतः √atī — to pass beyond, transcend (ati- + √i 'go') · nominative masculine singular participle noun
किम् kim — what? why? (interrogative)
कथम् katham — how?
च ca — and; (homonym: also the consonant ca)

Praśna · so what (6)

01If the gunatita can be identified by external marks (lingaih), does that mean gunatita-state is observable from outside — or are the marks only visible to one who shares the same inner space?
02Arjuna asks BOTH 'what are his marks' AND 'what is his conduct' — are these the same question (as Ramanuja implies) or distinct (as Madhusudhana insists), and what is at stake in that difference?

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03The upaya-question ('katham ativartate') assumes there IS a means to cross the gunas — but if the gunas are the very instrument of all action, what kind of 'means' is not itself guna-conditioned?
04Arjuna addresses Krishna as 'Prabho' (Lord, master) here — Madhusudhana reads this as a claim on Krishna's obligation to answer. What does calling someone 'Prabho' imply about the questioner's own position?
05This verse opens the gunatita-laksana catalog (14.22-25). Why does Krishna answer the marks-question first and the upaya-question last — what is the pedagogical logic of that ordering?
06Is the gunatita a rare yogic exemplar or is this a description of what every practitioner is progressively becoming? How does your school's answer to that question change the practical stakes of this inquiry?

Vyavahāra · try it in your life

Advaita

When you catch yourself asking 'how will I know if my practice is working?' — recognize that question as the laksana-prashna. Shankara's answer will be: the marks are freedom from reactive disturbance, not special experiences. Today, notice one moment where a situation that normally pulls you (raga) or pushes you (dvesha) did not move you. That non-movement is the mark, however faint.

Dvaita

Madhva's framework says the gunatita acts as pure nimitta (instrument) of Hari with no independent agency. Practically: at the end of today, review one decision you made. Could you hold it as 'Hari acted through this body' without it feeling like an excuse or an abdication? The difference between mature surrender and passive avoidance is exactly what this verse is opening.

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Bhakti

Shridhara asks: what marks arise within (atmany utpannais cihnaih)? Before a difficult interaction today, check your interior weather. Are you entering from contraction (fear, agenda, need to win) or from expansion? The bhakti reading of gunatita marks is that expansion becomes the default interior weather — not permanent bliss, but a stable openness. Track that interior weather today as your laksana-practice.

Advaita-Bhakti

Madhusudhana's second prashna is the sharpest practical question: is the gunatita's conduct self-directed (yathesta-cestah) or regulated (niyantritah)? Most people assume the answer is 'regulated' — more rules, more discipline. But Madhusudhana's synthesis suggests the answer is neither: the gunatita acts from sahaja (natural spontaneity) that is neither willful nor rule-bound. Today: notice one moment where you acted well without consulting a rule or suppressing an impulse. That spontaneous rightness is what this prashna is pointing at.

Adhiṣṭhāna · substrate signature

substratev2.6-frozen

parserByT5-Sanskrit-multitask (Nehrdich/Hellwig/Keutzer EMNLP 2024)

mūlaBelvalkar critical edition (BORI 1947), via Ambuda multi-witness

show all metadata

weightsa=1 · b=0.01 · e_v=0.005 · z=0.2 · h=0 · th=0.01

anchorfit on Ramsukhdas's Sādhak Sañjīvanī (1980), frozen across the eight-commentator panel; cross-validated R@4 = 71.6% on Śaṅkara

extracted2026-04-21

methodPaper 1, Section II.B

↓ view raw per-verse object (JSON)↗ per-verse-object schema ↗ substrate code (MIT) + data (CC-BY 4.0)

The schema generalizes to any bounded-polysemy corpus with discrete primary text units, attested witness traditions, identifiable schools, and formal substrate. Port the per-verse object; refit weights on a domain-appropriate Layer-3 anchor; ship.

Bhagavad Gītā Chapter 14, Verse 21: Krishna to Arjuna — Guṇatraya-Vibhāga-Yoga