श्रीभगवान्
In plain words
The Blessed Lord said: Pandava, one who neither hates illumination, activity, or delusion when they arise, nor longs for them when they cease,
Word for word
Light and activity and delusion too, O son of Pāṇḍu, he does not hate when they have arisen, nor long for when they have ceased,
प्रकाशं च प्रवृत्तिं च मोहमेव च पाण्डवन द्वेष्टि सम्प्रवृत्तानि न निवृत्तानि काङ्क्षति
Other commentaries
The commentators
▸Bhagavadgītābhāṣyam
गुणातीतस्य लक्षणं गुणातीतत्वोपायं च अर्जुनेन पृष्टः अस्मिन् श्लोके प्रश्नद्वयार्थं प्रतिवचनं भगवान् उवाच । यत् तावत् ‘कैः लिङ्गैः युक्तो गुणातीतो भवति’ इति, तत् शृणु —
प्रकाशं च सत्त्वकार्यं प्रवृत्तिं च रजःकार्यं मोहमेव च तमःकार्यम् इत्येतानि न द्वेष्टि सम्प्रवृत्तानि सम्यग्विषयभावेन उद्भूतानि — ‘मम तामसः प्रत्ययो जातः, तेन अहं मूढः ; तथा राजसी प्रवृत्तिः मम उत्पन्ना दुःखात्मिका, तेन अहं रजसा प्रवर्तितः प्रचलितः स्वरूपात् ; कष्टं मम वर्तते यः अयं मत्स्वरूपावस्थानात् भ्रंशः ; तथा सात्त्विको गुणः प्रकाशात्मा मां विवेकित्वम् आपादयन् सुखे च सञ्जयन् बध्नाति’ इति तानि द्वेष्टि असम्यग्दर्शित्वेन । तत् एवं गुणातीतो न द्वेष्टि सम्प्रवृत्तानि । यथा च सात्त्विकादिपुरुषः सत्त्वादिकार्याणि आत्मानं प्रति प्रकाश्य निवृत्तानि काङ्क्षति, न तथा गुणातीतो निवृत्तानि काङ्क्षति इत्यर्थः । एतत् न परप्रत्यक्षं लिङ्गम् । किं तर्हि ? स्वात्मप्रत्यक्षत्वात् आत्मार्थमेव एतत् लक्षणम् । न हि स्वात्मविषयं द्वेषमाकाङ्क्षां वा परः पश्यति ॥ २२ ॥
In plain words
Arjuna had asked two things: what marks the one who has gone beyond the guṇas, and what the means of going beyond them is. In this verse the Lord speaks his reply to both. Take the first — "by which signs is someone known to have passed beyond the guṇas?" Listen to that.
Light is what sattva produces, restless activity is what rajas produces, and confusion is exactly what tamas produces — and when these three show up fully formed in someone's experience, the one who has gone beyond the guṇas simply doesn't hate them. An ordinary person would think: 'a fog of tamas has settled over me, and now I'm foolish; a restless, painful urge from rajas has taken hold of me and pulled me off center; how awful, to have fallen out of my own natural balance like this; and even sattva, for all its brightness, for all the clarity and happiness it gives me, still ties me down' — and thinking this way, out of simply not seeing clearly, he ends up hating all three. But someone who has gone beyond the guṇas doesn't hate them when they arise like that. And just as an ordinary sattva-driven (or rajas-driven, or tamas-driven) person longs for these states to go away once he notices them in himself, the one beyond the guṇas doesn't long for that either. This isn't a mark anyone else can see in you. So what is it, then? It's something only you can know about yourself — this sign belongs entirely to your own inner experience. No one else can ever see your own hatred, or your own longing.
Close to the Sanskrit
Asked by Arjuna about the marks of one who has transcended the guṇas and about the means of transcending the guṇas, the Lord spoke, in this verse, a reply directed to both questions. As for that first — 'joined with which marks does one become a transcender of the guṇas' — hear that.
Light, the effect of sattva, and activity, the effect of rajas, and delusion indeed, the effect of tamas — these, having fully arisen, having become manifest through a complete objective presentation, he does not hate — [thinking] 'a tamasic notion has arisen in me, by which I am deluded; likewise a rajasic activity, sorrowful in nature, has sprung up in me, by which I am impelled, displaced from my own nature; distressing is this state of mine, this falling away from abiding in my own nature; likewise the sāttvika guṇa, whose nature is light, making me discerning and attaching me to happiness, binds me' — thus [one of false vision] would hate them, owing to improper vision. That being so, one who has transcended the guṇas does not hate them when they arise. And just as a person dominated by sattva and so on desires the cessation of the effects of sattva and so on once manifested toward himself, the one who has transcended the guṇas does not desire their cessation in that way: this is the meaning. This is not a sign perceptible to another. What then [is it]? Because it is perceptible only to one's own self, this mark exists for oneself alone. For another does not see the hatred or the desire relating to one's own self.