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Bhagavad Gita · 14.12 · Yoga through Understanding the Three Modes of Material Nature·12 of 27

लोभः प्रवृत्तिरारम्भः कर्मणामशमः स्पृहारजस्येतानि जायन्ते विवृद्धे भरतर्षभ

lobhaḥ pravṛittir ārambhaḥ karmaṇām aśhamaḥ

spṛihā rajasy etāni jāyante vivṛiddhe bharatarṣhabha

Sanskrit recitation

Three moods of nature · 14.1–14.18 · Teaching

Translation

Greed, activity, the undertaking of actions, restlessness, and longing—these arise when Rajas is predominant, O Arjuna.

Meaning

Greed Covetousness Desire to appropriate the property of others a desire to possess more wealth though one has sufficient already.Pravritti Action in general.Asamah Restlessness being agitated by joy, attachment, etc. I will do this and then I wil take up that action. After finishing the second, I will take up the third, and so on. There is no end to the continuity of desire, will and action. This is called Asama or restlessness.Spriha Thirsting or longing for all sensual objects in general.These are the characteristic marks that indicate that Rajas is predominant.Do not mistake Rajasic restlessness or Rajasic movements for Karma Yoga or divine activity. People may say that they are doing selfless service to the world, but if you analyse their motives,there will be the taint of personal desire in some form or other. Many persons cannot sit quiet even for a moment. They think that moving about here and there or doing some action or other is to full of life. The Yogi or sage who sits still by calming the mind, who does nothing at all physically, is the most active man in the whole world whereas the man who runs here and there and who is always very busy does nothing at all. This may be paradoxical to you. Very few can comprehend the truth of this statement. Sattva is intense activity. A wheel that revolves very rapidly appears to be at rest. So is Sattva. So is a Sattvic man.

After Swami Sivananda

Three moods of nature· 14.1–14.18

Teachers usually read this idea across several verses together, one shared reflection covers the whole unit.

Word-by-word
etāni
these
rajasi
of the mode of passion
jāyante
develop
lobhaḥ
greed
spṛihā
craving
aśhamaḥ
restlessness
karmaṇām
for fruitive actions
vivṛiddhe
when predominates
ārambhaḥ
exertion
pravṛittiḥ
activity
bharata-ṛiṣhabha
the best of the Bharatas, Arjun

Related verses

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