**3.28** But, O mighty-armed one, the great person who knows the essence of the divisions of the gunas and of actions, does not become attached, thinking that "the gunas alone are interacting with the gunas."
**Commentary:** The word 'but' (tu) is used here to distinguish and contrast the 'tattvavit' (the knower of essence) great person from the 'ahankara-vimudhatma' (the person deluded by ego) described in the previous verse. Sattva, rajas, and tamas—these three gunas are born of Prakriti (Nature). Since the activity of these three gunas is occurring, the entire creation is trigunatmika (possessed of the three gunas). Therefore, the body, senses, mind, intellect, beings, objects, etc., are all nothing but gunas. This is called 'guna-vibhaga' (the division/classification of the gunas). The actions performed by these (body, etc.) are called 'karma-vibhaga' (the division/classification of actions).
Gunas and karmas, i.e., objects and actions, are constantly changing. Objects are subject to birth and destruction, and actions are subject to beginning and ending. To experience this precisely is to know the divisions of gunas and karmas in essence. In the Conscious (Self), action never occurs. It always remains unattached and immutable, meaning it has no relation whatsoever with any material object or action. To experience this precisely is to know the Conscious in essence.
When an ignorant person assumes a relationship with these divisions of gunas and karmas, he becomes bound. From the scriptural viewpoint, the main cause of this bondage is 'ignorance,' but from the seeker's (sadhaka's) viewpoint, 'raga' (attachment/desire) is the main cause. Raga arises from 'aviveka' (lack of discrimination). When viveka (discrimination) awakens, raga is destroyed. This viveka is especially present in human beings. The need is only to awaken this viveka by giving it importance. Therefore, the seeker should (by awakening viveka) especially eradicate raga alone.
Even a seeker who desires to know the essence, if he does not assume any relationship with the gunas (objects) and karmas (actions), he too comes to know the divisions of gunas and karmas in essence. Whether one knows the divisions of gunas and karmas in essence, or knows the 'Self' (Conscious nature) in essence, the result of both will be the same.
**The Means to Know the Divisions of Gunas and Karmas in Essence:**
1. While residing in the body, the Conscious Principle (Self) remains completely actionless and unattached (Gita 13.31). The effects of Prakriti (body, senses, mind, intellect, etc.) are called 'idam' (this). 'Idam' (this) never becomes 'aham' (I). When 'this' (body, etc.) is not 'I,' then how can the action occurring in 'this' be 'mine'? The meaning is that the body, senses, mind, intellect, etc., are all effects of Prakriti, and the 'Self' is completely unrelated and unattached to them. Therefore, how can the 'Self' be the doer of the actions occurring in them? One who thus experiences himself as separate from objects and actions does not fall into bondage. In all states, to experience 'naiva kiñcit karomīti' (Gita 5.8) — "I do nothing at all" — is to know, i.e., experience, oneself as separate from actions.
2. Seeing-hearing, eating-drinking, etc., are all 'actions,' and the objects of seeing-hearing, etc., the materials for eating-drinking, etc., are all 'objects.' We know these actions and objects through the senses (eyes, ears, mouth, etc.). We know the senses through the 'mind,' the mind through the 'intellect,' and the intellect through the assumed 'aham' (I-ness). This 'aham' is also illumined by a general Light (Consciousness). That general Light alone is the knower of all, the illuminator of all, and the substratum of all.
How to know one's own nature (Consciousness) beyond the 'aham'? Although in deep sleep the intellect merges in ignorance, still, upon waking, a person says, "I slept very happily." Thus, after waking, everyone experiences 'I am.' This proves that even in the state of deep sleep, one's existence was present. If it were not so, there would be no memory or knowledge like "I slept very happily; I knew nothing." Memory is born of experience. Therefore, everyone experiences their own existence unbrokenly in every state. In no state does one experience one's absence (the feeling 'I am not'). Those who have severed connection even from the assumed 'aham' (I-ness) and have realized their own nature ('is-ness') are called 'tattvavit' (knowers of essence).
