Sanskrit
यया तु धर्मकामार्थान् धृत्या धारयतेऽर्जुन । प्रसङ्गेन फलाकाङ्क्षी धृतिः सा पार्थ राजसी ॥ ३४ ॥
yayā tu dharmakāmārthān dhṛtyā dhārayate'rjuna prasaṅgena phalākāṅkṣī dhṛtiḥ sā pārtha rājasī
Translation
But the firmness, O Arjuna, by which, from attachment desirous of fruit, one holdeth fast duty, desire and wealth, that firmness, O Partha, is passionate.
Annie Besant · The Bhagavad-Gita, translated by Annie Besant (4th ed., 1922) — Wikisource · Public Domain
Explanation
Rajasic dhriti clings tightly, from attachment and craving for results, to dharma, kama, and artha — three of the four classical aims of life. The irony is pointed: holding onto even legitimate goals (duty, desire, wealth) becomes rajasic the moment the grip is fruit-driven, which means the content of what one pursues matters less here than the quality of the pursuing. Rājasic dhṛti holds firmly to dharma-kāma-artha — duty, pleasure, wealth — but prasaṅgena, with attachment, and phala-ākāṅkṣī, wanting the payoff. Persistence in service of craving.
Study deeper
Word by word
- yayā tu dharmakāmārthānयया तु धर्मकामार्थान्
- but the firmness by which one holds to dharma, pleasure, and wealth (yayā + tu + dharma-kāma-arthān)
- dhṛtyā dhārayate'rjunaधृत्या धारयतेऽर्जुन
- O Arjuna, by which one clings (dhṛtyā + dhārayate + arjuna)
- prasaṅgena phalākāṅkṣīप्रसङ्गेन फलाकाङ्क्षी
- with attachment, craving the fruit (prasaṅgena + phala-ākāṅkṣī)
- dhṛtiḥ sā pārtha rājasīधृतिः सा पार्थ राजसी
- that firmness, O Pārtha, is rājasic (dhṛtiḥ + sā + pārtha + rājasī)
Commentary
Site Commentary
The three goals named here, dharma, kama, artha, are exactly the three of the four classical aims of life that can be craved. The fourth, moksha, is conspicuously missing, and that isn’t an oversight: liberation is the one aim that can’t coherently be gripped with craving, since craving is precisely what it is freedom from. The list’s gap is doing as much teaching as its content.
Original commentary written for this site · © Amit Singh — original commentary
Apply this verse
Lessons
Personal
- Notice that even worthy goals turn rajasic the moment you grip them for their payoff rather than pursue them for their own value — the one goal immune to this trap is the one defined by the absence of craving itself.
Professional
- A legitimate company objective, revenue, a values initiative, becomes rajasic the moment leadership grips it purely for the metric it produces; watch the quality of the pursuit, not just whether the target itself was worth having.
Family & Social
- Even a good family goal, a milestone, an occasion, becomes a source of anxious gripping rather than joy when it's pursued for the payoff instead of for itself — watch the grip, not just whether the goal was worth wanting.
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