Cluster 0501 — BG-14.11-15 — The Signs of the Guṇas and the Death They Lead To

BG-14.11-15

Sanskrit

सर्वद्वारेषु देहेऽस्मिन प्रकाश उपजायते । ज्ञानं यदा तदा विद्याद्विवृद्धं सत्त्वमित्युत ॥११॥ लोभः प्रवृत्तिरारम्भः कर्मणामशमः स्पृहा । रजस्येतानि जायन्ते विवृद्धे भरतर्षभ ॥१२॥ अप्रकाशोऽप्रवृत्तिश्च प्रमादो मोह एव च । तमस्येतानि जायन्ते विवृद्धे कुरुनन्दन ॥१३॥ यदा सत्त्वे प्रवृद्धे तु प्रलयं याति देहभृत् । तदोत्तमविदां लोकानमलान प्रतिपद्यते ॥१४॥ रजसि प्रलयं गत्वा कर्मसंगिषु जायते । तथा प्रलीनस्तमसि मूढयोनिषु जायते ॥१५॥

Translation

When, in all the gates of this body, the light of knowledge arises — then one should know that sattva has waxed (11). Greed, outgoing-activity, the launching of projects, restlessness, craving — these are born when rajas has grown, O bull of the Bharatas (12). Non-illumination, inertia, heedlessness, and delusion — these are born when tamas has grown, O joy of the Kurus (13). When the embodied one goes to dissolution while sattva is dominant, then he attains the stainless worlds of the highest knowers (14). Having dissolved in rajas, he is born among those attached to action; and dissolved in tamas, he is born in deluded wombs (15).

Function

BG-14.11-15 is the diagnostic-and-eschatological heart of the guṇa-chapter. It does two things in sequence. First (11-13) it gives the signs by which one reads which guṇa is presently dominant: sattva = light and discernment flooding every sense-gate; rajas = greed, restless activity, project-launching, craving; tamas = darkness, inertia, heedlessness, delusion. Then (14-15) it attaches to each guṇa its death-consequence: die while sattva dominates → the stainless worlds of the wise; die in rajas → rebirth among the action-bound; die in tamas → rebirth in a deluded (sub-human) womb. The block applies guṇa-by-guṇa the general law that Gītā 8.6 states for any state remembered at death.

Jñāneśvar's 56-ovi Treatment

Jñāneśvar gives this block one of his most expansive treatments, organized in six movements that exactly track the Sanskrit:

14.20204-14.213 — sattva-signs (BG-14.11): discernment overflowing like a spring lotus-bud, labouring in the courtyard of every sense, the rājahamsa sorting milk from water, the forbidden fleeing like darkness before a lamp, the intellect flooding the śāstras like a monsoon-river and the full moon, the cravings stilled.
14.214-14.225 — sattva-death (BG-14.14): the soul welcomed onward like a dawn-guest from heaven, its inner wealth guaranteeing its fortune, leaving the worn hut of the body, reborn among the jñānins — a king still a king on the hills, a lamp still a lamp in the next village, discriminating up through the tattvas to the fourth.
14.226-14.236 — rajas-signs (BG-14.12): self-serving smoke filling the body-village, the senses whirling like a dust-devil, the goat grazing indiscriminately, greed's bottomless labour, the project-mania of palaces and horse-sacrifices and cities and forests, desire that not the ocean could fill.
14.237-14.242 — rajas-death (BG-14.15): rebirth in a human womb but no higher — a beggar lodged in a palace is no king, an ox in a wedding-train is still an ox, yoked to ceaseless toil, drowning in the deep pool of rajas.
14.243-14.254 — tamas-signs (BG-14.13): tamas swallowing the other two, the mind a moonless new-moon sky, the spark of thought laid waste, the intellect unable to grasp even a stone, drunk on un-discrimination, the bones of broken conduct strewn about, the owl that sees only in the dark, drunk without liquor and mad without cause — but this is not yogic unmanī.
14.255-14.259 — tamas-death (BG-14.15): the snare of death falling, the soul storing tamas like a seed stores its nature, fire the same fire wherever it catches, bound in the lump of tamas — reborn beast, bird, tree, or worm.

Ovi 14.20204

Original (Marathi): पैं रजतमविजयें । सत्त्व गा देहीं इयें । वाढतां चिन्हें तियें । ऐसीं होती ॥२०२०४॥ Voice: krishna-to-arjuna (the diagnostic frame of BG-14.11, spoken by Krishna; गा is the intimate address-particle)

Word-by-word gloss

Marathi	Meaning
पैं रजतमविजयें	indeed, by the conquest of rajas and tamas
सत्त्व गा देहीं इयें	sattva, [my friend], in this body
वाढतां चिन्हें तियें	as it grows, those signs
ऐसीं होती	come to be thus

Literal translation

English: When, by the conquest of rajas and tamas, sattva grows in this body, its signs come to be as follows.

मराठी (आधुनिक): रजोगुण आणि तमोगुण जिंकले जाऊन या देहात सत्त्वगुण वाढतो, तेव्हा त्याची लक्षणं अशी प्रकट होतात.

Metaphor-unfold

No extended metaphor in this ovi. It is the announcing frame for the sign-catalog.

Nāth-yogic layer

No Nāth-yogic referent in this ovi.

Cross-references

Internal: Opens the sattva-signs block; mirrored later by 14.226 (rajas-onset) and 14.243 (tamas-onset), each using the same "in this very way" diagnostic structure.
Tukaram parallel: (none specific to this ovi)
Source citation: Bhagavad Gītā 14.11 — विवृद्धं सत्त्वम् ("sattva has waxed"); Jñāneśvar casts the Sanskrit's "growth" of sattva as a victory (विजय) over the other two guṇas.

Modern application

When a clear-headed stretch arrives and you want to know it's real. You have a morning where decisions feel obvious and the noise is gone — this ovi says: that clarity has signs you can check, it is not just mood. Sattva is diagnosable.
When you notice calm only by contrast with the agitation it replaced. The "conquest of rajas and tamas" frame: clarity often announces itself as the absence of the churn and fog you had yesterday.
When you want a vocabulary for your own inner weather. Naming the dominant quality — clear / driven / foggy — is the first move this whole chapter teaches.

Sādhanā

Tonight, before sleep, name in one word which of three was dominant in you today: clear (sattva), driven (rajas), or foggy (tamas). Just the one word. No fixing.

Arc

14.20204 announces that sattva's signs will be catalogued; 14.205 begins with the first — inner wisdom overflowing like a bursting lotus-bud.

Ovi 14.205

Original (Marathi): जे प्रज्ञा आंतुलीकडे । न समाती बाहेरी वोसंडें । वसंतीं पद्मखंडें । दृती जैसी ॥२०५॥ Voice: krishna-to-arjuna

Word-by-word gloss

Marathi	Meaning
जे प्रज्ञा आंतुलीकडे	the wisdom/discernment (prajñā) within
न समाती बाहेरी वोसंडें	does not fit [inside], overflows outward
वसंतीं पद्मखंडें	as, in spring, a lotus-bud
दृती जैसी	bursts (its skin)

Literal translation

English: The inner wisdom can no longer be contained — it overflows outward, the way a lotus-bud splits open in spring.

मराठी (आधुनिक): आतली प्रज्ञा आत मावत नाही, बाहेर ओसंडून वाहते — जसं वसंतात कमळाची कळी फुटून उमलते.

Metaphor-unfold

Literal image	Philosophical referent	Modern equivalent
A lotus-bud swollen in spring, splitting its own skin	Inner prajñā grown too full to stay hidden; sattva's clarity self-manifesting	Understanding so complete you can no longer keep it to yourself — it shows in how you speak and act before you decide to "share" it

Metaphor-family: lotus-and-water / bud-bursting. The overflow-image renders the प्रकाश-उपजायते of BG-14.11.

Nāth-yogic layer

No Nāth-yogic referent in this ovi. The lotus here is a spring-flower image of overflowing clarity, not the cakra-padma of yoga.

Cross-references

Internal: First of the sattva-radiance series (14.205 lotus, 14.211 river, 14.212 moon), all rendering the same प्रकाश.
Tukaram parallel: (none specific to this ovi)
Source citation: Bhagavad Gītā 14.11 — सर्वद्वारेषु प्रकाश उपजायते ("in all gates light arises"), amplified into the overflowing-lotus image.

Modern application

When real understanding starts leaking out before you "present" it. You grasp something so fully that it shapes your offhand remarks, your choices, your patience — the bud has burst; you are not performing clarity, you are overflowing it.
When insight feels like pressure rather than effort. Genuine clarity doesn't have to be forced outward; it presses to express itself, like a swollen bud.
When you mistake the quiet pre-bloom for nothing happening. The bud is full before it splits. A stretch of inner gathering can precede the overflow.

Sādhanā

Today, notice one thing you understand so well you no longer have to think to apply it. Name it. That ease is the lotus already open.

Arc

14.205 images the overflow of clarity; 14.206 localizes it — discernment now labours in every sense-gate, so hands and feet become eyes.

Ovi 14.206

Original (Marathi): सर्वेंद्रियांच्या आंगणीं । विवेक करी राबणी । साचचि करचरणीं । होती डोळे ॥२०६॥ Voice: krishna-to-arjuna

Word-by-word gloss

Marathi	Meaning
सर्वेंद्रियांच्या आंगणीं	in the courtyard of all the sense-organs
विवेक करी राबणी	discernment (viveka) does its labour
साचचि करचरणीं	truly, in the hands and feet
होती डोळे	eyes come to be

Literal translation

English: In the courtyard of every sense-organ, discernment does its labour — truly, the very hands and feet become eyes.

मराठी (आधुनिक): सर्व इंद्रियांच्या अंगणात विवेक राबतो — खरोखर, हात-पायांतही जणू डोळे उगवतात.

Metaphor-unfold

Literal image	Philosophical referent	Modern equivalent
Hands and feet sprouting eyes; discernment working in every sense's courtyard	Sattva's clarity pervading every faculty, so each acts with sight	Acting with full awareness in every channel — your hands "know," your steps "see," nothing operates on autopilot

Metaphor-family: body-as-household / all-limbs-illumined. Renders सर्वद्वारेषु (in all the gates).

Nāth-yogic layer

No Nāth-yogic referent in this ovi.

Cross-references

Internal: Develops 14.205's overflow into pervasion of every sense-gate.
Tukaram parallel: (none specific to this ovi)
Source citation: Bhagavad Gītā 14.11 — सर्वद्वारेषु ("in all the gates"), rendered as discernment in every sense-courtyard, limbs themselves seeing.

Modern application

When awareness reaches even your routine movements. On a clear day even how you handle a cup, climb stairs, type — carries attention. The hands have "eyes." Contrast the foggy day when your body operates while you are absent from it.
When discernment stops being a separate "thinking step." You no longer pause to judge; the judging happens inside the seeing, the hearing, the doing.
When presence is whole-body, not just head. Clarity that lives only in your thoughts is partial; this ovi names the state where it has reached the limbs.

Sādhanā

For one ordinary action today — washing a dish, walking to a door — let your hands and feet "see": do it with full attention, as if the limb itself were watching. Two minutes.

Arc

14.206 spreads discernment to every sense; 14.207 gives the classic figure for that discernment — the royal swan separating milk from water.

Ovi 14.207

Original (Marathi): राजहंसापुढें । चांचूचें आगरडें । तोडी जेवीं झगडे । क्षीरनीराचे ॥२०७॥ Voice: krishna-to-arjuna

Word-by-word gloss

Marathi	Meaning
राजहंसापुढें	before the royal-swan (rājahamsa)
चांचूचें आगरडें	the tip/edge of the beak
तोडी जेवीं झगडे	cuts apart, as it were, the quarrel
क्षीरनीराचे	of milk and water

Literal translation

English: As the royal swan's beak-tip cuts apart the quarrel of mingled milk and water —

मराठी (आधुनिक): राजहंसाच्या चोचीचं टोक जसं दूध आणि पाणी यांचा गुंता वेगळा करतं —

Metaphor-unfold

Literal image	Philosophical referent	Modern equivalent
The rājahamsa whose beak sorts milk from mingled milk-and-water	Viveka — the discernment that separates real from unreal, worthy from unworthy	The trained judgment that instantly separates signal from noise in a flood of mixed information

Metaphor-family: rājahamsa / kṣīra-nīra-viveka (milk-water-discrimination) — the canonical Indian emblem of discrimination.

Nāth-yogic layer

No Nāth-yogic referent in this ovi.

Cross-references

Internal: 14.229 — contradicts-and-revises: the goat grazing everything indiscriminately is rajas's deliberate inversion of this swan.
Tukaram parallel: (none specific to this ovi)
Source citation: Bhagavad Gītā 14.11 — प्रकाश + ज्ञान, amplified by the kṣīra-nīra-viveka emblem.

Modern application

When you can sort signal from noise without strain. A clear mind reads a messy thread, a tangled dataset, a confused meeting, and the worthy part separates out by itself — the swan's beak.
When discrimination feels innate rather than laborious. You're not effortfully weighing pros and cons; the milk lifts cleanly from the water.
When you want a test for whether you're actually clear. Can you, right now, separate what matters from what doesn't in the thing in front of you? If it sorts easily, sattva is up.

Sādhanā

Take one cluttered input today — an inbox, a feed, a worry — and in 60 seconds name the single thing in it that is actually milk. Leave the water.

Arc

14.207 gives the swan; 14.208 applies it — the senses themselves become assayers of right and wrong, and restraint serves them like an attendant.

Ovi 14.208

Original (Marathi): तेवीं दोषादोषविवेकीं । इंद्रियेंचि होती पारखीं । नियमु बा रे पायिकी । वोळगे तैं ॥२०८॥ Voice: krishna-to-arjuna (बा रे is the intimate address)

Word-by-word gloss

Marathi	Meaning
तेवीं दोषादोषविवेकीं	just so, in the discrimination of fault-and-non-fault
इंद्रियेंचि होती पारखीं	the sense-organs themselves become examiners/assayers
नियमु बा रे पायिकी	self-restraint (niyama), [my friend], like a foot-servant
वोळगे तैं	then waits upon / serves

Literal translation

English: Just so, in discriminating fault from non-fault, the sense-organs themselves become assayers — and self-restraint, my friend, then waits upon them like a foot-servant.

मराठी (आधुनिक): त्याचप्रमाणे दोष-अदोषाच्या विवेकात इंद्रियंच पारखी बनतात — आणि नियम, बाबा रे, मग त्यांची पायांशी सेवा करणाऱ्या नोकरासारखा वागतो.

Metaphor-unfold

Literal image	Philosophical referent	Modern equivalent
Self-restraint as a foot-servant attending the now-discerning senses	Under dominant sattva, discipline is no longer imposed but spontaneous	When good habits run themselves: you don't have to force the restraint, it just attends on your already-clear judgment

Metaphor-family: master-and-servant. Renders BG-14.11's ज्ञान as effortless discriminating senses.

Nāth-yogic layer

No Nāth-yogic referent in this ovi.

Cross-references

Internal: Continues the swan-application of 14.207.
Tukaram parallel: (none specific to this ovi)
Source citation: Bhagavad Gītā 14.11 — ज्ञान, amplified: the senses become self-assaying, restraint becomes their attendant.

Modern application

When discipline stops feeling like a fight. There are seasons when you don't have to white-knuckle the diet, the bedtime, the boundary — restraint just serves your clarity. This ovi names that as a sattva-sign, not as you "finally having willpower."
When the senses do the filtering for you. You don't have to talk yourself out of the junk; the junk simply doesn't appeal.
When effortful self-control is a sign clarity has dropped. The converse diagnostic: if restraint feels like a servant who has quit and must be dragged, sattva is probably low and another guṇa is up.

Sādhanā

Notice one restraint today that is currently effortless for you (something you used to struggle with). Acknowledge it as a gift of your present clarity, not a permanent trophy — it serves while sattva serves.

Arc

14.208 makes restraint spontaneous; 14.209 gives its sense-by-sense form — the ear, the eye, the tongue each rejecting what should not pass.

Ovi 14.209

Original (Marathi): नाइकणें तें कानचि वाळी । न पहाणें तें दिठीचि गाळी । अवाच्य तें टाळी । जीभचि गा ॥२०९॥ Voice: krishna-to-arjuna (गा address-particle)

Word-by-word gloss

Marathi	Meaning
नाइकणें तें कानचि वाळी	what is not to be heard, the ear itself excludes
न पहाणें तें दिठीचि गाळी	what is not to be seen, the sight itself strains out
अवाच्य तें टाळी	the unspeakable, [it] avoids
जीभचि गा	the tongue itself, [my friend]

Literal translation

English: What should not be heard, the ear itself shuts out; what should not be seen, the eye itself filters away; the unspeakable, the tongue itself avoids.

मराठी (आधुनिक): जे ऐकू नये ते कानच नाकारतो, जे पाहू नये ते दृष्टीच गाळून टाकते, जे बोलू नये ते जीभच टाळते.

Metaphor-unfold

No extended metaphor in this ovi — it is the concrete sense-by-sense itemization of 14.208's spontaneous restraint.

Nāth-yogic layer

No Nāth-yogic referent in this ovi.

Cross-references

Internal: 14.251 — contradicts-and-revises: under tamas the senses run toward the forbidden, the exact inversion of this self-policing.
Tukaram parallel: (none specific to this ovi)
Source citation: Bhagavad Gītā 14.11 — सर्वद्वारेषु प्रकाश, rendered as each sense-gate self-screening the unworthy.

