Verse 14.17
सत्त्वात्सञ्जायते ज्ञानं रजसो लोभ एव च ।
प्रमादमोहौ तमसो भवतोऽज्ञानमेव च ॥
Transliteration
sattvātsañjāyate jñānaṃ rajaso lobha eva ca |
pramādamohau tamaso bhavato'jñānameva ca ||
By Sanskrit System · Machine draft · @indic-transliteration/sanscript 1.3.3
Translation
From Sattva arises knowledge, and greed from Rajas; heedlessness and delusion arise from Tamas, and also ignorance.
From the owner's sheet · +1 more
From clarity arises knowledge, and from passion, greed. Heedlessness and delusion arise from inertia, and ignorance too.
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 states plainly what each quality produces in the mind. Clarity (sattva) gives rise to knowledge; passion (rajas) to greed; inertia (tamas) to carelessness, delusion and ignorance. The verse echoes and condenses what has come before, a teaching method common in the Gita, where key points are repeated from different angles. Repetition helps Arjuna, and any listener, take the teaching in. It also makes clear that the qualities are known by their effects. One does not see sattva directly; one sees knowledge arising and infers clarity behind it.
By Sanskrit System · Machine draft · claude-opus-5-5 · 2026-11-08