Verse 14.16
कर्मणः सुकृतस्याहुः सात्त्विकं निर्मलं फलम् ।
रजसस्तु फलं दुःखमज्ञानं तमसः फलम् ॥
Transliteration
karmaṇaḥ sukṛtasyāhuḥ sāttvikaṃ nirmalaṃ phalam |
rajasastu phalaṃ duḥkhamajñānaṃ tamasaḥ phalam ||
By Sanskrit System · Machine draft · @indic-transliteration/sanscript 1.3.3
Translation
The fruit of good action, they say, is Sattvic and pure, verily the fruit of Rajas is pain, and ignorance is the fruit of Tamas.
From the owner's sheet · +1 more
The fruit of good action is said to be pure and of the nature of clarity; the fruit of passion is pain, and the fruit of inertia is ignorance.
By Sanskrit System · Machine draft · claude-opus-5-5 · 2026-11-08 · +1 more
Word by word
By Sanskrit System · Machine draft · claude-opus-5-5 · 2026-11-08
Explanation
Krishna describes the fruits of action according to the qualities. Well-done action, which belongs to clarity (sattva), yields a pure result. Action driven by passion (rajas) bears the fruit of pain, since restless desire is never fully satisfied and its gains are mixed with loss. Action shaped by inertia (tamas) leads to ignorance, deepening the very darkness from which it came. The verse shows that each quality reproduces itself through action. One acts from a state, and the result reinforces that state. Breaking such cycles requires changing the quality from which one acts.
By Sanskrit System · Machine draft · claude-opus-5-5 · 2026-11-08