BG 14.9 — Guṇatraya-Vibhāga-Yoga

Bhagavad Gītā 14.9Chapter 14 · Guṇatraya-Vibhāga-Yoga · Krishna → Arjuna · Bhārata · anuṣṭubh

सत्त्वं सुखे संजयति रजः कर्मणि भारत ।

ज्ञानमावृत्य तु तमः प्रमादे संजयत्युत ॥

sattvaṃ sukhe saṃjayati rajaḥ karmaṇi bhārata

jñānam āvṛtya tu tamaḥ pramāde saṃjayaty uta

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

meaning

Sattva binds you to pleasure, rajas to restless action, and tamas, covering your discernment, binds you to heedlessness and inertia.

ekras · bhāṣya

Sattva fastens you to sukha; rajah to karma; tamah, having covered jnana — jnanam avritya — fastens you to pramada. Each guna's specific binding-target is now named precisely. Sattva goes to pleasure; rajas to action; tamas first covers knowing then drops you into heedlessness.

Shankara reads precisely. Sattva binds the dehin to sukha; rajas to karma; tamas covers jnana, the discriminative knowledge produced by sattva, through its own nature as obscurer, and binds to pramada — defined as the non-performance of what ought to be done. Each guna has its own binding-target; the chapter is teaching the disciple to recognize which guna is operating by attending to which target is being clung to.

Madhusudana specifies the temporal order: when sattva is utkrishta — predominant — it overpowers the cause of duhkha and binds all dehins to sukha. When rajas is predominant, it overpowers the cause of sukha and binds to karma. Tamas, even when jnana arising from sattva's force is present, covers and conceals it through pramada and binds to pramada — that is, to the non-knowing of what is actually present. The bhakta watches each operation and learns the diagnostic.

Ramanuja reads sattva as predominantly characterized by attachment to sukha, binding the jiva to pleasant experience. Rajas is predominantly characterized by attachment to karma, binding to restless doing. Tamas is primarily characterized by attachment to viparita-pravritti — contrary-direction activity. It veils vastu-yatharthya-jnana and produces engagement with what should not be engaged. The three gunas are three distinct attachment-strategies; recognizing which strategy is operating is the first move toward release.

Madhva reads on the bheda-frame: sattva, rajas, tamas are real and eternal modifications of prakriti — fully distinct from and utterly subordinate to Hari. Sattva binds the eternally-distinct jiva to sukha; rajas to karma; tamas to pramada by covering jnana. The jiva's bondage is real, not illusory; liberation is achieved only through Hari's direct grace, not by transcending maya through knowing alone. The verse names the three forms of real bondage that grace must release.

Vallabha reads each guna as having its own svabhava: sattva naturally generates sukha-adi-sanjana — binding to pleasure and the like; rajas generates karma-sanjana — binding to action; tamas veils jnana and generates pramada. The verse is terse because the mechanism has been stated; what remains is recognizing that all three svabhavas are within Krishna's lila-display, and that pushti-marga moves the bhakta beyond all three through prasada.

Shridhara reads with care: sattva binds to sukha — even when causes of sorrow are present, it turns the person toward pleasure; rajas, even when causes of happiness are present, binds only to karma; tamas, even when great teachers are teaching and jnana is arising, covers and conceals that knowledge and binds to pramada — heedlessness toward what is being taught. Each guna overrides its competitors when dominant; each binds in its own register.

Context

where

Chapter 14 · Guṇatraya-Vibhāga-Yoga · meter anuṣṭubh

who speaks

Krishna → Arjuna · vocative Bhārata

preceded by — BG 14.8

Know that tamas, born of ignorance, deludes every embodied being and binds it through heedlessness, inertia, and sleep.

What's going on

Sattva binds you to pleasure, rajas to restless action, and tamas, covering your discernment, binds you to heedlessness and inertia.

Sūtras through this verse (29)

MadhvaclassicalT3

Ranking is real — and it never collapsesbetween

6.9Devas, asuras, mortals are three native kinds.───→here14.9───→14.27Brahman has gradations within its own form.

ŚrīdharaclassicalC

Devotion is both the way and the homebetween

12.20These devotees are exceedingly dear.───→here14.9───→14.26Unwavering love fits one for brahman.

VallabhaclassicalB

Grace alone — the technical markbetween

11.54Undivided love — sādhana stripped, grace-clothed.───→here14.9───→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.───→here14.9───→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.───→here14.9───→18.14Āyāsya-śruti closes the agency question.

MadhvaclassicalT10

The deluder is named — three goddesses, one Lordbetween

14.3Three goddesses named in a single śruti.───→here14.9───→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.───→here14.9───→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.───→here14.9───→

ŚrīdharaclassicalH

The grammar of single-pointednessbetween

12.6Single-aim devotion draws the lifting hand.───→here14.9───→14.26Unswerving devotion crosses the modes.

ŚrīdharaclassicalL

Chapter prefaces as the bhāṣya's spinebetween

14.1Now, the highest of all knowings.───→here14.9───→15.1Dispassion first; else neither knowing nor love.

RamsukhdasclassicalB

This human birth — your one chance to actbetween

9.32Even the low-born reach the highest goal.───→here14.9───→14.18The modes decide which womb is next.

RamsukhdasclassicalD

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

14.5Three modes bind the imperishable.───→here14.9───→14.18Sattva up, rajas mid, tamas downward.

RamsukhdasclassicalG

Equanimity in everythingbetween

12.13Friend to all, equal in cold and in heat.───→here14.9───→14.24Past the modes, equal in praise and blame.

