Chapter 18Verse 27 of 78

Bhagavad Gita 18.27

रागी कर्मफलप्रेप्सुर्लुब्धो हिंसात्मकोऽशुचिः । हर्षशोकान्वितः कर्ता राजसः परिकीर्तितः ॥

rāgī karma-phala-prepsur lubdho hiṃsātmako 'śuciḥ / harṣa-śokānvitaḥ kartā rājasaḥ parikīrtitaḥ

Translation

Passionate, eager for the fruit of action, greedy, given to violence, impure, swayed by joy and sorrow, such a doer is declared of the passionate kind.

Rajasika karta. The list is seven attributes, each unsparing. Ragi, in the grip of attraction. Karma-phala-prepsu, focused on the payoff. Lubdha, grasping, never satisfied. Himsatmaka, harm woven into method. Ashuchi, inwardly unclean despite outward grooming. Harsha-shoka-anvita, riding the elation-dejection wave according to outcome. This is not a caricature of someone else. This is most ambitious people most of the time. The Gita names it precisely so the mirror can do its work. Recognition is not condemnation; it is the beginning of the shift. The rajasika doer is closer to sattvika than the tamasika one is. The motion is from rajas inward, not from tamas leaping over rajas.

Reflection

How many of the seven signatures show up in your own working life right now?

Read this verse in its chapter: Chapter Eighteen

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