Chapter 14 of 18 · 27 verses · 9 min
Bhagavad Gita chapter 14: The three moods of nature
Clarity, restless drive and heaviness — three moods that run everything, including you.
One of the Gita's most useful psychological tools. Everything in nature — including your mind — is a mix of three forces: clarity and calm (sattva), drive and restlessness (rajas), and heaviness and inertia (tamas). You can watch them shift through your day. Krishna explains how each one feels, what it leads to, and how to rise above all three — becoming someone who stays steady whichever mood is passing through.
The line to remember · 14.5“Clarity, passion and inertia bind the self to the body.”All 27 verses — tap any one to read it
- 14.1“Let me share the highest wisdom with you again.”
- 14.2“Those who live by it become one with me.”
- 14.3“Nature is like a mother. I plant the seed of all life.”
- 14.4“Nature is the mother of all beings, and I am the father.”
- 14.5“Three moods shape us: calm, busy and sleepy.”
- 14.6“The calm mood is bright and happy.”
- 14.7“The busy mood is full of wanting and rushing.”
- 14.8“The sleepy mood is lazy, foggy and careless.”
- 14.9“Calm loves happiness, busy loves doing, sleepy loves doing nothing.”
- 14.10“Sometimes one mood wins, sometimes another.” — notice which one is strong today.
- 14.11“When your mind feels clear and bright, calm is strong.”
- 14.12“When you feel greedy and restless, busy is strong.”
- 14.13“When you feel dull and lazy, sleepy is strong.”
- 14.14“A calm mind rises to good places.”
- 14.15“A restless or lazy mind keeps getting stuck.”
- 14.16“Calm brings peace. Rushing brings pain. Laziness brings confusion.”
- 14.17“Calm brings wisdom, rushing brings greed, laziness brings fog.”
- 14.18“Calm lifts you up. Laziness pulls you down.”
- 14.19“When you see the moods just come and go, you come close to me.”
- 14.20“Rise above all three, and you are free from sorrow.”
- 14.21Arjuna asks: “How does a person who has risen above them behave?”
- 14.22“They don’t fight their moods, and don’t chase them either.”
- 14.23“They watch them calmly: ‘It’s just a mood passing.’”
- 14.24“Pain and pleasure, praise and blame — they stay the same.”
- 14.25“Friend or enemy, honour or insult — they stay steady.”
- 14.26“Whoever loves me steadily rises above all three moods.”
- 14.27“I am the home of endless peace and perfect joy.”
Traditional summary
Gunatraya Vibhaga Yoga: Yoga through Understanding the Three Modes of Material Nature
The fourteenth chapter of the Bhagavad Gita is Gunatraya Vibhaga Yoga. In this chapter, Krishna reveals the three gunas (modes) of the material nature - goodness, passion and ignorance which everything in the material existence is influenced by. He further explains the essential characteristics of each of these modes, their cause and how they influence a living entity affected by them. He then reveals the various characteristics of the persons who have gone beyond these gunas. The chapter ends with Krishna reminding us of the power of pure devotion to God and how attachment to God can help us transcend these gunas.
