BG-14.21 — Arjuna's Question About the One Who Has Crossed the Three Guṇas
BG-14.21
अर्जुन उवाच । कैर्लिंगैस्त्रीन्गुणानेतानतीतो भवति प्रभो । किमाचारः कथं चैतांस्त्रीन्गुणानतिवर्तते ॥२१॥
Arjuna said: By what marks, O Lord, is one known who has gone beyond these three guṇas? What is his conduct, and how does he cross beyond the three guṇas?
After Kṛṣṇa has catalogued the three guṇas — sattva, rajas, tamas (BG 14.5-18) — and briefly named the one who crosses beyond them (BG 14.19-20), Arjuna interrupts with one of the chapter's few disciple-voiced verses. His question has three precise limbs: by what MARKS is the guna-transcendent recognized, what is his CONDUCT, and HOW does he cross over. It is the same diagnostic template he used at BG 2.54 about the steady-in-wisdom sthitaprajña — and Kṛṣṇa's answer here, the guṇātīta-portrait of BG 14.22-25, parallels the sthitaprajña-portrait that followed there. Jñāneśvar's seven ovis lay out the three-limbed question (14.320-321), bridge to Kṛṣṇa (14.322-323), and open his reply: the guṇātīta is by his very name neither subject to the gunas nor graspable by them (14.324) — yet how is that freedom to be recognized in a man still living inside the gunas' fire? (14.325) — listen, I shall give it form (14.326).
Ovi 14.320
Original (Marathi): तेणें तोषें वीर पुसे । जी कोण्ही चिन्हीं तो दिसे । जयामाजीं वसे । ऐसा बोधु ॥३२०॥ Voice: jnaneshvar-teacher (narrating Arjuna's question; वीर पुसे "the hero [Arjuna] asks" anchors the third-person narration)
Word-by-word gloss
| Marathi | Meaning |
|---|---|
| तेणें तोषें | with that joy / satisfaction |
| वीर पुसे | the hero (Arjuna) asks |
| जी | sir / O Lord (respectful vocative-particle) |
| कोण्ही चिन्हीं तो दिसे | by what signs (cinha) does he appear / show |
| जयामाजीं वसे ऐसा बोधु | in whom such awakening (bodha) dwells |
Literal translation
English: With that joy the hero asks: "Sir — by what signs does he show himself, the one in whom such awakening dwells?"
मराठी (आधुनिक): त्या आनंदानं अर्जुन विचारतो — "महाराज, ज्याच्या ठायी असा बोध वसतो, तो कोणत्या चिन्हांनी ओळखू येतो?"
Sanskrit-root note
cinha (चिन्ह, sign/mark) renders the Sanskrit linga of kair lingaiḥ — both are the technical term for an outward diagnostic-mark by which an inner state is inferred.
Metaphor-unfold
No extended metaphor in this ovi.
Nāth-yogic layer
No Nāth-yogic referent in this ovi. This is the opening of a doctrinal lakṣaṇa-question; no esoteric frame is active.
Cross-references
- Internal: Opens the cluster's tripartite question; the first limb (by-what-marks) is completed by 14.321's second and third limbs.
- Tukaram parallel: (none specific to this ovi — the parallels arrive where the doctrine is stated, 14.321/14.324/14.326)
- Source citation: Bhagavad Gītā 14.21 — कैर्लिंगैः … अतीतो भवति ("by what marks does he become the transcended-one"); the Marathi कोण्ही चिन्हीं तो दिसे renders linga by cinha exactly.
Modern application
- When you want to know whether someone's calm is real. You meet a person who claims to be "past all that" — past ambition, past anger, past needing approval. Arjuna's question is yours: by what actual signs would I know it's true and not a performance? The demand for marks is the demand for evidence over self-report.
- When you are trying to diagnose your own progress. You've done the practice for years; are you actually freer, or just better at describing freedom? "By what signs does it show?" turns the question from feeling to observable conduct.
