Verse 14.11-15

Verse 14.11: “When, in this body, at all the gateways (of sense) light shines forth—the (light of) knowledge—then should one understand the Sattva to have waxed strong.

Verse 14.12: “Greed, urge (to action), starting (action), non-cessation of action, craving: these spring forth when the Rajas waxes strong, O Bull of the Bharata (clan).

Verse 14.13: “Forgginess and aversion to action, heedlessness and even infatuation: these spring forth when the Tamas waxes strong, O Gladdener of the Kurus.

Verse 14.14: “When, with the Sattva waxing strong, the body’s tenant goes to dissolution, then, unto the taintless regions of the knowers of the Highest, does he attain.

Verse 14.15: “Going to dissolution when the Rajas (is waxing strong), he gets born amongst those addicted to action. So, too, being dissolved with the Tamas (waxing strong), he gets born amongst the non-sentient orders of beings. (204)

Commentary called Jnaneshwari by Jnaneshwar:

After getting victory over the Tamas and Rajas when the Sattva dominates over the body, the following signs appear in the body. In the spring season the fragrance in lotuses spreads out all around (unable to contain itself in the lotus), in that way (the light of) knowledge floods in the exterior, unable to contain itself in the interior. Then the reason remains watchful in all the sense centres and the hands and feet seem to have secured a wonderful vision. The beak of a swan decides the question (if any is raised before the swan), as to which is milk and which is water; in that way the senses themselves test and decide what is proper and what is improper, which is sin and which is merit, while comprehensive self-governance (niyama) attends as their footman.

The ears instinctively abandon what ought not to be heard, the eyes eschew what ought not to be seen while the tongue avoids giving utterance to what ought not to be uttered. Just as darkness runs far away from the light (of a lamp), so the prohibited things dare not stand before (his) senses. Just as a big river inundates (the banks) during monsoon, so his intellect expands (comprehends) in all sciences. Just as the brilliance of the moon rushes into the sky on a full moon night, so the faculty of intellect spreads out freely in the region of knowledge.

The desires get contracted, activism ebbs away, while the mind feels aversion for the enjoyment of sense-objects. In short, these are the signs of expansion of the Sattva Guna, and should death intervene just at this juncture (during the expansion of Sattva), it should be considered as an occasion for festivity, like the arrival of guests from the heaven (i.e. rare and exalted guests), just when there is a bumper harvest season and there should be ready-cooked delicious and flavoury dishes. Should there exist (in one’s mind) generosity and courage in the same proportion as the riches in the house, why could not one secure the other world (Heaven) as also good fame here (in this world too)? Could such a one stand any comparison, Oh Dhananjaya? Similarly what other fate could one, possessed of the Sattva Guna, have when the embodied soul leaves his cottage in the form of the body—the enjoyer of sense objects carrying along with him the pure and manifested Sattva quality; and he actually quits the body in such (Sattvic [Sattvic]) state, he is the very idol of the Sattva Guna—nay he takes his next birth amongst men of knowledge.

Tell me, Oh Dhanurdhara, were a king in his role as the king, to go and sit on a hill top, would he be less of a king there? Were a light from here (one place) to be removed to a neighbouring village, could it not continue to be the (same) lamp there too, Oh Son of Pandu? In the same way the pure Sattva Guna brings about an extraordinary increase in the knowledge with the result that the intellect begins to float over the discerning power. Then fully studying the aspects of all the elements, the soul along with such a study dissolves itself into the Self.

That which is the 37th beyond the 36 (vide Chapter XIII. 5-6), or 25th beyond the 24 (according to Samkhyas) elements or the fourth beyond the three (guṇatraya—the three qualities or Gunas such as Sattva, etc) or—the three stages of human life such as youth, etc. or the three states such as walking, etc.)—one who has attained that one—the best of all—secures, on the strength of this best Sattva Guna, a body that stands no comparison in the universe. In the same way when the Rajas waxes strong suppressing the Tamas and Sattva Gunas, he runs riot in the locality in the form of the body with his own programme works, the sense of which (you) now hear.

