Gita 14.20
Gunatraya Vibhaga Yoga
गुणानेतानतीत्य त्रीन्देही देहसमुद्भवान् | जन्ममृत्युजरादुःखैर्विमुक्तोऽमृतमश्नुते ||२०||
guṇān etān atītya trīn dehī deha-samudbhavān | janma-mṛtyu-jarā-duḥkhair vimukto 'mṛtam aśnute ||20||
In essence: Transcending these three gunas that arise from the body, one is freed from birth, death, old age, and sorrow, and attains immortality.
A conversation between a seeker and guide to help you feel this verse deeply
Sadhak-Guru Dialogue
Sadhak: "Immortality sounds wonderful, but my body will still die. What's the practical meaning of this promise?"
Guru: "The body dies; it always was dying. Every cell replaces, every moment passes. What you call 'body' is a process, not a thing. The question is: what are you? If you are the process, you die with it. If you are the awareness witnessing the process, what dies?"
Sadhak: "But I feel fear of death. That fear seems very real."
Guru: "The fear is real as a feeling - a guna-movement. But what it fears is a mistaken identity. You fear the death of something you're not. The body is like a car you're driving. The car will break down eventually. But you aren't the car. Fear of car-breakdown is natural; thinking you'll cease when the car ceases is confusion."
Sadhak: "How do I actually know I'm not the body?"
Guru: "Can you be aware of the body? Then you're not the body - you're the awareness. That which you can observe cannot be what you are. You observe thoughts, feelings, body sensations. You are the observing, not the observed. This observing has no birth, no death, no age."
Sadhak: "But when the body dies, doesn't awareness end too?"
Guru: "Has your awareness ever ended? Even in deep sleep, awareness continues - otherwise waking wouldn't happen. What ends is content: thoughts, perceptions, body-sense. Awareness itself remains. Death is simply the ending of this particular body-content. The screen remains when the movie ends."
Did this resonate with you? Share it with someone who needs to hear this.
🌅 Daily Practice
Contemplate: the body that ages and will die - is that what I am? Or am I the awareness that knows the body? Begin the day from the perspective of immortal awareness temporarily housed in mortal form, rather than mortal form hoping for survival.
When fear arises - fear of failure, rejection, death - ask: who fears? Trace the fear to its source. It's a guna-movement in a body. The witness of fear isn't afraid. Practice resting as that witness even when fear plays through the body-mind.
Before sleep, consciously release identification with today's body-experiences. Let them go like a movie ending. Notice that you - the awareness - remain as the content releases. This nightly practice models the greater release of death, building confidence in what continues when content ceases.