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Chapter 18 · Verse 40
🪈 Krishna speaks
Illustration for Chapter 18, Verse 40

न तदस्ति पृथिव्यां वा दिवि देवेषु वा पुनः। सत्त्वं प्रकृतिजैर्मुक्तं यदेभिः स्यात्त्रिभिर्गुणैः॥

na tadasti pṛthivyāṁ vā divi deveṣu vā punaḥ | sattvaṁ prakṛtijairmuktaṁ yadebhiḥ syāttribhirguṇaiḥ ||

Word by Word 16 words
न
na not

not, no

तत्
tad that

that, such a thing

अस्ति
as to be, to exist

there is, it exists

पृथिव्याम्
pṛthivī the earth

on the earth

वा
vā or

or

दिवि
div the sky, heaven

in heaven, in the sky-realm

देवेषु
deva god, shining one

among the gods

पुनः
punaḥ again, further

again, moreover

सत्त्वम्
sat being, that which is tva -ness

a being, an existing creature

प्रकृतिजैः
prakṛti nature ja born of

by those born of nature

मुक्तम्
muc to free, to release

freed, released

यत्
yad which

which

एभिः
idam this

by these

स्यात्
as to be

could be, would be

त्रिभिः
tri three

three

गुणैः
guṇa quality, strand, thread

by the qualities, by the three strands of nature

sums up the whole long teaching about the three gunas: "There is no being anywhere — not on the earth, nor in heaven among the gods — that is free from these three qualities born of nature." Every creature, even the bright gods above, is woven out of the same three threads: (clarity), (restlessness), and (dullness). Nobody escapes them entirely. The whole point of the teaching is not to pretend the gunas aren't there, but to learn to choose more of the clear one and less of the dark one.

कथा

The Weaver of the Three Threads

From the mythological

Long ago a young seeker named Suketu climbed into the mountains to find a famous old weaver-sage who, it was said, understood the whole world as a single great cloth.

He found her at her loom in a cave high above the clouds, working three threads — one white and clear, one red and restless, one dark and heavy — into everything she wove.

"Mother," Suketu said, bowing, "I have come to ask how I can become a perfect being, free of all flaw, pure as the gods themselves."

The old weaver smiled and held up her cloth. "Look closely," she said. "Every thread of this world is one of three: the white thread of clearness, the red thread of restlessness, the dark thread of dullness. I weave nothing without all three."

"Then weave me a cloth of the white thread only," said Suketu. "Pure light, nothing else."

The weaver shook her head gently. "There is no such cloth, child. Not on the whole earth. I have woven kings and farmers and beggars, oceans and ants. And not one of them is made of a single thread. Even up there —" she nodded toward the sky "— the shining gods are woven of all three. No being anywhere, on earth or in heaven, is wholly free of the three threads of nature."

Suketu's face fell. "Then no one can ever be perfect?"

"You misunderstand," said the weaver. "You cannot remove the threads. But you can choose which thread to favour. Live so that the white thread runs bright and the dark thread runs thin, and your cloth will be beautiful and strong, though never made of one colour alone. That is the most any being can do, gods included."

She set a small woven square in his hands, white-bright with only a faint line of red and a thread of dark. "Be like this," she said. "Not pretending the other threads are gone. Just letting the clear one lead."

Suketu went back down the mountain holding the little cloth, and for the rest of his life, whenever he caught himself wishing to be flawless, he looked at it and remembered: not flawless — clear.

चिन्तनम्

Krishna says nobody, not even the gods, is perfectly free of all three qualities. Does it feel easier or harder to know that even the wisest people still have a restless or dull side sometimes?