Sanskrit
ऊर्ध्वं गच्छन्ति सत्त्वस्था मध्ये तिष्ठन्ति राजसाः । जघन्यगुणवृत्तिस्था अधो गच्छन्ति तामसाः ॥
ūrdhvaṃ gacchanti sattvasthā madhye tiṣṭhanti rājasāḥ jaghanyaguṇavṛttisthā adho gacchanti tāmasāḥ
Translation
They rise upwards who are settled in Harmony; the Active dwell in the mid-most place: the Inert go downwards, enveloped in the vilest qualities.
Annie Besant · The Bhagavad-Gita, translated by Annie Besant (4th ed., 1922) — Wikisource · Public Domain
Explanation
The last piece of the descriptive half of the chapter, spatializing verses 14-17’s destinies: sattva-dwellers rise, rajas-dwellers stay in the middle, tamas-dwellers sink. With gunas now defined (5-9), their signs given (11-13), and their consequences mapped (14-18), the chapter has fully described bondage in all its varieties. Verse 19 turns the corner from description to escape — and the escape, notably, is not “become more sattvic,” since sattva was already shown at verse 6 to bind as surely as the other two.