- When a tradition hands you a label before a description. "Enlightened," "detached," "egoless" — names arrive easily. Arjuna refuses the name and asks for the recognizable marks underneath it.
Sādhanā
Today, pick one person you privately consider "very calm" or "above it all." Instead of accepting the impression, write down two observable things they actually do (or don't do) under pressure. Notice the gap between the impression and the evidence.
Arc
14.320 delivers the first limb (by-what-marks); 14.321 completes the question with its second limb (what-conduct) and third limb (how-he-crosses), begged from the māhēr of Kṛṣṇa's grace.
Ovi 14.321
Original (Marathi): तो निर्गुण काय आचरे । कैसेनि गुण निस्तरे । हें सांगिजो माहेरें । कृपेचेनि ॥३२१॥ Voice: jnaneshvar-teacher (still narrating Arjuna's question; the imperative सांगिजो "tell me" is Arjuna's address to Kṛṣṇa)
Word-by-word gloss
| Marathi | Meaning |
|---|---|
| तो निर्गुण काय आचरे | what does that guna-less one (nirguṇa) practise / how does he conduct himself |
| कैसेनि गुण निस्तरे | by what means does he cross / get free of the gunas |
| हें सांगिजो | tell this, please |
| माहेरें कृपेचेनि | from the māhēr (natal home) of [your] compassion |
Literal translation
English: "What does that guna-less one do, and by what means does he get free of the guṇas? Tell me this — out of the māhēr of your compassion."
मराठी (आधुनिक): "तो निर्गुण कसा वागतो, आणि कोणत्या रीतीनं गुणांच्या पलीकडे जातो? हे मला सांगा — तुमच्या कृपेच्या माहेरातून."
Sanskrit-root note
nirguṇa (निर्गुण, without-guṇas) is Jñāneśvar's interpretive gloss of the Sanskrit atīta (transcended) — identifying the guṇātīta with the guṇa-less state. māhēr (माहेर) = a married woman's parental home, the place of unconditioned welcome; here, the home-of-grace from which the answer is begged.
Metaphor-unfold
No extended metaphor in this ovi. माहेरें कृपेचेनि ("from the māhēr of compassion") is a single tender image — grace as a natal-home of welcome — not a sustained unfolding.
Nāth-yogic layer
No Nāth-yogic referent in this ovi.
Cross-references
- Internal: Completes the tripartite question opened at 14.320; its third limb (कैसेनि गुण निस्तरे, how-he-crosses) is what 14.324-326 begin to answer.
- Tukaram parallel: Abhang 139 — त्रिगुणाचा चेंडू हातें झुगारी निराळा — वरिलिया मुखें मन लावी तेथें डोळा ("toss the triguṇa-ball up and away with the hand; keep mind and eye fixed above"). This is the operational answer to the third limb कैसेनि गुण निस्तरे — how one crosses the gunas: by never gripping a guna as one's own, tossing it up-and-through while the gaze stays above.
- Source citation: Bhagavad Gītā 14.21 — किमाचारः ("of what conduct") → तो निर्गुण काय आचरे; कथं … अतिवर्तते ("how does he cross-beyond") → कैसेनि गुण निस्तरे.
Modern application
- When you want the method, not just the description. "Fine, he's free — but how did he get there? What do I actually do?" The third limb कैसेनि निस्तरे is the practitioner's real question, the one that separates admiration from practice.
- When you ask for help from a place of trust, not transaction. Arjuna begs the answer "from the māhēr of your compassion" — not as a fee owed but as a child returning to a home that owes welcome. The posture of asking changes what can be received.
- When you confuse not-reacting with not-having-qualities. Jñāneśvar's slide from "transcended" to "guna-less" (nirguṇa) tempts a misreading: the free person is not blank or featureless. The next ovis will say he lives amidst the guṇas — the freedom is in the relation to them, not their absence.
