Bhagavad Gita, Chapter 14, Verse 23
उदासीनवदासीनो गुणैर्यो न विचाल्यते । गुणा वर्तन्त इत्येवं योऽवतिष्ठति नेङ्गते
udāsīnavadāsīno guṇairyo na vicālyate | guṇā vartanta ityevaṃ yo'vatiṣṭhati neṅgate
Translation
He who, seated as a neutral, is not moved by guṇas; who, thinking that guṇas act, is firm and moves not;
— Alladi Mahadeva Sastri
Word meanings
- udāsīnavat
- like the neutral
- āsīnaḥ
- seated
- guṇaiḥ
- by the qualities
- yaḥ
- who
- na
- not
- vicālyate
- is shaken
- guṇāḥ
- the qualities
- vartante
- move
- iti
- thus
- eva
- even
- yaḥ
- who
- avatiṣṭhati
- stands away
- na
- not
- iṅgate
- move
Śaṅkarācārya's commentary
The Self-knowing saṃnyāsin, like a neutral man who inclines to neither party, treads firmly the path of Self-knowledge by which he seeks to rise above the guṇas; he does not swerve from the state of discrimination. This is made clearer by what follows: the guṇas, transforming themselves into the body, senses and sense-objects, act and react upon each other. Thus thinking, he remains unshaken, i.e., he remains in his own true nature.