Modern application

When you scroll past the inflammatory thing without clicking — and feel no pull. The eye "strains it out." Not suppression; simple lack of appetite for it.
When a cruel sentence dies in your mouth before it's spoken. The tongue itself avoids the अवाच्य. You notice you didn't say the cutting thing, and it cost you nothing.
When the gossip, the bait, the noise just doesn't land. The ear "shuts it out." A reliable sign that clarity, not effortful virtue, is running the senses.

Sādhanā

Today, catch one moment when a sense declined something on its own — your eye skipped it, your tongue let it go. Mark it: "that was clarity, not willpower."

Arc

14.209 lists the self-policing senses; 14.210 images the forbidden retreating — as darkness flees a lamp.

Ovi 14.210

Original (Marathi): वाती पुढां जैसें । पळों लागे काळवसें । निषिद्ध इंद्रियां तैसें । समोर नोहे ॥२१०॥ Voice: krishna-to-arjuna

Word-by-word gloss

Marathi	Meaning
वाती पुढां जैसें	as, before a lamp-flame
पळों लागे काळवसें	the dark mass begins to flee
निषिद्ध इंद्रियां तैसें	so, [for] the senses, the forbidden
समोर नोहे	does not come in front

Literal translation

English: As darkness begins to flee before a lamp-flame, so the forbidden does not even come before the senses.

मराठी (आधुनिक): दिव्याच्या ज्योतीपुढे जसा अंधार पळू लागतो, तसं निषिद्ध इंद्रियांसमोर येतच नाही.

Metaphor-unfold

Literal image	Philosophical referent	Modern equivalent
Darkness fleeing before a lamp	The forbidden retreating from sattva-lit senses; purity as a function of light, not struggle	When you're genuinely clear, temptation doesn't get fought off — it doesn't show up; the light has already cleared the room

Metaphor-family: lamp-and-flame / light-dispels-darkness. Renders प्रकाश.

Nāth-yogic layer

No Nāth-yogic referent in this ovi.

Cross-references

Internal: 14.251 — contradicts-and-revises: tamas makes the senses chase the निषिद्ध that here flees them.
Tukaram parallel: (none specific to this ovi)
Source citation: Bhagavad Gītā 14.11 — प्रकाश, amplified by light-dispels-darkness.

Modern application

When temptation is absent rather than resisted. On a clear day the thing you usually battle just isn't in the room. This ovi says that absence is the lamp working — don't mistake it for permanent victory.
When purity is light, not muscle. The teaching reframes "being good" away from effortful suppression toward illumination: bring more light, and the dark leaves on its own.
When you notice the forbidden returns as the light dims. The honest converse: the dark "flees" the lamp but waits — sustaining sattva is sustaining the flame.

Sādhanā

Today, when a familiar temptation simply doesn't appear, instead of congratulating your willpower, ask: what is the lamp right now? — what clarity, rest, or company is keeping the dark out? Note it; you'll want to relight it later.

Arc

14.210 shows the forbidden fleeing; 14.211 turns to the positive flood — the intellect swelling over the śāstras like a monsoon river.

Ovi 14.211

Original (Marathi): धाराधरकाळें । महानदी उचंबळे । तैसी बुद्धि पघळे । शास्त्रजातीं ॥२११॥ Voice: krishna-to-arjuna

Word-by-word gloss

Marathi	Meaning
धाराधरकाळें	in the rain-cloud season (the monsoon)
महानदी उचंबळे	the great river swells up / overflows
तैसी बुद्धि पघळे	so the intellect spreads/floods
शास्त्रजातीं	over the class/whole body of the śāstras

Literal translation

English: As in the monsoon the great river swells and overflows, so the intellect floods out over the whole body of the scriptures.

मराठी (आधुनिक): पावसाळ्यात महानदी जशी दुथडी भरून ओसंडते, तशी बुद्धी सगळ्या शास्त्रांवर पसरून वाहते.

Metaphor-unfold

Literal image	Philosophical referent	Modern equivalent
A monsoon-swollen river overflowing its banks across the land	The sattva-intellect effortlessly flooding and comprehending all of scripture	A mind in flow-state moving through difficult material that used to be a wall — it spreads over the whole field at once

Metaphor-family: river-and-flood. Renders ज्ञानं.

Nāth-yogic layer

No Nāth-yogic referent in this ovi.

Cross-references

Internal: Middle of the sattva-radiance triad (14.205 lotus, 14.211 river, 14.212 moon).
Tukaram parallel: (none specific to this ovi)
Source citation: Bhagavad Gītā 14.11 — ज्ञानं, amplified by the monsoon-river image.

Modern application

When hard material suddenly opens for you. The textbook, the codebase, the legal brief that was opaque last month now reads like prose — the river has risen and you flood over the whole of it.
When comprehension feels like spreading, not climbing. You're not effortfully scaling the material; your understanding overflows across it.
When you want to catch the season while it lasts. Monsoons are seasonal. When the comprehension-flood comes, this ovi implicitly counsels: do the hard learning now, while the river is high.

Sādhanā

Today, return to one thing you found hard to understand a while ago and re-read five minutes of it. Notice whether the river has risen since. If it has, push further while it's high.

Arc

14.211 floods the intellect; 14.212 gives the paired light-image — the mind's activity spreading everywhere like full-moon radiance.

Ovi 14.212

Original (Marathi): अगा पुनवेच्या दिवशीं । चंद्रप्रभा धांवें आकाशीं । ज्ञानीं वृत्ति तैसी । फांके सैंघ ॥२१२॥ Voice: krishna-to-arjuna (अगा — vocative call)

Word-by-word gloss

Marathi	Meaning
अगा पुनवेच्या दिवशीं	O, on the full-moon day
चंद्रप्रभा धांवें आकाशीं	the moon-radiance runs across the sky
ज्ञानीं वृत्ति तैसी	so the mind's activity (vṛtti), in knowledge
फांके सैंघ	spreads everywhere, unconfined

Literal translation

English: O, as on the full-moon day the moonlight races across the whole sky, so the mind's activity, in knowledge, spreads everywhere unconfined.

मराठी (आधुनिक): अरे, पौर्णिमेच्या दिवशी चंद्राची प्रभा जशी आकाशभर धावते, तशी ज्ञानात मनाची वृत्ती सर्वत्र मोकळेपणानं पसरते.

Metaphor-unfold

Literal image	Philosophical referent	Modern equivalent
Full-moon light flooding the entire night sky	Mental activity spreading boundlessly through knowledge under sattva	The mind lit up and roaming freely across everything it touches — wide-awake, expansive cognition

Metaphor-family: moon-and-light. Third of the sattva-radiance triad; renders प्रकाश.

Nāth-yogic layer

No Nāth-yogic referent in this ovi.

Cross-references

Internal: 14.245 — contradicts-and-revises: tamas's mind is the moonless new-moon sky, the deliberate inversion of this full moon.
Tukaram parallel: (none specific to this ovi)
Source citation: Bhagavad Gītā 14.11 — प्रकाश, amplified by the full-moon image.

Modern application

When your attention roams wide and lit instead of narrow and dim. On a sattva day the mind seems to illuminate everything it lands on — conversations, problems, plans all visible at once.
When thinking feels spacious. Not the cramped, tunnel-vision cognition of stress, but moonlit-sky openness.
When you want to recognize sattva's specific texture. Rajas is bright-but-hot and driven; sattva here is bright-and-cool and free — full-moon light, not noon-fire.

Sādhanā

Tonight, if the sky is clear, look at the moon for one minute and ask: is my mind today more like the full moon (wide, lit, calm) or the new moon (dim, foggy)? Let the sky give you the read.

Arc

14.212 floods the mind with knowledge-light; 14.213 names the inward result — cravings stilled, outgoing activity ebbed, the mind turned from objects.

Ovi 14.213

Original (Marathi): वासना एकवटे । प्रवृत्ति वोहटे । मानस विटे । विषयांवरी ॥२१३॥ Voice: krishna-to-arjuna

Word-by-word gloss

Marathi	Meaning
वासना एकवटे	the cravings (vāsanā) consolidate / come to one
प्रवृत्ति वोहटे	outgoing-activity (pravṛtti) ebbs
मानस विटे	the mind grows disenchanted / sated-to-disgust
विषयांवरी	toward sense-objects

Literal translation

English: The cravings gather and quiet, the outgoing activity ebbs away, the mind grows disenchanted with sense-objects.

मराठी (आधुनिक): वासना एकवटून शांत होतात, बहिर्मुख प्रवृत्ती ओसरते, मन विषयांवरून विटून जातं.

Metaphor-unfold

No extended metaphor in this ovi. वोहटे (ebbs) is a single tide-verb, not a sustained image.

Nāth-yogic layer

No Nāth-yogic referent in this ovi.

Cross-references

Internal: Pre-figures the rajas-signs by negation — प्रवृत्ति, which here ebbs, is precisely rajas's marker (14.226-236, BG-14.12).
Tukaram parallel: (none specific to this ovi)
Source citation: Bhagavad Gītā 14.11 — sattva-dominance, amplified into its desire-quieting fruit.

Modern application

When wanting goes quiet — and you notice the quiet. A day arrives when the usual pull toward the phone, the snack, the next acquisition simply isn't strong. The cravings have "gathered and stilled."
When the outgoing pull ebbs. You feel less need to do, to chase, to add. This ovi names that ebb as a sattva-sign, not as laziness — note the difference from tamas's inertia (which comes with fog, not clarity).
When objects lose their shine without renunciation-effort. You didn't give up the craving; the mind simply got disenchanted on its own.

Sādhanā

Today, notice one craving that is unusually quiet right now — for a substance, a purchase, a scroll. Don't act to keep it quiet; just register: "the tide is out." Sattva did that, not you.

Arc

14.213 completes the sattva-signs; 14.214 closes the catalog and pivots to the death-clause — when sattva has thus grown, and death falls just then.

Ovi 14.214

Original (Marathi): एवं सत्त्व वाढे । तैं हें चिन्ह फुडें । आणि निधनही घडे । तेव्हांचि जरी ॥२१४॥ Voice: krishna-to-arjuna

Word-by-word gloss

Marathi	Meaning
एवं सत्त्व वाढे	thus, when sattva grows
तैं हें चिन्ह फुडें	then these signs are clear/evident
आणि निधनही घडे	and if death too should happen
तेव्हांचि जरी	just at that very time

Literal translation

English: Thus, when sattva has grown, these signs are evident — and if death too should happen just then —

मराठी (आधुनिक): अशा रीतीनं सत्त्व वाढतं, तेव्हा ही लक्षणं स्पष्ट होतात — आणि जर मृत्यूही नेमका त्याच वेळी घडला —

Metaphor-unfold

No extended metaphor in this ovi. It is the conditional pivot from signs to death-consequence.

Nāth-yogic layer

No Nāth-yogic referent in this ovi.

Cross-references

Internal: Parallels 14.237 (rajas-death pivot) and 14.255 (tamas-death pivot) — the same "if death falls just then" structure.
Tukaram parallel: (none specific to this ovi)
Source citation: Bhagavad Gītā 14.14 — यदा सत्त्वे प्रवृद्धे... प्रलयं याति ("when, sattva being dominant, [the embodied one] goes to dissolution"); तेव्हांचि renders the timing.

Modern application

When you realize the state you're in matters most at the threshold. The ovi quietly asserts that what you are when a thing ends — a relationship, a job, a life — colors what comes next. The exit-state is decisive.
When you think of "death" as also any ending. Apply it to any closing chapter: did you leave it in clarity, in agitation, or in fog? The "death-guṇa" is the guṇa you carried out the door.
When you want to face mortality without morbidity. The Gītā doesn't frighten here; it diagnoses. The question is simply: which quality is dominant in me, especially near endings?

Sādhanā

Today, think of one ending you've recently lived through (a job left, a move, a breakup). In one word, name the guṇa you carried out of it: clear, driven, or foggy. Notice without judgment.

Arc

14.214 sets the sattva-death condition; 14.215 gives its tone — the soul welcomed onward like an auspicious dawn-guest from heaven.

Ovi 14.215

Original (Marathi): कां पाहालेनि सुयाणें । जालया परगुणें । पडियंतें पाहुणें । स्वर्गौनियां ॥२१५॥ Voice: krishna-to-arjuna

Word-by-word gloss

Marathi	Meaning
कां पाहालेनि सुयाणें	or, at a good/auspicious dawn
जालया परगुणें	the omens having turned favourable
पडियंतें पाहुणें	a guest arriving (as if expected)
स्वर्गौनियां	from heaven

Literal translation

English: Or, as at an auspicious dawn, the omens having turned favourable, a guest arrives as if from heaven —

मराठी (आधुनिक): किंवा शुभ पहाटे, शकुन अनुकूल झालेले असताना, स्वर्गातून जणू पाहुणा यावा —

Metaphor-unfold

Literal image	Philosophical referent	Modern equivalent
A welcome guest arriving from heaven at an auspicious dawn	The sattva-dying soul's gracious, honoured onward passage	Dying (or ending) so clear and at peace that the next thing receives you like an honoured, expected guest

Metaphor-family: welcome-guest / auspicious-arrival. Renders the अमल लोक-attainment of BG-14.14.

Nāth-yogic layer

No Nāth-yogic referent in this ovi.

Cross-references

Internal: Begins the sattva-death-reward series (14.215-225).
Tukaram parallel: (none specific to this ovi)
Source citation: Bhagavad Gītā 14.14 — उत्तमविदां लोकान अमलान प्रतिपद्यते, amplified by the dawn-guest image.

Modern application

When an ending arrives as welcome rather than dreaded. Some chapters close like an auspicious dawn — you are received into the next phase as an honoured guest, not a refugee. This is the sattva-exit's feeling.
When peace at the threshold makes the next thing gracious. The quality you leave with determines the welcome you get — leave in clarity, and the future opens like a host.
When you've seen a good death. Anyone who has witnessed a person die clear and unafraid has seen this ovi: the passage as an arrival, not a loss.

Sādhanā

Today, picture one transition coming up for you (a move, a role change). Ask: what would I need to be carrying so the next phase received me like a welcome guest, not a casualty? Name the one quality.

Arc

14.215 frames sattva-death as auspicious arrival; 14.216 reasons it — with such inner wealth, how could the next world and good fame fail to follow?

Ovi 14.216

Original (Marathi): तरी जैसीचि घरींची संपत्ती । आणि तैसीचि औदार्यधैर्यवृत्ती । मा परत्रा आणि कीर्ती । कां नोहावें ? ॥२१६॥ Voice: krishna-to-arjuna

Word-by-word gloss

Marathi	Meaning
तरी जैसीचि घरींची संपत्ती	then, just as the wealth at home
आणि तैसीचि औदार्यधैर्यवृत्ती	and just such a disposition of generosity-and-courage
मा परत्रा आणि कीर्ती	so, the next world and fame
कां नोहावें ?	why should they not be [attained]?

Literal translation

English: With such wealth already at home, and such a disposition of generosity and steadfastness — why then should the next world and good fame not follow?

मराठी (आधुनिक): घरात जशी संपत्ती आणि तसाच औदार्य-धैर्याचा स्वभाव असेल — मग परलोक आणि कीर्ती का बरं मिळणार नाहीत?

Metaphor-unfold

Literal image	Philosophical referent	Modern equivalent
Wealth and noble character already at home guaranteeing standing abroad	Inner sattva-virtue as the capital that necessarily yields good rebirth	Inner resources you've already built quietly determine the outcomes you "receive" later — the return follows the capital

Metaphor-family: inner-wealth / capital-and-return.

Nāth-yogic layer

No Nāth-yogic referent in this ovi.

Cross-references

Internal: Continues the sattva-reward reasoning.
Tukaram parallel: (none specific to this ovi)
Source citation: Bhagavad Gītā 14.14 — अमलान लोकान प्रतिपद्यते, amplified by the wealth-guarantees-fortune argument.

Modern application

When good outcomes turn out to be the dividend of quiet inner work. The "next world and fame" follow the "wealth at home." What you receive externally later is largely the payout of character built unseen.
When you stop chasing the reward and tend the capital. The ovi redirects: don't chase परत्र/कीर्ती; build the संपत्ती of clarity, generosity, steadiness, and the rest follows.
When you want to predict your own trajectory. Honest test: what's actually "at home" in you — what wealth of character? That, not luck, sets the return.

Sādhanā

Today, name one piece of "wealth at home" you've been quietly building (a steadiness, a generosity, a clarity). Don't deploy it for reward; just acknowledge it as capital. Capital compounds when left alone.

Arc

14.216 argues virtue guarantees the reward; 14.217 makes it intimate to Arjuna — for such a good one, Dhanañjaya, the next body is close at hand.

Ovi 14.217

Original (Marathi): मग गोमटेया तया । जावळी असे धनंजया । तेवीं सत्त्वीं जाणे देहा । कें आथि गा ? ॥२१७॥ Voice: krishna-to-arjuna (धनंजया — Arjuna-vocative; गा address-particle)

Word-by-word gloss

Marathi	Meaning
मग गोमटेया तया	then, for that good one
जावळी असे धनंजया	[the next body] is right alongside, O Dhanañjaya
तेवीं सत्त्वीं जाणे देहा	so, for one [departing] in sattva, the body
कें आथि गा ?	where is [the lack of it], [my friend]?

