Bhagavad Gita Chapter 14 Verse 6 भगवद् गीता अध्याय 14 श्लोक 6 तत्र सत्त्वं निर्मलत्वात्प्रकाशकमनामयम्। सुखसङ्गेन बध्नाति ज्ञानसङ्गेन चानघ।।14.6।। English Translation - Swami Gambirananda 14.6 Among them, sattva, being pure, [Nirmala, pure-transparent, i.e., capable of resisting any form of ignorance, and hence as illuminator, i.e.a revealer of Consciousness.] is an illuminator and is harmless. O sinless one, it binds through attachment to happiness and attachment to knowledge. English Translation - Swami Sivananda 14.6 Of these, Sattva, which from its stainlessness is luminous and healthy, binds by attachment to happiness and by attachment to knowledge, O sinless one. English Translation - Dr. S. Sankaranarayan 14.6. Among them (the Strands) the Sattva-because it is dirtless-is illuminating and healthy; and it binds [the Embodied] by attachment to happiness and also by attachment to knowledge, O sinless one ! English Commentary - Swami Sivananda 14.6 तत्र of these? सत्त्वम् purity? निर्मलत्वात् from its stainlessness? प्रकाशकम् luminous? अनामयम् healthy? सुखसङ्गेन by attachment to happiness? बध्नाति binds? ज्ञानसङ्गेन by attachment to knowledge? च and? अनग O sinless one.Commentary Sattva is stainless like the crystal. It lays for one the trap of happiness and knowledge. It is a golden fetter. A Sattvic man compares himself with others and rejoices in his excellence. He is puffed up with his knowledge. His heart is filled with pride when he thinks that he,has more comforts or more pleasant experiences. He thinks? I am happy I am wise? and so he is bound as it were. These ideas really belong to the field but they are transferred through superimposition to the Self on account of the force of SattvaGuna.Rajas and Tamas are pitfalls on the path of knowledge.This attachment to happiness is an illusion. This is ignorance. An attribute of the object cannot belong to the subject. All the alities from desire to firmness (Cf.XIII.6) belong to the field. From ignorance? nondiscrimination is born and so the individual self is not able to discriminate between the permanent and the impermanent? the subject and the object.Knowledge is an attribute of the Antahkarana (inner instrument? viz.? mind? intellect? the unconscious and the ego) but not of the Self. It if were an attribute of the Self? it could not produce attachment and bondage. Sattva binds the soul to knowledge through attachment. English Translation of Sanskrit Commentary By Sri Shankaracharya's 14.6 Tatra, among them, among sattva etc.;-the characteristics of sattva itself is being stated first-sattva, nirmalatvat, being pure like a crystal stone;is prakasakam, an illuminator; and anamayam, harmless. Anagha, O sinless one; badhnati, it binds. How? Sukhasangena, through attachment to happiness. Bringing about the association of happiness, which is the object, with the Self, which is the subject, in the form of the idea, I am happy, is certainly an unreal contact with happiness. This as such is nescience, for the ality of an object cannot belong to a subject. And it has been said by the Lord that all the alities, from desire to fortitude (see 13.6), are, indeed, of the field, which is the object. Therefore, it is certainly through nescience, which is an attribute [In reality, though nescience has no connection with the Self, yet, since there is none other with which it can become associated and since it has no independence, therefore the Commentator imagines it as an attribute of the Self.] of the Self and has the characteristics of non-discrimination between object and subject, that sattva apparently brings about the association with happiness, which is not the Self. It makes (the Self) attached, as it were; [Here Ast. adds asangam saktam iva, (makes) the Unattached attached, as it were.-Tr.] makes one not possessed of happiness as though possessed of it! Similarly, it binds also jnana-sangena, through attachment to knowledge. [Jnana, derived in the sense of that through which one knows, means an instrument of knowledge, and not Consciousness. (S.: Knowledge arising from the study of the import of various scriptures; or, jnanam, means the scriptures, through which the supreme God is known and which leads to devotional practices, but not to steadfastness in (the absolute) Brahman.] Because of its concomitance with happiness, knowledge here is an attribute of the internal organ, the field, but not of the Self. Were it an attribute [If knowledge were a natural attribute of the Self, then there can be no estion of the latter again becoming bound through association with the former.] of the Self, there could be no contact (between it and the Self), and bondage would become illogical. Association with knowledge etc. should be understood in the same sense as with happiness. English Translation of Commentary - Dr. S. Sankaranarayan 14.6 See Comment under 14.8 English Translation of Ramanuja's Sanskrit Commentary 14.6 Of these, i.e., of Sattva, Rajas and Tamas, the characteristic nature of the Sattva is this: it illuminates on account of its being pure. What is called purity is to be bereft of alities which veil light and happiness. Because its nature is solely the generation of light and happiness, it constitutes the cause of light and happiness. Light or illumination is enlightenment about a thing as it is. It is not morbid, i.e., an effect called morbidity (disease) does not exist in its presence. The meaning