18-40

न तदस्ति पृथिव्याम् वा दिवि देवेषु वा पुनः ।
सत्त्वम् प्रकृतिजैः मुक्तम् यदेभिः स्यात् त्रिभिः गुणैः ॥ ४० ॥

na tadasti pRthivyAm vA divi deveSu vA punaH |
sattvam prakRtijaiH muktam yadebhiH syAt tribhiH guNaiH || 40 ||

न तत् अस्ति [na tat asti] There is nothing पृथिव्याम् [pRthivyAm] on earth वा दिवि [vA divi] or in space वा पुनः [vA punaH] or even देवेषु [deveSu] among the powerful यत् सत्त्वम् स्यात् [yat sattvam syAt] - be it any creature - मुक्तम् [muktam] which is free एभिः त्रिभिः गुणैः [ebhiH tribhiH guNaiH] from these three qualities प्रकृतिजैः [prakRtijaiH] of the material world.

No creature is free from the three qualities of nature - be it a human on this earth, be it any power, any entity in this universe right from Brahma, the principal engineer down to vegetables and other immobile objects.

This is the material world – it is full of the three qualities. Nurture sattva and adore the Lord.

The scriptures explain the pursuit of freedom from the three qualities. ‘Achievement of freedom is about letting go. It’s not about work, family or wealth. The concept of letting go was described as the way to achieve freedom in the form of Moksha. It’s no different from renunciation.

It’s about leaving of the misconception that we’re the doers; leaving the illusion that we make things happen with our work. With this, we leave our attachment towards the outcome of our action. We also leave out possessiveness in our actions.

We let-go by placing the Lord as the doer and ourselves as the instrument. All of this happens by growing the sattva within us.

By bringing in the three qualities, The Lord reiterated that sattva needs to be nurtured.

Next, The Lord describes that ‘working towards liberty ’ matures in the form of ‘adoration towards The Lord’. To describe the work that leads to Moksha , He describes our duties. These duties are to be done according to our profession in this world. Our eligibility is categorized by the three qualities .