^311:6 Binds by attachment to happiness &c.: Binds the Self by the consciousness of happiness and knowledge in the shape of 'I am happy,' 'I am wise,' which belongs properly to the Kshetra, but which is associated with the Self, the Absolute Intelligence and Bliss, through Avidya.

^312:7 It binds &c.--Though the Self is not the agent, Rajas makes Him act with the idea 'I am the doer.'

^312:8 Stupefying: causing delusion or non-discrimination.

^313:10 When one or the other of the Gunas asserts itself predominating over the other two, it produces its own effect. Sattva produces knowledge and happiness; Rajas, action; Tamas, veiling of discrimination &c.

^314:11 Every sense--lit., all the gates. All the senses are for the Self the gateways of perception.

^314:12 Unrest--being agitated with joy, attachment &c.

^315:13 Darkness, inertness: Absence of discrimination, and its results, inertness &c.

^315:14 Spotless regions: The Brahma-loka and the like.

The Highest--Deities such as Hiranyagarbha.

^316:15 Meeting . . . Rajas: If he dies when Rajas is predominant in him.

^316:16 Rajas--means Rajasika action, and Tamas,--Tamasika action, as this section treats of actions.

^317:19 The Gunas--which transform themselves into the bodies, senses and sense-objects, and which in all their modifications constitute the agent in all actions.

Knows . . . the Gunas: Sees Him who is distinct from the Gunas, who is the Witness of the Gunas and of their functions.

^319:22 This answers Arjuna's first question. The man of right knowledge does not hate the effects of the three Gunas when they clearly present themselves as objects of consciousness; nor does he long after things which have disappeared.

^320:24 Self-abiding: He remains in his own true-nature.

^321:25 Inclining to neither of the dual throng, he firmly treads the path of Self-knowledge, and rises above the Gunas.

These three Slokas are in answer to Arjuna's second question.

^321:26 This answers Arjuna's third question.

^322:27 I--the Pratyagatman, the true Inner-Self.

FIFTEENTH CHAPTER

The Blessed Lord said:

1. They speak of an eternal Ashvattha rooted above and branching below, whose leaves are the Vedas; he who knows it, is a Veda-knower.

2. Below and above spread its branches, nourished by the Gunas; sense-objects are its buds; and below in the world of man stretch forth the roots, action.

3-4. Its form is not here perceived as such, neither its end, nor its origin, nor its

existence. Having cut asunder this firm-rooted Ashvattha with the strong axe of non-attachment,--then that Goal is to be sought for, going whither they (the wise) do not return again. I seek refuge in that Primeval Purusha whence streamed forth the Eternal Activity.