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Bhagavad Gita · 14.17 · Yoga through Understanding the Three Modes of Material Nature·17 of 27

सत्त्वात्सञ्जायते ज्ञानं रजसो लोभ एव चप्रमादमोहौ तमसो भवतोऽज्ञानमेव च

sattvāt sañjāyate jñānaṁ rajaso lobha eva cha

pramāda-mohau tamaso bhavato ’jñānam eva cha

Sanskrit recitation

Three moods of nature · 14.1–14.18 · Teaching

Translation

From Sattva arises knowledge, and greed from Rajas; heedlessness and delusion arise from Tamas, and also ignorance.

Meaning

From Sattva When Sattva becomes predominant. Sattva awakesn knowledge just as the sun causes daylight. Sattva enlightens the intellect.Greed is insatiable like fire. Greed brings misery and pain. Greed is born of Rajas. Rajas creates insatiable desire. Rajas makes one blind to the interests and the feelings of others. A Rajasic man treats others as tools to be utilised for his own selfadvancement or selfaggrandisement.Tamas produces shortsightedness, torpor and ignorance. A Tamasic man does not think a bit of the future conseences. He completely identifies himself with the body and begins to fight with people if they injure his body or speak ill of him. He is ready to do any sinful act in retaliation. He has no sense of proportion and no sense of balance or poise.

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
cha
and
eva
indeed
mohau
delusion
jñānam
knowledge
lobhaḥ
greed
pramāda
negligence
sattvāt
from the mode of goodness
ajñānam
ignorance
rajasaḥ
from the mode of passion
tamasaḥ
from the mode of ignorance
bhavataḥ
arise
sañjāyate
arises

Related verses

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