ज्ञानं कर्म च कर्ता च त्रिधैव गुणभेदतः।
प्रोच्यते गुणसंख्याने यथावच्छृणु तान्यपि।।18.19।।
18.19. The instrument of knowledge, the object and the agent are just three kinds because of the differences in the Strands-thus it is declared in enumerating the Strands. These also you must listen to [from Me] as they are.
18.19 Jnanam etc. In enumerating the Strands : In the consdered conclusion of the Sankhya where the Strands are decided numerically, these instruments of knowledge etc., are declared to be of three types. that you must listen to. This is what is conveyed by the association of words (or ideas) here. By instrument-of-knowledge (Jnanam) the two-fold instruments viz. that of knowledge and of activity, are spoken of. Similarly object (karman) speaks of both the object of knowledge and the object of activity and agent (kartr) refers to both the knower and the performer. Now the three verses. Sarvabhutesu etc. (20-22) speak of the three-foldness of the instrument of knowledge. That is why the Instrumental Yena is employed. The nature of all the instruments of knowledge and of action is described by this much of portion. The three-foldness of object of both the types viz. the object of knowledge and the object of action is described by the tripple verses Niyatam etc. (23-25). The three-fold nature of the agent of both the categories viz. the knower and the doer is briefly explained by the three verses Muktasangah etc. (26-28). The three types of the intellect is examined by three verses, Pravrttim etc. (30-32), in order to explain the different nature of the two-fold instruments (i.e. of knowledge and of action). By this means the three-fold nature of other instrumetns is also indicated. The instrument reires technical know-how, and this technical know-how, of course, consists of the pentad that includes content and so on. However, because faith [included in this pentad] has already been dealt with (XVII, 2ff.), and because the desire to know and the aversion to know [both belonging to the pentad] are obtained by inference through the firmness and happiness [of the pentad], the three-fold division of the last two is explained by the verses Dhrtya yaya etc. (33-35) and Sukham tu idanim etc. (36-39). All this [the Lord] declares [one by one] ;-
Jnaanam karma cha kartaa cha tridhaiva gunabhedatah; Prochyate gunasankhyaane yathaavacchrinu taanyapi.
jñānam—knowledge; karma—action; cha—and; kartā—doer; cha—also; tridhā—of three kinds; eva—certainly; guṇa-bhedataḥ—distinguished according to the three modes of material nature; prochyate—are declared; guṇa-saṅkhyāne—Sānkhya philosophy, which describes the modes of material nature; yathā-vat—as they are; śhṛiṇu—listen; tāni—them; api—also