Literal translation

English: Then, for that good one, O Dhanañjaya, [the next body] is right at hand — so for one departing in sattva, where would there be any lack of a [fitting] body?

मराठी (आधुनिक): मग त्या सत्पुरुषासाठी, हे धनंजया, [पुढचा देह] अगदी जवळच असतो — तसं सत्त्वात देह सोडणाऱ्याला योग्य देहाची उणीव कुठे असेल?

Metaphor-unfold

No extended metaphor in this ovi.

Nāth-yogic layer

No Nāth-yogic referent in this ovi.

Cross-references

Internal: The धनंजया vocative anchors the Krishna-to-Arjuna chariot-frame.
Tukaram parallel: (none specific to this ovi)
Source citation: Bhagavad Gītā 14.14 — उत्तमविदां लोकान, amplified: the good rebirth twinned close at hand.

Modern application

When the next opportunity is already adjacent to the clear person. People who carry clarity rarely scramble for "what next" — the fitting next thing is "right alongside." Doors don't have to be forced.
When you stop fearing the void after an ending. The sattva-exit doesn't drop into nothing; the next form is near. Applied to endings: leave clear, and the next chapter is already at hand.
When ease-of-landing is a clue to your state. If the next step keeps being adjacent and available, your departures are probably clean.

Sādhanā

Today, look at one "what's next" anxiety you carry. Ask: if I left the current thing in real clarity, is the next thing perhaps closer at hand than the anxiety claims? Name what's already adjacent.

Arc

14.217 assures the next body; 14.218 describes the departure — risen high in its virtue, taking pure sattva, leaving the worn hut of the body.

Ovi 14.218

Original (Marathi): जे स्वगुणीं उद्ब्हट । घेऊनि सत्त्व चोखट । निगे सांडूनि कोपट । भोगक्षम हें ॥२१८॥ Voice: krishna-to-arjuna

Word-by-word gloss

Marathi	Meaning
जे स्वगुणीं उद्ब्हट	which, risen high in its own virtue/quality
घेऊनि सत्त्व चोखट	taking up pure, clean sattva
निगे सांडूनि कोपट	departs, leaving the hut (kopaṭa)
भोगक्षम हें	this [soul] fit for [higher] enjoyment

Literal translation

English: Risen high in its own virtue, taking up pure clean sattva, it departs — leaving behind the [worn] hut [of the body], now fit for higher enjoyment.

मराठी (आधुनिक): आपल्या गुणात उंच चढून, निर्मळ शुद्ध सत्त्व घेऊन, जुन्या झोपडीसारखा देह टाकून तो [जीव] उच्च भोगाला योग्य होऊन निघून जातो.

Metaphor-unfold

Literal image	Philosophical referent	Modern equivalent
The soul leaving the body as a worn-out hut (कोपट), carrying pure sattva	The deha-bhṛt going to dissolution, the body abandoned like a decrepit dwelling	Leaving an outgrown form — a role, a body, a life-stage — lightly, carrying forward only what's clean and worth keeping

Metaphor-family: body-as-dwelling / house-and-tenant.

Nāth-yogic layer

No Nāth-yogic referent in this ovi.

Cross-references

Internal: Pairs with 14.221's lamp-carried-to-another-village (the sattva-light moving dwellings).
Tukaram parallel: (none specific to this ovi)
Source citation: Bhagavad Gītā 14.14 — प्रलयं याति देहभृत्, amplified: the body as a worn hut left behind.

Modern application

When you outgrow a form and leave it without clinging. A house, a job-identity, a body-image past its season — leaving it "like a worn hut," carrying forward only the clean essence. The lightness is the sattva.
When you carry forward quality, not baggage. The soul takes "pure clean sattva," not the hut. In any transition: what is the clean thing worth carrying, and what is just the decaying dwelling?
When non-attachment looks like good housekeeping. Not dramatic renunciation — just recognizing when a structure is a worn hut and stepping out of it.

Sādhanā

Today, identify one "worn hut" in your life — an outgrown role, habit, or self-image you're still living inside. Name the one clean thing you'd carry out of it. You don't have to leave today; just see the hut as a hut.

Arc

14.218 describes the departure; 14.219 names the destination — reborn new-made of sattva, among the jñānins.

Ovi 14.219

Original (Marathi): अवचटें ऐसा जो जाये । तो सत्त्वाचाचि नवा होये । किंबहुना जन्म लाहे । ज्ञानियांमाजीं ॥२१९॥ Voice: krishna-to-arjuna

Word-by-word gloss

Marathi	Meaning
अवचटें ऐसा जो जाये	one who departs thus (at such a moment)
तो सत्त्वाचाचि नवा होये	he becomes, as it were, newly made of sattva itself
किंबहुना जन्म लाहे	in short, he gains birth
ज्ञानियांमाजीं	among the jñānins (the wise)

Literal translation

English: One who departs thus becomes, as it were, newly made of sattva itself; in short, he gains birth among the wise.

मराठी (आधुनिक): अशा क्षणी जो देह सोडतो, तो जणू सत्त्वाचाच नवा बनतो — थोडक्यात, ज्ञानी लोकांमध्ये जन्म घेतो.

Metaphor-unfold

No extended metaphor in this ovi — it states the rebirth-destination directly.

Nāth-yogic layer

No Nāth-yogic referent in this ovi.

Cross-references

Internal: 14.259 — parallel-image: the dark counterpart, tamas-rebirth as beast/bird/tree/worm; with 14.238 (rajas, human) the three death-destinies.
Tukaram parallel: (none specific to this ovi)
Source citation: Bhagavad Gītā 14.14 — उत्तमविदां लोकान प्रतिपद्यते ("attains the worlds of the highest knowers"), rendered ज्ञानियांमाजीं जन्म.

Modern application

When clarity at an ending sets up clarity in the next beginning. The sattva-exit is "reborn among the wise" — leave a thing clear and you start the next thing already among clear company and clear conditions.
When you notice good states tend to land you in good rooms. People who exit clean tend to find themselves, next, surrounded by the discerning. Like attracts like across the threshold.
When you want continuity of growth across breaks. This ovi promises the sattva you build isn't lost at the break — you're "new-made of sattva," carrying the gain forward.

Sādhanā

Today, recall a transition you made in clarity and notice who and what you landed among afterward. Was it "among the wise"? Let the pattern instruct your next exit.

Arc

14.219 states sattva-rebirth among the wise; 14.220 confirms its undiminished status — a king on the hills is still a king.

Ovi 14.220

Original (Marathi): सांग पां धनुर्धरा । रावो रायपणें डोंगरा । गेलिया अपुरा । होय काई ? ॥२२०॥ Voice: krishna-to-arjuna (धनुर्धरा — Arjuna-vocative, "O archer")

Word-by-word gloss

Marathi	Meaning
सांग पां धनुर्धरा	tell me, O archer (Arjuna)
रावो रायपणें डोंगरा	a king, in his kingship, [going] to the hills
गेलिया अपुरा	having gone, incomplete/less
होय काई ?	does he become?

Literal translation

English: Tell me, O archer — does a king, in his kingship, become any less a king by going off to the hills?

मराठी (आधुनिक): सांग बरं, हे धनुर्धरा — राजा आपल्या राजेपणासह डोंगरावर गेला, म्हणून तो कमी होतो का?

Metaphor-unfold

Literal image	Philosophical referent	Modern equivalent
A king who goes to the hills yet loses no kingship	The sattva-soul's dignity undiminished by the change of body/world	Your real standing — competence, character — travels with you across any relocation; the title isn't in the place

Metaphor-family: king-and-kingship / status-survives-relocation.

Nāth-yogic layer

No Nāth-yogic referent in this ovi.

Cross-references

Internal: 14.239 — contradicts-and-revises: the rajas-soul is a beggar-who-cannot-become-king, inverting this king-who-stays-king.
Tukaram parallel: (none specific to this ovi)
Source citation: Bhagavad Gītā 14.14 — the reward, amplified by the king-relocation simile.

Modern application

When you fear a move will diminish you. Changing companies, countries, life-stages — a king is no less a king on the hills. Real standing relocates intact; the fear of "starting over from nothing" overstates how much was in the place.
When status feels location-bound and you want to test it. If your sense of worth collapses the moment you leave the building, it was borrowed from the building. The sattva-dignity is portable.
When you carry your "kingship" into a humbler setting. Going to "the hills" — a smaller role, a quieter season — without losing your essential standing is exactly the sattva-soul's poise.

Sādhanā

Today, name one thing about your worth that is not tied to your current title or place — that would travel with you to "the hills." Say it plainly to yourself. That's your portable kingship.

Arc

14.220 gives the king-simile; 14.221 pairs it — a lamp carried to another village is still a lamp.

Ovi 14.221

Original (Marathi): नातरी येथिंचा दिवा । नेलिया सेजिया गांवा । तो तेथें तरी पांडवा । दीपचि कीं ॥२२१॥ Voice: krishna-to-arjuna (पांडवा — Arjuna-vocative)

Word-by-word gloss

Marathi	Meaning
नातरी येथिंचा दिवा	or else, the lamp from here
नेलिया सेजिया गांवा	carried to a neighbouring village
तो तेथें तरी पांडवा	there too, O Pāṇḍava
दीपचि कीं	is just a lamp, indeed

Literal translation

English: Or else — a lamp from here, carried to a neighbouring village, is there too, O Pāṇḍava, just a lamp.

मराठी (आधुनिक): किंवा इथला दिवा शेजारच्या गावी नेला, तरी तो तिथेही, हे पांडवा, दिवाच राहतो.

Metaphor-unfold

Literal image	Philosophical referent	Modern equivalent
A lamp carried to another village is still a lamp	The sattva-light of the soul unchanged by the change of body or world	Your capacity to illuminate — to clarify, to help others see — works wherever you go; the light isn't in the room

Metaphor-family: lamp-and-flame / light-unchanged-by-place.

Nāth-yogic layer

No Nāth-yogic referent in this ovi.

Cross-references

Internal: Pairs with 14.220 (king) as the second relocation-simile; resonates with 14.210's lamp.
Tukaram parallel: (none specific to this ovi)
Source citation: Bhagavad Gītā 14.14 — the reward, amplified by the lamp-relocation simile.

Modern application

When you doubt your gift survives a new context. The teacher who changes schools, the clarifier who changes teams — a lamp is a lamp in the next village. The capacity to light a room is yours, not the room's.
When you bring light into an unfamiliar place. Walking into a new, dark setting, you don't have to wait to be lit — you are the lamp; you start illuminating immediately.
When you under-credit your portable contribution. People often think their value was the specific place. The lamp-simile corrects this: the flame travels.

Sādhanā

Today, recall one setting you recently entered as a newcomer and note one way you lit it up — clarified something, calmed someone, made a thing visible. That was the lamp, already burning in the new village.

Arc

14.221 closes the relocation-similes; 14.222 returns to the reborn soul — its sattva-purity setting the intellect riding the waves of discernment.

Ovi 14.222

Original (Marathi): तैसी ते सत्त्वशुद्धी । आगळी ज्ञानेंसी वृद्धी । तरंगावों लागें बुद्धी । विवेकावरी ॥२२२॥ Voice: krishna-to-arjuna

Word-by-word gloss

Marathi	Meaning
तैसी ते सत्त्वशुद्धी	such [is] that purity of sattva
आगळी ज्ञानेंसी वृद्धी	with surpassing growth in knowledge
तरंगावों लागें बुद्धी	the intellect begins to ride in waves
विवेकावरी	upon discernment (viveka)

Literal translation

English: Such is that purity of sattva, grown surpassingly with knowledge, that the intellect begins to crest in waves upon discernment.

मराठी (आधुनिक): अशी ती सत्त्वशुद्धी, ज्ञानानं वाढलेली, की बुद्धी विवेकावर लाटांसारखी तरंगू लागते.

Metaphor-unfold

Literal image	Philosophical referent	Modern equivalent
The intellect cresting in waves upon discernment	The reborn sattva-buddhi riding effortlessly on viveka, as waves on water	A discerning mind in motion — judgments arising and resolving one after another, fluid and self-renewing

Metaphor-family: ocean-and-wave.

Nāth-yogic layer

No Nāth-yogic referent in this ovi.

Cross-references

Internal: Resumes the reborn-jñānin's discriminative life (continuing 14.219).
Tukaram parallel: (none specific to this ovi)
Source citation: Bhagavad Gītā 14.14 — उत्तमविदां लोकान, amplified by the waves-on-viveka image.

Modern application

When discernment becomes continuous, not occasional. The reborn-clarity isn't a single insight but a standing wave — distinctions keep arising cleanly, one after another. A mind that habitually discriminates.
When judgment feels like riding, not grinding. The buddhi "rides" viveka like waves ride water — effortless crest after crest, not the labour of forcing each decision.
When you want to cultivate a discerning mind, not just a smart one. The ovi values viveka (right-discrimination) as the water the intellect rides — intelligence without discrimination has nothing to crest upon.

Sādhanā

Today, when you make a series of small judgments (what to read, eat, answer), notice if they're arising cleanly like waves or grinding like gears. If grinding, pause and re-find the water — what's the one principle (the viveka) underneath?

Arc

14.222 sets the intellect riding viveka; 14.223 carries discrimination to its end — reflecting through the tattvas, the inquiry dissolves inward.

Ovi 14.223

Original (Marathi): पैं महदादि परिपाठीं । विचारूनि शेवटीं । विचारासकट पोटीं । जिरोनि जाय ॥२२३॥ Voice: krishna-to-arjuna

Word-by-word gloss

Marathi	Meaning
पैं महदादि परिपाठीं	indeed, in the sequence beginning with mahat (mahad-ādi)
विचारूनि शेवटीं	reflecting, at the end
विचारासकट पोटीं	together with the reflection [itself], inward
जिरोनि जाय	is digested / dissolves away

Literal translation

English: Reflecting in order through the mahat-and-the-rest sequence, at the last the inquiry — together with [its object] — is digested and dissolves inward.

मराठी (आधुनिक): महत्-तत्त्वापासूनच्या क्रमानं विचार करत करत, शेवटी विचारासकट सारं आत जिरून जातं.

Metaphor-unfold

No extended metaphor in this ovi — though जिरोनि जाय (digested) is a single digestion-verb, not a sustained image.

Nāth-yogic layer

No Nāth-yogic referent in this ovi. This is Sānkhya tattva-discrimination (mahad-ādi evolutes), not cakra-yoga; reading kuṇḍalinī into the महदादि-series would be a fabrication.

Cross-references

Internal: Leads to 14.224's tattva-count (the fourth beyond the guṇa-enumerations).
Tukaram parallel: (none specific to this ovi)
Source citation: Bhagavad Gītā 14.14 — उत्तमविदां, amplified into a Sānkhya discrimination through the mahad-ādi evolutes.

Modern application

When inquiry finally consumes itself. You think a question all the way through, and at the end the question and the questioner quiet — "digested inward." The mark of an inquiry completed, not abandoned.
When analysis is meant to dissolve, not accumulate. This ovi's discrimination isn't hoarding distinctions; it works through them precisely so that the whole apparatus can dissolve. Thinking aimed at silence.
When you sense the difference between restless thinking and resolving thinking. Rajas's thought multiplies (next ovis); sattva's thought here completes and dissolves.

Sādhanā

Today, take one question you keep circling. Instead of adding more thoughts, follow it carefully to its end once — and notice if, at the end, it quiets on its own. Let the inquiry digest itself.

Arc

14.223 dissolves the inquiry inward; 14.224 names the residue numerically — past the tattva-counts, the fourth alone stands.

Ovi 14.224

Original (Marathi): छत्तिसां सदतिसावें । चोविसां पंचविसावें । तिन्ही नुरोनि स्वभावें । चतुर्थ जें ॥२२४॥ Voice: krishna-to-arjuna

Word-by-word gloss

Marathi	Meaning
छत्तिसां सदतिसावें	the thirty-seventh beyond the thirty-six
चोविसां पंचविसावें	the twenty-fifth beyond the twenty-four
तिन्ही नुरोनि स्वभावें	the three [guṇas] not remaining in their own nature
चतुर्थ जें	that which is the fourth

Literal translation

English: The thirty-seventh beyond the thirty-six, the twenty-fifth beyond the twenty-four — the three [guṇas] not remaining in their own nature — that which is the fourth.

मराठी (आधुनिक): छत्तीसांच्या पुढचं सदतिसावं, चोवीसांच्या पुढचं पंचविसावं — तिन्ही गुण स्वभावतःच न उरता — जे चौथं [तत्त्व] उरतं ते.

Metaphor-unfold

No extended metaphor in this ovi — it is a Sānkhya tattva-count isolating the turīya (fourth).

Nāth-yogic layer

No Nāth-yogic referent in this ovi. The "fourth" here is the turīya/puruṣa-beyond-the-tattvas of Sānkhya-Vedānta reckoning, not the turīya-as-cakra of haṭha-yoga; no explicit yogic technique is invoked.

Cross-references

Internal: Caps 14.223's discriminative ascent; leads to 14.225's "incomparable body."
Tukaram parallel: (none specific to this ovi)
Source citation: Bhagavad Gītā 14.14 — उत्तमविदां, amplified by the tattva-count to the fourth (turīya).