Sādhanā
Today, when you face one charged situation, try Tukārām's toss: name the guna moving in you (restless drive = rajas, heaviness = tamas, clarity = sattva) and, instead of identifying with it, mentally "toss it up" — observe it pass without gripping it as you. One toss is enough.
Arc
14.321 closes Arjuna's three-part question begged from grace; 14.322 is Jñāneśvar's narrator-bridge introducing Kṛṣṇa as he begins his reply.
Ovi 14.322
Original (Marathi): यया अर्जुनाचिया प्रश्ना । तो षड्गुणांचा राणा । परिहारु आकर्णा । बोलतु असे ॥३२२॥ Voice: jnaneshvar-teacher (narrator-bridge; यया अर्जुनाचिया प्रश्ना "to this question of Arjuna's" + बोलतु असे "he begins to speak" anchor the third-person framing)
Word-by-word gloss
| Marathi | Meaning |
|---|---|
| यया अर्जुनाचिया प्रश्ना | to this question of Arjuna's |
| तो षड्गुणांचा राणा | he, the king (rāṇā) of the six [divine] attributes (ṣaḍ-guṇa) |
| परिहारु आकर्णा | the resolution / removal [of the doubt] — listen! (आकर्णा, hear) |
| बोलतु असे | begins to speak / is speaking |
Literal translation
English: To this question of Arjuna's, that king of the six divine attributes begins to speak the resolution — listen.
मराठी (आधुनिक): अर्जुनाच्या या प्रश्नाला, तो षड्गुणांचा राजा (श्रीकृष्ण) उत्तर देऊ लागतो — ऐका.
Sanskrit-root note
ṣaḍ-guṇa (षड्गुण, six-attributes) — the six divine perfections (aiśvarya, vīrya, yaśas, śrī, jñāna, vairāgya) traditionally ascribed to Bhagavān; here an epithet of Kṛṣṇa. Note the wordplay: Arjuna asks about crossing the three guṇas of prakṛti, and the answerer is the lord of the six guṇas of divinity.
Metaphor-unfold
No extended metaphor in this ovi. राणा ("king") is an honorific epithet, not a developed image.
Nāth-yogic layer
No Nāth-yogic referent in this ovi.
Cross-references
- Internal: Bridges Arjuna's question (14.320-321) to Kṛṣṇa's reply (14.323-326).
- Tukaram parallel: (none specific to this narrator-bridge ovi)
- Source citation: (none — this is Jñāneśvar's narrator framing, not a paraphrase of any Sanskrit clause of BG-14.21)
Modern application
- When the one you ask is more than equal to the question. Jñāneśvar quietly notes the asymmetry: Arjuna's doubt is small, the answerer is the "king of six perfections." When you bring a genuine difficulty to a genuine teacher, the relief is partly in knowing the source exceeds the problem.
- When an answer is named a "resolution," not an "opinion." परिहारु means the dissolving of a doubt, not one more view added to the pile. Look for teachers who resolve a question rather than enrich your collection of perspectives on it.
- When you are about to listen and need to actually listen. आकर्णा — "hear!" — is the narrator turning to the audience before the answer lands. The instruction to listen now is itself a practice: settle before the teaching, don't talk over it.
Sādhanā
Today, before one conversation where you expect to receive guidance, pause for ten seconds and silently say "आकर्णा — now listen." Enter the exchange having decided, in advance, to receive before you reply.
Arc
14.322 announces that Kṛṣṇa begins his परिहारु (resolution); 14.323 gives his affectionate first words — that the very name guṇātīta already half-answers the question.
