Bhagavad Gita 18.27रागी कर्मफलप्रेप्सुर्लुब्धो हिंसात्मकोऽशुचिः।हर्षशोकान्वितः कर्ता राजसः परिकीर्तितः ॥
rāgī karma-phala-prepsur lubdho hinsātmako
‘śhuchiḥ harṣha-śhokānvitaḥ kartā rājasaḥ parikīrtitaḥ
Sanskrit recitation
What makes an action · 18.13–18.28 · Teaching
Translation
Passionate, desiring to obtain the reward of their actions, greedy, cruel, impure, moved by joy and sorrow, such an agent is said to be Rajasic.
Hindi translation
जो कर्ता रागी, कर्मफलकी इच्छावाला, लोभी, हिंसाके स्वभाववाला, अशुद्ध और हर्षशोकसे युक्त है, वह राजस कहा गया है।
Meaning
A passionate agent is the abode of sins and of greed of the whole world. Wherever he imagines that he may gain worldly fruit he will strive wholeheartedly to obtain it. Whatsoever he gains he keeps strictly to himself and his family. If he attains the fruits of his actions he rejoices. If he fails in his attempt he is overcome by grief.Lubdhah Greedy Thirsting for others property not sharing ones own wealth with deserving persons.Himsatmakah Doing injury to others.Asuchih Impure Having no external and internal purity. (Internal purity is freedom from lust,,anger, greed and pride the heart is filled with compassion, complacency, forgiveness, dispassion, love, etc.)Harshasokanvitah Joy on the attainment of what is desirable, pleasant or agreeable sorrow on the attainment of what is not desirable, pleasant or agreeable, and on having to part with what is desirable. He will be elated with joy when he attains success he will be overcoming by grief when he fails in his undertaking.
After Swami Sivananda
What makes an action· 18.13–18.28→
Teachers usually read this idea across several verses together, one shared reflection covers the whole unit.
- 18.13Learn from Me, O mighty-armed Arjuna, these five causes, as declared in the Sankhya…
- 18.14The body, the doer, the various senses, the different functions of various kinds, and the…
- 18.15Whatever action a person performs with their body, speech, and mind, whether right or…
- 18.16Now, such being the case, verily he who, owing to an untrained understanding, looks upon…
- 18.17He who is free from the egoistic notion, whose intelligence is not tainted by good or…
- 18.18Knowledge, the knowable, and the knower form the threefold impulse for action; the organ,…
- 18.19Knowledge, action, and actor are declared in the science of the Gunas (Sankhya philosophy)…
- 18.20That by which one sees the indestructible Reality in all beings, not separate in any of…
- 18.21But that knowledge which sees in all beings various entities of distinct kinds as being…
- 18.22But that which clings to one single effect as if it were the whole, without reason,…
- 18.23An action that is ordained, free from attachment, done without love or hatred, and without…
- 18.24But that action which is done by one longing for the fulfillment of desires or gain with…
- 18.25That action which is undertaken from delusion, without regard for the consequences, loss,…
- 18.26An agent who is free from attachment, non-egoistic, endowed with firmness and enthusiasm,…
18.27Passionate, desiring to obtain the reward of their actions, greedy, cruel, impure, moved…
- 18.28Unsteady, vulgar, inflexible, deceitful, malicious, lazy, despondent, and…
Word-by-word→
- kartā
- performer
- rāgī
- craving
- lubdhaḥ
- greedy
- prepsuḥ
- covet
- rājasaḥ
- in the mode of passion
- aśhuchiḥ
- impure
- karma-phala
- fruit of work
- parikīrtitaḥ
- is declared
- hinsā-ātmakaḥ
- violent-natured
- harṣha-śhoka-anvitaḥ
- moved by joy and sorrow
Read this when you feel
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