Sanskrit
ये शास्त्रविधिमुत्सृज्य यजन्ते श्रद्धयाऽन्विताः । तेषां निष्ठा तु का कृष्ण सत्त्वमाहो रजस्तमः ॥
ye śāstravidhim utsṛjya yajante śraddhayānvitāḥ teṣāṃ niṣṭhā tu kā kṛṣṇa sattvam āho rajas tamaḥ
Translation
Those that sacrifice full of faith, but casting aside the ordinances of the Scriptures, what is verily their condition, O Krishna? Is it one of Purity, Passion, or Darkness?
Annie Besant · The Bhagavad-Gita, translated by Annie Besant (4th ed., 1922) — Wikisource · Public Domain
Explanation
Arjuna opens a new chapter with a question Chapter 16 left unaddressed: that chapter sorted people into divine and demoniac natures largely by whether they honour scriptural ordinance, but what about someone who acts with real faith yet ignores the rulebook? He’s asking Krishna to locate sincerity somewhere on the sattva-rajas-tamas axis first named back in Chapter 14, and the question itself quietly concedes that faith and scriptural correctness might be two separate axes rather than one — a premise Krishna will run with for the rest of the chapter. Arjuna’s question picks up the loose end of BG 16.23–BG 16.24: scripture was made the standard, but what of the sincere person who worships without it? Krishna answers not by ruling them in or out but by sorting their faith — and everything it produces — by guṇa.
Study deeper
Word by word
- ye śāstravidhim utsṛjyaये शास्त्रविधिं उत्सृज्य
- those who, setting aside the ordinance of scripture (ye + śāstra-vidhim + utsṛjya)
- yajante śraddhayānvitāḥयजन्ते श्रद्धयान्विताः
- worship, endowed with faith (yajante + śraddhayā-anvitāḥ)
- teṣāṃ niṣṭhā tu kā kṛṣṇaतेषां निष्ठा तु का कृष्ण
- what is their standing, O Krishna (teṣām + niṣṭhā + tu + kā + kṛṣṇa)
- sattvam āho rajas tamaḥसत्त्वं आहो रजस् तमः
- sattva, rajas, or tamas? (sattvam + āho + rajaḥ + tamaḥ)
Commentary
Site Commentary
Arjuna’s question already smuggles in an answer he probably didn’t intend: by asking which guna sincere-but-unorthodox faith belongs to, rather than whether it’s virtuous or corrupt outright, he’s tacitly conceding that faith without rulebook compliance is real enough to classify — not nothing, not automatically demonic. The rest of the chapter validates that instinct before Arjuna’s own reasoning catches up with it.
Original commentary written for this site · © Amit Singh — original commentary
Concepts
Apply this verse
Lessons
Personal
- When you find yourself asking 'which kind is this' rather than 'is this good or bad,' notice that you've already conceded there's a real, gradations-having thing to classify — trust that finer question over the urge to force a verdict into a binary.
Professional
- When evaluating a team's unconventional but sincere approach, resist collapsing your assessment into pass/fail — ask what kind of good-faith effort it is, because framing the question as gradation-first reveals nuance a verdict-first framing would erase.
Family & Social
- When someone in your family does things sincerely but not by the usual rules, ask what's actually going on before judging it right or wrong — starting with 'what kind of thing is this' keeps you from a snap verdict you'd have to walk back later.
Ask yourself
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