Ovi 14.323
Original (Marathi): म्हणे पार्था तुझी नवाई । हें येतुलेंचि पुससी काई । तें नामचि तया पाहीं । सत्य लटिकें ॥३२३॥ Voice: krishna-to-arjuna (the vocative पार्था "Pārtha" + second-person पुससी "you ask" anchor Kṛṣṇa's direct address)
Word-by-word gloss
| Marathi | Meaning |
|---|---|
| म्हणे पार्था तुझी नवाई | [Kṛṣṇa] says: Pārtha, your wonder! (how strange of you) |
| हें येतुलेंचि पुससी काई | is this all you ask? / do you ask only this much? |
| तें नामचि तया पाहीं | look — its very name itself |
| सत्य लटिकें | [shows] true or false |
Literal translation
English: Kṛṣṇa says: "Pārtha, your wonder! Is this all you ask? Look — its very name itself shows you what is true and what is false [about him]."
मराठी (आधुनिक): श्रीकृष्ण म्हणतात — "पार्था, तुझं आश्चर्यच! एवढंच विचारतोस का? अरे, त्याचं नावच पाहा — त्यातच खरं-खोटं उमगतं."
Metaphor-unfold
No extended metaphor in this ovi.
Nāth-yogic layer
No Nāth-yogic referent in this ovi.
Cross-references
- Internal: The "name half-answers" move sets up 14.324's unpacking of what the name guṇātīta entails.
- Tukaram parallel: (none specific to this ovi)
- Source citation: Bhagavad Gītā 14.21 (amplification) — the verse poses only the question; Kṛṣṇa's reply that the term गुणातीत (gone-beyond-the-guṇas) is self-glossing is Jñāneśvar's framing of the BG-14.22 answer that follows. The name already declares the recognition-mark.
Modern application
- When the answer is hiding inside the word you already used. You ask "how do I become free?" while already calling the goal "freedom" — the word names its own condition. Kṛṣṇa's gentle "is this all you ask?" is the teacher pointing out that the question half-contains its answer.
- When you over-complicate something whose definition is the solution. "Guṇātīta" means gone-beyond-the-guṇas; to ask its marks is almost to have them. The tendency to seek an elaborate method for what a clear definition would settle.
- When affection, not rebuke, carries a correction. "Pārtha, your wonder!" is teasing, warm — the teacher correcting without shaming. The tone in which a hard point is made determines whether it can be heard.
Sādhanā
Today, take one goal you keep asking how to reach, and write its plainest one-word name. Then ask: does the word itself already describe the state I'm trying to produce? Sit with whatever the name is quietly telling you.
Arc
14.323 says the name guṇātīta half-answers; 14.324 unpacks what the name entails — by-name not-guna-subject, yet also not-graspable by the gunas.
Ovi 14.324
Original (Marathi): गुणातीत जया नांवें । तो गुणाधीन तरी नव्हे । ना होय तरी नांगवे । गुणां यया ॥३२४॥ Voice: krishna-to-arjuna (continuing Kṛṣṇa's reply; the doctrinal voice unpacking the name गुणातीत for Arjuna)
Word-by-word gloss
| Marathi | Meaning |
|---|---|
| गुणातीत जया नांवें | he who [goes] by the name guṇātīta |
| तो गुणाधीन तरी नव्हे | he is certainly not guna-subject (guṇa-adhīna, under-the-gunas) |
| ना होय तरी नांगवे | and not being so, he is not graspable / seizable |
| गुणां यया | by these gunas |
Literal translation
English: He who bears the name guṇātīta is certainly not subject to the guṇas — and, not being subject, he is not even within the gunas' grasp.
मराठी (आधुनिक): ज्याचं नाव गुणातीत आहे, तो गुणांच्या अधीन तर नाहीच — आणि अधीन नसल्यामुळे, या गुणांना तो आकलनातही येत नाही, पकडता येत नाही.
Sanskrit-root note
guṇa-adhīna (गुणाधीन) = under-the-control-of-the-guṇas; nāngavē (नांगवे) = is not seized/grasped/contained. The double negation defines the guṇātīta: neither ruled by the gunas nor reachable by them.
Metaphor-unfold
No extended metaphor in this ovi.
Nāth-yogic layer
No Nāth-yogic referent in this ovi.
Cross-references
- Internal: Unpacks the name introduced at 14.323; its difficulty (how non-subjection is known) is raised at 14.325.
