Speaker: Śrī Kṛṣṇa
ये चैव सात्त्विका भावा राजसास्तामसाश्च ये ।
मत्त एवेति तान्विद्धि न त्वहं तेषु ते मयि ॥१२॥
ye caiva sāttvikā bhāvā
rājasās tāmasāś ca ye
matta eveti tān viddhi
na tv ahaṁ teṣu te mayi
Word for word (synonyms)
- ye
- all those
- ca
- and
- eva
- certainly
- sāttvikāḥ
- in goodness
- bhāvāḥ
- states of being
- rājasāḥ
- mode of passion
- tāmasāḥ
- mode of ignorance
- ca
- also
- ye
- although
- mattaḥ
- from Me
- eva
- certainly
- iti
- thus
- tān
- those
- viddhi
- try to know
- na
- not
- tu
- but
- aham
- I
- teṣu
- in those
- te
- they
- mayi
- unto Me
Translation
All states of being—be they of goodness, passion or ignorance—are manifested by My energy. I am, in one sense, everything—but I am independent. I am not under the modes of this material nature.
Purport
All material activities in the world are being conducted under the three modes of material nature. Although these material modes of nature are emanations from the Supreme Lord, Kṛṣṇa, He is not subject to them. For instance, under the state laws one may be punished, but the king, the lawmaker, is not subject to that law. Similarly, all the modes of material nature—goodness, passion and ignorance—are emanations from the Supreme Lord Kṛṣṇa, but Kṛṣṇa is not subject to material nature. Therefore He is nirguṇa, which means that these guṇas, or modes, although issuing from Him, do not affect Him. That is one of the special characteristics of Bhagavān, or the Supreme Personality of Godhead.
What this verse teaches
Kṛṣṇa is beyond the modes
Śrīla Prabhupāda lectures 4
- Bhagavad-gītā 7.8–14 1966-10-03 · New York
- Bhagavad-gītā 7.11–16 1966-10-05 · New York
- Bhagavad-gītā 7.11–13 1971-04-05 · Bombay
- Bhagavad-gītā 7.11–12 1974-02-25
Bhagavad-gītā As It Is by His Divine Grace A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupāda © The Bhaktivedanta Book Trust International.