Verse 26
The Srimad Bhagavatam also describes types of performers of actions:
He who is free from attachment, non-egoistic, endowed with
firmness and enthusiasm and unaffected by success or failure, is called Sattwic.
Sattvic action
is defined once again. It is an action performed by those people who are free
from attachment, who do not have any kind of a trace of egoism on their
part, and are full of enthusiasm for the work. It is not fatigue but
enthusiasm, zest, and an indefatigability that is felt before undertaking any
work.
Utsāha, which is
enthusiasm, spiritedness, and a love for what is good, should be the motive
behind performing action, whether one succeeds or not. This is because, as
mentioned earlier, the fruit of an action is not in anyone’s hand. The fruit is
the product of the cooperative activity of five factors.
Therefore, if we do something to
the best of our ability but have not succeeded, it is because we have not taken
into consideration the other four aspects. Finally, one cannot succeed in life
unless one is practically omniscient in nature.
An ordinary person cannot know
what consequence will follow from what action, because we cannot know all
aspects of the matter at the same time. Sattvic karma is free
from the longing to achieve its fruit, free from egoism, filled with
enthusiasm, work undertaken spontaneously by oneself for the welfare of all
people.
Verse 27
Passionate, desiring to obtain the rewards of actions,
cruel, greedy, impure, moved by joy and sorrow, such an agent is said to be
Rajasic.
Here is the description of a person who is full
of desires, passions and attachments, desiring for rewards for his actions.
He is swayed by passion (raaga) and eagerly
seeks the fruit of his work. He is ever greedy (Lubdhah), never satisfied with
what he gains. His thirst is insatiable because his desires multiply from
moment to moment.
When a man, full of desires and passions, he
never hesitates to injure another, if such injury were to win his end. He is
blind to the amount of sorrow he might bring to others; he is concerned only
with the realisation of his ulterior motives. When such a man becomes
maliciously resolved to gain his own ends, he becomes impure (Ashuchih),
meaning "immoral."
It is but natural that such a
person acts in his blinding desires, comes to live, all through his
embodied existence, a sad life of agitations, moved by joys and sorrows,
"full of delight and grief," (Harsha-Shoka-Anvitah). This completes
the picture of a man who is a 'passionate' (Rajasic) "doer."
Verse 28
Unsteady, dejected,
unbending, cheating, malicious, vulgar, lazy and procrastinating—such an agent
is called Tamasic.
Sree Krishna now gives a
description of tāmasic workers. Their mind is
blotted with negative obsessions and thus they are ayuktaḥ (undisciplined).
The scriptures give injunctions regarding what is proper and improper behavior.
But workers in the mode of
ignorance are obstinate in their views, for they have closed their ears
and mind to reason. Thus, they are often śhaṭhaḥ (cunning)
and naiṣhkṛitikaḥ (dishonest
or vile) in their ways.
They are prakṛitaḥ (vulgar) because they do not believe in controlling their animal
instinct. Though they may have duties to perform, they see effort as laborious
and painful, and so they are alasaḥ (slothful) and dirgha-sutri (procrastinating).
Their ignoble and base thoughts
impact them more than anyone else, making them viṣhadi (unhappy and morose).
sattvikaḥ karako
sangi ragandho rajasaḥ smṛitaḥ
tamasaḥ
smriti-vibhrashto nirguṇo
mad-apashrayah
“The worker who is detached is sattvic in nature; the one who is excessively
attached to action and its results is rajasic; one who is
devoid of discrimination is tamasic. But the
worker who is surrendered to me is transcendental to the three modes.”
Love
