कैर् लिङ्गैस् त्रीन् गुणान् एतान् अतीतो भवति प्रभो । किमाचारः कथं चैतांस् त्रीन् गुणान् अतिवर्तते ॥
kair liṅgais trīn guṇān etān atīto bhavati prabho | kimācāraḥ kathaṃ caitāṃs trīn guṇān ativartate ||
Arjuna asks: what are the signs of the guṇa-transcendent? What is his conduct? How does he cross all three?
Word by word (3)
- kair liṅgaiḥ trīn guṇān etān atītaḥ bhavati prabho
- — by what marks (kair liṅgaiḥ) is one known who has gone beyond (atītaḥ) these three guṇas, O Lord (prabho = O master)
- kimācāraḥ
- — what is his conduct (kim = what; ācāraḥ = behavior, practice, manner of living) — the practical/behavioral dimension
- kathaṃ ca etān trīn guṇān ativartate
- — and how (kathaṃ) does one transcend/go beyond (ativartate) these three guṇas — the path/method dimension
Arjuna said: O Lord, by what signs is one known who has gone beyond these three guṇas? What is his conduct? And how does one transcend these three guṇas?
A modern analogy
Arjuna asks the diagnostician's perfect question: What does health look like? And how does one become healthy? V21 is the student asking the right question at the right moment — the transition point from describing the disease (guṇas) to describing the cure (guṇātīta path).
V21 is Arjuna's ONE question in Ch.14 (he was silent through the entire guṇa-analysis in V1-V20). He asks three distinct sub-questions: (1) the signs of guṇātīta (answered in V22-V25); (2) the conduct of the guṇātīta (also V22-V25); (3) how to transcend the guṇas (answered in V26). This three-part question structures the rest of the chapter perfectly.
The three sub-questions map to three pedagogical needs: recognition (liṅgaiḥ — how to identify a guṇātīta), role-modeling (kimācāraḥ — what does living-in-guṇātīta look like), and method (kathaṃ ativartate — the practical path). Krishna answers all three but in a characteristically non-linear way: V22-V25 describe BEING (who the guṇātīta is), then V26 gives the PATH (how to become guṇātīta through bhakti).
Public-domain translations (4) compare all →
By what marks, O Lord, is he known who has crossed beyond those three guṇas? What is his conduct, and how does he pass beyond those three guṇas? [1]
By what marks, O Lord, is he (known) who has gone beyond these three Gunas? What is his conduct, and how does he pass beyond these three Gunas? [4]
Arjuna said: What are the characteristic marks of him who has crossed over the three qualities? What is his conduct? And how does he get across the three qualities? [9]
Arjuna said: What are the marks of one who has passed beyond these qualities, O Lord? What is his conduct? How does he cross beyond these three qualities? [13]
This verse speaks to
Where this thread continues
All actions are done by the gunas of nature. The ego-deluded one thinks 'I am the doer' — this is the root of bondage.
The enemy is desire and anger, born of rajas — all-devouring, all-sinful. Know this as your internal enemy.
Supreme bliss comes naturally to the yogi whose mind is fully at peace, passion quieted, stainless — Brahman-become.
All sāttvic, rājasic, and tāmasic states proceed from Me — yet I am not in them; they are in Me.
Deluded by the three guṇa-constituted states, all this world does not recognize Me — beyond them, imperishable.
This divine māyā of Mine, made of the guṇas, is hard to cross — but those who take refuge in Me alone do cross it.