Verse 14.5

Sanskrit text, Unicode transliteration, Word-for-word and English translation of verse 14.5:

सत्त्वं रजस् तम इति गुणाः प्रकृति-सम्भवाः ।
निबध्नन्ति महा-बाहो देहे देहिनम् अव्ययम् ॥ ५ ॥

sattvaṃ rajas tama iti guṇāḥ prakṛti-sambhavāḥ |
nibadhnanti mahā-bāho dehe dehinam avyayam || 5 ||

sattvam–goodness; rajaḥ–passion; tamaḥ–ignorance; iti–thus; guṇāḥ–the three binding influences of material nature; prakṛti-sambhavāḥ–born of material nature; nibadhnanti–they bind; mahā-bāho–O mighty-armed; dehe–within the body; dehinam–embodied soul; avyayam–beyond transformation.

O mighty-armed Arjuna, the three qualities born of material nature–goodness, passion and ignorance–bind the immutable living entity who dwells within the body.

Commentary: Sārārtha-Varṣiṇī Ṭīkā

(By Śrīla Viśvanātha Cakravartī Ṭhākura; the innermost intention of the commentary named ‘the shower of essential meanings’)

After explaining how all living entities are born from prakṛti (material nature) and puruṣa (the Supreme Lord), Śrī Bhagavān is now explaining what the binding qualities are and how the living entities become bound by contact with them. Śrī Bhagavān is saying dehe, meaning that the living entity who identifies himself as one with the functions of material nature is situated within a material body and becomes bound by the modes of nature. Although in truth, the jīva is imperishable, immutable and free from any material contact, the guṇas bind him because of his association with them. This association is caused by his ignorance since time immemorial.

Commentary: Sārārtha-Varṣiṇī Prakāśikā-vṛtti

(By Śrīla Bhaktivedānta Nārāyaṇa Gosvāmī Mahārāja; the explanation that illuminates the commentary named Sārārtha-varṣiṇī)

The three modes of nature–goodness (sattva), passion (rajas) and ignorance (tamas)–are born from material nature, prakṛti. They manifest to perform the three functions of creating, maintaining and annihilating the universe. Prakṛti remains unmanifest when these three modes are in their state of equilibrium.

At that time, creation, sustenance and annihilation do not take place.

prakṛtir guṇa-sāmyaṃ vai prakṛter nātmano guṇāḥ |
sattvaṃ rajas tama iti sthity-utpatty-anta-hetavaḥ

Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam (11.22.12)

Nature exists originally as the equilibrium of the three material modes, which pertain only to nature, not to the transcendental spirit soul. These modes–goodness, passion and ignorance–are the effective causes of the creation, maintenance and destruction of this universe.*

Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam (1.2.23) also states, “sattvaṃ rajas tama iti prakṛter guṇāḥ–the living entities who manifest from the marginal potency receive the association of material nature because they have become averse to Kṛṣṇa.” By their constitutional nature, the jīvas are beyond māyā, but in association with māyā, they have attained the ego of ‘I’ and ‘mine’ and have fallen into the bondage of this material existence in bodies generated by material nature.

Lord Kapiladeva clearly instructs His mother Devahūti about this in Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam (3.26.6–7):

evaṃ parābhidhyānena arttṛtvaṃ prakṛteḥ pumān
karmasu kriyamāṇeṣu guṇair ātmani manyate
tad asya saṃsṛtir bandhaḥ pāra-tantryaṃ ca tat-kṛtam
bhavaty akartur īśasya sākṣiṇo nirvṛtātmanaḥ

This means that due to the living entity’s cohabitation with the activities of prakṛti, he considers himself the performer of activities, which are actually born of the modes of nature. In fact the living entity is only a witness; he is not the performer of any action. He is the transcendental energy of the Supreme Lord, Īśvara–indicated by use of the word īśa–and the jīva himself is bliss personified. He is in the clutches of this material existence of birth and death because he acquired the ego of being the doer, or performer, of material activities. He has therefore become bound, being controlled by sense objects.

sa eṣa yarhi prakṛter guṇeṣv abhiviṣajjate
ahaṅkriyā-vimūḍhātmā kartāsmīty abhimanyate
tena saṃsāra-padavīm avaśo’bhyety anirvṛtaḥ
prāsaṅgikaiḥ karma-doṣaiḥ sad-asan-miśra-yoniṣu

Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam (3.27.2–3)

When the jīva becomes excessively absorbed in the modes of nature, such as happiness and misery, he becomes bewildered because of his false ego. Identifying his body with his self, he thinks, “I am the doer.” The jīva helplessly wanders throughout the higher and lower species of life, such as demigods, humans and animals, because he identifies as being the doer and also because he performs improper actions, due to his association with material nature. Unable to get free from the experience of mundane happiness and misery caused by his actions, he continuously receives bodies in the material world, one after another.