1Krishna.     Yet farther will I open unto thee     This wisdom of all wisdoms, uttermost,     The which possessing, all My saints have passed     To perfectness. On such high verities     Reliant, rising into fellowship     With Me, they are not born again at birth     Of Kalpas, nor at Pralyas suffer change!          This Universe the womb is where I plant     Seed of all lives! Thence, Prince of India, comes     Birth to all beings! Whoso, Kunti's Son!     Mothers each mortal form, Brahma conceives,     And I am He that fathers, sending seed!          Sattwan, Rajas, and Tamas, so are named     The qualities of Nature, "Soothfastness,"     "Passion," and "Ignorance." These three bind down     The changeless Spirit in the changeful flesh.     Whereof sweet "Soothfastness," by purity     Living unsullied and enlightened, binds     The sinless Soul to happiness and truth;     And Passion, being kin to appetite,     And breeding impulse and propensity,     Binds the embodied Soul, O Kunti's Son!     By tie of works. But Ignorance, begot     Of Darkness, blinding mortal men, binds down     Their souls to stupor, sloth, and drowsiness.     Yea, Prince of India! Soothfastness binds souls     In pleasant wise to flesh; and Passion binds     By toilsome strain; but Ignorance, which blots     The beams of wisdom, binds the soul to sloth.     Passion and Ignorance, once overcome,     Leave Soothfastness, O Bharata! Where this     With Ignorance are absent, Passion rules;     And Ignorance in hearts not good nor quick.     When at all gateways of the Body shines     The Lamp of Knowledge, then may one see well     Soothfastness settled in that city reigns;     Where longing is, and ardour, and unrest,     Impulse to strive and gain, and avarice,     Those spring from Passion--Prince!--engrained; and where     Darkness and dulness, sloth and stupor are,     'Tis Ignorance hath caused them, Kuru Chief!          Moreover, when a soul departeth, fixed     In Soothfastness, it goeth to the place--     Perfect and pure--of those that know all Truth.     If it departeth in set habitude     Of Impulse, it shall pass into the world     Of spirits tied to works; and, if it dies     In hardened Ignorance, that blinded soul     Is born anew in some unlighted womb.          The fruit of Soothfastness is true and sweet;     The fruit of lusts is pain and toil; the fruit     Of Ignorance is deeper darkness. Yea!     For Light brings light, and Passion ache to have;     And gloom, bewilderments, and ignorance     Grow forth from Ignorance. Those of the first     Rise ever higher; those of the second mode     Take a mid place; the darkened souls sink back     To lower deeps, loaded with witlessness!          When, watching life, the living man perceives     The only actors are the Qualities,     And knows what rules beyond the Qualities,     Then is he come nigh unto Me!          The Soul,     Thus passing forth from the Three Qualities--     Whereby arise all bodies--overcomes     Birth, Death, Sorrow, and Age; and drinketh deep     The undying wine of Amrit.

2Arjuna.     Oh, my Lord!     Which be the signs to know him that hath gone     Past the Three Modes? How liveth he? What way     Leadeth him safe beyond the threefold Modes?

3Krishna.     He who with equanimity surveys     Lustre of goodness, strife of passion, sloth     Of ignorance, not angry if they are,     Not wishful when they are not: he who sits     A sojourner and stranger in their midst     Unruffled, standing off, saying--serene--     When troubles break, "These be the Qualities!"     He unto whom--self-centred--grief and joy     Sound as one word; to whose deep-seeing eyes     The clod, the marble, and the gold are one;     Whose equal heart holds the same gentleness     For lovely and unlovely things, firm-set,     Well-pleased in praise and dispraise; satisfied     With honour or dishonour; unto friends     And unto foes alike in tolerance;     Detached from undertakings,--he is named     Surmounter of the Qualities!          And such--     With single, fervent faith adoring Me,     Passing beyond the Qualities, conforms     To Brahma, and attains Me!          For I am     That whereof Brahma is the likeness! Mine     The Amrit is; and Immortality     Is mine; and mine perfect Felicity!          HERE ENDS CHAPTER XIV. OF THE BHAGAVAD-GITA     Entitled "Gunatrayavibhagayog,"     Or "The Book of Religion by Separation from the Qualities."