Bhagavad Gita · Gunatraya Vibhaga YogaChapter 14, Shloka 20 (14.20)
Original Sanskrit · श्रीभगवान्
गुणानेतानतीत्य त्रीन् देही देहसमुद्भवान्
जन्ममृत्युजरादुःखैर्विमुक्तोऽमृतमश्नुते
॥ 14.20 ॥
guṇānetānatītya trīn dehī dehasamudbhavān
janmamṛtyujarāduḥkhairvimukto'mṛtamaśnute
Translation
"Going beyond these three gunas, which arise from the body, the embodied one, freed from birth, death, old age and suffering, attains immortality."
Interpretation
Shankaracharya. atītya jīvann eva atikramya māyopādhibhūtān — crossing beyond the gunas, the limiting adjuncts of maya, while still alive; jīvann eva vimuktaḥ — liberated while living (jivanmukta).
Acharya Ramanuja. jñānaikākāram ātmānam paśyan janmamṛtyujarāduḥkhaiḥ vimuktaḥ amṛtam ātmānam anubhavati — seeing the Self whose nature is knowledge, one experiences the immortal Self.
Madhusudana Saraswati. jīvann eva tattvajñānena — while still alive, by negating (the gunas) through knowledge of the truth; janmamṛtyujarāduḥkhair … vimukto jīvann eva tatsambandhaśūnyaḥ — free from birth, death, old age and suffering while still living.
Shridhara Swami. dehādyākāraḥ samudbhavaḥ pariṇāmo yeṣāṃ te dehasamudbhavāḥ — those whose transformations are the body and so on; guṇakṛtasarvānarthanivṛttyā kṛtārtho bhavati — when all the harms produced by the gunas cease, one is fulfilled.
AI-assisted draft translation — under review.