Bhagavad Gita Chapter 2 - Samkhya Yoga - Sloka 45

The entire content of this mail is from Swami Chidbhavananda's translation of  The Bhagavad Gita, published by Ramakrishna Mission.

The Key to Yoga - 45-53

1 Gita Sloka every day - Chapter 2 - Samkhya Yoga - Sloka 45

Pareekshit protected by Krsna in the womb

Traigunya vishayah vedah nih traigunyah bhava arjuna I

nirdvandah nitya sattvasthah niryogakshemah atmavan II sloka 45

त्रैगुण्य विषयाः वेदाः निः त्रैगुन्यः भव अर्जुन ।

निर्द्वन्द्वः नित्य सत्त्वस्थः निर्योगक्षेमः आत्मवान् ।। श्लोक ४५ 

The Vedas enumerate the 3 gunas. You transcend the 3 gunas, O Arjuna. Be free from the pairs of opposites, ever balanced, unconcerned with getting and keeping and centred in the Self.

Prakriti  or the phenomenal universe is here designated as the vedas; and this is the correct definition. The compiled literary works, Rig, Yajur, Sama & Atharva are also called vedas, because they deal with the working of the universe. They help the aspirant to understand intellectually, the function of Prakriti. So far, they are indispensable. When the vedas are said to be imperishable, it refers to Prakriti  which is eternal and not to the books which run the risk of being destroyed or neglected. More than all these, it is Prakriti that is constituted of the 3 gunas - Sattva, Rajas and Tamas.

To be Prakriti-bound is not the goal of the enlightened human life. While life here is entangled, what is beyond is unfettered. The means to get into it is also presented here. Heat & cold, pain & pleasure, gain & loss, victory & defeat -  duals such as these are called pairs of opposites. They are inevitable in the phenomenal existence. When a person refuses to be affected favourably or adversely by these happenings and when he maintains his even-mindedness, he is said to be  making progress in self-culture. The term yoga-kshema requires to be clarified. Yoga is the act of seeking for the needful earthly things and kshema  the act of keeping carefully, such things procured.  But the spiritual aspirant ought to be unconcerned with getting and keeping them. As all beings get, as a matter of course, the air they require for breathing, the spiritual aspirant gets his bare bodily requirement without effort. Such is the law of spiritual life. The aspirant deviates from the path when he gives undue attention to getting and keeping them. As one gets his being centered in the Self, he transcends the phenomenal existence.

If the word 'Gita' be read rapidly, it would sound, 'Tagi tagi.....' And the word Tagi is a modification of the word Tyagi - the man of renunciation. Renunciation of the phenomenal existence is the gist of the Gita.

Swami Ramakrishna Paramahamsa

Whatever a man wants for his earthly life can be procured here and he can live a happy life. Instead, what is it that one gets by transcending the 3 gunas? The answer comes in the next sloka.