Listen, O noble one, to this sacred teaching spoken by the Blessed Lord to Arjuna on the field of Kurukshetra—a revelation of the highest wisdom. The Supreme Self, which dwells within all beings, is without beginning and beyond all qualities. Though it abides in the body, O Kaunteya, it neither acts nor is tainted by the actions of the body, remaining ever pure and untouched. Just as the all-pervading space, because of its subtlety, remains untainted by what occurs within it, so too does the Self, present everywhere in the body, remain unaffected by the body’s activities. Consider the sun, O Bharata, which illumines the entire world with its single radiance. In the same way, the knower of the field—the Self—illumines the whole field of the body. Those who, through the eye of knowledge, perceive the distinction between the field (the body and mind) and the knower of the field (the Self), and who also understand the way beings are liberated from the bonds of nature, these indeed attain the supreme state. Then the Blessed Lord spoke further: “Hear again, Arjuna, of the highest knowledge among all knowledges. By realizing this, the sages have attained supreme perfection from this world. Resorting to this knowledge, they become like Me—at the time of creation, they are not born, and at dissolution, they do not suffer. “My womb is the great Brahman, the universal source; into it I place the seed of all life, and from this union arises the birth of all beings, O Bharata. Whatever forms are produced in all wombs, O son of Kunti, the great Brahman is their womb, and I am the seed-giving father. “Nature gives rise to three qualities: sattva, rajas, and tamas. These bind the imperishable embodied self to the body, O mighty-armed one. Sattva, being pure and luminous, is free from sickness, yet it binds by attachment to happiness and knowledge. Rajas, of the nature of passion, arises from craving and attachment; it binds the embodied one through attachment to action. Tamas, born of ignorance, deludes all beings and binds them with heedlessness, indolence, and sleep. “Sattva draws one to happiness, rajas to action, and tamas, covering knowledge, draws one to heedlessness. When rajas and tamas are subdued, sattva prevails; when sattva and tamas are subdued, rajas arises; when sattva and rajas are subdued, tamas prevails. “When light shines through all the gates of the body, know that sattva has increased. When greed, restless activity, and craving arise, rajas is ascendant. When darkness, inactivity, and delusion prevail, tamas has increased. “If one departs this life while sattva is predominant, he reaches the pure worlds of those who know the highest. Dying in rajas, one is reborn among those attached to action. Dying in tamas, one is born among the deluded. “The fruit of good action is pure and sattvic; the fruit of rajas is suffering, and ignorance is the fruit of tamas. From sattva arises knowledge; from rajas, greed; from tamas, negligence, delusion, and ignorance. Those established in sattva rise upward; those in rajas remain in the middle; and those abiding in tamas sink downward. “When the wise see that there is no doer but the gunas, and know what is beyond the gunas, they attain My state. Transcending these three gunas, which arise from the body, the embodied one is freed from birth, death, old age, and suffering, and attains immortality. “Arjuna then asked, ‘By what marks is one known who has transcended these three gunas, Lord? How does he behave, and how does he go beyond them?’ “The Blessed Lord replied, ‘He who does not hate light, activity, or delusion when they arise, nor longs for them when they cease; who sits apart, unmoved by the gunas, knowing that it is they alone that act; who is equal in pleasure and pain, established in the Self, regarding clod, stone, and gold alike; who is steady in both pleasant and unpleasant circumstances, and equal in praise and blame; who is the same in honor and dishonor, toward friend and foe, and who has abandoned all undertakings—such a one is said to have transcended the gunas. “Moreover, he who serves Me with unwavering devotion, transcending the gunas through the yoga of devotion, is fit to become Brahman. For I am the foundation of Brahman, of the immortal and imperishable, of eternal dharma, and of absolute happiness. “Now hear of the imperishable ashvattha tree, O Arjuna, whose roots are above and branches below, and whose leaves are the Vedic hymns. He who knows this tree knows the Veda. Its branches extend both upwards and downwards, nourished by the gunas, with sense objects as its shoots. Its roots, spreading downward, bind the world of men through actions. “Its true form, its beginning, end, and foundation, cannot be perceived in this world. Having cut down this firmly rooted ashvattha with the strong axe of detachment, one should then seek that path from which there is no return. I seek refuge in that original Person from whom all ancient activity has flowed forth. “Those who are free from pride and delusion, who have conquered attachment, who ever dwell in the Self, whose desires have departed, and who are liberated from the pairs called pleasure and pain, these undeluded ones reach that imperishable state. Neither the sun, nor the moon, nor fire illumines that supreme abode; having gone there, they do not return. “An eternal portion of Myself, having become a living being in the world of life, draws to itself the senses and mind, which abide in nature. When the Lord obtains a body and when He departs from it, He takes these senses and mind along, just as the wind carries scents from their source. Presiding over the ear, eye, touch, tongue, and nose, as well as the mind, He experiences the objects of the senses.” Thus, O seeker, the Lord revealed the profound mystery of the Self, the gunas, and the eternal journey, guiding all toward the supreme goal.