कर्षयन्तः शरीरस्थं भूतग्राममचेतसः।मां चैवान्तःशरीरस्थं तान्विद्ध्यासुरनिश्चयान् ॥

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

• 17.1Arjuna said, "What is the condition of those who, disregarding the injunctions of the scriptures, perform sacrifice with faith—is it Sattva, Rajas, or Tamas, O Krishna?"
• 17.2The Blessed Lord said, "There are threefold faiths inherent in the nature of the embodied: the sattvic (pure), the rajasic (passionate), and the tamasic (dark). Hear of them."
• 17.3The faith of each is in accordance with their nature, O Arjuna. People consist of their faith; as a person's faith is, so are they.
• 17.4The sattvic, or pure, men worship the gods; the rajasic, or passionate, worship the yakshas and rakshasas; the others, the tamasic or deluded people, worship ghosts and hosts of nature-spirits.
• 17.5Those men who practice terrific austerities not prescribed by the scriptures, given to hypocrisy and egoism, driven by the force of lust and attachment.

• 17.6Know thou these to be of demonical resolves, senselessly torturing all the elements in the body and Me who dwell in the body.

cha

and

eva

even

mām

me

tān

them

viddhi

know

antaḥ

within

achetasaḥ

senseless

bhūta-grāmam

elements of the body

śharīra-stham

dwelling in the body

karṣhayantaḥ

torment

āsura-niśhchayān

of demoniacal resolves