We have a self-evident, eternal relationship with the immutable Supreme Self. With the mutable Prakriti, our relationship does not truly exist; it is merely assumed. If we destroy this assumed relationship with Prakriti through contemplation, it is called 'Jnanayoga'; and if we destroy that same relationship while performing actions for the welfare of others, it is called 'Karmayoga.' Only when the relationship with Prakriti is severed does 'Yoga' (the experience of eternal relationship with the Supreme Self) occur; otherwise, it is merely 'jnana' and 'karma.' Therefore, only one who, having severed connection with Prakriti, recognizes his eternal relationship with the Supreme Self is a 'tattvavit.'
**'The gunas are interacting with the gunas':** Since they are born from the gunas of Prakriti, the body, senses, mind, intellect, etc., are also called 'gunas,' and all actions are performed by these alone. Due to lack of discrimination, the ignorant person, assuming a relationship with these gunas, considers himself the doer of the actions performed by them. However, when there is the experience of one's own self-evident state in the 'Self' (the general Light—Consciousness), the feeling 'I am the doer' cannot arise at all.
A train engine moves, i.e., there is action in it; but the power to pull comes from the combination of the engine and the driver. Truly, the pulling power is of the engine alone, but it can only reach its destination when operated by the driver. The reason is that the engine does not have senses, mind, or intellect, so it needs a driver (a human) who possesses senses, mind, and intellect. However, a human possesses both the body-form engine and the senses, mind, and intellect for operation. The body, senses, mind, intellect—all four, though receiving existence and animation from a general Light (Consciousness), become capable of performing action. The reflection of the general Light (Knowledge) falls on the intellect, the mind grasps the knowledge of the intellect, the senses grasp the knowledge of the mind, and then the body-form engine is operated. Intellect, mind, senses, body—all of these are gunas, and the 'Self' which illumines them, i.e., gives them existence and animation, remains unrelated and unattached to these gunas. Therefore, in truth, the gunas alone are interacting with the gunas.
People follow the conduct of great persons. Therefore, the Lord, describing how lokasangraha (guidance of the world) is accomplished through a wise great person, says that just as that great person, experiencing that "the gunas alone are interacting with the gunas," does not become attached to them, in the same way the seeker should also think likewise and not become attached.
**A Profound Point Regarding the Relationship Between Prakriti and Purusha:**
Attraction always occurs between things of the same class; for example—ears are attracted to sound, skin to touch, eyes to form, tongue to taste, and nose to smell. Thus, the five senses are attracted only to their respective objects. One sense is never attracted to the object of another sense. The meaning is that the fundamental cause of attraction of one thing towards another is their homogeneity.
Attraction, inclination, and the fulfillment of inclination occur only in homogeneity. Between heterogeneous things, there is neither attraction, nor inclination, nor fulfillment of inclination. Therefore, attraction, inclination, and the fulfillment of inclination, due to homogeneity, occur only in 'Prakriti'; but the attraction of heterogeneous Prakriti (the inert) that seems to exist towards Purusha (Consciousness) is also, in reality, only a part of Prakriti being attracted towards Prakriti. The action of doing and experiencing is only in Prakriti, not in Purusha. Purusha always remains immutable, eternal, unchanging, and of one taste.
In the thirty-first verse of the thirteenth chapter, the Lord has stated that though residing in the body, Purusha truly neither does anything nor becomes attached—'śharīra-stho ’pi kaunteya na karoti na lipyate.' Purusha is said to be the cause in experiencership of pleasures and pains only because of being situated in Prakriti, i.e., due to assuming identity with Prakriti—'puruṣhaḥ sukha-duḥkhānāṁ bhoktṛitve hetur uchyate' (Gita 13.20) and 'puruṣhaḥ prakṛiti-stho hi bhuṅkte prakṛiti-jān guṇān' (Gita 13.21). The meaning is that although all actions, the accomplishment of actions, and attraction occur only in Prakriti, still, due to identity with Prakriti, Purusha, thinking "I am happy," "I am sorrowful," becomes the cause in experiencership. The reason is that the experience of being happy or sorrowful cannot occur in Prakriti (the inert), and without Prakriti (the inert), Purusha (Consciousness) alone cannot become the experiencer of pleasure and pain.
