Go to VersesSingle Page Mode
BG 18.24

यत्तु कामेप्सुना कर्म साहंकारेण वा पुनः
क्रियते बहुलायासं तद्राजसमुदाहृतम्

yat tu kāmepsunā karma
sāhaṃkāreṇa vā punaḥ
kriyate bahulāyāsaṃ
tad rājasam udāhṛtam

SYNONYMS

yat: that which | tu: But | kāma-īpsunā: by one who seeks to gratify his desires | karma: act | sa-ahaṅkāreṇa: under the prompting of egoism | : or | punaḥ: again | kriyate: is performed | bahula-āyāsam: with great effort | tat: that | rājasam: Rajasika | udāhṛtam: is said to be |

TRANSLATION

But that act is said to be Rajasika which is performed with great effort by one who seeks to gratify his desires and under the prompting of egoism.

PURPORT

But whatever act is performed by one who seeks to gratify his desires, viz., by one who desires the results of his action and with the feeling of egoism, viz., has the misconceived notion that oneself is the agent; and with a great deal of effort—such an act is of the nature of Rajas. Here va (or) is used in the sense of ca (and). Whatever action is performed by one who possesses the misconceived notion, ‘This action demanding enormous effort is performed entirely by me’—it is said to be Rajasika.