Chapter 14, Verse 7
रजो रागात्मकं विद्धि तृष्णासङ्गसमुद्भवम् | तन्निबध्नाति कौन्तेय कर्मसङ्गेन देहिनम् ||१४-७||
rajo rāgātmakaṃ viddhi tṛṣṇāsaṅgasamudbhavam . tannibadhnāti kaunteya karmasaṅgena dehinam ||14-7||
Meaning
14.7 Know thou Rajas to be of the nature of passion, the source of thirst (for sensual enjoyment) and attachment; it binds fast, O Arjuna, the embodied one by attachment to action.
Word-by-Word Meaning
Explanation & Commentary
Krishna turns to rajas, the guṇa of passion and restless drive. Its essence is rāga — attraction, craving — and it springs from tṛṣṇā, an unquenchable thirst, and saṅga, the clinging to objects of desire. Rajas is the engine of ambition and busy striving in the human heart.
Its particular chain is karma-saṅga, attachment to action. The rajasic person cannot rest; they are bound not by what they achieve but by their compulsive need to keep doing, keep wanting, keep reaching for the next thing. Activity itself is not the bondage — the Gita honours action — but the thirsty, results-craving attachment to it is. This is why Krishna elsewhere prescribes nishkāma karma, action without grasping for its fruit: the same deeds, performed without rajasic thirst, no longer bind. Rajas keeps us spinning; awareness lets us act and stay free.
💡 Key Takeaway
Restless craving disguises itself as productivity — it is attachment to doing, not action itself, that binds you.
Related Verses
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.
तमस्त्वज्ञानजं विद्धि मोहनं सर्वदेहिनाम् | प्रमादालस्यनिद्राभिस्तन्निबध्नाति भारत ||१४-८||
tamastvajñānajaṃ viddhi mohanaṃ sarvadehinām . pramādālasyanidrābhistannibadhnāti bhārata ||14-8||
14.8 But know thou Tamas to be born of ignorance, deluding all embodied beings; it binds fast, O Arjuna, by heedlessness, indolence and sleep.