In Purusha, there is no action or modification in the form of change belonging to Prakriti, but it certainly has the capacity to assume or not assume a relationship. It is not inert like a stone; on the contrary, it is of the nature of consciousness. If Purusha did not have the capacity to assume or not assume a relationship, how would it assume a relationship with Prakriti? How would it assume the action of Prakriti within itself by assuming a relationship with Prakriti? And how would it accept doership and experiencership within itself? Assuming or not assuming a relationship is a 'feeling' (bhava), not an 'action.'
Purusha has the capacity to connect or not connect a relationship, but it does not have the capacity to perform action. The capacity to perform action exists only in that in which there is change (modification). Purusha does not have the nature of change, whereas Prakriti has the nature of change, meaning activity is natural in Prakriti. Therefore, only upon connecting a relationship with Prakriti does Purusha assume action within itself—'kartāham iti manyate' (Gita 3.27).
No change occurs in Purusha; this (the non-occurrence of change) is not any incapacity or deficiency in it; on the contrary, it is its greatness. It is ever of one taste, one form. Change is simply not its nature; just as ice does not have the nature or capacity to be hot. The occurrence of action in the form of change is the nature of Prakriti, not of Purusha. However, it has the full capacity, power, and freedom to not assume a relationship with Prakriti; because in reality, there is no relationship with Prakriti in the first place.
When Purusha considers the part of Prakriti, the body, as its own nature, then in that part of Prakriti (the homogeneous Prakriti), attraction, actions, and the attainment of their fruits keep occurring. This is indicated here by the words 'guṇāḥ guṇeṣhu vartante.' Assuming its existence in the gunas, Purusha (Consciousness) keeps experiencing happiness and sorrow. In reality, pleasure and pain have no separate existence. Therefore, the Lord emphasizes especially severing the assumed relationship with the gunas.
From the essential viewpoint, the severance of relationship has existed from before (always). Only by mistake has a relationship been assumed. Therefore, one must reject the assumed relationship and recognize only the reality that "the gunas alone are interacting with the gunas."
**'iti matvā na sajjate'—** Here the word 'matvā' is used in the sense of 'knowing.' The tattvavit great person knows Prakriti (the inert) and Purusha (Consciousness) to be naturally separate. Therefore, he does not become attached to the gunas born of Prakriti. By using the word 'matvā,' the Lord is as if instructing the seekers that they too should consider the gunas born of Prakriti as separate and not become attached to them.
**A Special Point:**
There is no unity in the spiritual practice methods of the Karmayogi and the Sankhyayogi. The Karmayogi strives to destroy the assumed oneness with the gunas (body, etc.), therefore it is said in the Srimad Bhagavatam, 'karmayogas tu kāminām' (11.20.7). For this reason, the Lord has also especially emphasized the necessity of performing action for the Karmayogi; for example—"Without engaging in action, man does not attain actionlessness" (Gita 3.4); "For the contemplative man desirous of ascending to Yoga, action is said to be the means" (Gita 6.3). The Karmayogi performs actions, but not for himself; on the contrary, he performs them only for the welfare of others; therefore, he does not become the experiencer of those actions. By not becoming the experiencer, i.e., by the destruction of experiencership, doership is automatically destroyed. The meaning is that the doership in doership is only for the fruit. When there is no aim for the fruit, doership does not remain. Therefore, in reality, the Karmayogi also does not become the doer.
In the Sankhyayogi, discrimination-contemplation is predominant. Knowing that "the gunas born of Prakriti alone are interacting with the gunas," he does not consider himself the doer of those actions. The Lord will state this very point further in the twenty-ninth verse of the thirteenth chapter: "He who sees that all actions are performed in every way by Prakriti alone, and sees the 'Self' as the non-doer, he alone sees truly." Thus, the Sankhyayogi destroys doership. When doership is destroyed, experiencership is automatically destroyed.
From the very beginning of the third chapter, the Lord has emphasized performing action through many examples and viewpoints; for example—great persons like Janaka also attained supreme perfection by performing action with desirelessness (3.20); "I too perform action" (3.22); "The wise great person also performs action like the ignorant for the sake of lokasangraha" (3.25-26). This proves that from every viewpoint, performing action alone is beneficial.
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