Chapter 14, Verse 17
सत्त्वात्सञ्जायते ज्ञानं रजसो लोभ एव च | प्रमादमोहौ तमसो भवतोऽज्ञानमेव च ||१४-१७||
sattvātsañjāyate jñānaṃ rajaso lobha eva ca . pramādamohau tamaso bhavato.ajñānameva ca ||14-17||
Meaning
14.17 From Sattva arises knowledge, and greed from Rajas; heedlessness and delusion arise from Tamas, and also ignorance.
Word-by-Word Meaning
Explanation & Commentary
Krishna draws together the inner offspring of each guṇa in a single clear summary. From sattva is born jñāna, true knowledge — the clear seeing of things as they are. From rajas springs lobha, greed, the endless wanting that drives the restless heart. From tamas come pramāda and moha, heedlessness and delusion, along with ajñāna, the ignorance that is its root and signature.
This verse completes the chapter's anatomy of the three qualities by tracing each to the inner faculty it produces. Knowledge clarifies, greed agitates, delusion blinds. Understanding this lets the seeker work backward: when greed arises, rajas is active; when confusion clouds the mind, tamas has risen; when insight dawns, sattva is present. By recognising the offspring, we identify the parent, and by cultivating the conditions of sattva — simplicity, study, truthfulness, calm — we invite knowledge to be born again and again.
💡 Key Takeaway
Knowledge, greed, and delusion each reveal which quality is at work in you — read the effect to recognise the cause.
Related Verses
श्रीभगवानुवाच | परं भूयः प्रवक्ष्यामि ज्ञानानां ज्ञानमुत्तमम् | यज्ज्ञात्वा मुनयः सर्वे परां सिद्धिमितो गताः ||१४-१||
śrībhagavānuvāca . paraṃ bhūyaḥ pravakṣyāmi jñānānāṃ jñānamuttamam . yajjñātvā munayaḥ sarve parāṃ siddhimito gatāḥ ||14-1||
14.1 The Blessed Lord said I will again declare (to thee) that supreme knowledge, the best of all knowledge, having known which all the sages have gone to the supreme perfection after this life.
सत्त्वं रजस्तम इति गुणाः प्रकृतिसम्भवाः | निबध्नन्ति महाबाहो देहे देहिनमव्ययम् ||१४-५||
sattvaṃ rajastama iti guṇāḥ prakṛtisambhavāḥ . nibadhnanti mahābāho dehe dehinamavyayam ||14-5||
14.5 Purity, passion and inertia these alities, O Arjuna, born of Nature, bind fast in the body, the embodied, the indestructible.
तत्र सत्त्वं निर्मलत्वात्प्रकाशकमनामयम् | सुखसङ्गेन बध्नाति ज्ञानसङ्गेन चानघ ||१४-६||
tatra sattvaṃ nirmalatvātprakāśakamanāmayam . sukhasaṅgena badhnāti jñānasaṅgena cānagha ||14-6||
14.6 Of these, Sattva, which from its stainlessness is luminous and healthy, binds by attachment to happiness and by attachment to knowledge, O sinless one.