तत्र सत्त्वं निर्मलत्वात्प्रकाशकमनामयम् | सुखसङ्गेन बध्नाति ज्ञानसङ्गेन चानघ ||१४-६||
tatra sattvaṃ nirmalatvātprakāśakamanāmayam . sukhasaṅgena badhnāti jñānasaṅgena cānagha ||14-6||
Chapter 14 · Verse 6
Guna Traya Vibhaga Yoga
गुणत्रयविभागयोग
Translation
14.6 Of these, Sattva, being without impurity, is luminous and free from morbidity. It binds, O Arjuna, by attachment to pleasure and to knowledge.
Meaning
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.
Word by word
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.