Knowledge, and action, action meaning here the act, not the act as the grammarians technically use it for what is most wished to be reached, and the doer, the accomplisher of acts, are declared to be of just three kinds; the restriction 'just three' shows that there is no further class beyond the qualities, that is, the division is by the difference of sattva and the rest. So it is declared in the reckoning of the qualities, the system of Kapila. That system too, in the matter of the qualities and the experiencer, is itself a valid authority. Though in the matter of the supreme oneness of Brahman it conflicts with us, still those Kapilas are skilled in setting out the workings of the qualities; so that system too is drawn upon here to lend support to what is about to be said, and there is no conflict. Hear in due order, according to reasoning and scripture, hear these too, knowledge and the rest, in the kinds produced by the difference of the qualities; that is, settle your mind on what is about to be said. First the threefoldness of knowledge is stated.

The knowledge whose object is the action to be done, the action being carried out, and its carrier-out, are declared to be of just three kinds, by the difference of the qualities, sattva and the rest. In the reckoning of the qualities, in the counting of the effects of the qualities, hear them too as they truly are; hear, as they truly are, those things, knowledge and the rest, distinguished by quality.

This is a brief sub-gloss. For a fuller reading of this verse, see Madhusūdana, Śaṅkara, or Rāmānuja above.

Again, to set out the means, Krishna states the differences of the gunas, with 'knowledge' and so on. 'In the reckoning of the gunas' means in the section on the counting of the gunas.