Sanskrit
रागी कर्मफलप्रेप्सुर्लुब्धो हिंसात्मकोऽशुचिः । हर्षशोकान्वितः कर्ता राजसः परिकीर्तितः ॥ २७ ॥
rāgī karmaphalaprepsur lubdho hiṃsātmako'śuciḥ harṣaśokānvitaḥ kartā rājasaḥ parikīrtitaḥ
Translation
Impassioned, desiring to obtain the fruit of actions, greedy, harmful, impure, moved by joy and sorrow, such an actor is pronounced passionate.
Annie Besant · The Bhagavad-Gita, translated by Annie Besant (4th ed., 1922) — Wikisource · Public Domain
Explanation
The rajasic actor is impassioned, fruit-hungry, greedy, harmful, impure, and swings between elation and grief depending on how things go. The joy-sorrow oscillation is the tell: it’s the same instability chapter 2 diagnosed as bondage to the pairs of opposites, now given a name, rajasic, and a home within a fuller taxonomy of actor-types. Rājasic agent: rāgī (passionate), lubdha (greedy), harṣa-śoka-anvita (rocked between elation and grief). The self that lives in the outcome, up when it wins and down when it loses. Its guṇa is rajas.
Study deeper
Word by word
- rāgī karmaphalaprepsurरागी कर्मफलप्रेप्सुः
- passionate, seeking the fruit of action (rāgī + karma-phala-prepsuḥ)
- lubdho hiṃsātmako'śuciḥलुब्धो हिंसात्मकोऽशुचिः
- greedy, of a violent nature, impure (lubdhaḥ + hiṃsā-ātmakaḥ + aśuciḥ)
- harṣaśokānvitaḥ kartāहर्षशोकान्वितः कर्ता
- swayed by joy and grief — the agent (harṣa-śoka-anvitaḥ + kartā)
- rājasaḥ parikīrtitaḥराजसः परिकीर्तितः
- is declared rājasic (rājasaḥ + parikīrtitaḥ)
Commentary
Site Commentary
The list moves from motives easy to deny, impassioned, fruit-hungry, greedy, harmful, impure, toward one impossible to miss: swinging between elation and grief. Read in order, the verse hands you a diagnostic shortcut — the internal traits are hard to inspect directly, but the mood swing they produce is not, which makes it the one item on this list actually worth checking first.
Original commentary written for this site · © Amit Singh — original commentary
Apply this verse
Lessons
Personal
- When you notice your mood swinging hard with outcomes, elated when things go your way, crushed when they don't, treat that swing itself as the visible signal of a deeper attachment you might not otherwise catch yourself holding.
Professional
- A team whose morale swings wildly with each sprint's results, euphoric on a win, despondent on a miss, is showing you attachment to outcomes rather than commitment to the work; the swing is the diagnostic, address what's underneath it.
Family & Social
- If someone's mood in a relationship tracks wins and losses, whose idea prevailed, who got their way, more than the relationship itself, name the swing you're seeing rather than only reacting to whichever mood shows up that day.
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