Just as in a hurricane all things are rushed through and wound up together and whirled round and round in the sky, in that way with the force of the Rajas all the senses are let loose on their objects. He does not consider it in any way (morally) objectionable to cast a lustful eye on another man’s wife, and goes on allowing the senses to indulge unrestrained in the enjoyment of their objects, like the mouth of a sheep, that strays out grazing on whatever comes in its way. His greed increases so much that anything that lies beyond the reach of his grasp alone escapes him. His natural tendencies do not permit him, Oh Dhananjaya, to keep his hands off any out-of-the-way sort of business transactions he may undertake.

Similarly building a palace or performing an Ashvamedha sacrifice (Great Horse Sacrifice)—such extraordinary plans possess him completely. He undertakes works of vast magnitude, like planning towns, constructing big reservoirs, planting forests and laying out big gardens, (yet) his desires for happiness in this as also in the other world are not quenched. There moves about in his heart a greed for happiness of such a boundless and tremendous magnitude, that the extent and depth of an ocean falls short in comparison, or the burning power of fire proves too mild and tame before it. Very strong desires for enjoyment gallop abreast of the mind with great hope and, while wandering in this way, it treads over (traverses) the entire universe.

These signs become perceptible when the Rajas waxes strong and were he to die in this state, he would have along with his greed and other companions, a new body in the human order. Oh see, could a beggar be a king were he to go in a palace furnished with all royal splendour? The bullocks, were they to carry a marriage party of even the rich, could have nothing else but Kadbi fodder (for their feed). Therefore, he (one meeting death while the Rajas waxes strong) gets yoked along with such as are engaged, without a moment’s rest, in worldly affairs day and night. In short, one being drowned and dead in the deep waters in the form of the Rajas attributes, takes birth amongst persons heavily loaded with actions. In a similar way the Tamas waxes strong after swallowing the Rajas and Sattva Gunas. The signs that then appear inside and outside the body, I now narrate to you and do hear attentively.

The mind in the Tamas stage becomes like the sky on an Amavasya night (the last day of the lunar month) having neither the Sun nor the Moon. Similarly the heart becomes blank, inactive and dull, there remaining no vivacity in it, while the language (all vestige) of reasoning is lost. The intellect loses all its elasticity and becomes so hard that even a stone cannot compare with it, while the memory goes into oblivion. The arrogance of thoughtlessness resounds through the body (in and out) while the being goes on doing (‘give and take’) transactions full of sheer foolishness. The bones, in the form of breaches of good manners, give (painful) pricking to the senses and yet he continues to behave along the same line even though it gives mortal agonies.

There is one more novel thing about it; the mind of the Tamas-ridden being gets enlivened while doing wicked actions, in the way an owl gets vision in the dark. Similarly his mind is fired with wild expectations when confronted with the idea of an act that is forbidden and the senses also go galloping in hot pursuit of the same. In this way the being staggers without being drunk, raves without being delirious in high fever, and gets infatuated even in the absense of love like a mad man. He is in an ecstasy which is not, however, due to the mind getting enwrapped in concentrated meditation. In this way, he is possessed by insolent infatuation. In short, these signs are developed, when the Tamas waxes stronger and stronger, along with his paraphernalia. And were the being perchance to get a call from death on such an occasion, he gets out of the body along with the Tamas.

A small rai-seed gets dried up (and dead) retaining in itself its rai property; would that same seed, when sown, germinate and develop into any other plant but the rai one? Even though the fire with which a lamp is lighted gets extinguished, still so long as the kindled flame of the lamp is burning, therein does exist the property of the original fire. Therefore, when the being quits the body along with the Tamas-ridden fancies, bundled up in a leather bucket (moṭa) in the form of Tamas, he secures for himself again a Tamas-ridden body. There is no point in elaborating further this subject. One dying, while Tamas waxes strong, is born in any of the orders like the animal, bird, tree, or insect.