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XIV - Three Modes of Material Nature
My Material Nature is the womb of creation wherein I place the seed of Consciousness from which all beings are born, O Arjuna. (14.03)
Goodness, passion, and ignorance --- these three modes or ropes of Material Nature bind the eternal individual soul to the body, O
Arjuna. (14.05) Of these, the mode of goodness is illuminating and good, because it is pure. The mode of goodness attaches the living
entity to happiness and knowledge. The mode of passion is characterized by intense craving for sensual pleasure and greed, and is the
source of material desire, attachment, and restlessness. The mode of passion binds the living entity to the fruit of work. (14.07) The
mode of ignorance, the deluder of living entity, is born of inertia. It binds the living entity to carelessness, laziness, and excessive
sleep. (14.08)
When one perceives no doer other than the power of the Supreme Being in the form of the modes of Material Nature, and know That which is
above and beyond these modes; then they attain Nirvana or Salvation. (14.19)
Arjuna said: What is the mark of those who have transcended the modes of Material Nature, and what is their conduct? How does one
transcend these three modes of Material Nature, O Lord Krishna? (14.21)
Lord Krishna said: One who neither hates the presence of enlightenment, activity, or delusion; nor desires for them when they are absent;
who remains like a witness without being affected by the modes of Material Nature, and stays firmly attached to the Lord without wavering
thinking that the modes of Material Nature only are operating. (14.22-23)
The one who depends on the Lord and is indifferent to pleasure and pain (disappointment); to whom a clod, a stone,
and gold are alike; to whom the dear and the unfriendly are alike; who is of firm mind, who is calm in censure
and in praise. The one who is indifferent to honor and disgrace; who is impartial to friend and foe, and who has
renounced the sense of doer-ship and ownership --- is said to have transcended the modes of Material Nature. (14.24-25)
The one who offers service to Me with love and unswerving devotion transcends the (three) modes of Material Nature, and becomes fit for Salvation (Nirvana) (14.26)
Abbreviated By Harry Bhalla.
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