The embodied one having crossed beyond these three Gunas out of which the body is evolved, is freed from birth, death, decay and pain, and attains to immortality.
In simple words
Krishna describes complete liberation: "When the soul rises beyond these three forces — the very forces from which the body is made — it is freed from birth, death, aging, and suffering, and reaches immortality."
Word-by-word meanings
गुणान्Gunasएतान्theseअतीत्यhaving crossedत्रीन्threeदेहीthe embodiedदेहसमुद्भवान्out of which the body is evolvedजन्ममृत्युजरादुःखैःfrom birth death decay and painविमुक्तःfreedअमृतम्immortalityअश्नुतेattains to
Contemporary scholarly and practical interpretations for modern seekers.
Swami Sivananda
14.20 गुणान् Gunas? एतान् these? अतीत्य having crossed? त्रीन् three? देही the embodied? देहसमुद्भवान् out of which the body is evolved? जन्ममृत्युजरादुःखैः from birth? death? decay and pain? विमुक्तः freed? अमृतम् immortality? अश्नुते attains to.Commentary Just as a river is absorbed in the ocean? so also he who has? while still alive? gone beyond the alities which form the seed from which all bodies have sprung and of which they are composed? is absorbed in Me. He ever enjoys the bliss of the Eternal. He attains release or Moksha. He attains to My Being.When the Lord said that the wise man crosses beyond the three alities and attains immortality? Arjuna became inspired with the desire of learning more about it. Just as he has asked a estion about the sage of steady wisdom in chapter II? verse 54? he now asks Lord Krishna about the characteristics of a sage who has crossed over the three alities. How does he act What is his conduct or behaviour How has he gone beyond the alities
Swami Chinmayananda
This interpretation draws on a specific tradition and may not represent the view of any single school. For authoritative guidance within a specific tradition, seek a qualified teacher.
# BG 14.20 — Translation of Meaning
Just as a person working in a schoolhouse must endure the heat and smoke of fire, and one standing in the summer sun must bear the heat and glare of the sun — yet if both were to move away from those places to a cool refuge, their suffering would cease — so too do we, through identification with the three gunas at play in our conditioned nature, experience the bondage and sorrows of worldly life. When one transcends these gunas, their cruelty comes to an end, for in the complete, eternal, conscious, blissful Self, none of these have any existence whatsoever.
Here the gunas beginning with sattva are described as the cause of the body's manifestation. In the language of Vedanta, ignorance of one's true nature as the Self is called the causal body, which we experience in the state of sleep. This ignorance, distinct from the three gunas, is not a separate thing. From this causal state, the three gunas express themselves as the various modifications and emotions of the subtle body — the inner instrument of mind and intellect. These gunas, transformed into thought, take on a gross physical body in order to express themselves as virtuous or sinful actions.
Every person requires an appropriate medium to express their thoughts and feelings. A painter needs canvas, brush, and colors; a musician needs instruments. To give a painter an instrument or a musician a brush would benefit neither. Similarly, a being with animal tendencies is better suited to an animal body than a human one. All this is the work of the three gunas.
From this it becomes clear that one who has transcended the three gunas becomes free even from the sufferings of the subtle and causal bodies.
Change and transformation are the nature of inert matter. Therefore, all gross bodies made of material elements are subject to modifications — birth, growth, disease, decay, and death. Each of these is painful. Birth brings pain, growth brings distress, old age brings agitation, disease is exceedingly cruel, and death is terrifying. Yet all these sufferings belong only to the ignorant being identified with the body; they do not touch the Self-realized sage, for he recognizes his true nature beyond all conditioning. The sun illuminates floods, famines, wars, plagues, funerals, weddings, and countless other events, yet none of these exist in the sun itself. Similarly, the consciousness of the Self illuminates our conditioning and the experiences related to it, yet has no connection with any of them. Therefore, the knower of the Self becomes free from all these struggles.
And he attains immortality. The fruit of Self-knowledge is not merely the cessation of suffering, but the attainment of supreme bliss. The Lord's teaching points to this very truth. In sleep, the sick person forgets his pain; the despairing person becomes free from despair; the hungry person does not feel hunger; and the sorrowful person forgets sorrow. Yet we cannot say that the disease is cured, despair is ended, hunger is satisfied, or sorrow is removed. Sleep is merely a temporary truce with present suffering. Upon waking, all these sorrows return. But in Self-realization, there is the final cessation of all suffering and the attainment of supreme bliss. Therefore it is said here that immortality — liberation — can be attained in this very world, in this very life, while dwelling in this very body. The experience of becoming a divine being upon this earth is truly rare. What are the characteristics of such a liberated person, knowing which we might understand him and strive to attain that state ourselves? How will he conduct himself in the world, and what will be his relationship with it? Seizing an opportunity to ask, Arjuna inquires.