Bhagavad Gita · 18.26 · Yoga through the Perfection of Renunciation and Surrender·26 of 78
मुक्तसङ्गोऽनहंवादी धृत्युत्साहसमन्वितः।सिद्ध्यसिद्ध्योर्निर्विकारः कर्ता सात्त्विक उच्यते ॥
mukta-saṅgo ‘nahaṁ-vādī dhṛity-utsāha-samanvitaḥ
siddhy-asiddhyor nirvikāraḥ kartā sāttvika uchyate
Sanskrit recitation
What makes an action · 18.13–18.28 · Teaching
Translation
An agent who is free from attachment, non-egoistic, endowed with firmness and enthusiasm, and unaffected by success or failure, is considered to be of a Sattvic (pure) nature.
Meaning
A pure agent does his actions with his whole heart without feeling proud at the performance. He looks for the proper time and place and in accordance with the behests of the scriptures determines whether such actions are worth doing or not. He develops courage and a powerful will. He never seeks physical comforts. He is ite prepared to sacrifice his life for a noble cause. He is neither elated by success nor grieved by failure. He always keeps a balanced mind when he does any action. O Arjuna, that man is a pure agent who, while working, exhibits such alities.Siddhi Success attainment of the fruit of action performed.Nirvikarah Unaffected as having been urged to act merely by the authority of the scriptures, not by a desire for the sake of the reward.Now I will tell thee, O Arjuna, of the characteristics of a passionate agent.
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 system, for the accomplishment of all actions.
- 18.14The body, the doer, the various senses, the different functions of various kinds, and the presiding deity—the fifth.
- 18.15Whatever action a person performs with their body, speech, and mind, whether right or wrong, these five are its causes.
- 18.16Now, such being the case, verily he who, owing to an untrained understanding, looks upon his Self, which is isolated, as the agent, he of perverted intelligence does not see.
- 18.17He who is free from the egoistic notion, whose intelligence is not tainted by good or evil, though he slays these people, he does not slay, nor is he bound by the action.
- 18.18Knowledge, the knowable, and the knower form the threefold impulse for action; the organ, the action, and the agent form the threefold basis of action.
- 18.19Knowledge, action, and actor are declared in the science of the Gunas (Sankhya philosophy) to be of three kinds only, according to the distinction of the Gunas. Of these, hear duly.
- 18.20That by which one sees the indestructible Reality in all beings, not separate in any of them—know that knowledge to be Sattvic.
- 18.21But that knowledge which sees in all beings various entities of distinct kinds as being distinct from one another, know thou that knowledge to be Rajasic.
- 18.22But that which clings to one single effect as if it were the whole, without reason, without any foundation in Truth, and is trivial—that is declared to be Tamasic.
- 18.23An action that is ordained, free from attachment, done without love or hatred, and without desire for reward is declared to be Sattvic.
- 18.24But that action which is done by one longing for the fulfillment of desires or gain with egotism or with much effort is declared to be Rajasic (passionate).
- 18.25That action which is undertaken from delusion, without regard for the consequences, loss, injury, and one's own ability, is declared to be Tamasic (dark).
18.26An agent who is free from attachment, non-egoistic, endowed with firmness and enthusiasm, and unaffected by success or failure, is considered to be of a Sattvic (pure) nature.
- 18.27Passionate, desiring to obtain the reward of their actions, greedy, cruel, impure, moved by joy and sorrow, such an agent is said to be Rajasic.
- 18.28Unsteady, vulgar, inflexible, deceitful, malicious, lazy, despondent, and procrastinating—such an agent is called Tamasic.
Word-by-word→
- kartā
- worker
- uchyate
- is said to be
- utsāha
- zeal
- dhṛiti
- strong resolve
- samanvitaḥ
- endowed with
- sāttvikaḥ
- in the mode of goodness
- anaham-vādī
- free from ego
- nirvikāraḥ
- unaffected
- mukta-saṅgaḥ
- free from worldly attachment
- siddhi-asiddhyoḥ
- in success and failure
Related verses
- 2.4Arjuna said, "O Madhusudana, how can I fight in battle with arrows against Bhishma and…
- 7.4Earth, water, fire, air, ether, mind, intellect, and egoism—thus is My Nature divided…
- 8.19This same multitude of beings, being born again and again, helplessly dissolves, O Arjuna,…
- 9.7All beings, O Arjuna, go into My Nature at the end of a Kalpa; I send them forth again at…