Modern application

When you reduce a question to its irreducible remainder. Strip away the thirty-six, the twenty-four — the countable layers — and ask what won't reduce. The "fourth" is whatever is left when every category is exhausted.
When the three "qualities of experience" stop being you. Clear, driven, foggy — when even these don't define you, the witness ("the fourth") remains. A pointer to the self beyond its passing states.
When you want a felt sense of "the witness." Notice that the one aware of clarity, drive, and fog is not itself clear, driven, or foggy. That awareness is the fourth.

Sādhanā

Today, once, notice that you can observe your own current state (clear/driven/foggy). Ask: who is noticing? Don't answer in words — just rest one breath in the noticing itself. That's a glance at the fourth.

Arc

14.224 isolates the fourth; 14.225 closes the sattva-block — the soul for whom that supreme is easy attains, with it, an incomparable body.

Ovi 14.225

Original (Marathi): ऐसें सर्व जें सर्वोत्तम । जालें असे जया सुगम । तयासवें निरुपम । लाहे देह ॥२२५॥ Voice: krishna-to-arjuna

Word-by-word gloss

Marathi	Meaning
ऐसें सर्व जें सर्वोत्तम	such, which is the all-in-all supreme
जालें असे जया सुगम	for whom it has become easy / accessible
तयासवें निरुपम	along with that, an incomparable
लाहे देह	[he] gains a body

Literal translation

English: That all-in-all supreme — for the one to whom it has become easy and near — he gains, along with it, an incomparable body.

मराठी (आधुनिक): ते सर्वश्रेष्ठ जे आहे, ते ज्याला सुलभ झालं आहे, त्याला त्यासोबत निरुपम देह मिळतो.

Metaphor-unfold

No extended metaphor in this ovi.

Nāth-yogic layer

No Nāth-yogic referent in this ovi.

Cross-references

Internal: Closes the sattva-eschatology block; mirrored at 14.226 (opening of rajas).
Tukaram parallel: (none specific to this ovi)
Source citation: Bhagavad Gītā 14.14 — अमलान लोकान प्रतिपद्यते, rendered as the निरुपम देह (incomparable body).

Modern application

When the supreme thing has become easy for someone — and that ease itself is the reward. The mark of the sattva-attainment isn't strain toward the highest but its having become "near, accessible, easy." Mastery feels like ease.
When inner attainment shows up as outer fittingness. The soul gains "an incomparable body" — inner arrival expressing itself in a fitting form, role, or life. Inner and outer align.
When you want to gauge real spiritual progress. Not by how hard you strive but by what has become sugama (easy) that used to be impossible. Ease toward the highest is the diagnostic.

Sādhanā

Today, name one high thing — a kindness, a steadiness, a truthfulness — that has become easy for you that once was hard. Honour the ease. That ease is the सुगम this ovi prizes above strain.

Arc

14.225 closes the sattva-block; 14.226 opens the rajas-block — when, tamas and sattva bowing low, rajas takes the upper hand.

Ovi 14.226

Original (Marathi): इयाचि परी देख । तमसत्त्व अधोमुख । बैसोनि जैं आगळीक । धरी रज ॥२२६॥ Voice: krishna-to-arjuna (देख — "look", imperative to Arjuna)

Word-by-word gloss

Marathi	Meaning
इयाचि परी देख	look, in this very way
तमसत्त्व अधोमुख	tamas and sattva [being] face-down (subdued)
बैसोनि जैं आगळीक	seated, when [it] takes the upper hand
धरी रज	rajas grips [dominance]

Literal translation

English: Look — in just this way, when tamas and sattva are bowed face-down and rajas, seated, takes the upper hand and grips [dominance] —

मराठी (आधुनिक): बघ — अगदी याच रीतीनं, जेव्हा तम आणि सत्त्व खाली मान घालतात आणि रजोगुण बसकण मारून वरचढ होतो —

Metaphor-unfold

No extended metaphor in this ovi — it is the inverted diagnostic frame opening the rajas-block.

Nāth-yogic layer

No Nāth-yogic referent in this ovi.

Cross-references

Internal: 14.20204 / 14.243 — parallel-image: the same "in this very way" opening structure used for sattva (14.20204) and tamas (14.243).
Tukaram parallel: (none specific to this ovi)
Source citation: Bhagavad Gītā 14.12 — रजसि विवृद्धे ("when rajas has grown"); अधोमुख (face-down) of the other two renders rajas's dominance.

Modern application

When the driven quality takes the chair. You recognize the shift: the calm and the fog both step back, and a restless, grasping, project-hungry energy "takes the seat." Naming the takeover is the first defense.
When you want to catch rajas at its onset. The ovi marks the moment of ascendancy — before the signs proliferate. Catching "rajas just sat down" is easier than catching it mid-rampage.
When you treat your guṇa-weather as readable. Just as you diagnosed sattva, you can diagnose its successor: the upper hand has changed.

Sādhanā

Today, catch one moment when a restless drive "takes the seat" in you — replacing either calm or fog. Just say internally: "rajas just sat down." Name the changeover.

Arc

14.226 brings rajas to ascendancy; 14.227 gives its first sign — self-serving smoke filling the village of the body.

Ovi 14.227

Original (Marathi): आपलिया कार्याचा । धुमाड गांवीं देहाचा । माजवी तैं चिन्हांचा । उदयो ऐसा ॥२२७॥ Voice: krishna-to-arjuna

Word-by-word gloss

Marathi	Meaning
आपलिया कार्याचा	of its own work/business
धुमाड गांवीं देहाचा	the smoke, in the village of the body
माजवी तैं	fumes/fills up — then
चिन्हांचा उदयो ऐसा	the rise of the [rajas] signs is thus

Literal translation

English: When the smoke of its own self-interested work fumes through the village of the body — then the rise of the [rajas] signs is as follows.

मराठी (आधुनिक): स्वतःच्या कामाचा धूर देहाच्या गावात भरून जातो — तेव्हा [रजाच्या] लक्षणांचा उदय असा होतो.

Metaphor-unfold

Literal image	Philosophical referent	Modern equivalent
Smoke of self-interested work fuming through the village of the body	Rajas's self-serving busyness pervading the whole embodied life	The way a single ambitious agenda smokes through your whole day — meals, sleep, relationships all hazed by the one project

Metaphor-family: smoke-and-fire / fume-fills-the-house. Renders BG-14.12's प्रवृत्ति/आरम्भ.

Nāth-yogic layer

No Nāth-yogic referent in this ovi.

Cross-references

Internal: First rajas-sign; pairs with 14.228 (whirlwind).
Tukaram parallel: (none specific to this ovi)
Source citation: Bhagavad Gītā 14.12 — प्रवृत्तिः आरम्भः, amplified by the smoke-fills-the-village image.

Modern application

When one self-interested agenda hazes your whole life. A promotion-push, a launch, a personal ambition that "smokes through the village" — suddenly every dinner, every conversation, every idle moment is colored by it. You can smell the smoke.
When busyness is self-serving and you half-know it. The ovi specifies "its own work" (आपलिया कार्याचा) — rajas's activity is for the self. Notice when your busyness is quietly all-about-you.
When the body itself is fouled by the drivenness. The smoke fills the "village of the body" — disrupted sleep, hurried eating, tension. The drive shows up physically.

Sādhanā

Today, name the one self-interested agenda currently "smoking through your village." Then check your body for the smoke: tense jaw, shallow breath, rushed meal. Take three slow breaths to clear one room.

Arc

14.227 images rajas as smoke; 14.228 gives the whirlwind — the senses driven helter-skelter at objects.

Ovi 14.228

Original (Marathi): पांजरली वाहुटळी । करी वेगळ वेंटाळी । तैसी विषयीं सरळी । इंद्रियां होय ॥२२८॥ Voice: krishna-to-arjuna

Word-by-word gloss

Marathi	Meaning
पांजरली वाहुटळी	a loosed whirlwind / dust-devil
करी वेगळ वेंटाळी	makes [things] separate and whirls [them] together
तैसी विषयीं सरळी	so, straight toward sense-objects
इंद्रियां होय	the senses become / go

Literal translation

English: As a loosed whirlwind scatters things apart and whirls them together, so the senses go straight and headlong at their objects.

मराठी (आधुनिक): सुटलेलं वावटळ जसं वस्तू विखरतं आणि गरगर फिरवतं, तशी इंद्रियं सरळ विषयांकडे धावतात.

Metaphor-unfold

Literal image	Philosophical referent	Modern equivalent
A dust-devil scattering and whirling debris	The rajas-driven senses rushing scattered and headlong toward objects	The scattered, grabby attention of an over-driven day — pulled in ten directions at once toward every shiny object

Metaphor-family: wind / whirlwind-of-agitation. Renders प्रवृत्ति.

Nāth-yogic layer

No Nāth-yogic referent in this ovi.

Cross-references

Internal: Pairs with 14.227 (smoke); both image rajas's agitation.
Tukaram parallel: (none specific to this ovi)
Source citation: Bhagavad Gītā 14.12 — प्रवृत्तिः, amplified by the whirlwind image.

Modern application

When your attention is a dust-devil. Tab after tab, notification after notification, the senses "go straight at" every object and scatter at once. The whirlwind is the texture of rajas-attention.
When you can't land on anything. The whirlwind both scatters and whirls — you're pulled apart and spun, unable to settle on one thing. Recognize this as a guṇa-state, not a permanent trait.
When stillness feels impossible. The contrast with sattva (14.206, discernment "labouring" steadily in each sense) is exact: rajas makes the same senses whirl.

Sādhanā

Today, when you notice your attention whirling at everything at once, stop and put both feet flat on the floor for 30 seconds. Let the dust settle before you pick the next object deliberately.

Arc

14.228 whirls the senses at objects; 14.229 gives the moral failure — falling into wrongdoing without feeling it wrong, grazing like a goat.

Ovi 14.229

Original (Marathi): परदारादि पडे । परी विरुद्ध ऐसें नावडे । मग शेळियेचेनि तोंडें । सैंघ चारी ॥२२९॥ Voice: krishna-to-arjuna

Word-by-word gloss

Marathi	Meaning
परदारादि पडे	falls into adultery and the like
परी विरुद्ध ऐसें नावडे	yet it does not seem wrong/contrary
मग शेळियेचेनि तोंडें	then, with a goat's mouth
सैंघ चारी	grazes everywhere, indiscriminately

Literal translation

English: One falls into adultery and the like, yet it does not even strike one as wrong — then, like a goat's mouth, one grazes everywhere indiscriminately.

मराठी (आधुनिक): परस्त्रीगमनादी घडतं, पण ते चूक आहे असं वाटतच नाही — मग शेळीच्या तोंडासारखा माणूस सैरावैरा सगळं चरत सुटतो.

Metaphor-unfold

Literal image	Philosophical referent	Modern equivalent
A goat grazing whatever it meets, without discrimination	Rajas-craving devouring all objects, having lost moral discrimination	Appetite without a filter — consuming content, food, experiences, people indiscriminately, no longer asking "should I?"

Metaphor-family: grazing-beast / indiscriminate-appetite.

Nāth-yogic layer

No Nāth-yogic referent in this ovi.

Cross-references

Internal: 14.207 — contradicts-and-revises: the goat-grazing-everything is the deliberate inversion of the rājahamsa-separating-milk-from-water; rajas un-discriminates what sattva discriminated.
Tukaram parallel: (none specific to this ovi)
Source citation: Bhagavad Gītā 14.12 — लोभः स्पृहा, amplified by the goat-grazing image.

Modern application

When wrongdoing stops registering as wrong. The chilling sign: not that you do the harmful thing, but that "it does not even seem wrong." Rajas has dissolved the discrimination that would have flinched. Watch for the missing flinch.
When you consume indiscriminately. The goat's mouth — bingeing content, food, purchases, stimulation, eating whatever's in front of you with no filter. The appetite has gone discrimination-blind.
When the swan has become a goat. Recall a domain where you used to discriminate finely (14.207) and now graze indiscriminately. That regression is the rajas-sign.

Sādhanā

Today, catch one moment of "grazing" — consuming something with no filter — and reinstall the swan's beak for ten seconds: ask once, is this milk or water? Then choose.

Arc

14.229 shows craving's lost discrimination; 14.230 shows its insatiable labour — even while grasping, what's un-gained always remains.

Ovi 14.230

Original (Marathi): हा ठायवरी लोभु । करी स्वैरत्वाचा राबु । वेंटाळितां अलाभु । तें तें उरे ॥२३०॥ Voice: krishna-to-arjuna

Word-by-word gloss

Marathi	Meaning
हा ठायवरी लोभु	to this extent, greed
करी स्वैरत्वाचा राबु	runs the labour of wilful self-indulgence (svairatva)
वेंटाळितां अलाभु	even while encircling/grasping, the un-gained
तें तें उरे	that, that, remains [over]

Literal translation

English: To this degree greed runs the labour of unbridled self-will — and even while it grasps and encircles, whatever is still un-gained keeps remaining.

मराठी (आधुनिक): इतक्या टोकाला लोभ स्वैराचाराची मेहनत राबवतो — आणि कितीही ओढून-घेरून घेतलं, तरी जे मिळालं नाही ते उरतच राहतं.

Metaphor-unfold

No extended metaphor in this ovi.

Nāth-yogic layer

No Nāth-yogic referent in this ovi.

Cross-references

Internal: Leads to 14.235 (ocean/fire of insatiability).
Tukaram parallel: (none specific to this ovi)
Source citation: Bhagavad Gītā 14.12 — लोभः, amplified: greed's labour and the always-remaining deficit.

Modern application

When the having never closes the wanting. You grasp and grasp, and "the un-gained keeps remaining" — the goalpost moves with every acquisition. Greed is structurally unsatisfiable, not contingently.
When self-will dresses up as drive. स्वैरत्वाचा राबु — the "labour of self-will." Hustle can be greed's workout. The tell is the residue: no amount lands you at "enough."
When you notice the deficit is permanent. This is the diagnostic gift: if every win leaves "that, that remains," you're not failing to get enough — you're inside a guṇa that defines enough out of reach.

Sādhanā

Today, name one thing you've been grasping for as "the thing that will finally be enough." Ask honestly: when I got the last such thing, did the wanting close? Let the past answer give you the truth about this one.

Arc

14.230 shows greed's insatiable labour; 14.231 shows its persistence — even obstructed, the activity will not withdraw its hand.

Ovi 14.231

Original (Marathi): आणि आड पडलिया । उद्यमजाती भलतिया । प्रवृत्ती धनंजया । हातु न काढी ॥२३१॥ Voice: krishna-to-arjuna (धनंजया — Arjuna-vocative)

Word-by-word gloss

Marathi	Meaning
आणि आड पडलिया	and even when [obstacles] have fallen across
उद्यमजाती भलतिया	any and every kind of enterprise
प्रवृत्ती धनंजया	the outgoing-activity, O Dhanañjaya
हातु न काढी	does not withdraw its hand

Literal translation

English: And even when obstacles have fallen across every kind of enterprise, the outgoing-activity, O Dhanañjaya, does not withdraw its hand.

मराठी (आधुनिक): आणि कुठल्याही उद्योगात अडथळे आडवे आले, तरीही प्रवृत्ती, हे धनंजया, आपला हात मागे घेत नाही.

Metaphor-unfold

No extended metaphor in this ovi — हातु न काढी (does not withdraw the hand) is idiom.

Nāth-yogic layer

No Nāth-yogic referent in this ovi.

Cross-references

Internal: The धनंजया vocative anchors Krishna-to-Arjuna; renders अशम (no-quiescence).
Tukaram parallel: (none specific to this ovi)
Source citation: Bhagavad Gītā 14.12 — प्रवृत्तिः अशमः, rendered as activity that will not withdraw its hand despite obstacles.

Modern application

When you can't stop even when it's clearly blocked. The project is failing, the obstacles are stacked, and still "the hand will not withdraw." Rajas's अशम is the inability to quit a losing engagement — sunk-cost compulsion.
When persistence is pathology, not virtue. The ovi names the dark twin of perseverance: not won't-give-up-on-what-matters, but can't-pull-the-hand-back from anything once started.
When obstruction should be a signal and isn't. A clear (sattva) mind reads the obstacle and reconsiders; rajas reads the obstacle and pushes harder. Notice which you're doing.

Sādhanā

Today, identify one obstructed effort where you "can't withdraw your hand." Ask the sattva question once: if I were calm, would I keep pushing this, or step back? Just get the honest answer.

Arc

14.231 shows activity that won't stop; 14.232 gives its grandiose form — the wild fancy of building a palace or performing an aśvamedha.

Ovi 14.232

Original (Marathi): तेवींचि एखादा प्रासादु । कां करावा अश्वमेधु । ऐसा अचाट छंदु । घेऊनि उठी ॥२३२॥ Voice: krishna-to-arjuna

Word-by-word gloss

Marathi	Meaning
तेवींचि एखादा प्रासादु	likewise, [thinking] some palace
कां करावा अश्वमेधु	or an aśvamedha (horse-sacrifice) should be performed
ऐसा अचाट छंदु	such an extravagant whim/obsession
घेऊनि उठी	seizing [it], one rises up

Literal translation

English: Likewise, "a palace must be built," or "an aśvamedha must be performed" — seized by some such extravagant whim, one springs up.

मराठी (आधुनिक): त्याचप्रमाणे "एखादा महाल बांधावा" किंवा "अश्वमेध करावा" — असा अचाट छंद घेऊन माणूस उठतो.

Metaphor-unfold

No extended metaphor in this ovi — the palace/aśvamedha are literal examples of rajas's grand projects.

