Verse 14.23

Verse 14.23: “Remaining like one unconcerned, (one) who is not perturbed by the Gunas: who, in the sole thought that it is the Gunas that are (at work), abides firm and does not move: (336)

Commentary called Jnaneshwari by Jnaneshwar:

So also he considers the totality of the doings of the Gunas as constituting his own self and does not therefore bring about any separation (from them). With such full realization, he lives in the body in the way a traveller lives in some rest-house on his way. The battlefield itself never takes any part either in victory or in defeat; in that way he takes no part either in gains or losses or gets in no way mixed up with the Gunas. He remains as indifferent as the life in the body or as a passing Brahmin (uninvited) guest or as a signpost in a public place. He (man of knowledge) remains unperturbed in his heart at the ingress and egress of the Gunas, just as the Mountain Meru does not totter by the flood of a mirage. Enough of this description. The wind does not make the sky flutter; can the darkness ever devour the Sun? The dream does not deceive one who is wide awake; in that way a man of knowledge is not fettered by the Gunas. He is never caught by the Gunas but as he sees them from a distance, he marks their deeds in the way a spectator in a theatre views indifferently the dancing of the dolls.

The Sattva remains engaged in good actions, the Rajas in objects pertaining to Rajas, while the Tamas in actions involved in infatuation, nescience, etc. All these different dealings on the part of the Gunas, know it well, are due to the power of the Supreme Brahman, in the way the world transactions all do take place because of the Sun (he remaining quite neutral). The coming into tide on the part of the sea, the oozing out on the part of the Moonstone, and getting full-blown on the part of the white (night) lotuses are all because of the Moon, she remaining all inactive. The sky remains calm, even though the winds blow violently and get lulled down in it; in that way he (the one of knowledge) remains unstaggered in spite of the buzzing of the Gunas. Oh Arjuna, these are the marks by which one can recognise a person who has transcended the (three) Gunas. Now hear how he conducts himself.