is, that Sattva is the cause of health. The Guna, called Sattva, however, binds the self by attachment to happiness and knowledge. The meaning is that it causes attachment to happiness and knowledge. When attachment to knowledge and happiness is born, one engages oneself in secular and Vedic means for securing them. Conseently, one is born in such bodies which constitute the means for realising such fruits. Hence the Sattva binds the self through attachment to happiness and knowledge. What is said is this: Sattva generates knowledge and happiness; again it generates attachment to them. Commentary - Chakravarthi Ji This verse describes how sattva guna binds the jiva. It is without distress (anamayam) or peaceful. The association of the jiva with happiness, which is the product of peacefulness, and the association of the jiva with knowledge, which is the product of illumination (prakasakam), produce the misidentity of “I am happy, I am learned.” Thus, from happiness and knowledge whose quality is to produce these designations, from this ignorance, the jiva develops his misconception of himself. These bind him. O pure one (anagha), do not accept impurity in the form of such misconception of “I am happy” or “I am learned.” Rudra Vaishnava Sampradaya - Commentary Lord Krishna states that sattva or the mode of goodness being transparent, stainlesss, and luminous is free from the propensity for evil and thus is serene. Yet being serene binds the jivas or embodied beings as well by attachment to its effect of happiness. As well being luminous binds the jivas by attachment to its effect of knowledge. The understanding is that the happiness one feels and the knowledge one has achieved gives one the corresponding mental states of I am happy and I am wise respectively and gives rise to the jiva identifying themselves with the temporary physical body and not with the atma or immortal soul. Brahma Vaishnava Sampradaya - Commentary Shri Vaishnava Sampradaya - Commentary The characteristics given by Lord Krishna of sattva or the mode of goodness within the three gunas or modes of material nature is that it is pure and lucid and shines brightly. Purity and clarity is that which negates obscuration of brightness and happiness. As illumination and happiness can only result from sattva it is understood to be their cause. The word prakasakam means illuminates, enlightens, reveals the exact knowledge of. The word anamayam means of peaceful quality, that which has no inherent cause for producing discomfort, pain or sickness denoting that sattva is the cause of good health. The quality of sattva produces in the jiva or embodied being the predisposition for happiness and knowledge. When the dispositions for happiness and knowledge arise in life one embarks upon such worldly material enterprises and spiritual pursuits as correlates to the level of ones developement and evolution. Hence the jiva is propelled to take birth in such wombs that are favorably suited fot the enjoyment of ones karma or resultant reactions to actions which arising out of sattva are positive. Born in sattva the inclinations and disposition that one has again gravitates towrds happiness and knowledge and in this way lifetime by lifetime in sattva guna the mode of goodness one has the opportunity to advance in spiritual life. But this opportunity is not accessible to those born in the two inferior gunas of rajas or passion and tamas or ignorance as will be described next. Kumara Vaishnava Sampradaya - Commentary The characteristics given by Lord Krishna of sattva or the mode of goodness within the three gunas or modes of material nature is that it is pure and lucid and shines brightly. Purity and clarity is that which negates obscuration of brightness and happiness. As illumination and happiness can only result from sattva it is understood to be their cause. The word prakasakam means illuminates, enlightens, reveals the exact knowledge of. The word anamayam means of peaceful quality, that which has no inherent cause for producing discomfort, pain or sickness denoting that sattva is the cause of good health. The quality of sattva produces in the jiva or embodied being the predisposition for happiness and knowledge. When the dispositions for happiness and knowledge arise in life one embarks upon such worldly material enterprises and spiritual pursuits as correlates to the level of ones developement and evolution. Hence the jiva is propelled to take birth in such wombs that are favorably suited fot the enjoyment of ones karma or resultant reactions to actions which arising out of sattva are positive. Born in sattva the inclinations and disposition that one has again gravitates towrds happiness and knowledge and in this way lifetime by lifetime in sattva guna the mode of goodness one has the opportunity to advance in spiritual life. But this opportunity is not accessible to those born in the two inferior gunas of rajas or passion and tamas or ignorance as will be described next. Transliteration Bhagavad Gita 14.6Tatra sattwam nirmalatwaat prakaashakam anaamayam; Sukhasangena badhnaati jnaanasangena chaanagha. Word Meanings Bhagavad Gita 14.6tatra—amongst these; sattvam—mode of goodness; nirmalatvāt—being purest; prakāśhakam—illuminating; anāmayam—healthy and full of well-being; sukha—happiness; saṅgena—attachment; badhnāti—binds; jñāna—knowledge; saṅgena—attachment; cha—also; anagha—Arjun, the sinless one