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Adhyāyas / Mokṣa-Sannyāsa Yogaḥ / verse 31

Mūla — the verse

Gita Press numbering
यया धर्ममधर्मं च कार्यं चाकार्यमेव च। अयथावत्प्रजानाति बुद्धिः सा पार्थ राजसी
yayā dharmam adharmaṁ cha kāryaṁ chākāryam eva cha ayathāvat prajānāti buddhiḥ sā pārtha rājasī
Anuṣṭubh

Translation

Swami Gambhīrānanda · follows Śaṅkara-bhāṣya

O Partha, that intellect is born of rajas with which one wrongly understands virtue and vice, as well as what ought to be done and ought not to be done.

हिन्दी अनुवाद — Swami Tejomayānanda

हे पार्थ ! जिस बुद्धि के द्वारा मनुष्य धर्म और अधर्म को तथा कर्तव्य और अकर्तव्य को यथावत् नहीं जानता है, वह बुद्धि राजसी है।।

Pronunciation — Vaamshii

from Vaamshii
यया धर्म मधर्मञ् च
कार्यञ्‌ चाकार्य मेव च
अयथा वत् प्रजा नाति
बुद् धिस् सा पार्थ राजसी
॥ ३१ ॥
Read each split group as one breath-unit; hyphens join pādas kept whole for the meter or a compound word. Symbols: # upadhmānīya (visarga before p/ph), % jihvāmūlīya (visarga before k/kh), ऽ avagraha (an elided a). Full method →

Word by word

padārtha
yayāby which
dharmamrighteousness
adharmamunrighteousness
chaand
kāryamright conduct
chaand
akāryamwrong conduct
evacertainly
chaand
ayathā-vatconfused
prajānātidistinguish
buddhiḥintellect
that
pārthaArjun, the son of Pritha
rājasīin the mode of passion

Themes

from The Thematic Companion to the Bhagavad Gītā

Meaning — Questions & Solutions

from Q&A with KnA
18.29–18.40Intellect, firmness and happiness, each threefold.

K completes the great analysis by running buddhi (intellect/judgment), dhṛti (firmness/resolve) and sukha (happiness) through the three strands. Intellect (18.30–32): sattvic buddhi knows rightly what to do and not do, what to fear and not fear, bondage and liberation; rajasic buddhi confuses right and wrong, dharma and adharma; tamasic buddhi, wrapped in darkness, takes adharma to be dharma and sees everything upside-down. Firmness (18.33–35): sattvic dhṛti is the unwavering steadiness that holds mind, breath and senses in Yoga; rajasic dhṛti clings, with attachment, to duty, pleasure and wealth, craving their fruit; tamasic dhṛti is the stubbornness that will not let go of sleep, fear, grief, despair and conceit. Happiness (18.36–39): sattvic sukha is “like poison at first and nectar in the end”, born of the serenity of Self-knowledge — hard at the outset, blissful at maturity; rajasic sukha is “nectar at first, poison in the end”, born of the contact of sense and object; tamasic sukha, deluding from beginning to end, springs from sleep, sloth and heedlessness. This last triad is a jewel of practical wisdom: the worthwhile joys cost effort up front and reward later (the discipline of 6.16); the cheap joys reward instantly and cost dearly after; the worthless ones are pleasant only to a dulled mind. By this test alone one can sort one’s own pleasures.