- Tukaram parallel: Abhang 295 — सत्वरजतमबाधा । नव्हे हरिभक्तांसि कदा ("the binding of sattva-rajas-tamas is never to the Hari-bhakta"), with खाय बोले करी । अवघा त्यांच्या अंगें हरी ("he eats, speaks, acts — yet it is all Hari through their body"). This is precisely the गुणाधीन तरी नव्हे state: the bhakta lives amidst and acts through the gunas yet is never bound. Tukārām predicates of the Hari-bhakta exactly the non-subjection Kṛṣṇa here predicates of the guṇātīta.
- Source citation: Bhagavad Gītā 14.21 (amplification) — अतीतः unpacked as the double-negation (not-subject, not-graspable); Jñāneśvar's anticipatory rendering of the udāsīna-vat lakṣaṇa Kṛṣṇa states at BG 14.22-25.
Modern application
- When you measure freedom as control rather than non-bondage. We assume the free person masters their impulses (controls the gunas). Kṛṣṇa says something subtler: he is not even grasped by them — the gunas have no hook in him. Not white-knuckle control; no purchase to begin with.
- When a calm person can't be provoked because there's nothing to grab. You try to flatter, bait, or rattle someone and it slides off — not because they're suppressing a reaction but because the handle isn't there (नांगवे, ungraspable). The mark of real freedom is that manipulation finds no surface.
- When you realize you are still "subject" wherever you can be moved. Audit yourself by the inverse: wherever praise lifts you and blame sinks you, there the gunas still have you adhīna. The places you can be grasped are the map of your remaining bondage.
Sādhanā
Today, notice one moment when someone's comment lifts or stings you more than the comment warrants. That over-reaction is a handle — a place the gunas can grasp you. Just locate the handle; name it ("praise grabs me here"). Don't fix it yet; see it.
Arc
14.324 states the double-negation (not-subject, not-graspable); 14.325 raises the hard question — how is this freedom recognized while the man still lives amidst the gunas' searing fire?
Ovi 14.325
Original (Marathi): परी अधीन कां नांगवें । हेंचि कैसेनि जाणावें । गुणांचिये रवरवे । माजीं असतां ॥३२५॥ Voice: krishna-to-arjuna (Kṛṣṇa restating Arjuna's own difficulty; second-person doctrinal address continues)
Word-by-word gloss
| Marathi | Meaning |
|---|---|
| परी अधीन कां नांगवें | but [whether he is] subject or ungraspable |
| हेंचि कैसेनि जाणावें | this very thing — how is it to be known? |
| गुणांचिये रवरवे | in the searing-furnace (raurava) of the gunas |
| माजीं असतां | while [he is] dwelling within [it] |
Literal translation
English: "But how is this very thing — whether he is subject to the gunas or beyond their grasp — to be known, while he is dwelling right inside the gunas' searing fire?"
मराठी (आधुनिक): "पण तो अधीन आहे की अगम्य आहे — हेच कसं ओळखायचं, जेव्हा तो गुणांच्या रौरव-अग्नीतच राहत असतो?"
Sanskrit-root note
raurava (रौरव → रवरव) is a named hell of searing fire; here the image for the gunas' burning pervasion of embodied life — the fire the guṇātīta yet lives inside.
Metaphor-unfold
No extended metaphor in this ovi. रवरव ("searing-furnace / hell-fire of the gunas") is a single charged vehicle for the gunas' burning pervasion, not a sustained unfolding image.
Nāth-yogic layer
No Nāth-yogic referent in this ovi. रवरव is the raurava-hell image, not a cakra or yogic-fire referent.
Cross-references
- Internal: Restates Arjuna's recognition-difficulty (कैर्लिंगैः, 14.320) in sharpened form; answered by the रूप-promise at 14.326.
