Sanskrit
ये चैव सात्त्विका भावा राजसास्तामसाश्च ये । मत्त एवेति तान्विद्धि न त्वहं तेषु ते मयि ॥ १२ ॥
ye caiva sāttvikā bhāvā rājasās tāmasāś ca ye matta eveti tān viddhi na tv ahaṃ teṣu te mayi
Translation
The natures that are harmonious, active, slothful, these know as from Me; not I in them, but they in me.
Annie Besant · The Bhagavad-Gita, translated by Annie Besant (4th ed., 1922) — Wikisource · Public Domain
Explanation
Having spent verses 8-11 claiming to be the essential quality within things, Krishna now addresses a possible confusion: the three gunas — sattva, rajas, tamas, the harmonious, active, and slothful natures — come from him, but he isn’t contained within them. The relation inverts what verses 8-11 might suggest: not-I-in-them, but they-in-Me — the gunas are downstream of Krishna, not co-equal with him. Na tv ahaṃ teṣu, te mayi — “not I in them; they in Me” — is the exact inversion of the verse-8 pattern, and it is deliberate: the guṇas issue from Krishna without conditioning him, the way BG 9.4–BG 9.5 will say of all beings.
Study deeper
Word by word
- ye caiva sāttvikā bhāvāये चैव सात्त्विका भावा
- whatever states are of sattva (ye + ca + eva + sāttvikāḥ + bhāvāḥ)
- rājasās tāmasāś ca yeराजसास् तामसाश् च ये
- and those of rajas and tamas (rājasāḥ + tāmasāḥ + ca + ye)
- matta eveti tān viddhiमत्त एवेति तान् विद्धि
- know them as from Me alone (mattaḥ + eva + iti + tān + viddhi)
- na tv ahaṃ teṣu te mayiन त्व् अहं तेषु ते मयि
- but I am not in them; they are in Me (na + tu + aham + teṣu + te + mayi)
Commentary
Site Commentary
Verses 8 through 11 kept saying Krishna is in things — taste in water, splendor in fire. This verse flips the preposition for the gunas specifically: not I in them, but they in Me. The grammar itself carries the correction; after four verses of one relationship, the fifth quietly substitutes its reverse, which is exactly the mistake Krishna seems to anticipate someone making from the pattern he’d just established.
Original commentary written for this site · © Amit Singh — original commentary
Concepts
Apply this verse
Lessons
Personal
- Don't mistake the moods and states that move through you — your energy, your motivation — for who you actually are underneath them. They arise in you; you aren't contained inside them, even when one of them is loud enough to feel total.
Professional
- Don't mistake a team's current mode — a burst of momentum, a slump — for its underlying capability. The mode is happening within the team's capacity, not the other way around; capacity is the more stable fact, and the mode will pass.
Family & Social
- When someone you love is going through a difficult mood or phase, remember the mood is happening in them, not the whole of who they are. Hold the distinction, even when the mood is the only thing currently visible.
Ask yourself
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