Nāth-yogic layer

No Nāth-yogic referent in this ovi.

Cross-references

Internal: Begins the project-mania sequence (14.232-234).
Tukaram parallel: (none specific to this ovi)
Source citation: Bhagavad Gītā 14.12 — आरम्भः कर्मणाम् ("undertaking of actions"), rendered with the palace/horse-sacrifice examples.

Modern application

When a grandiose whim "seizes" you and you spring up. Suddenly you must start the company, build the addition, launch the channel — the scale outruns the deliberation. अचाट छंद (extravagant whim) is rajas's signature impulse.
When ambition arrives as compulsion, not choice. The verb is घेऊनि उठी — the whim seizes and you rise. You're not choosing the project; it's mounting you.
When the size of the plan is the warning. Palace, aśvamedha — the grandiosity itself is the tell. A sattva-plan is proportionate; the rajas-plan is "the biggest version."

Sādhanā

Today, if a grand new undertaking "seizes" you, don't act for 24 hours. Write it down with the date. Tomorrow, see whether it was sattva-clarity or a rajas-whim. Let one night separate the seizing from the rising.

Arc

14.232 names palace-and-sacrifice; 14.233 multiplies them — whole cities, reservoirs, forests must be made.

Ovi 14.233

Original (Marathi): नगरेंचि रचावीं । जळाशयें निर्मावीं । महावनें लावावीं । नानाविधें ॥२३३॥ Voice: krishna-to-arjuna

Word-by-word gloss

Marathi	Meaning
नगरेंचि रचावीं	whole cities should be built
जळाशयें निर्मावीं	reservoirs/tanks should be created
महावनें लावावीं	great forests should be planted
नानाविधें	of various kinds

Literal translation

English: Whole cities should be built, reservoirs created, great forests of every kind planted —

मराठी (आधुनिक): अख्खी नगरं वसवावीत, तलाव निर्माण करावेत, नाना प्रकारची महावनं लावावीत —

Metaphor-unfold

No extended metaphor in this ovi — the accumulating infinitives literally enact proliferating ambition.

Nāth-yogic layer

No Nāth-yogic referent in this ovi.

Cross-references

Internal: Continues 14.232's project-mania.
Tukaram parallel: (none specific to this ovi)
Source citation: Bhagavad Gītā 14.12 — आरम्भः कर्मणाम्, rendered as the proliferating project-list.

Modern application

When the plans multiply faster than any can be finished. Not one project but cities, tanks, forests — the rajas-mind spawns initiative after initiative. The proliferation itself, not any single plan, is the disease.
When "and also" is your most-used phrase. Every plan breeds three more. The infinitive-pile (रचावीं, निर्मावीं, लावावीं) is the grammar of an over-driven mind.
When breadth replaces depth. Many grand things begun, the energy spread thin across all of them — the opposite of sattva's single discriminating focus.

Sādhanā

Today, list the projects you currently have "open." Just count them. If the number startles you, that count is the rajas-sign. Pick the one to actually finish; let the rest wait.

Arc

14.233 multiplies the projects; 14.234 shows they never satisfy — in both seen and unseen aims, one never says "enough."

Ovi 14.234

Original (Marathi): ऐसैसां अफाटीं कर्मीं । समारंभु उपक्रमीं । आणि दृष्टादृष्ट कामीं । पुरे न म्हणे ॥२३४॥ Voice: krishna-to-arjuna

Word-by-word gloss

Marathi	Meaning
ऐसैसां अफाटीं कर्मीं	in such boundless/vast actions
समारंभु उपक्रमीं	keeps undertaking and beginning
आणि दृष्टादृष्ट कामीं	and in seen-and-unseen (this-worldly and other-worldly) aims
पुरे न म्हणे	never says "enough"

Literal translation

English: In such boundless undertakings one keeps initiating and beginning — and in both seen and unseen aims, never says "enough."

मराठी (आधुनिक): अशा अफाट कर्मांत सारखं आरंभ-उपक्रम चालू असतो — आणि दृष्ट-अदृष्ट दोन्ही हेतूंमध्ये "पुरे" म्हणतच नाही.

Metaphor-unfold

No extended metaphor in this ovi.

Nāth-yogic layer

No Nāth-yogic referent in this ovi.

Cross-references

Internal: Leads to 14.235's ocean/fire image of bottomlessness.
Tukaram parallel: (none specific to this ovi)
Source citation: Bhagavad Gītā 14.12 — आरम्भः अशमः, amplified: never saying "enough," in both seen and unseen aims.

Modern application

When even your "spiritual" goals are rajas in disguise. दृष्टादृष्ट — seen and unseen aims. Rajas colonizes the other-worldly too: collecting practices, retreats, merit, "enlightenment-projects," never saying enough there either.
When "enough" is a word you never reach. The single sharpest diagnostic of rajas in this whole cluster: the inability to say पुरे. Notice if "enough" is simply not in your operating vocabulary.
When achievement is a treadmill across both worlds. Worldly success and spiritual attainment both become endless accumulation. The cure isn't a new goal; it's the capacity to say "enough" at all.

Sādhanā

Today, say "enough" out loud about one thing that is genuinely sufficient already — money, a possession, a skill, an accomplishment. Just practice the word your rajas can't say: this is enough.

Arc

14.234 says rajas never says "enough"; 14.235 figures that bottomlessness — even the ocean would run short.

Ovi 14.235

Original (Marathi): सागरुही सांडीं पडे । आगी न लाहे तीन कवडे । ऐसें अभिलषीं जोडे । दुर्भरत्व ॥२३५॥ Voice: krishna-to-arjuna

Word-by-word gloss

Marathi	Meaning
सागरुही सांडीं पडे	even the ocean would fall short
आगी न लाहे तीन कवडे	fire is not satisfied [even] for three cowries [of fuel]
ऐसें अभिलषीं जोडे	such, in craving, accrues
दुर्भरत्व	un-fillability (durbharatva)

Literal translation

English: Even the ocean would fall short; fire is not sated by three cowries' worth [of fuel] — such un-fillability accrues in craving.

मराठी (आधुनिक): समुद्रही अपुरा पडेल, अग्नी तीन कवड्यांच्या इंधनानं तृप्त होत नाही — अशी अतृप्ती लालसेत साचत जाते.

Metaphor-unfold

Literal image	Philosophical referent	Modern equivalent
An ocean that runs short; a fire never satisfied by any fuel	The bottomlessness (durbharatva) of rajas-craving	The appetite that no amount of money, praise, food, or stimulation fills — pour in the ocean, it still runs dry

Metaphor-family: fire-that-is-never-fed / insatiable-appetite.

Nāth-yogic layer

No Nāth-yogic referent in this ovi.

Cross-references

Internal: Climax of the rajas-insatiability sequence (14.230, 14.234, 14.235).
Tukaram parallel: (none specific to this ovi)
Source citation: Bhagavad Gītā 14.12 — स्पृहा, amplified by ocean-and-fire as figures of the unsatisfiable.

Modern application

When you've poured in an ocean and the wanting is still dry. The classic burnout discovery: enormous achievement, enormous income, and still the same craving. The container has no bottom — durbharatva.
When you feed the fire to put it out. Fire isn't sated by fuel; it consumes it and grows. Feeding a craving to end it is the rajas-error. The way out is not more fuel but starving the fire (sattva's quieting, 14.213).
When you mistake the bottomless for the not-yet-full. "Just a little more and I'll be satisfied" — but the ocean falls short. Recognizing the container cannot be filled is the freeing insight.

Sādhanā

Today, name one appetite you keep trying to satisfy by feeding. Ask: has feeding it ever once made it stay full? If not, try the opposite for one hour — don't feed it, and watch the fire instead of fueling it.

Arc

14.235 figures bottomlessness; 14.236 closes the rajas-craving sequence — craving racing ahead, the world trampled underfoot in want.

Ovi 14.236

Original (Marathi): स्पृहा मना पुढां पुढां । आशेचा घे दवडा । विश्व घापे चाडा । पायांतळीं ॥२३६॥ Voice: krishna-to-arjuna

Word-by-word gloss

Marathi	Meaning
स्पृहा मना पुढां पुढां	craving [runs] ahead and ahead of the mind
आशेचा घे दवडा	seizes the gallop/course of hope
विश्व घापे चाडा	the whole world is thrown, in greed
पायांतळीं	underfoot

Literal translation

English: Craving runs on, ahead and ahead of the mind, seizing the gallop of hope — and the whole world is flung underfoot in greed.

मराठी (आधुनिक): लालसा मनाच्याही पुढं पुढं धावते, आशेचा वेग पकडते — आणि सगळं विश्व हावेपोटी पायांखाली तुडवलं जातं.

Metaphor-unfold

Literal image	Philosophical referent	Modern equivalent
Craving racing ahead of the mind, seizing hope's gallop, the world trampled underfoot	Spṛhā's totalizing, world-devouring reach	Want so consuming it gets ahead of your own thinking and treats everyone and everything as a means to be stepped on

Metaphor-family: runaway-chariot / desire-tramples-all.

Nāth-yogic layer

No Nāth-yogic referent in this ovi.

Cross-references

Internal: Closes the rajas-signs (BG-14.12); leads to the death-pivot at 14.237.
Tukaram parallel: (none specific to this ovi)
Source citation: Bhagavad Gītā 14.12 — स्पृहा, rendered as craving outrunning the mind, the world trampled underfoot.

Modern application

When want gets ahead of your own thinking. स्पृहा runs "ahead of the mind" — you find yourself already lunging before you've decided. Desire driving the chariot, reason left behind.
When the whole world becomes a means underfoot. Totalizing ambition treats people, places, time as things to be stepped on toward the goal. Notice when others have become terrain.
When hope itself is hijacked into a gallop. Even hope — a good thing — gets "seized" and turned into restless propulsion. The cure is to slow the chariot enough for the mind to catch up.

Sādhanā

Today, catch one moment when you're lunging at something before you've thought. Stop, let your mind catch up to your craving, and ask: who or what am I about to step on for this?

Arc

14.236 completes the rajas-signs; 14.237 closes the catalog and pivots to the death-clause — if the body is spent in such a gathering of rajas.

Ovi 14.237

Original (Marathi): इत्यादि वाढतां रजीं । इयें चिन्हें होतीं साजीं । आणि ऐशा समाजीं । वेंचे जरी देह ॥२३७॥ Voice: krishna-to-arjuna

Word-by-word gloss

Marathi	Meaning
इत्यादि वाढतां रजीं	when rajas grows, [with] these and such [signs]
इयें चिन्हें होतीं साजीं	these signs become fitting/proper
आणि ऐशा समाजीं	and in such a company/gathering [of rajas-states]
वेंचे जरी देह	if the body is spent (dies)

Literal translation

English: When rajas grows, these and such signs become fitting — and if, in such a company [of rajas-states], the body is spent —

मराठी (आधुनिक): रजोगुण वाढताना ही अशी लक्षणं शोभून दिसतात — आणि अशा अवस्थेत जर देह संपला —

Metaphor-unfold

No extended metaphor in this ovi — the conditional death-pivot for rajas.

Nāth-yogic layer

No Nāth-yogic referent in this ovi.

Cross-references

Internal: 14.214 / 14.255 — parallel-image: the same "if death falls just then" pivot used for sattva and tamas.
Tukaram parallel: (none specific to this ovi)
Source citation: Bhagavad Gītā 14.15 — रजसि प्रलयं गत्वा ("having gone to dissolution in rajas"); वेंचे जरी देह renders the dying-in-rajas condition.

Modern application

When an ending catches you mid-drive. A relationship, job, or life-phase ends while you're in full rajas — restless, grasping, unfinished. The exit-state is the drivenness. This ovi asks you to notice that.
When you fear "dying" with everything unfinished. Rajas's nature is never-done; if endings come during rajas, they come with the ache of the incomplete. The point isn't to finish everything — it's to be able to put the hand down (14.231).
When you want your exits to not be frantic. Whatever you're leaving, leaving it in rajas means leaving it grasping. The cluster's quiet counsel: quiet the drive before the threshold.

Sādhanā

Today, imagine one current chapter ending tomorrow while you're in your present rajas. What would you wish you'd put down first? Name the one thing — and put your hand down from it for one hour today.

Arc

14.237 sets the rajas-death condition; 14.238 gives its consequence — rebirth in a human womb, but no higher.

Ovi 14.238

Original (Marathi): तरी आघवाचि इहीं । परिवारला आनी देहीं । रिगे परी योनिही । मानुषीचि ॥२३८॥ Voice: krishna-to-arjuna

Word-by-word gloss

Marathi	Meaning
तरी आघवाचि इहीं	then, surrounded by all these [rajas-traits]
परिवारला आनी देहीं	encircled, into another body
रिगे परी योनिही	[the soul] enters, but the womb too
मानुषीचि	[is] a human one

Literal translation

English: Then, surrounded by all these [rajas-traits], the soul enters into another body — but the womb, too, is again a human one.

मराठी (आधुनिक): मग या सगळ्या [रजोगुणी] लक्षणांनी वेढलेला जीव दुसऱ्या देहात शिरतो — पण योनीही पुन्हा मानवीच असते.

Metaphor-unfold

No extended metaphor in this ovi — it states the rajas-rebirth destination.

Nāth-yogic layer

No Nāth-yogic referent in this ovi.

Cross-references

Internal: 14.219 (sattva → among the wise) and 14.259 (tamas → sub-human) bracket this middle destiny; the rebirth-in-wombs theme is what Tukārām 4481 v30 answers (frontmatter).
Tukaram parallel: (none specific to this ovi — see 14.255/14.259 for the 4481 / 139 parallels on the rebirth-mechanism)
Source citation: Bhagavad Gītā 14.15 — रजसि प्रलयं गत्वा कर्मसंगिषु जायते ("dissolved in rajas, born among the action-attached"), rendered as the human womb.

Modern application

When drivenness keeps you on the human treadmill — neither rising nor falling. Rajas-death yields "again a human womb": you neither break through to the wise nor collapse below, but recycle into more of the same action-bound striving. The middle that repeats.
When you sense your patterns reincarnating within this life. The "human womb again" plays out even now: leave one driven job, enter another identical one; same role, new building. The form repeats because the guṇa carried over.
When "more of the same" is itself the verdict. The rajas-result isn't punishment — it's repetition. The action-bound life renews the action-bound life.

Sādhanā

Today, notice one pattern you've "reincarnated" — left a situation only to recreate it. Name the driven quality you carried into the new version. Seeing the carry-over is the first step to not carrying it again.

Arc

14.238 says rajas-death yields human (not higher) rebirth; 14.239 makes the point — a beggar in a palace is no king.

Ovi 14.239

Original (Marathi): सुरवाडेंसिं भिकारी । वसो पां राजमंदिरीं । तरी काय अवधारीं । रावो होईल ? ॥२३९॥ Voice: krishna-to-arjuna (अवधारीं — "mark/consider", to Arjuna)

Word-by-word gloss

Marathi	Meaning
सुरवाडेंसिं भिकारी	a beggar, comfortably
वसो पां राजमंदिरीं	let him dwell in a royal palace
तरी काय अवधारीं	yet, mark you
रावो होईल ?	will he become the king?

Literal translation

English: Let a beggar lodge ever so comfortably in a royal palace — yet, mark this, will he on that account become the king?

मराठी (आधुनिक): भिकारी राजमहालात सुखानं राहिला, तरी — नीट विचार कर — तो राजा होईल का?

Metaphor-unfold

Literal image	Philosophical referent	Modern equivalent
A beggar lodging in a palace who does not thereby become king	The rajas-soul's good human rebirth that is still not the sattva-soul's "kingship" of knowledge	Comfortable circumstances without inner stature — living in the nice house, still a beggar in the only currency that counts

Metaphor-family: borrowed-grandeur / beggar-in-the-palace.

Nāth-yogic layer

No Nāth-yogic referent in this ovi.

Cross-references

Internal: 14.220 — contradicts-and-revises: the beggar-who-cannot-become-king inverts the king-who-stays-king; the sattva-soul keeps its kingship, the rajas-soul never attains it.
Tukaram parallel: (none specific to this ovi)
Source citation: Bhagavad Gītā 14.15 — कर्मसंगिषु जायते, amplified by the beggar-in-the-palace simile.

Modern application

When fine circumstances don't confer inner stature. You got the house, the title, the life — but the comfortable lodging didn't make you the king. External upgrade without inner change is a beggar in a palace.
When you mistake the address for the standing. Living among the successful, in the nice setting, can feel like having arrived. The ovi punctures it: residence isn't rank.
When you want to know what would actually make you "king." Not the palace (circumstance) but the kingship (the sattva-knowledge of 14.220). The inner stature is the only crown.

Sādhanā

Today, name one "palace" you've moved into (a status, a setting, a circle) and ask honestly: did living here make me the king, or am I a comfortable beggar in it? What inner stature is still missing? Name the one thing.

Arc

14.239 says comfort isn't kingship; 14.240 drives it home — an ox in a wedding-train is still an ox.

Ovi 14.240

Original (Marathi): बैल तेथें करबाडें । हें न चुके गा फुडें । नेईजो कां वऱ्हाडें । समर्थाचेनी ॥२४०॥ Voice: krishna-to-arjuna (गा address-particle)

Word-by-word gloss

Marathi	Meaning
बैल तेथें करबाडें	an ox [is] a yoked drudge even there
हें न चुके गा फुडें	this surely does not fail, [my friend]
नेईजो कां वऱ्हाडें	though it be led in the wedding-procession
समर्थाचेनी	of a powerful/great man

Literal translation

English: An ox is a yoked drudge even there — this surely does not fail — though it be led along in the wedding-train of some great and powerful man.

