Whenever Krishna starts a chapter without any starting question from Arjuna, as in the fourteenth chapter, we can infer that Krishna considers the subject important enough to explain it without being prompted.

Given that the three modes of material nature are an important theme in the Gita’s worldview, it’s understandable that they get a chapter of their own. But the modes are mentioned right from the beginning of the Gita. Then why wait till the fourteenth chapter for explaining them?

Because Krishna gets an opportunity to address this issue specifically while responding to Arjuna’s question asked at the start of the thirteenth chapter. Because Arjuna’s question is about six specific concepts, Krishna first explains those concepts over that entire chapter. Additionally, because those six concepts are bedrock to the philosophy of Sankhya and the modes too are foundational to Sankhya, Krishna explains the modes to deepen Arjuna’s understanding of Sankhya and how it fits in Krishna’s frame of analysis. 

Does the fourteenth chapter link to anything specific in the previous chapter? Yes, Krishna elaborates on his prior assertion that the modes catalyze the illusion which rivets the soul to matter (13.22). After sketching broadly how we are placed in material nature (14.01-04), he introduces the modes (14.05). Then he explains the characteristics of the modes (14.06-09), the characteristics when one mode triumphs over the others during their mutual competition (14.10-13) and the effects of each mode: short-term, medium-term and long-term (14.14-20). By thus highlighting how intricately and inextricably the modes bind us all, he prepares the groundwork for the bhakti solution recommended in the chapter’s conclusion (14.26).

One-sentence summary:

Because the modes are central to both the Sankhya philosophy about which Arjuna has enquired and the mechanism of the illusion that binds us, Krishna devotes an entire chapter to them. 

Think it over: 

  • Why does Krishna wait till the fourteenth chapter to discuss the modes in detail?
  • What is the contextual link between the Gita’s thirteenth and fourteenth chapter?
  • Why does Krishna explain in detail the illusion catalyzed by the modes?

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14.05: Material nature consists of three modes – goodness, passion and ignorance. When the eternal living entity comes in contact with nature, O mighty-armed Arjuna, he becomes conditioned by these modes.

To know more about this verse, please click on the image