Sanskrit
सत्त्वात्सञ्जायते ज्ञानं रजसो लोभ एव च । प्रमादमोहौ तमसो भवतोऽज्ञानमेव च ॥
sattvāt sañjāyate jñānaṃ rajaso lobha eva ca pramādamohau tamaso bhavato'jñānam eva ca
Translation
From Harmony wisdom is born, and also greed from Motion; heedlessness and delusion are of Inertia and also unwisdom.
Annie Besant · The Bhagavad-Gita, translated by Annie Besant (4th ed., 1922) — Wikisource · Public Domain
Explanation
A companion formula to verse 16, shifting focus from the fruit of an action to what arises within the person dominated by each guna: sattva produces wisdom, rajas produces greed, tamas produces heedlessness, delusion, and unwisdom. Verses 16 and 17 together close the description of what each guna does — to action’s outcome and to the mind itself — setting up verse 18’s final piece of the descriptive half of the chapter: where each guna leads a person, spatially, at the end. BG 14.16 restated from the productive side: sattva generates jñāna, rajas generates lobha, tamas generates pramāda, moha, and ajñāna. The guṇas are not passive labels but active causes of what a mind produces.
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Word by word
- sattvāt sañjāyate jñānaṃसत्त्वात् सञ्जायते ज्ञानं
- from sattva, knowledge arises (sattvāt + sañjāyate + jñānam)
- rajaso lobha eva caरजसो लोभ एव च
- and from rajas, greed (rajasaḥ + lobhaḥ + eva + ca)
- pramādamohau tamasoप्रमादमोहौ तमसो
- negligence and delusion, from tamas (pramāda-mohau + tamasaḥ)
- bhavato'jñānam eva caभवतोऽज्ञानं एव च
- come to be, and ignorance (bhavataḥ + ajñānam + eva + ca)
Commentary
Site Commentary
Verse 16 tracked what an action returns to the world; this verse tracks what the same guna leaves behind in the mind that acted. Sattva, rajas, and tamas are each running two ledgers at once, an external one and an internal one, and a person could conceivably get a decent external result while still accumulating the internal residue — greed, delusion — that the guna behind the act deposits regardless of outcome.
Original commentary written for this site · © Amit Singh — original commentary
Concepts
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Lessons
Personal
- When you assess whether an approach is working, check the internal residue it's leaving in you — calm and clarity, or greed and restlessness — not just the external result, since a guna can produce an acceptable outcome while still depositing the wrong residue in you.
Professional
- When a strategy is delivering results, still check what it's doing to the team internally — is it building clarity and competence, or greed and burnout — since a good external number can mask a bad internal residue accumulating underneath it.
Family & Social
- When a way of handling family obligations is technically getting things done, check what it's leaving behind in you and in them — resentment and depletion, or genuine goodwill — the external result and the internal residue aren't the same ledger.
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