Bhagavad Gita 14.12
Spoken by Krishna · Verse 12 of 27
लोभः प्रवृत्तिर् आरम्भः कर्मणाम् अशमः स्पृहा । रजस्य् एतानि जायन्ते विवृद्धे भरतर्षभ ॥
lobhaḥ pravṛttir ārambhaḥ karmaṇām aśamaḥ spṛhā | rajasy etāni jāyante vivṛddhe bharatarṣabha ||
Greed, restless activity, and longing surge — know that rajas is predominant and karma-saṅga is binding.
Word by word (3)
- lobhaḥ pravṛttiḥ ārambhaḥ karmaṇām
- — greed (lobha), restless activity/tendency (pravṛtti), undertaking/initiating of actions (ārambha karmaṇām = beginning of works)
- aśamaḥ spṛhā
- — unrest/lack of stillness (aśama = not śānta/quiet), longing/desire (spṛhā = craving for objects)
- rajasi vivṛddhe etāni jāyante bharatarṣabha
- — these arise when rajas is predominant (vivṛddhe = grown/expanded) — O bull of the Bharatas (bharatarṣabha = Arjuna)
When rajas is predominant, these arise: greed (lobha), restless activity (pravṛtti), compulsive initiating of actions (ārambha), unrest (aśama), and longing (spṛhā). These five are the signature of a rajas-dominated mind.
A modern analogy
The rajasic mind is like a phone with too many tabs open — notifications, ambitions, projects, desires all running simultaneously. There's always something to check, improve, acquire, achieve. Rajas is recognizable by this constant hum of incompleteness.
Public-domain translations (4) compare all →
Greed, activity, the undertaking of works, unrest, desire — these arise when Rajas is predominant, O lord of the Bharatas. [1]
Greed, activity, the undertaking of actions, unrest, longing — these arise when Rajas is predominant, O bull of the Bharatas. [4]
And when passion increases, O best of Bharatas, then come greed, activity, commencement of works, unrest, and desire. [9]
When Passion is predominant, O bull of the Bharatas, avarice (lobha), enterprise (pravṛtti), the commencement of actions (ārambha), unrest (aśama), and longing (spṛhā) arise. [13]
This verse speaks to
Where this thread continues
Rajas — passion, thirst, attachment — binds the embodied one specifically through attachment to action.
When the completely controlled mind rests serenely in the Self alone, free from all desire-pull — that is called yoga.
Abandon all desires born of mental planning — without remainder — and restrain the senses completely, by the mind alone.
Three gates to hell, destructive of the self: kāma, krodha, lobha. Therefore abandon this triad.
Sannyāsa = abandoning desire-motivated action; tyāga = abandoning fruits of ALL action — say the learned.
Sattva, rajas, tamas — three guṇas born of Prakṛti — bind the indestructible ātman in every body.
Verse 12 of 27 · back to Chapter 14