मराठी (आधुनिक): बैल तिथेही ओझं वाहणारा गुलामच — हे नक्की चुकत नाही — मग तो कितीही मोठ्या माणसाच्या वऱ्हाडात नेला तरी.

Metaphor-unfold

Literal image	Philosophical referent	Modern equivalent
An ox led in a rich man's wedding-procession, still a drudge	The rajas-soul's bondage to action unlifted by grand surroundings	Being carried along in impressive company while still doing the same yoked labour — the entourage doesn't free you from the harness

Metaphor-family: ox-in-the-procession / unchanged-by-company.

Nāth-yogic layer

No Nāth-yogic referent in this ovi.

Cross-references

Internal: Pairs with 14.239 (beggar-in-palace) as the second rajas-rebirth simile.
Tukaram parallel: (none specific to this ovi)
Source citation: Bhagavad Gītā 14.15 — कर्मसंगिषु जायते, amplified by the ox-in-the-wedding-train simile.

Modern application

When impressive company doesn't lift your bondage. Wheeled along in a powerful man's procession, the ox is still an ox. Proximity to greatness, fancy associations — none of it removes the yoke of your own compulsive action.
When you're "carried along" but still harnessed. You're in the room with the impressive people, part of the grand event — yet still doing the same drudge-labour, still bound. The setting upgraded; the harness didn't.
When you want freedom, not a better procession. The ox's problem isn't the quality of the procession — it's the yoke. Changing companies, scenes, circles won't unbind the rajas-harness; only quieting the compulsion will.

Sādhanā

Today, notice one "grand procession" you're part of that hasn't actually lifted your daily yoke. Name the yoke itself — the compulsive labour you'd still be doing in any procession. That's what actually needs freeing.

Arc

14.240 says company doesn't free the ox; 14.241 cashes it out — the rajas-soul yoked to ceaseless labour, no respite day or night.

Ovi 14.241

Original (Marathi): म्हणौनि व्यापारा हातीं । उसंतु दिहा ना राती । तैसयाचिये पांती । जुंपिजे तो ॥२४१॥ Voice: krishna-to-arjuna

Word-by-word gloss

Marathi	Meaning
म्हणौनि व्यापारा हातीं	therefore, into the hand of business
उसंतु दिहा ना राती	no respite, day or night
तैसयाचिये पांती	into that same rank/line
जुंपिजे तो	he is yoked

Literal translation

English: Therefore, into the hand of [ceaseless] business, with no respite by day or by night, he is yoked into that same rank.

मराठी (आधुनिक): म्हणून दिवस ना रात्र उसंत नसलेल्या व्यापाराच्या हाती, त्याच रांगेत तो जुंपला जातो.

Metaphor-unfold

Literal image	Philosophical referent	Modern equivalent
The soul yoked, with no rest day or night, into the rank of toil	The rajas-reborn existence harnessed to unresting action	The life with no off-switch — always-on work, no day or night that isn't "business," harnessed into the grind

Metaphor-family: yoke / harnessed-to-toil.

Nāth-yogic layer

No Nāth-yogic referent in this ovi.

Cross-references

Internal: Cashes out the ox-simile of 14.240; renders कर्मसंगि.
Tukaram parallel: (none specific to this ovi)
Source citation: Bhagavad Gītā 14.15 — कर्मसंगिषु जायते, rendered as yoking into ceaseless business with no rest.

Modern application

When there's no day or night that isn't work. उसंतु दिहा ना राती — "no respite day or night." The always-on life, weekends colonized, sleep cut for the grind. This is the rajas-rebirth lived now.
When rest itself feels forbidden. The yoke is not just long hours but the inability to be un-yoked — guilt at stopping, restlessness in stillness. The harness is internal.
When you're "in the rank" with others equally yoked. तैसयाचिये पांती — yoked into the same line. The whole culture of ceaseless toil, everyone harnessed together, normalizing it.

Sādhanā

Tonight, claim one genuinely un-yoked hour — no business, no productivity, no "useful" aim. Just stop, fully, for sixty minutes. Notice the restlessness that arises; that restlessness is the yoke you're trying to set down.

Arc

14.241 yokes the soul to toil; 14.242 closes the rajas-block — drowning and dying in the deep pool of rajas-tendency.

Ovi 14.242

Original (Marathi): कर्मजडाच्या ठायीं । किंबहुना होय देहीं । जो रजोवृत्तीच्या डोहीं । बुडोनि निमे ॥२४२॥ Voice: krishna-to-arjuna

Word-by-word gloss

Marathi	Meaning
कर्मजडाच्या ठायीं	among the action-dulled (karma-jaḍa)
किंबहुना होय देहीं	in short, comes to be embodied
जो रजोवृत्तीच्या डोहीं	he who, in the deep-pool of rajas-tendency
बुडोनि निमे	drowning, perishes

Literal translation

English: In short, he comes to be born embodied among the action-dulled — he who, in the deep pool of rajas-tendency, drowning, perishes.

मराठी (आधुनिक): थोडक्यात, तो कर्मजड लोकांमध्ये देह धारण करतो — जो रजोवृत्तीच्या डोहात बुडून मरतो.

Metaphor-unfold

Literal image	Philosophical referent	Modern equivalent
A soul drowning and dying in the deep pool of rajas-tendency	Rajas as deep water that sinks and finishes the soul	Going under in your own drivenness — drowned by the very activity you thought was keeping you afloat

Metaphor-family: deep-pool / drowning-in-the-current.

Nāth-yogic layer

No Nāth-yogic referent in this ovi.

Cross-references

Internal: Closes the rajas-block; leads to 14.243 (tamas swallowing the others).
Tukaram parallel: (none specific to this ovi)
Source citation: Bhagavad Gītā 14.15 — कर्मसंगिषु जायते, rendered with कर्मजड (action-dulled) and the डोह (deep-pool) of rajas.

Modern application

When the activity you trusted to save you is what drowns you. Rajas looks like motion, like staying afloat — but it's a deep pool you sink in. Many drown in their own busyness, "dulled by action" (कर्मजड) into a stupor of doing.
When ceaseless doing has dulled you. कर्मजड — action-dulled. Past a point, relentless activity doesn't sharpen; it numbs. The drowning is also a dulling.
When you can't tell swimming from sinking. In the deep pool of drivenness, frantic motion feels like progress while you go under. The honest question: am I swimming, or just thrashing as I sink?

Sādhanā

Today, ask of one area of relentless activity: am I swimming or drowning here? If the honest answer is drowning, name one thing you can stop doing — one stroke you can cease — to come up for air.

Arc

14.242 closes rajas; 14.243 opens tamas — swallowing rajas and sattva, tamoguṇa rises into ascendancy.

Ovi 14.243

Original (Marathi): मग तैसाचि पुढती । रजसत्त्ववृत्ती । गिळूनि ये उन्नती । तमोगुण ॥२४३॥ Voice: krishna-to-arjuna

Word-by-word gloss

Marathi	Meaning
मग तैसाचि पुढती	then likewise, next
रजसत्त्ववृत्ती	the rajas-and-sattva tendencies
गिळूनि ये उन्नती	swallowing [them], comes into ascendancy
तमोगुण	tamoguṇa

Literal translation

English: Then likewise, swallowing up the rajas-and-sattva tendencies, tamoguṇa comes into its ascendancy.

मराठी (आधुनिक): मग त्याचप्रमाणे, रज आणि सत्त्व यांच्या वृत्ती गिळून तमोगुण वरचढ होतो.

Metaphor-unfold

Literal image	Philosophical referent	Modern equivalent
Tamoguṇa swallowing the other two tendencies to rise	Tamas's dominance achieved by engulfing/extinguishing rajas and sattva	The heavy fog that doesn't argue with your drive and clarity — it swallows them; you simply go dark and still

Metaphor-family: devouring-darkness / swallowing-mouth. Renders तमसि विवृद्धे.

Nāth-yogic layer

No Nāth-yogic referent in this ovi.

Cross-references

Internal: 14.20204 / 14.226 — parallel-image: the third guṇa-onset, structurally matching the sattva and rajas openings.
Tukaram parallel: (none specific to this ovi)
Source citation: Bhagavad Gītā 14.13 — तमसि विवृद्धे ("when tamas has grown"); गिळूनि (swallowing) renders the takeover.

Modern application

When darkness doesn't fight your clarity — it eats it. Tamas's takeover isn't a struggle; it "swallows" both drive and clarity. The shutdown of a depressive or numbed state, where energy and insight just vanish.
When you go dark without deciding to. Unlike rajas (which seizes), tamas engulfs. You don't choose the fog; it absorbs you. Naming "tamas has swallowed the others" is itself a small light against it.
When you can read the third weather. Having diagnosed sattva and rajas, you can name this one too: not clear, not driven, but swallowed — heavy, dim, inert.

Sādhanā

Today, if you notice both your clarity and your drive have gone — not replaced by calm but by heaviness — name it plainly: "tamas has swallowed the others." Just the naming. It's a candle in the fog.

Arc

14.243 brings tamas to ascendancy; 14.244 announces its signs — hear them well by the strength of the ear.

Ovi 14.244

Original (Marathi): तैंचि जियें लिंगें । देहींचीं सबाह्य सांगें । तियें परिस चांगें । श्रोत्रबळें ॥२४४॥ Voice: krishna-to-arjuna

Word-by-word gloss

Marathi	Meaning
तैंचि जियें लिंगें	then, the marks/signs (linga) which
देहींचीं सबाह्य सांगें	are in the body, inner-and-outer, [I] tell
तियें परिस चांगें	those, hear well
श्रोत्रबळें	by the strength of the ear

Literal translation

English: Then the marks that are in the body, inner and outer — hear them well, with the full strength of your ear.

मराठी (आधुनिक): तेव्हा देहाच्या आत-बाहेर जी लक्षणं असतात, ती नीट कान देऊन ऐक.

Metaphor-unfold

No extended metaphor in this ovi — it is the summons to attend.

Nāth-yogic layer

No Nāth-yogic referent in this ovi.

Cross-references

Internal: Announces the tamas-sign catalog (14.245-254).
Tukaram parallel: (none specific to this ovi)
Source citation: Bhagavad Gītā 14.13 — introduces the अप्रकाश/अप्रवृत्ति/प्रमाद/मोह signs.

Modern application

When you need to listen hardest for the signs of your own fog. Tamas, being dimming, is the one guṇa you're least able to see while in it — hence "hear well." The signs of your own shutdown must be learned in advance, listened for.
When you ask someone else to be your ears. Since tamas dims self-perception, "the strength of the ear" can mean: let a trusted person tell you when you've gone dark. You may not see it; they can.
When you study the symptoms before you need them. Krishna catalogs tamas's marks before the listener is in tamas. Learn the signs now so you recognize them later.

Sādhanā

Today, write down two or three of your personal early signs of going dark (oversleeping, not replying, the apartment getting messy, doom-scrolling). Keep the list. It's the "strength of the ear" for next time.

Arc

14.244 announces the signs; 14.245 gives the first — the mind a moonless new-moon sky.

Ovi 14.245

Original (Marathi): तरी होय ऐसें मन । जैसें रविचंद्रहीन । रात्रींचें कां गगन । अंवसेचिये ॥२४५॥ Voice: krishna-to-arjuna

Word-by-word gloss

Marathi	Meaning
तरी होय ऐसें मन	then the mind becomes such
जैसें रविचंद्रहीन	as [a thing] bereft of sun and moon
रात्रींचें कां गगन	or the night-sky
अंवसेचिये	of the new-moon (amāvasyā)

Literal translation

English: Then the mind becomes like the night-sky of the new moon — bereft of both sun and moon.

मराठी (आधुनिक): मग मन असं होतं — सूर्य-चंद्र नसलेल्या अमावस्येच्या रात्रीच्या आकाशासारखं.

Metaphor-unfold

Literal image	Philosophical referent	Modern equivalent
The new-moon night-sky, void of sun and moon	Tamas's aprakāśa — the mind's total lightlessness	The blank, lightless inner state of depression or burnout-collapse — no spark of clarity, no warmth of drive, just dark

Metaphor-family: moonless-night / darkness-of-the-void.

Nāth-yogic layer

No Nāth-yogic referent in this ovi.

Cross-references

Internal: 14.212 — contradicts-and-revises: the moonless new-moon sky is the exact inversion of sattva's full-moon-flooded sky.
Tukaram parallel: (none specific to this ovi)
Source citation: Bhagavad Gītā 14.13 — अप्रकाशः ("non-illumination"), amplified by the new-moon-sky image.

Modern application

When the inner sky goes lightless. Depression's signature: not sad-with-clarity, but dark — neither the sun of drive nor the moon of clarity. "Bereft of sun and moon." Recognizing it as a guṇa-state, not a verdict on your worth, can loosen its grip.
When you remember the full moon will return. The new moon is a phase, not the end of the moon. Tamas's lightlessness is amāvasyā, which by definition passes into light again.
When you stop expecting clarity from a dark sky. Trying to force insight or motivation in deep tamas is demanding a full moon on amāvasyā night. Sometimes the wise move is to wait out the dark, not fight it.

Sādhanā

Tonight, if your inner sky feels new-moon-dark, don't demand sun or moon of it. Instead, say to yourself once: "this is amāvasyā; it is a phase; the moon returns." Then do one small kind thing for your body and rest.

Arc

14.245 darkens the mind; 14.246 deepens it — the inner spark of thought laid waste, deliberation lost.

Ovi 14.246

Original (Marathi): तैसें अंतर असोस । होय स्फूर्तिहीन उद्वस । विचाराची भाष । हारपे तैं ॥२४६॥ Voice: krishna-to-arjuna

Word-by-word gloss

Marathi	Meaning
तैसें अंतर असोस	so the inner-being, utterly [void]
होय स्फूर्तिहीन उद्वस	becomes spark-less (sphūrti-hīna), laid waste
विचाराची भाष	the very speech/faculty of deliberation
हारपे तैं	is lost then

Literal translation

English: So the inner being, utterly void, becomes bereft of all spontaneous spark, laid waste — and then the very faculty of deliberation is lost.

मराठी (आधुनिक): तसं अंतःकरण पूर्ण रिकामं, स्फूर्तिहीन, ओसाड होतं — आणि विचाराची भाषाच हरवून जाते.

Metaphor-unfold

No extended metaphor in this ovi — उद्वस (laid waste) is a single desolation-word.

Nāth-yogic layer

No Nāth-yogic referent in this ovi.

Cross-references

Internal: Deepens 14.245's aprakāśa into cognitive collapse.
Tukaram parallel: (none specific to this ovi)
Source citation: Bhagavad Gītā 14.13 — अप्रकाशः, rendered as स्फूर्तिहीन (spark-less) and विचार हारपे (deliberation lost).

Modern application

When even thinking stops working. Not "thinking dark thoughts" — the faculty of thinking goes. The brain-fog where you can't form a deliberation at all, can't hold a thought to decide on it. Tamas's specific cognitive shutdown.
When you're "laid waste" and demand productivity anyway. उद्वस — laid waste, desolate. Expecting yourself to think clearly here is cruelty. The honest move is to recognize the faculty is offline and not punish yourself for it.
When the spark won't come. स्फूर्तिहीन — spark-less. No spontaneous impulse to begin anything. This is a known phase, not a permanent defect.

Sādhanā

Today, if your thinking-faculty itself feels offline, don't try to make a big decision. Lower the bar to one tiny, non-cognitive act — drink water, step outside, make the bed. Spark returns from the body, not from forcing thought.

Arc

14.246 voids the inner spark; 14.247 deepens it — the intellect won't grasp even a stone, memory itself exiled.

Ovi 14.247

Original (Marathi): बुद्धि मेचवेना धोंडीं । हा ठायवरी मवाळें सांडी । आठवो देशधडी । जाला दिसे ॥२४७॥ Voice: krishna-to-arjuna

Word-by-word gloss

Marathi	Meaning
बुद्धि मेचवेना धोंडीं	the intellect cannot fix even on a stone
हा ठायवरी मवाळें सांडी	to this degree it lets go even of the soft/easy
आठवो देशधडी	recollection [becomes] an exile, banished from the land
जाला दिसे	appears to have become

Literal translation

English: The intellect cannot catch hold even of a stone [the grossest object]; to this degree it lets go even of the soft and easy — and memory itself seems to have become an exile.

मराठी (आधुनिक): बुद्धी दगडावरही स्थिर होत नाही; इतकी की सोपं-मऊही सोडून देते — आणि स्मृती जणू देशाबाहेर हद्दपार झाल्यासारखी दिसते.

Metaphor-unfold

No extended metaphor in this ovi — though आठवो देशधडी (memory exiled) is a single banishment-figure.

Nāth-yogic layer

No Nāth-yogic referent in this ovi.

Cross-references

Internal: Continues the tamas cognitive-collapse (14.246).
Tukaram parallel: (none specific to this ovi)
Source citation: Bhagavad Gītā 14.13 — अप्रकाशः प्रमादः, amplified: the intellect cannot grasp a stone, memory exiled.

