Commentary

Commentary

This is one of the boldest verses in the Gita. Krishna is essentially saying: the Vedas — the most sacred scriptures of the tradition — address themselves to the domain of the three gunas, the three modes of nature that govern all of material existence. But you, Arjuna — rise above even that. Go beyond the domain the scriptures map. Become the one who no longer needs the map because they have arrived at the territory.

The Three Gunas

The three gunas — tamas (inertia, darkness, confusion), rajas (passion, agitation, desire), and sattva (clarity, goodness, harmony) — are the three fundamental qualities that compose all of material existence, including the human mind and personality. Most religious practice and Vedic ritual aims at increasing sattva, reducing rajas, and eliminating tamas. This is valuable and good. But Krishna is pointing to something beyond even the most refined sattva: the state of the one who is no longer defined by any guna, who abides in the pure Self that underlies and is prior to all three.

Nirdvandvah — Free from Pairs of Opposites

Nirdvandva means free from dvandvas — the pairs of opposites: hot and cold, pleasure and pain, honor and dishonor, gain and loss. The ordinary mind is constantly tossed between these pairs. To be nirdvandva is to be so established in your own being that the oscillation of external conditions no longer creates a corresponding oscillation inside. You still live in the world of opposites. You just no longer live from that world.

Niryogakshema — Free from Anxiety

The phrase niryoga-kshema — free from the anxiety of yoga (acquiring what one does not have) and kshema (preserving what one has) — points to one of the most consuming preoccupations of human life. Most of our mental energy goes into acquiring what we want and protecting what we have. To be niryoga-kshema is to live from the deep security of knowing that your essential being — the Atman — needs nothing and can lose nothing. This is not indifference to practical life. It is a radical freedom from the anxiety that normally underlies it.