Virtue attaches the being to happiness, passion to the fruits of his actions, and ignorance to madness.

At times, passion prevails over virtue and ignorance; at other times, it is virtue that defeats passion and ignorance. At other times again, ignorance, in its turn, overthrows virtue and passion. Thus, never does the struggle to rule cease between the gunas.

When through all the doors of the body (eyes, ears, nostrils, the orifice of the sex and the anus) the luminous flow of knowledge penetrates, then one can be assured that virtue grows in power.

When passion grows, then with it grow the signs of great attachment, uncontrollable desires, ardent aspirations and intense efforts.

And when ignorance rises, then darkness, inertia, insanity and delusion are born.

He who dies under virtue gains the higher planets, the pure planets where the great sages live.

He who dies under passion is reborn among men who devote themselves to selfish action.

And whoever dies under ignorance is reborn in the world of beasts.

It is said that acts performed under the aegis of virtue lead to purification of the doer; under the influence of passion, distress, and under ignorance, foolishness.

From virtue comes true knowledge, and from passion greed. Folly and foolishness, and delusion too, come from ignorance.

Those who are ruled by virtue gradually rise to the higher planets, those who are ruled by passion remain on the middle, earthly planets, and those. Those enveloped by ignorance fall into the infernal worlds.

When one sees, in every act, that nothing escapes the three Gunas, but that I, the Supreme Lord, transcends them, then one can know My spiritual nature.

When the incarnate being is able to go beyond the three gunas, he becomes free from birth, death, old age and the sufferings they cause. One can then enjoy ambrosia in this very life.