I shall now explain to you this knowledge, which is the most profound of all knowledges, knowing which all the sages have attained to supreme perfection after this life.

By becoming situated in this knowledge, one can attain My divine nature. Such birth is not the cause of their material existence, and when the universe is dissolved, they are not annihilated.

My womb is the great Brahman; in that I place the germ; thence, O Bharata, is the birth of all beings.

Whatever forms are produced, O son of Kunti, in any womb whatsoever, the great Brahman is their womb, and I the seed-giving father.

My womb is the great Brahman; in that I place the germ; thence, O Bharata, is the birth of all beings.

Whatever forms are produced, O son of Kunti, in any womb whatsoever, the great Brahman is their womb, and I the seed-giving father.

The modes of nature—goodness, passion, and ignorance—arise from the material energy, O mighty-armed one, and bind the eternal soul in the body.

O sinless one, the mode of goodness, being purer than the others, is illuminating, and it frees one from all sinful reactions. Those situated in this mode become conditioned by a sense of happiness and knowledge.

Understand rajas to be of the nature of passion, the source of thirst and attachment, O son of Kunti, which binds the embodied self with the attachment to action.

Know tamas to be born of ignorance, the deluder of all embodied beings; it binds fast, O Arjuna, by means of heedlessness, lethargy, and sleep.

Goodness binds one to attachment to happiness, passion to action, O Arjuna, while ignorance, covering up knowledge, binds one to heedlessness.

O descendant of Bharata, when the mode of passion predominates over ignorance, the light of goodness prevails; similarly, when ignorance predominates over passion, the mode of goodness becomes covered by darkness.

When one sees that in this body there is the illumination by the light of the knowledge, then he should know that that is called the mode of goodness.

Greed, activity, the undertaking of actions, restlessness, and desire—these arise when rajas is predominant, O Arjuna.

Ignorance, inertia, and delusion—these arise when Tamas predominates, O Arjuna, leading to confusion and bewilderment.

When one dies during the period of increase of the mode of goodness (sattva-guna), he attains to the pure higher planets of the great sages.

When one dies in the mode of passion, he takes birth among those engaged in fruitive activities; and when one dies in the mode of ignorance, he takes birth in the animal kingdom.

The result of good action is said to be sattvic and pure; the result of passionate action is pain; and the result of ignorant action is darkness.

From goodness arises knowledge, from passion arises greed, and from ignorance arise delusion and confusion, O Arjuna!

Those situated in the mode of goodness (sattva) rise upward to the higher planets; those in the mode of passion (rajas) dwell on the earthly planets; and those in the mode of ignorance (tamas) sink down to the lower planets.

When one perceives that the qualities (guṇas) are distinct from the self (ātman) and that it is the qualities which act, then one attains to the supreme state and realizes the nature of God.

The embodied soul, having transcended these three modes, is released from birth, death, old age, and their attendant suffering, and attains immortality.

O Lord, how can one transcend these three modes of material nature (gunas) without having any association with them? And how does one who has transcended them behave?

O Arjuna, the one who sees enlightenment, activity, and delusion as one who is undeluded, neither shuns them when they arise nor seeks them when they are gone.

One who remains impartial amidst the qualities and is unaffected by them, knowing that the qualities are performing their functions, remains undisturbed.

The one who is equally poised in pleasure and pain, who is established in oneself, who views a clod of earth, a stone, and gold alike, who is equal to dear and undesirable things, and who remains steady in censure and praise, is said to be wise.

One who is equal in honor and dishonor, who treats friend and foe alike, and who has abandoned all undertakings—he is said to have transcended the modes of nature.

And one who serves Me with unwavering devotion transcends these qualities and becomes fit for realization of the Supreme.

I am the basis of the eternal, imperishable, and immutable Brahman, of eternal righteousness, and of unending joy.