Bhagavad Gītā Chapter XIV — The Three Qualities (Guṇa-Traya-Vibhāga)

N=1 distillation. Source: Arnold, The Song Celestial (1885), Gutenberg #2388. Quotes pending Phase 7. Tags: ../00-methodology.md. Citation Gītā 14.

Chapter role

The doctrine of the three guṇas — the strands of Nature (prakṛti) that compose and condition all embodied life: sattva (Arnold's "Soothfastness": purity, light, happiness, truth), rajas ("Passion": appetite, impulse, restless striving), and tamas ("Ignorance": darkness, sloth, stupor). Each binds the changeless Spirit to the changeful flesh in its own characteristic way, and the guṇa dominant at death shapes the next birth. The chapter then describes the one who has gone beyond the three qualities — equanimous, self-centred in the Self, treating clod, marble, and gold alike — and states that this transcendence is reached "with single, fervent faith adoring Me."

Atomic statements

G14-C1: Three qualities of Nature — sattva (goodness/light), rajas (passion), tamas (ignorance/darkness) — bind the changeless Spirit in the changeful flesh, each in its own way. (FOUNDATIONAL / DESIRE+KARMA-SAMSARA)

Gītā 14: "Sattwan, Rajas, and Tamas, so are named / The qualities of Nature… These three bind down / The changeless Spirit in the changeful flesh."
Stance: assert · Importance: core · Untranslatable: guṇa (sattva/rajas/tamas)

G14-C2: Sattva binds by attachment to happiness and knowledge; rajas by attachment to works and craving; tamas by stupor, sloth, and heedlessness. (FOUNDATIONAL / DESIRE)

Gītā 14: "sweet 'Soothfastness'… binds / The sinless Soul to happiness and truth; / And Passion… Binds the embodied Soul… / By tie of works. But Ignorance… binds down / Their souls to stupor, sloth, and drowsiness."
Stance: assert · Importance: core

G14-C3: The guṇa dominant at death determines one's next state: fixed in sattva, one rises to the pure worlds; in rajas, to the world of works; dying in tamas, one is "born anew in some unlighted womb." (FOUNDATIONAL / KARMA-SAMSARA)

Gītā 14: "when a soul departeth, fixed / In Soothfastness, it goeth to the place… / Of those that know all Truth… in hardened Ignorance, that blinded soul / Is born anew in some unlighted womb."
Stance: assert · Importance: core

G14-C4: One who sees that "the only actors are the Qualities," and knows what is beyond them, "is come nigh unto Me" — passing beyond the three, the soul overcomes birth, death, sorrow, and age. (FOUNDATIONAL / KNOWLEDGE+MOKSHA)

Gītā 14: "when… the living man perceives / The only actors are the Qualities, / And knows what rules beyond the Qualities, / Then is he come nigh unto Me!… overcomes / Birth, Death, Sorrow, and Age."
Stance: assert · Importance: core

G14-C5: The transcender of the guṇas is equanimous — unangered when they arise, unwishful when they cease; alike to grief and joy, clod and gold, praise and dispraise, friend and foe; and reaches this by single-minded devotion. (OPERATIONAL / EQUANIMITY+DEVOTION)

Gītā 14: "He who with equanimity surveys / Lustre of goodness, strife of passion, sloth / Of ignorance… / To whose deep-seeing eyes / The clod, the marble, and the gold are one… / He is named / Surmounter of the Qualities!" / "With single, fervent faith adoring Me, / Passing beyond the Qualities… attains Me!"
Stance: assert · Importance: core

Step 4 — Clusters

Cluster	Atomic statements	Intent
The three strands of Nature	C1, C2	What the guṇas are and how each binds
The guṇas and rebirth	C3	The dominant guṇa shapes the next birth
Transcending the guṇas	C4, C5	Knowing/devotion frees one beyond the qualities

Step 5 — Internal tensions

Apparent tension: sattva is good, yet still binds. Resolved: even "golden" attachment to happiness/knowledge is a chain; the goal is beyond all three strands, not the best of them.

Step 6 — Synthesized chapter principles

G14-P1: All embodied life is woven of three qualities (guṇas)

Sattva (light), rajas (passion), and tamas (inertia) compose Nature; each binds the soul to the body in its own way — even the highest, sattva, still binds.

Tier: FOUNDATIONAL · Domain: DESIRE · Covers: C1, C2 · Evidence: Gītā 14 · Untranslatable: guṇa

G14-P2: The dominant quality at death shapes the next birth

Departing in sattva one rises, in rajas one returns to works, in tamas one sinks into a dark womb — the guṇas steer the wheel of rebirth.

Tier: FOUNDATIONAL · Domain: KARMA-SAMSARA · Covers: C3 · Evidence: Gītā 14 · Untranslatable: saṃsāra

G14-P3: Liberation lies in transcending all three qualities

Seeing that "the only actors are the Qualities" and knowing what is beyond them, the soul passes the three strands and overcomes birth, death, sorrow, and age.

Tier: FOUNDATIONAL · Domain: KNOWLEDGE+MOKSHA · Covers: C4 · Evidence: Gītā 14 · Untranslatable: mokṣa

G14-P4: Equanimity and devotion carry one beyond the qualities

The transcender is unmoved whether the guṇas rise or fall, the same to clod and gold, praise and blame — and reaches this state by single-minded devotion.

Tier: OPERATIONAL · Domain: EQUANIMITY+DEVOTION · Covers: C5 · Evidence: Gītā 14

Step 7 — Traceability

Principle	Atomic statements	Citation
G14-P1	C1, C2	Gītā 14
G14-P2	C3	Gītā 14
G14-P3	C4	Gītā 14
G14-P4	C5	Gītā 14

Step 8 — Quality

Coverage: high. Orphaned: <10%. Principles: 4. Traceability: 100%.

Step 9 — Validation

Claim-vs-warrant: the guṇa doctrine (G14-P1/P2) is a deep-divergence node — the Sāṃkhya tripartite analysis of Nature and its role in determining rebirth has no close cross-tradition parallel; the claim that character has typeable tendencies loosely echoes temperament theories, but the warrant (three cosmic strands of prakṛti binding the witness-spirit across rebirths) is frame-specific. G14-P4 (equanimity, sameness toward all outcomes) converges with Stoic apatheia and Buddhist upekkhā at the level of claim; its warrant (rising above the guṇas into the Lord) is Vedāntic. G14-P3 (freedom as transcending one's very nature, not perfecting it) contrasts with traditions of integral fulfilment.