Modern application

When you can't hold even the simplest thing in mind. "Cannot fix even on a stone" — you re-read the same sentence five times, lose the thread of an easy task. Tamas drops even the soft and easy, not just the hard.
When memory goes into exile. Forgetting why you walked into the room, names, what you were about to do. The ovi names this as a guṇa-symptom (आठवो देशधडी), not early decline or stupidity.
When you berate yourself for the fog's symptoms. Recognizing "the intellect can't grasp a stone right now" as tamas removes the self-blame. The faculty is dimmed; you are not defective.

Sādhanā

Today, if your mind can't hold even simple things, externalize your memory instead of straining it: write the one next task on a sticky note and do only that. Don't trust the exiled memory; give it a crutch.

Arc

14.247 fails intellect and memory; 14.248 gives the affective sign — the body roaring drunk on un-discrimination, stupidity its only trade.

Ovi 14.248

Original (Marathi): अविवेकाचेनि माजें । सबाह्य शरीर गाजे । एकलेनि घेपे दीजे । मौढ्य तेथ ॥२४८॥ Voice: krishna-to-arjuna

Word-by-word gloss

Marathi	Meaning
अविवेकाचेनि माजें	with the intoxication of un-discrimination (aviveka)
सबाह्य शरीर गाजे	the body, inner-and-outer, roars/resounds
एकलेनि घेपे दीजे	alone/singly is taken-and-given (traded)
मौढ्य तेथ	stupidity (mauḍhya), there

Literal translation

English: With the intoxication of un-discrimination, the whole body, inner and outer, roars — and there, stupidity alone is bought and sold.

मराठी (आधुनिक): अविवेकाच्या नशेनं आत-बाहेर सगळं शरीर धुंद होतं — आणि तिथे फक्त मूढपणाचीच देवाण-घेवाण चालते.

Metaphor-unfold

Literal image	Philosophical referent	Modern equivalent
The body roaring drunk on un-discrimination; only stupidity traded	Tamas's moha — delusion as a self-reinforcing intoxication	The state where dumb impulse is the only currency — every exchange, in and out, is un-thought; you're "drunk" on not-discriminating

Metaphor-family: drunkenness / intoxication-of-delusion. Renders मोह.

Nāth-yogic layer

No Nāth-yogic referent in this ovi.

Cross-references

Internal: Leads to 14.252's "drunk without liquor" — the intoxication-of-tamas family.
Tukaram parallel: (none specific to this ovi)
Source citation: Bhagavad Gītā 14.13 — मोहः ("delusion"), rendered with the माज (intoxication) of अविवेक and मौढ्य (stupidity).

Modern application

When un-thinking becomes the whole climate. अविवेक — un-discrimination — fills the body like drink. Every input and output is dumb, reactive, un-weighed. The "only stupidity traded" state of deep fog.
When you're high on not-thinking and it feels almost good. Tamas's delusion is an intoxication — there's a numbing comfort in not discriminating, not deciding, going slack. Notice the seductive heaviness.
When you can name the trade. "Right now I'm only trading in dumb impulse." Naming the currency (मौढ्य) is the first re-introduction of viveka into a moha-state.

Sādhanā

Today, if you catch yourself in dull, un-thought reactivity, pause before one exchange (a reply, a click, a purchase) and ask a single discriminating question: is this milk or water? One act of viveka cracks the intoxication.

Arc

14.248 gives the intoxication of delusion; 14.249 gives the wreckage — the bones of broken conduct strewn before the senses.

Ovi 14.249

Original (Marathi): आचारभंगाचीं हाडें । रुपतीं इंद्रियांपुढें । मरे जरी तेणेंकडे । क्रिया जाय ॥२४९॥ Voice: krishna-to-arjuna

Word-by-word gloss

Marathi	Meaning
आचारभंगाचीं हाडें	the bones of broken conduct (ācāra-bhanga)
रुपतीं इंद्रियांपुढें	prick up / strew themselves before the senses
मरे जरी तेणेंकडे	if one dies by that [way]
क्रिया जाय	prescribed-action perishes

Literal translation

English: The bones of broken conduct strew themselves up before the senses — and if one dies by that path, all prescribed action perishes with him.

मराठी (आधुनिक): आचारभंगाची हाडं इंद्रियांसमोर रुतून पडतात — आणि त्या वाटेनं जर मरण आलं, तर सगळी [नित्य-नैमित्तिक] क्रियाच नष्ट होते.

Metaphor-unfold

Literal image	Philosophical referent	Modern equivalent
The bones of broken conduct littered before the senses	Tamas's prramāda — the heedless ruin of disciplined, dharmic action	The wreckage of dropped routines and abandoned standards strewn around you — the skipped practices, the let-go disciplines, lying about like bones

Metaphor-family: strewn-bones / ruin-of-conduct. Renders प्रमाद.

Nāth-yogic layer

No Nāth-yogic referent in this ovi.

Cross-references

Internal: Continues the tamas-signs; the ruin of क्रिया (right action) contrasts with sattva's spontaneous restraint (14.208-209).
Tukaram parallel: (none specific to this ovi)
Source citation: Bhagavad Gītā 14.13 — प्रमादः ("heedlessness"), amplified by the strewn-bones-of-broken-conduct image.

Modern application

When your routines lie around you like bones. Tamas's प्रमाद: the abandoned exercise, the dropped practice, the let-go standards "strewn before the senses." The visible litter of heedlessness.
When skipping becomes total collapse. "If one dies by that path, prescribed action perishes" — heedlessness left unchecked doesn't stay partial; it can take the whole structure of disciplined life down with it.
When you trip over the evidence of your own neglect. The bones "prick up before the senses" — you keep seeing the unmade commitments. That seeing is a prompt, not just an accusation.

Sādhanā

Today, pick up one "bone" — one small dropped practice (make the bed, the 5-minute walk, the daily message to someone). Just re-do that one thing once. One bone back in place begins to rebuild the skeleton.

Arc

14.249 strews the bones of broken conduct; 14.250 gives the perverse appetite — the mind brightening at evil like an owl in the dark.

Ovi 14.250

Original (Marathi): पैं आणिकही एक दिसे । जे दुष्कृतीं चित्त उल्हासे । आंधारी देखणें जैसें । डुडुळाचें ॥२५०॥ Voice: krishna-to-arjuna

Word-by-word gloss

Marathi	Meaning
पैं आणिकही एक दिसे	indeed, yet one more [sign] appears
जे दुष्कृतीं चित्त उल्हासे	that the mind brightens/grows eager at evil deeds (duṣkṛta)
आंधारी देखणें जैसें	as seeing is in the dark
डुडुळाचें	of the owl

Literal translation

English: Indeed, yet one more sign appears — that the mind brightens and grows eager at evil deeds, just as the owl's seeing is sharpest in the dark.

मराठी (आधुनिक): आणखीही एक लक्षण दिसतं — दुष्कर्मांत चित्त उल्हसित होतं, जसं घुबडाला अंधारातच नीट दिसतं.

Metaphor-unfold

Literal image	Philosophical referent	Modern equivalent
The owl whose sight quickens only in darkness	Tamas's inverted appetite — the mind clear and eager only toward the forbidden	The state where you have energy for exactly the wrong thing — listless toward the good, suddenly sharp and eager toward what harms you

Metaphor-family: owl-in-darkness / inverted-vision.

Nāth-yogic layer

No Nāth-yogic referent in this ovi.

Cross-references

Internal: Sets up 14.251 (senses running toward the forbidden).
Tukaram parallel: (none specific to this ovi)
Source citation: Bhagavad Gītā 14.13 — मोहः प्रमादः, amplified by the owl-sees-in-darkness image.

Modern application

When you have energy only for the harmful thing. Listless toward work, exercise, connection — but suddenly bright and eager toward the binge, the spite, the self-destruction. The owl sees only in the dark. A precise sign of tamas's inversion.
When the forbidden is the one thing that excites you. दुष्कृतीं चित्त उल्हासे — the mind brightens at wrongdoing. The very fact that only the bad thing energizes you is the diagnostic.
When you notice the energy is real but pointed wrong. It's not that you have no energy — it's owl-energy, working only toward the dark. Redirecting it is the task, not manufacturing energy from nothing.

Sādhanā

Today, if you notice yourself "brightening" only toward something harmful, name it out loud: "this is owl-sight — energy pointed at the dark." Then spend that same energy on one small good thing instead, even reluctantly.

Arc

14.250 gives the owl's inverted sight; 14.251 cashes it out — at the mere name of the forbidden, every craving floods in.

Ovi 14.251

Original (Marathi): तैसें निषिद्धाचेनि नांवें । भलतेंही भरे हावे । तियेविषयीं धांवे । घेती करणें ॥२५१॥ Voice: krishna-to-arjuna

Word-by-word gloss

Marathi	Meaning
तैसें निषिद्धाचेनि नांवें	so, at the [mere] name of the forbidden (niṣiddha)
भलतेंही भरे हावे	any and every craving fills up
तियेविषयीं धांवे	toward those objects, [they] run
घेती करणें	the senses seize/grasp

Literal translation

English: So, at the mere name of the forbidden, every craving floods in — and the senses run toward those objects and seize them.

मराठी (आधुनिक): तसं निषिद्धाच्या नुसत्या नावानंही सगळ्या हावा भरून येतात — आणि त्या विषयांकडे इंद्रियं धावत जाऊन ते पकडतात.

Metaphor-unfold

No extended metaphor in this ovi — it cashes out the owl-image of 14.250.

Nāth-yogic layer

No Nāth-yogic referent in this ovi.

Cross-references

Internal: 14.210 — contradicts-and-revises: the senses-running-toward-the-forbidden inverts sattva's forbidden-fleeing-the-senses-like-darkness-before-a-lamp.
Tukaram parallel: (none specific to this ovi)
Source citation: Bhagavad Gītā 14.13 — मोहः, amplified: at the name of the forbidden, cravings flood, senses chase.

Modern application

When the word "no" becomes a magnet. Tell yourself a thing is off-limits and the craving for it floods in — the senses "run toward it." Under tamas, prohibition itself excites pursuit. The exact inversion of sattva (14.210), where the forbidden fled.
When you chase precisely what you shouldn't. Not drifting into it — running at it, seizing it. The active pursuit of the harmful is tamas's deluded appetite in motion.
When naming the rule triggers the breaking. "I really shouldn't…" is, in tamas, the cue to do it. Recognize that in this state the internal prohibition backfires; you may need external structure, not just resolve.

Sādhanā

Today, if you notice yourself running toward exactly the forbidden thing, don't rely on telling yourself "no" (which, in tamas, lights the fuse). Instead, change your environment — physically remove yourself or the object for ten minutes. Use structure, not willpower.

Arc

14.251 sends the senses chasing the forbidden; 14.252 images the whole derangement — drunk without liquor, mad without cause.

Ovi 14.252

Original (Marathi): मदिरा न घेतां डुले । सन्निपातेंवीण बरळे । निष्प्रेमेंचि भुले । पिसें जैसें ॥२५२॥ Voice: krishna-to-arjuna

Word-by-word gloss

Marathi	Meaning
मदिरा न घेतां डुले	reels without having taken liquor
सन्निपातेंवीण बरळे	raves without [the fever of] sannipāta (delirium)
निष्प्रेमेंचि भुले	is besotted without any [real] love
पिसें जैसें	just like a madman

Literal translation

English: He reels without having drunk liquor, raves without the fever of delirium, is besotted without any real love — just like a madman.

मराठी (आधुनिक): दारू न पिता झुलतो, सन्निपात नसताना बरळतो, खऱ्या प्रेमाशिवायच भुलतो — अगदी वेड्यासारखा.

Metaphor-unfold

Literal image	Philosophical referent	Modern equivalent
Drunk with no drink, raving with no fever, infatuated with no love	Tamas's moha — derangement with no external cause	The objectless craziness of deep fog — irrational, reeling, infatuated, with nothing actually causing it; the malfunction is internal

Metaphor-family: madman / intoxication-without-cause.

Nāth-yogic layer

No Nāth-yogic referent in this ovi.

Cross-references

Internal: Continues the intoxication-of-tamas family (14.248); leads to the unmanī-contrast at 14.253.
Tukaram parallel: (none specific to this ovi)
Source citation: Bhagavad Gītā 14.13 — मोहः, amplified: drunk-without-drink, mad-without-cause.

Modern application

When you're deranged for no reason you can point to. Reeling, irrational, infatuated — yet nothing happened, no drink, no event. Tamas's delusion is causeless; looking for the external trigger is a category error. The malfunction is in the guṇa, not the world.
When you're "besotted without love." निष्प्रेमेंचि भुले — fixated and infatuated with no real affection underneath. The empty obsession (a person, a grievance, a fantasy) with no genuine feeling at its root.
When you stop hunting for the "reason." Recognizing the state as tamas-moha — derangement that needs no cause — frees you from the spiral of "but why do I feel this?" Sometimes the answer is simply: the fog.

Sādhanā

Today, if you feel irrationally off with no identifiable cause, resist the urge to manufacture a reason or a culprit. Name it: "causeless tamas-fog, no drink required." Then do the boring, grounding thing — eat, sleep, move — and let the fog lift on its own.

Arc

14.252 gives the causeless madness; 14.253 sharpens it with a yogic contrast — this is not the supra-mental unmanī.

Ovi 14.253

Original (Marathi): चित्त तरी गेलें आहे । परी उन्मनी ते नोहे । ऐसें माल्हातिजे मोहें । माजिरेनि ॥२५३॥ Voice: krishna-to-arjuna

Word-by-word gloss

Marathi	Meaning
चित्त तरी गेलें आहे	the mind (citta) indeed is gone
परी उन्मनी ते नोहे	but it is not unmanī (the yogic no-mind)
ऐसें माल्हातिजे मोहें	thus one is lulled by delusion (moha)
माजिरेनि	by the intoxicating [moha]

Literal translation

English: The mind indeed is gone — but this is not unmanī [the yogic no-mind]; rather, one is lulled to sleep by intoxicating delusion.

मराठी (आधुनिक): चित्त तर गेलं आहे — पण ती उन्मनी अवस्था नव्हे; उलट, मादक मोहानं माणूस गुंगवला जातो.

Metaphor-unfold

No extended metaphor in this ovi — it is a precise yogic distinction.

Nāth-yogic layer

Referent: उन्मनी (unmanī — the Nātha-yogic supra-mental "no-mind" state) — confidence: high. The word unmanī is overtly in the text. But it is invoked by negation: the tamas-soul's mind is gone (चित्त गेलें आहे), yet this is emphatically not unmanī — it is a soul lulled by delusion. Note: This is the one genuine Nātha-yogic referent in the cluster. Jñāneśvar, the Nātha-siddha, draws the precise line that a careless reader would blur — the absence of mind in tamas-stupor superficially resembles the transcendence of mind in yoga, but they are opposites: one is dimming below thought, the other is rising above it. The high confidence is for the referent's overt presence; its function is contrastive, not affirmative.

Cross-references

Internal: Caps the tamas-derangement series (14.248-252) by distinguishing it from yogic transcendence.
Tukaram parallel: (none specific to this ovi)
Source citation: Bhagavad Gītā 14.13 — मोहः, amplified by the unmanī-contrast: mind gone but not transcended.

Modern application

When numbness masquerades as peace. The crucial distinction: the dull, mind-gone stupor of tamas can feel like the quiet of meditation — but one is below thought (lulled), the other above it (free). Don't mistake your shutdown for serenity.
When you tell apart "checked out" from "centered." Both are quiet. The tamas-quiet is heavy, foggy, lulled (माल्हातिजे); the yogic-quiet is light, lucid, awake. Same silence, opposite states. Test by the lucidity.
When spiritual bypass is actually depression. "I've transcended desire" can sometimes be "I've gone numb." This ovi gives the diagnostic gift: is the mind transcended (unmanī) or merely gone (moha)? Be honest about which.

Sādhanā

Today, if you feel "quiet," test which quiet it is: are you lucid and awake in the stillness, or heavy and lulled? One question — am I above thought or below it? — keeps you from mistaking the fog for the summit.

Arc

14.253 distinguishes tamas-stupor from yogic unmanī; 14.254 closes the tamas-sign catalog — such signs nourish tamas as it grows unbidden.

Ovi 14.254

Original (Marathi): किंबहुना ऐसैसीं । इयें चिन्हें तम पोषीं । जैं वाढे आयितीसी । आपुलिया ॥२५४॥ Voice: krishna-to-arjuna

Word-by-word gloss

Marathi	Meaning
किंबहुना ऐसैसीं	in short, such [signs] as these
इयें चिन्हें तम पोषीं	these signs nourish tamas
जैं वाढे आयितीसी	when it grows, ready [unbidden]
आपुलिया	of its own [accord]

Literal translation

English: In short, such signs as these nourish tamas, when it grows of its own ready, unbidden accord.

मराठी (आधुनिक): थोडक्यात, अशी ही लक्षणं तमाला पोसतात — जेव्हा तो आपोआप, स्वतःहूनच वाढतो.

Metaphor-unfold

No extended metaphor in this ovi — it closes the tamas-sign catalog.

Nāth-yogic layer

No Nāth-yogic referent in this ovi.

Cross-references

Internal: Closes the tamas-signs (BG-14.13); pivots to the tamas-death clause at 14.255.
Tukaram parallel: (none specific to this ovi)
Source citation: Bhagavad Gītā 14.13 — closes the तमसि एतानि जायन्ते विवृद्धे sign-list.