Ramsukhdasclassical

Sādhaka Sañjīvanī commentary at this versebetween

───→here14.9───→

ŚrīdharaclassicalG

Soul as His portion, neither cut nor identicalapproach

───→here14.9───→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.───→here14.9───→

VallabhaclassicalD

Chapter-opening preludesbetween

14.1Two-verse prelude names guṇa-vibhāga.───→here14.9───→18.1Closing chapter's prelude seals the program.

VallabhaclassicalI

A closed three-source citation gridbetween

11.54Bhāgavata + Brahmasūtra fuse at the vision-verse.───→here14.9───→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.───→here14.9───→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.───→here14.9───→14.27The brahma-ground obtains in this body.

VallabhaclassicalE

Three paths, one teaching orderexit

13.2The third ṣaṭka is the Lord's own bhāṣya.───→here14.9───→

MadhusūdanaclassicalA

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

13.1The last six work what 'are' really means.───→here14.9───→

ĀnandagiriclassicalG

Anūdyate, na vidhīyatebetween

13.7Twenty jñāna-qualities: still description.───→here14.9───→14.22Guṇātīta-lakṣaṇa follows the same rule.

ĀnandagiriclassicalJ

Prakṛti is never autonomousbetween

14.1Modes belong to the Lord's prakṛti.───→here14.9───→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.───→here14.9───→18.1The closing chapter gathers all questions.

RāmānujaclassicalK

Tri-guṇa diagnostic for the bhaktabetween

14.5Three modes bind the soul.───→here14.9───→14.17Each mode, its effect.

AbhinavaguptaclassicalF

Three guṇas: contractions of one consciousnessbetween

14.5Three primary contractions of cit.───→here14.9───→14.19Past the modes by recognizing, not replacing.

Gauravmodernthree_yogas_braid

Three Yogas Braidexit

12.12'Shreyo hi jnanam abhyasaj jnanad dhyanam vishishyate, dhyanat karma-phala-tyaga───→here14.9───→

JayatīrthaclassicalA

Body and embodied — the inference runs on the dehī sideexit

13.5Field and knower: body-self cut returns.───→here14.9───→

Śabda · lemmas (12 unique · 13 occurrences)

संजयति saṃ-√ji ×2 — to conquer fully (sam- + √ji) · present indicative 3rd person singular verb
सुखे sukha — happiness, pleasure, ease · locative neuter singular noun
कर्मणि karman — action, deed, the law of action · locative neuter singular noun · also at 2.47, 3.1, 3.22, 4.16, 4.18, 4.21 +1
प्रमादे pramāda — negligence, intoxication, heedlessness (pra- + √mad) · locative masculine singular noun
आवृत्य āvṛ — to cover, conceal (ā- + √vṛ) · conv
भारत bhārata — descendant of Bharata; epithet of Arjuna · vocative masculine singular noun

show all 12

सत्त्वम् sattva — purity, lightness (the first guṇa); being, essence · nominative neuter singular noun
रजः rajas — passion, activity (the second guṇa); dust · nominative neuter singular noun
ज्ञानम् jñāna — knowledge, wisdom, cognition · accusative neuter singular noun · also at 3.39, 3.40, 3.41, 4.34, 7.2, 10.4 +7
तु tu — but, on the other hand (particle)
तमः tamas — darkness, inertia (the third guṇa); ignorance · nominative neuter singular noun
उत uta — and, also, even

Praśna · so what (7)

01If the three qualities (guna-traya) always coexist in every person, what determines which one 'wins' at any given moment — and can that outcome be influenced by deliberate practice?
02Tamas covers jnana even as knowledge is arriving — how does one recognize that heedlessness (pramada) is already operating, given that tamas suppresses the very awareness needed to detect it?

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03Rajas binds to karma even when the causes of happiness are present: what does this reveal about compulsive productivity and why external success rarely produces contentment?
04Sattva binds to sukha — not to liberation; does attachment to pleasant spiritual states constitute its own subtle form of bondage, and how do the schools differ on this?
05The verse describes binding (sanjayati) as the action of the qualities, not of the self — what are the implications for personal responsibility, moral agency, and the possibility of genuine choice?
06How does the sequence — sattva/sukha, rajas/karma, tamas/pramada — map onto recognizable patterns in a single day's waking life, and what does the sequence imply about the order of intervention?
07If tamas operates through veiling (avarana) rather than through active misdirection, how is the removal of tamas structurally different from the cultivation of sattva — and which comes first?

Vyavahāra · try it in your life

Advaita

When meditation or study produces a pleasant, luminous feeling, notice that even this sattvic sukha is a binding — the practitioner who clings to the jhana-like calm has not yet reached the witness-state beyond all three qualities. The practice is to use sattva as a ladder and then release even the ladder.

Dvaita

Recognizing which quality is dominant at a given moment is an act of epistemic humility before Hari: 'I am not generating this clarity or this restlessness — these are qualities of prakrti operating through a jiva entirely dependent on Hari.' That recognition itself is the beginning of surrender to Hari's grace.

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Bhakti

When a teacher or mentor is speaking and the mind wanders to unrelated concerns (phone, fatigue, tomorrow's tasks), that is tamas-as-pramada in operation — covering the jnana that is being offered in real time. The practical corrective is to return attention to the teaching as an act of deliberate reverence (adara), not willpower.

Advaita-Bhakti

Notice the three-quality rhythm across a single day: morning clarity that gravitates toward pleasant reflection (sattva), afternoon restlessness that converts every task into another task (rajas), evening heaviness that makes even known obligations feel unreachable (tamas). Naming the quality operating — without judgment — is the first move toward the witness-position where Krishna-bhakti and Advaita-jnana meet.

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 9: Krishna to Arjuna — Guṇatraya-Vibhāga-Yoga