ऊर्ध्वं गच्छन्ति सत्त्वस्था मध्ये तिष्ठन्ति राजसाः | जघन्यगुणवृत्तिस्था अधो गच्छन्ति तामसाः ||१४-१८||
ūrdhvaṃ gacchanti sattvasthā madhye tiṣṭhanti rājasāḥ . jaghanyaguṇavṛttisthā adho gacchanti tāmasāḥ ||14-18||
Chapter 14 · Verse 18
Guna Traya Vibhaga Yoga
गुणत्रयविभागयोग
In plain words
Those who abide in Sattva become the lords of heaven after giving up the physical body. The Rajasic are rorn on this earth as human beings. The Tamasic go downwards i.
Translation
14.18 Those who rest in Sattva rise upwards; those who abide in Rajas remain in the middle; and those, abiding in the tendencies of Tamas go downwards.
Meaning
Those who abide in Sattva become the lords of heaven after giving up the physical body. The Rajasic are rorn on this earth as human beings. The Tamasic go downwards i.e. they will be born in the wormbs of cattle and beasts. They may take their birth amongst the lowest grades of human beings. The lowest grades of human beings are only brutes though they have assumed human form. Their actions are brutal. Therefore it is not necessary for them to enter into animal incarnation. Man identifies himself with Nature on account of the force of ignorance or illusory knowledge and gets attached to the alities of Nature. This is the cause of his birth in the wombs of high or low creatures. He feels. I am happy miserable or deluded on account of the attachment to the Gunas. The nature of the Gunas their functions how they bind a man to the Samsara the effects of each Guna when it is predominant and the plane reached by the man when he is under the influence of a particular Guna are described in the previous verses. Now the Lord describes in the following verse that liberation comes when one knows Him Who is above the three Gunas.
Word by word
ऊर्ध्वम् upwards गच्छन्ति go सत्त्वस्थाः in Sattva seated मध्ये in the middle तिष्ठन्ति dwell राजसाः the Rajasic जघन्यगुणवृत्तिस्थाः abiding in the function of the lowest Guna अधः downwards गच्छन्ति go तामसाः the Tamasic.