Shloka
गुणानेतानतीत्य त्रीन्देही देहसमुद्भवान् |
जन्ममृत्युजरादुःखैर्विमुक्तोऽमृतमश्नुते ||१४-२०||Transliteration
guṇānetānatītya trīndehī dehasamudbhavān .
janmamṛtyujarāduḥkhairvimukto.amṛtamaśnute ||14-20||Translations
Dr.S.Sankaranarayan
14.20. Transcending these three Strands, of which the body [etc.] is born, the Embodied (the Soul), being freed from birth, death, old age and sorrow, attains immortality.
Shri Purohit Swami
14.20 When the soul transcends the Qualities, which are the real cause of physical existence, then, freed from birth and death, from old age and misery, he quaffs the nectar of immortality.
Sri Abhinav Gupta
14.16-20 Karmanah etc. upto asnute. Here, there are certain unconnected verses that have been concocted. They are of the nature of repetition, and hence they have to be necessarily rejected. A mode of life transcending these Strands turn to be nothing but emancipation.
Sri Ramanuja
14.20 The embodied self - ‘crossing beyond these three Gunas,’ the Sattva and the rest, which ‘arise in the body,’ i.e., spring from Prakrti transformed into the form of the body - perceives the self as different from the Gunas and as of the form of knowledge only. Released thus from birth, death, old age and sorrow, It experiences the immortal self. This is what is meant by My likeness.
Arjuna now wants to know about the characteristics of one who has transcended the Gunas and the means of such transcendence:
Sri Shankaracharya
14.20 Atitya, having transcended, having gone beyond-even while living; etan, these; trin, three; gunan, alities as have been described, which constitute the limiting adjunct Maya; and dehasamudbhavan, which are the origin of the body, which are the seed of the birth of the body; dehi, the embodied one, the enlightened one; vimuktah, becoming free-even in this life; janma-mrtyu-jara-duhkhaih, from birth death, old age and sorrow; asnute, experiences; [Some translate this as ‘attains’.-Tr.] amrtam, Immortality. In this way he attains My nature. This is the idea. Getting a clue to a estion from the statement that one experiences Immortality, even in this life, by going beyond the alities-
Swami Adidevananda
14.20 The embodied self, crossing beyond these three Gunas which arise in the body, and freed from birth, death, age and pain, attains immortality.
Swami Gambirananda
14.20 Having transcended these three alities which are the origin of the body, the embodied one, becoming free from birth, death, old age and sorrows, experiences Immortality.
Swami Sivananda
14.20 The embodied one having crossed beyond these three Gunas out of which the body is evolved, is freed from birth, death, decay and pain, and attains to immortality.
Commentaries
Swami Sivananda
14.20 गुणान् Gunas? एतान् these? अतीत्य having crossed? त्रीन् three? देही the embodied? देहसमुद्भवान् out of which the body is evolved? जन्ममृत्युजरादुःखैः from birth? death? decay and pain? विमुक्तः freed? अमृतम् immortality? अश्नुते attains to.Commentary Just as a river is absorbed in the ocean? so also he who has? while still alive? gone beyond the alities which form the seed from which all bodies have sprung and of which they are composed? is absorbed in Me. He ever enjoys the bliss of the Eternal. He attains release or Moksha. He attains to My Being.When the Lord said that the wise man crosses beyond the three alities and attains immortality? Arjuna became inspired with the desire of learning more about it. Just as he has asked a estion about the sage of steady wisdom in chapter II? verse 54? he now asks Lord Krishna about the characteristics of a sage who has crossed over the three alities. How does he act What is his conduct or behaviour How has he gone beyond the alities