Modern application

When the fog feeds itself. "These signs nourish tamas" — tamas is self-reinforcing: oversleeping makes you duller, dullness makes you oversleep. The signs aren't just symptoms; they're fuel. Breaking any one starves the loop.
When darkness grows "unbidden." आयितीसी आपुलिया — of its own ready accord. Unlike rajas (which you drive), tamas grows without your initiative; it accretes if you do nothing. Inaction is its food.
When you realize you must act against the gradient. Because tamas grows unbidden and self-feeds, lifting it requires a deliberate counter-move — it won't lift on its own the way rajas eventually exhausts itself.

Sādhanā

Today, if you're in a self-feeding fog, break exactly one link in the loop with a deliberate counter-move: open the curtains, step outside for two minutes, text one person back. One break starves the self-nourishing cycle.

Arc

14.254 closes the tamas-signs; 14.255 pivots to the death-clause — if the snare of death falls just then, the soul departs with tamas.

Ovi 14.255

Original (Marathi): आणि हेंचि होय प्रसंगें । मरणाचें जरी पडे खागें । तरी तेतुलेनि निगे । तमेंसीं तो ॥२५५॥ Voice: krishna-to-arjuna

Word-by-word gloss

Marathi	Meaning
आणि हेंचि होय प्रसंगें	and this very thing happens by occasion
मरणाचें जरी पडे खागें	if the snare/blow of death should fall
तरी तेतुलेनि निगे	then by that much he departs
तमेंसीं तो	together with tamas

Literal translation

English: And this very thing happens by chance — if the snare of death should fall just then, he departs, by that much, together with tamas.

मराठी (आधुनिक): आणि नेमकं असंच घडलं — जर त्याच वेळी मृत्यूचा फास पडला — तर तितक्यानं तो तमासकटच निघून जातो.

Metaphor-unfold

Literal image	Philosophical referent	Modern equivalent
Death's snare (खागें) falling on the tamas-ridden soul	Dying while tamas is dominant — departing "together with tamas"	An ending that catches you mid-fog — you exit carrying the heaviness, the numbness, out with you

Metaphor-family: snare / sudden-blow-of-death.

Nāth-yogic layer

No Nāth-yogic referent in this ovi.

Cross-references

Internal: 14.237 — parallel-image: the rajas death-pivot, same "if death falls just now" structure.
Tukaram parallel:
Abhang 4481 (bhakti-dissolves-the-triguna counter-resolution) — Tukārām's monumental yamak-bandha treatise offers the way out of this whole death-guṇa mechanism. Its verses 92-93 — सत्वरजतमा आपण नासती । करितां हे भक्ति विठोबाची ॥ चित्त रंगलिया चैतन्य चि होय । तेथें उणें काय निजसुखा ॥ ("sattva-rajas-tamas themselves perish in the doing of Viṭhobā's bhakti; once the mind is dyed [in him] it becomes pure consciousness itself — what then is wanting in its own bliss?") — claim that bhakti dissolves all three guṇas at the root, so the dominant-guṇa-at-death no longer decides anything for the devotee. Reinforced by v30 (मात त्याची जया आवडे जीवासी — तया गर्भवासीं नाहीं येणें: one to whom His telling is dear comes to no further womb-dwelling), which directly answers the rebirth-in-wombs this cluster builds (14.238, 14.259). (Verbatim lines verified against corpus/4481.md.)
Source citation: Bhagavad Gītā 14.15 — तथा प्रलीनस्तमसि ("likewise, dissolved in tamas"); तमेंसीं निगे renders departing with tamas.

Modern application

When an ending catches you in the fog. A relationship, job, or life-phase closes while you're numbed and dark — and you carry that heaviness out into whatever's next. The death-guṇa is whatever quality you're steeped in at the threshold.
When you fear "going out" dim. The cluster's sober warning is also a motivation: the state you're steeped in at an ending matters. It's worth lifting the fog before the thresholds of life, not after.
When you reach for the bhakti exit. Tukārām's counter (4481): there's a way the whole mechanism stops applying — let the heart be "dyed" in devotion, and the three guṇas (including this fog) dissolve at the root rather than being managed one at a time.

Sādhanā

Today, if you're in a heavy fog, do one small act of devotion/connection that isn't about fixing the fog — a moment of remembrance, a name said with love, a minute of gratitude. Tukārām's claim: that "dyeing" works at a deeper level than guṇa-management. Test it once.

Arc

14.255 sets the tamas-death condition; 14.256 images the mechanism — the seed storing its nature before it sheds its body.

Ovi 14.256

Original (Marathi): राई राईपण बीजीं । सांठवूनियां अंग त्यजी । मग विरूढे तैं दुजी । गोठी आहे ? ॥२५६॥ Voice: krishna-to-arjuna

Word-by-word gloss

Marathi	Meaning
राई राईपण बीजीं	the mustard, [storing] its mustard-ness in the seed
सांठवूनियां अंग त्यजी	having stored [it], sheds its body
मग विरूढे तैं दुजी	then, when it sprouts — is there a second
गोठी आहे ?	matter [to speak of]?

Literal translation

English: The mustard, having stored its very mustard-ness in the seed, sheds its body — and only then is there the second matter of its sprouting again. [Just so the tamas-soul carries tamas latent into rebirth.]

मराठी (आधुनिक): मोहरी आपलं मोहरीपण बीजात साठवून देह टाकते — मग ती रुजते, हा दुसरा भाग; [तसाच तमोगुणी जीव तम साठवून पुढच्या जन्मात नेतो].

Metaphor-unfold

Literal image	Philosophical referent	Modern equivalent
A mustard-seed storing its mustard-nature, shedding its body, then sprouting	The tamas-soul storing tamas latent and carrying it into the next birth	Whatever quality you "store in the seed" at an ending is exactly what sprouts in the next chapter — the latent cause determines the next growth

Metaphor-family: seed-and-sprout / latent-cause.

Nāth-yogic layer

No Nāth-yogic referent in this ovi.

Cross-references

Internal: Pairs with 14.257 (same-fire) as the carried-over-cause similes.
Tukaram parallel: (none specific to this ovi)
Source citation: Bhagavad Gītā 14.15 — तमसि प्रलीनः... जायते, amplified by the seed-stores-its-nature image.

Modern application

When the seed you store is the harvest you'll reap. Whatever quality you "store in the seed" at the close of a chapter is what sprouts in the next. Store tamas (heaviness, numbness, neglect) and that's what germinates. The latent cause is the future form.
When endings plant beginnings. Nothing is wasted or random across the break — the seed carries the nature forward intact. Treat the way you end as the seed you're planting.
When you want to change what sprouts next, change what you store now. You can't control the sprouting directly; you control what goes into the seed. Tend the quality at the threshold.

Sādhanā

Today, take one thing that's ending or that you're letting go of. Ask: what quality am I storing in the seed of it? If it's heaviness or resentment, deliberately store one different thing — a thanks, a clean release. Plant the seed you'd want to sprout.

Arc

14.256 gives the seed-simile; 14.257 pairs it with the flame — fire is the same fire wherever it catches.

Ovi 14.257

Original (Marathi): पैं होऊनि दीपकलिका । येरु आगी विझो कां । कां जेथ लागे तेथ असका । तोचि आहे ॥२५७॥ Voice: krishna-to-arjuna

Word-by-word gloss

Marathi	Meaning
पैं होऊनि दीपकलिका	indeed, becoming a lamp-flame
येरु आगी विझो कां	or let the other fire go out
कां जेथ लागे तेथ असका	or, wherever it catches, there entirely
तोचि आहे	it is just that [same fire]

Literal translation

English: Let one [flame] become a lamp-flame and another fire go out — yet wherever fire catches and takes hold, there it is entirely that same fire.

मराठी (आधुनिक): एक ज्योत दिव्याची होवो, दुसरी आग विझो — पण आग जिथे लागते तिथे ती तीच आग असते.

Metaphor-unfold

Literal image	Philosophical referent	Modern equivalent
Fire the same fire whether lamp-flame or spreading blaze, wherever it catches	The identity of the tamas-cause persisting across the death-and-rebirth	The same disposition reappearing in every new situation — the form changes, the fire is identical wherever it catches

Metaphor-family: fire-and-flame / same-cause-persists.

Nāth-yogic layer

No Nāth-yogic referent in this ovi.

Cross-references

Internal: Pairs with 14.256 (seed) as the carried-over-cause similes; resonates with the lamp of 14.210, 14.221.
Tukaram parallel: (none specific to this ovi)
Source citation: Bhagavad Gītā 14.15 — तमसि प्रलीनः, amplified by the fire-is-the-same-fire image.

Modern application

When the same pattern reignites in every new setting. Lamp-flame here, blaze there — the fire is identical. Your characteristic tendency catches in every new job, relationship, city. The container changes; the fire is the same one.
When you realize you brought it with you. "Wherever it catches, it's that same fire." The disposition isn't caused by the new circumstance; it was carried in and re-lit there. Geography doesn't change the flame.
When you want to change the fire, not just the fireplace. Moving the flame to a new fireplace (new job, partner, town) doesn't change what's burning. The work is at the level of the fire — the disposition itself.

Sādhanā

Today, identify one "fire" that has re-lit itself in setting after setting (the same conflict, the same avoidance, the same anxiety). Name it as one fire, not many separate events. Naming the single flame is the start of tending it instead of changing fireplaces.

Arc

14.257 establishes the cause persists; 14.258 applies it — bound in the lump of tamas with its resolve, the soul becomes tamas again.

Ovi 14.258

Original (Marathi): म्हणौनि तमाचिये लोथें । बांधोनियां संकल्पातें । देह जाय तैं मागौतें । तमाचेचि होय ॥२५८॥ Voice: krishna-to-arjuna

Word-by-word gloss

Marathi	Meaning
म्हणौनि तमाचिये लोथें	therefore, in the lump/clot of tamas
बांधोनियां संकल्पातें	binding [it] together with [its] resolve (sankalpa)
देह जाय तैं मागौतें	when the body departs, then again
तमाचेचि होय	it becomes [made] of tamas itself

Literal translation

English: Therefore, bound up in the lump of tamas together with its resolve, when the body departs, the soul becomes once again made of tamas itself.

मराठी (आधुनिक): म्हणून तमाच्या गोळ्यात आपल्या संकल्पासह बांधलेला जीव, देह सोडल्यावर पुन्हा तमाचाच होतो.

Metaphor-unfold

Literal image	Philosophical referent	Modern equivalent
The soul tied up in a clot/lump of tamas with its resolve	Dying bound to tamas and its sankalpa, hence reborn made of tamas	Going out tied to your heaviness and your intentions formed in it — and so the next chapter is built from the same dark material

Metaphor-family: bound-bundle / clot-of-darkness.

Nāth-yogic layer

No Nāth-yogic referent in this ovi.

Cross-references

Internal: Applies the seed (14.256) and fire (14.257) similes; leads to the closing rebirth-list at 14.259.
Tukaram parallel: (none specific to this ovi)
Source citation: Bhagavad Gītā 14.15 — तमसि प्रलीनः... जायते, rendered as the soul "bound in the lump of tamas," becoming tamas again.

Modern application

When your intentions are formed inside the fog. The ovi adds संकल्प (resolve): you're bound not just to the heaviness but to the plans you made while heavy. Decisions made in tamas carry tamas forward. Don't trust resolutions formed in the dark.
When the resolve made in despair shapes the next chapter. "I'll never try again," "nothing matters" — sankalpa born in tamas, binding you to a tamas-built future. Recognize such resolves as fog-spawned, not truths.
When you defer big decisions out of the fog. Practical wisdom from this ovi: the sankalpa formed in tamas builds a tamas-future. So make no binding resolutions while in the lump; wait for light.

Sādhanā

Today, identify one resolution or conclusion you formed while heavy or numb ("I'm done," "it's hopeless," "I'll never…"). Mark it: "formed inside the lump — not to be trusted yet." Re-decide it only after the fog lifts.

Arc

14.258 says the soul becomes tamas again; 14.259 names the concrete forms and closes the cluster — beast, bird, tree, or worm.

Ovi 14.259

Original (Marathi): आतां काय येणें बहुवे । जो तमोवृद्धि मृत्यु लाहे । तो पशु कां पक्षी होये । झाड कां कृमी ॥२५९॥ Voice: krishna-to-arjuna

Word-by-word gloss

Marathi	Meaning
आतां काय येणें बहुवे	now, what need of much [more]
जो तमोवृद्धि मृत्यु लाहे	one who gains death in grown tamas
तो पशु कां पक्षी होये	he becomes a beast or a bird
झाड कां कृमी	a tree or a worm

Literal translation

English: Now, what need of many words? One who meets death in grown tamas becomes a beast, or a bird, a tree, or a worm.

मराठी (आधुनिक): आता फार काय सांगावं? जो वाढलेल्या तमात मरण पावतो, तो पशू, पक्षी, झाड किंवा किडा होतो.

Metaphor-unfold

No extended metaphor in this ovi — it literally spells out the मूढयोनि (deluded wombs) as beast/bird/tree/worm.

Nāth-yogic layer

No Nāth-yogic referent in this ovi.

Cross-references

Internal: 14.219 — parallel-image: the dark counterpart to sattva-rebirth-among-the-wise (14.219) and rajas-rebirth-in-a-human-womb (14.238) — the three death-destinies completing the cluster's eschatology.
Tukaram parallel:
Abhang 139 (same-triguna-as-bondage frame) — Tukārām's त्रिगुणाचा चेंडू (the triguṇa ball — sattva-rajas-tamas) allegory treats the three guṇas as the very saṃsāric bondage-mechanism: one must toss the triguṇa-ball up and out — त्रिगुणाचा चेंडू हातें झुगारी निराळा ("the triguṇa ball — toss it apart-and-out with the hand") — rather than grip it, for "whoever drops it bears mountains of suffering." This is the same three-guṇa-as-bondage doctrine underlying this whole cluster, where dying gripped by a dominant guṇa (here tamas → beast/bird/tree/worm) entangles the soul into the corresponding rebirth. Tukārām names the escape (toss, don't hold) that the cluster's eschatology makes urgent. (Verbatim line verified against corpus/0139.md.)
Source citation: Bhagavad Gītā 14.15 — तमसि... मूढयोनिषु जायते ("in tamas... born in deluded wombs"); पशु-पक्षी-झाड-कृमी spells out the मूढयोनि as the sub-human births.

Modern application

When numbness, unchecked, drags you down the ladder. The cluster's starkest image: die (or end a chapter) in deep tamas and you descend — beast, bird, tree, worm. Read within a life: prolonged, unbroken fog doesn't keep you level; it degrades — toward the more inert, the less awake, the barely-living.
When you feel yourself becoming "less alive." झाड कां कृमी — tree or worm. The felt sense of tamas at its depth: vegetative, barely-sentient existence. Naming the direction (downward) is a reason to break even one link in the fog today.
When you take the whole cluster's wager seriously. Sattva → rise, rajas → repeat, tamas → descend. The guṇa you tend, especially near endings, sets your trajectory. And Tukārām's 139 adds the practical out: don't hold the guṇa-ball at all — toss it up, eyes above.

Sādhanā

Today, do the one thing that moves you up the ladder rather than down — a single deliberate act of aliveness against the fog (a walk in sunlight, a real conversation, one honest sentence). And, with Tukārām: when a guṇa-state arises, practice not gripping it — toss the ball up, look above, let it pass through your hands.

Arc

14.259 closes the cluster by spelling out the tamas-rebirth as beast/bird/tree/worm — completing the three-fold eschatology (sattva → the wise, rajas → human, tamas → sub-human); the next ślokas (BG-14.16-17) generalize this death-eschatology into the broader law of the guṇas' fruits and their upward and downward courses.

Cluster summary

Core teaching: The guṇa that is dominant in you at the moment of death decides your next birth. Die while sattva is dominant — clarity flooding every sense, cravings stilled — and you are reborn among the wise, into stainless worlds. Die in rajas — greedy, restless, project-driven, never saying "enough" — and you return to a human life still yoked to action. Die in tamas — dark, inert, heedless, deluded — and you fall into a deluded womb as beast, bird, tree, or worm. The five Sanskrit verses give first the signs by which you read which guṇa is presently dominant (14.11-13) and then the death-consequence of each (14.14-15); Jñāneśvar unfolds both across fifty-six ovis of mirror-imagery, every sattva radiance-figure answered by its tamas inversion.

Chapter arc position: BG-14.11-15 is the diagnostic-and-eschatological pivot of adhyāya 14 (guṇa-traya-vibhāga). Having defined the three guṇas and how they bind (14.5-10), Krishna here makes them readable (the signs) and consequential (the death-destinies), turning the chapter from description to eschatology just before it opens out (14.16-18) into the broader fruits and upward/downward courses of the guṇas — and ultimately to the guṇātīta, the one who has crossed beyond all three.

Connects to BG-14.16-17: The next ślokas generalize this cluster's death-by-death eschatology into the standing law of guṇa-fruits — sāttvika action yields pure fruit, rājasa yields pain, tāmasa yields ignorance; from sattva arises knowledge, from rajas greed, from tamas heedlessness and delusion. The sign-and-consequence structure built here at the threshold of death becomes, there, the structure of all action and its fruit. And against the whole mechanism stands the bhakti counter-resolution voiced by Tukārām (4481): let the three guṇas themselves dissolve in devotion, and the question of which guṇa at death no longer binds.