- Tukaram parallel: Abhang 295 — खाय बोले करी । अवघा त्यांच्या अंगें हरी ("he eats, speaks, acts — yet it is all Hari through their body") directly answers the difficulty: the guṇātīta is recognized not by withdrawal from the gunas' fire but by the agency of his eating-speaking-acting being the Lord's, not his own — lived-amidst yet unbound.
- Source citation: Bhagavad Gītā 14.21 (amplification) — कैर्लिंगैः (by what marks is he known) sharpened into the precise problem of recognizing freedom in one still embodied in the gunas; the रवरव image is Jñāneśvar's.
Modern application
- When the only real test is inside the pressure, not away from it. Anyone seems calm on retreat. The question is how you'd recognize freedom in someone still in the marriage, the job, the crisis — दwelling in the furnace. Real equanimity is diagnosed in the fire, not the spa.
- When you can't tell suppression from genuine non-attachment. From outside, the person who is truly free and the person grimly holding it together can look identical. Kṛṣṇa names exactly this epistemic problem — हेंचि कैसेनि जाणावें, "how is this very thing to be known?"
- When you doubt your own freedom because you're still in the mess. "If I were really detached, I wouldn't still be in all this." 14.325 reframes: the guṇātīta is meant to be found inside the gunas' fire. Remaining in the furnace is not evidence against freedom.
Sādhanā
Today, find one ordinary irritation you're already inside (a commute, a noisy room, a tense thread). Stay in it on purpose for five minutes and watch whether you can be in the fire without being grasped by it. The furnace is the test-ground, not the obstacle.
Arc
14.325 sharpens the recognition-difficulty (how is freedom known in one still in the gunas' fire); 14.326 answers by promising to make the guṇātīta's form plain — opening the BG-14.22-25 portrait.
Ovi 14.326
Original (Marathi): हा संदेह जरी वाहसी । तरी सुखें पुसों लाहसी । परिस आतां तयासी । रूप करूं ॥३२६॥ Voice: krishna-to-arjuna (the imperative परिस "listen!" + second-person वाहसी/लाहसी "you carry / you may" anchor Kṛṣṇa's direct address)
Word-by-word gloss
| Marathi | Meaning |
|---|---|
| हा संदेह जरी वाहसी | if you carry this doubt |
| तरी सुखें पुसों लाहसी | then you may gladly / freely ask |
| परिस आतां | listen now |
| तयासी रूप करूं | I shall give it (the guṇātīta) form / draw its portrait |
Literal translation
English: "If you carry this doubt, then you may gladly ask — listen now: I shall give him form."
मराठी (आधुनिक): "हा संशय तुझ्या मनात असेल, तर खुशाल विचार — आता ऐक, मी त्याचं रूपच उभं करतो."
Sanskrit-root note
rūpa karūm (रूप करूं, "I shall make [his] form") names the pedagogical method: answering the by-what-marks question (कैर्लिंगैः) not by argument but by drawing a recognizable portrait — the lakṣaṇa-list of BG 14.22-25.
Metaphor-unfold
No extended metaphor in this ovi. रूप करूं ("I shall give it form") is a method-statement, not a sustained image.
Nāth-yogic layer
No Nāth-yogic referent in this ovi.
Cross-references
- Internal: Closes the cluster by promising the portrait that BG 14.22-25 (the next ślokas) will deliver.
- Tukaram parallel: Abhang 2251 — गुणत्रया वेगळें बहुबळें आथीलें ("beyond the three gunas, endowed with great power") and असोनि नसे सकळांमधीं मना अगोचर बुद्धी ("present-yet-absent in all, beyond the reach of mind and intellect") supply the very lakṣaṇa-language Kṛṣṇa is about to give form to — the marks of the guna-transcendent. In Tukārām these are predicated of Viṭhṭhal as the gunātīta; here they are the portrait of the human guṇātīta.
- Source citations:
- Bhagavad Gītā 14.21 (amplification) — हा संदेह … तयासी रूप करूं is Jñāneśvar's bridge from the 14.21 question to the 14.22-25 answer; रूप करूं names the portrait-method.
