It was said in the chapter expounding the division into the two classes of gods and of demons that the attainment of the knowledge of the Reality and the knowledge of the means of that attainment have their roots only in the Vedas. Now it will be shown (1) that whatever is not enjoined by the Shastras is fruitless, being of the nature of the demoniac, and (2) that works enjoined in the Shastras are of three kinds according to the Gunas. The definition of what is established in the Shastras will also be given. Arjuna, not knowing the fruitlessness of works not enjoined in the Shastras, questions with a desire to know the different kinds of fruits in terms of Sattva and other Gunas, issuing from the sacrifices etc., that are not enjoined in the Shastras, but done with faith:

Those who, ‘filled with faith but laying aside the injunctions of the Shastras,’ engage themselves in sacrifices etc., what is their ‘position or basis’? Is it Sattva, Rajas or Tamas? Nishtha means Sthiti. What is called Sthiti is that state in which one abides, has one’s position or basis. Do they abide in Sattva, in Rajas or in Tamas? Such is the meaning of the question.

Thus questioned, the Lord, for affirming the futility of faith and of sacrifices not enjoined in the Shastras, and in order to show that the triple division in accordance with the Gunas refers only to sacrifices etc., enjoined in the Shastras—expounds here the threefold nature of faith enjoined in the Shastras: