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Chapter 14 · The Three Modes of Material Nature · 27 verses

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How to study this verse, in six steps
  1. 1Remember who is speaking. Kṛṣṇa is speaking. Take the verse as He directs.
  2. 2Say the verse and its words. Read the Sanskrit, then each word with its meaning.
  3. 3Read the translation as it is. Let the translation say what it says, without adding your own meaning.
  4. 4Read the purport. Hear the verse through the disciplic succession.
  5. 5Bring your own question. Ask: where does this verse meet my life, my trouble, my doubt?
  6. 6Act on it, remembering Kṛṣṇa. Carry one instruction into your work today.
Read the full guide: how to read the Bhagavad-gītā ›
Nature & guṇasChapter 14 · The Three Modes of Material Nature
14.814.10

Bhagavad-gītā As It Is · Text 14.9

How goodness, passion and ignorance bind

Prakṛti · Material nature

सत्त्वं सुखे सञ्जयति रज: कर्मणि भारत ।

ज्ञानमावृत्य तु तम: प्रमादे सञ्जयत्युत ॥ ९ ॥

sattvaṁ sukhe sañjayati

rajaḥ karmaṇi bhārata

jñānam āvṛtya tu tamaḥ

pramāde sañjayaty uta

Translation

O son of Bharata, the mode of goodness conditions one to happiness; passion conditions one to fruitive action; and ignorance, covering one’s knowledge, binds one to madness.

Read Śrīla Prabhupāda's purport on Vedabase.io
1

Understand it

What this verse is saying, and where it sits in the story.

3 study points

How the Modes Bind

  1. 1

    Goodness binds one to happiness, passion to work for results, and ignorance to madness by covering knowledge.

  2. 2

    Prabhupāda explains that goodness brings satisfaction in work or study, while passion leads to gathering wealth and spending for good causes.

  3. 3

    Actions in ignorance do no good for oneself or anyone else.

Key points from the purport

This verse summaries Texts 14.6 — 14.8

a

Difference between passion and ignorance — Both may work hard but in:

Passion – one engages in fruitive action and owns as much as he can, but spending for the good cause, e.g. Sometimes he opens hospitals, charity institutions etc.

Ignorance – All actions are neither good for him, nor for others: but one acts whimsically without following the regulative principles

Further reading

The Modes Bind The Pure Soul

The eternal living entity connects with the material energy thorough conditioning by the three modes of material nature

One is conditioned by the mode of

Goodness: to happiness

Passion: to fruitive activities

Ignorance: to madness

Chapter 14, section II: The Modes Bind The Pure Soul
2

Word for word

Learn the Sanskrit words of the verse.

  1. sattvamthe mode of goodness
  2. sukhein happiness
  3. sañjayatibinds
  4. rajaḥthe mode of passion
  5. karmaṇiin fruitive activity
  6. bhārataO son of Bharata
  7. jñānamknowledge
  8. āvṛtyacovering
3

Key ideas in this verse

The spiritual concepts this verse connects to.

Key ideas: prakṛti, guṇa.

4

Live it

Take one thing from this verse into your day.

Ask yourself

What does BG 14.9 establish in Śrīla Prabhupāda's translation and purport, and how does it connect to nature & guṇas?

Practice

Observe which mode shaped your last decision.

5

The story behind it

Mahābhārata episodes and stories from the purports that shed light on this verse.

All stories for chapter 14 ›
6

Related verses

Keep going: verses that carry this teaching further.

BG 14.5How goodness, passion and ignorance bindBG 14.6How goodness, passion and ignorance bindBG 7.14Crossing beyond māyā
Live this todayGoodness Can Still BindA practice from BG 14.6, close to this verse

Study notes are editorial summaries, not the translation. Confirm them in the original text and purport.

  1. Learn
  2. Live
  3. Lead
Next in Learn · 4 of 9 · 10 minChapters & storiesGo chapter by chapter, with the Mahābhārata stories that explain what is happening.Back · LearnPrabhupāda's Introduction