- Bhagavad Gītā 2.54 (echo) — Arjuna's three-part lakṣaṇa-question here (कैर्लिंगैः / किमाचारः / कथं अतिवर्तते) reuses the same diagnostic template as his sthitaprajña-question at BG 2.54 (स्थितप्रज्ञस्य का भाषा … किमासीत व्रजेत किम् — by what marks is he known, how does he speak / sit / move). 14.21 is the chapter-14 recurrence of the 2.54 sthitaprajña-lakṣaṇa-question; Kṛṣṇa's रूप-promise here parallels his sthitaprajña-portrait reply at BG 2.55ff.
Modern application
- When the right answer is a portrait, not a proof. You ask "how do I know a good leader / a healthy relationship / a free mind?" — and the most useful answer isn't a syllogism but a picture: here is what one looks like in practice. Kṛṣṇa chooses to draw rather than argue.
- When permission to keep asking is itself the gift. "If you carry this doubt, you may gladly ask." The teacher who welcomes the persistent question — सुखें पुसों लाहसी — rather than treating it as impertinence. Real teaching keeps the door open.
- When you finally stop debating a quality and start describing a person who has it. Instead of arguing about what "equanimity" means, name one real person and describe, concretely, how they move through difficulty. Description (रूप) teaches where definition stalls.
Sādhanā
Today, take one abstract quality you want (patience, non-reactivity, generosity) and, instead of defining it, write a three-line portrait: name a specific person and describe three concrete things they do that show the quality. Let the form, not the definition, be your model.
Arc
14.326 closes the cluster by promising the guṇātīta's form; the next śloka (BG-14.22 — प्रकाशं च प्रवृत्तिं च मोहमेव च … न द्वेष्टि … न निवृत्तानि काङ्क्षति) begins that portrait — the guṇātīta neither hates the gunas' effects when they arise nor longs for them when they cease, the first recognition-mark Arjuna asked for.
Cluster summary
Core teaching: Arjuna interrupts chapter 14 with a precise three-part diagnostic question about the guṇātīta — by what MARKS is the one who has crossed the three gunas recognized (कैर्लिंगैः / कोण्ही चिन्हीं), what is his CONDUCT (किमाचारः / तो निर्गुण काय आचरे), and HOW does he cross beyond them (कथं अतिवर्तते / कैसेनि गुण निस्तरे) — begged from "the māhēr of Kṛṣṇa's compassion." Kṛṣṇa replies, affectionately, that the very name guṇātīta already half-answers it: the one so named is neither subject to the gunas (गुणाधीन तरी नव्हे) nor graspable by them (नांगवे गुणां यया). But granting Arjuna's harder difficulty — how such freedom is to be known in a man still dwelling inside the gunas' searing furnace (रवरवे माजीं असतां) — Kṛṣṇa promises not an argument but a portrait: परिस आतां तयासी रूप करूं, "listen now, I shall give him form." That portrait is BG 14.22-25.
Chapter arc position: BG-14.21 is the pivot of chapter 14 (guṇa-traya-vibhāga-yoga), turning from the exposition of sattva-rajas-tamas (BG 14.5-18) and Kṛṣṇa's brief naming of the one who crosses beyond them (BG 14.19-20) into the chapter's closing teaching. Arjuna's question — one of the few Arjuna-voiced ślokas in the chapter — organizes the remainder of the chapter limb by limb.
Connects to BG-14.22: प्रकाशं च प्रवृत्तिं च मोहमेव च पाण्डव — न द्वेष्टि सम्प्रवृत्तानि न निवृत्तानि काङ्क्षति. Kṛṣṇa begins the रूप ("form") he promised: the guṇātīta neither hates the gunas' effects (light/sattva, activity/rajas, delusion/tamas) when they arise nor longs for them when they withdraw — the first of the recognition-marks Arjuna asked for, the answer to kair lingaiḥ now drawn rather than argued.