Lecture (Chapter) 14: Of the Three Gŏŏn or Qualities.

Krĕĕshnă.

I will now reveal unto thee a most sublime knowledge, superior to all others, which having learnt, all the Mŏŏnĕĕs have passed from it to supreme perfection. They take sanctuary under this wisdom, and, being arrived to that virtue which is similar to my own, they are not disturbed on the day of the confusion of all things, nor born again on their renovation.

The great Brăhm is my womb. In it I place my fœtus; and from it is the production of all nature. The great Brăhm is the womb of all those various forms which are conceived in every natural womb, and I am the father who soweth the seed.

There are three Gŏŏn or qualities arising from Prăkrĕĕtĕĕ or nature: Sătwă truth, Răjă passion, and Tāmă darkness; and each of them confineth the incorruptible spirit in the body. The Sătwă-Gŏŏn, because of its purity, is clear and free from defect, and intwineth the soul with sweet and pleasant consequences, and the fruit of wisdom. The Răjă-Gŏŏn is of a passionate nature, arising from the effects of worldly thirst, and imprisoneth the soul with the consequences produced from action. The Tămă-Gŏŏn is the offspring of ignorance, and the confounder of all the faculties of the mind; and it imprisoneth the soul with intoxication, sloth, and idleness. The Sătwă-Gŏŏn prevaileth in felicity, the Răjă in action, and the Tămă, having possessed the soul, prevaileth in intoxication. When the Tămă and the Răjă have been overcome, then the Sătwă appeareth; when the Răjă and the Sătwă, the Tămă; and when the Tămă and the Sătwă, the Răjă. When Gnān, or wisdom, shall become evident in this body at all its gates, then shall it be known that the Sătwă-Gŏŏn is prevalent within. The love of gain, industry, and the commencement of works; intemperance, and inordinate desire, are produced from the prevalency of the Răjă-Gŏŏn; whilst the tokens of the Tămă-Gŏŏn are gloominess, idleness, sottishness, and distraction of thought. When the body is dissolved whilst the Sătwă-Gŏŏn prevaileth, the soul proceedeth to the regions of those immaculate beings who are acquainted with the Most High. When the body findeth dissolution whilst the Răjă-Gŏŏn is predominate, the soul is born again amongst those who are attached to the fruits of their actions. So, in like manner, should the body be dissolved whilst the Tămă-Gŏŏn is prevalent, the spirit is conceived again in the wombs of irrational beings. The fruit of good works is called pure and holy; the fruit of the Răjă-Gŏŏn is pain; and the fruit of the Tămă-Gŏŏn is ignorance. From the Sătwă is produced wisdom, from the Răjă covetousness, and from the Tămă madness, distraction, and ignorance. Those of the Sătwă-Gŏŏn mount on high, those of the Răjă stay in the middle, whilst those abject followers of the Tămă-Gŏŏn sink below.

When he who beholdeth perceiveth no other agent than these qualities, and discovereth that there is a being superior to them, he at length findeth my nature; and when the soul hath surpassed these three qualities, which are co-existent with the body, it is delivered from birth and death, old-age and pain, and drinketh of the water of immortality.

Ărjŏŏn.

By what tokens is it known that a man hath surpassed these three qualities? What is his practice? What are the means by which he overcometh them?

Krĕĕshnă.

He, O son of Pāndŏŏ, who despiseth not the light of wisdom, the attention to worldly things, and the distraction of thought when they come upon him, nor longeth for them when they disappear; who, like one who is of no party, sitteth unagitated by the three qualities; who, whilst the qualities are present, standeth still and moveth not; who is self-dependent and the same in ease and pain, and to whom iron, stone, and gold are as one; firm alike in love and dislike, and the same whether praised or blamed; the same in honor and disgrace; the same on the part of the friend and the foe, and who forsaketh all enterprize; such a one hath surmounted the influence of the qualities. And he, my servant, who serveth me alone with due attention, having overcome the influence of the qualities, is formed to be absorbed in Brăhm, the Supreme. I am the emblem of the immortal, and of the incorruptible; of the eternal, of justice, and of endless bliss.