Devanagari
नान्यं गुणेभ्य: कर्तारं यदा द्रष्टानुपश्यति ।
गुणेभ्यश्च परं वेत्ति मद्भावं सोऽधिगच्छति ॥ १९ ॥
Verse text
nānyaṁ guṇebhyaḥ kartāraṁ
yadā draṣṭānupaśyati
guṇebhyaś ca paraṁ vetti
mad-bhāvaṁ so ’dhigacchati
Synonyms
na
—
no
;
anyam
—
other
;
guṇebhyaḥ
—
than the qualities
;
kartāram
—
performer
;
yadā
—
when
;
draṣṭā
—
a seer
;
anupaśyati
—
sees properly
;
guṇebhyaḥ
—
to the modes of nature
;
ca
—
and
;
param
—
transcendental
;
vetti
—
knows
;
mat-bhāvam
—
to My spiritual nature
;
saḥ
—
he
;
adhigacchati
—
is promoted.
Translation
When one properly sees that in all activities no other performer is at work than these modes of nature and he knows the Supreme Lord, who is transcendental to all these modes, he attains My spiritual nature.
Translation (Visvanatha Cakravarti Thakura)
19. When the jīva sees that action is being performed by the guṇas, in the form of the doer, the action and the objects of the actions, and understands that the soul is separate from this, he attains a state of merging with Me.
Translation (Baladeva Vidyabhusana)
19. When the jīva sees that action is being performed only by the guṇas, and understands that the soul is separate from this, he attains freedom from saṁsāra.
Purport
One can transcend all the activities of the modes of material nature simply by understanding them properly by learning from the proper souls. The real spiritual master is Kṛṣṇa, and He is imparting this spiritual knowledge to Arjuna. Similarly, it is from those who are fully in Kṛṣṇa consciousness that one has to learn this science of activities in terms of the modes of nature. Otherwise, one’s life will be misdirected. By the instruction of a bona fide spiritual master, a living entity can know of his spiritual position, his material body, his senses, how he is entrapped, and how he is under the spell of the material modes of nature. He is helpless, being in the grip of these modes, but when he can see his real position, then he can attain to the transcendental platform, having the scope for spiritual life. Actually, the living entity is not the performer of different activities. He is forced to act because he is situated in a particular type of body, conducted by some particular mode of material nature. Unless one has the help of spiritual authority, he cannot understand in what position he is actually situated. With the association of a bona fide spiritual master, he can see his real position, and by such an understanding he can become fixed in full Kṛṣṇa consciousness. A man in Kṛṣṇa consciousness is not controlled by the spell of the material modes of nature. It has already been stated in the Seventh Chapter that one who has surrendered to Kṛṣṇa is relieved from the activities of material nature. For one who is able to see things as they are, the influence of material nature gradually ceases.
Purport (Visvanatha Cakravarti Thakura)
Having shown the repeated births caused by association with the guṇas, the Lord now shows liberation, which is beyond the guṇas, in two verses. When the jīva (draṣṭā) does not observe any other doer than the guṇas, which change into the form of agent, the action and the object—when he realizes that only the guṇas are always the doers, and knows the soul is separate from the guṇas—the jīva attains (adhigacchati) merging with Me (mad-bhāvam). It should be understood from the second to last verse in this chapter that one must still perform bhakti even after practicing such jṣāna, in order to get this result.
Purport (Baladeva Vidyabhusana)
Having spoken of birth in the material realm from classification of the guṇas, the Lord now speaks of liberation by distinguishing the real self from the guṇas, in two verses. When the jīva, the seer of things as they are (draṣṭā), does not see any doer other than the guṇas, which transform into the body and senses, when he sees only the guṇas as the agents of action, and knows the ātmā is a non-doer superior to the guṇas, he attains My state.
The intended meaning is this. The pure jīva filled with knowledge and bliss is not the agent of actions filled with sorrow, such as fighting and sacrifice. When he sees that he is endowed with body and senses made of the guṇas and thus understands that the doership of those actions is fixed in the guṇas, not in the pure ātmā, because the motive for action is in the guṇas, he attains freedom from saṁsāra or he attains My supreme bhakti (mad bhāvam). I have said this before. Agency caused by the guṇas is forbidden for the pure soul. But agency fixed in pure actions applies to the soul, and thus the verse says the ātmā is the seer (draṣṭā), which makes him an agent.