Chapter 14, Verse 9
सत्त्वं सुखे सञ्जयति रजः कर्मणि भारत | ज्ञानमावृत्य तु तमः प्रमादे सञ्जयत्युत ||१४-९||
sattvaṃ sukhe sañjayati rajaḥ karmaṇi bhārata . jñānamāvṛtya tu tamaḥ pramāde sañjayatyuta ||14-9||
Meaning
14.9 Sattva attaches to happiness, Rajas to action, O Arjuna, while Tamas verily shrouding knowledge attaches to heedlessness.
Word-by-Word Meaning
Explanation & Commentary
Krishna now distils the three guṇas into a single memorable line, summarising the direction in which each pulls the soul. Sattva binds us to sukha, happiness and serenity; rajas binds us to karma, ceaseless action; tamas, after first veiling our very capacity to know, binds us to pramāda, heedless drift.
The phrase jñānam āvṛtya — 'shrouding knowledge' — marks the special danger of tamas. Sattva and rajas at least leave the lamp of awareness burning, however attached; tamas first puts out the lamp and only then chains us. This is why the spiritual path generally moves upward in steps: from tamas to rajas to sattva, and only from the clarity of sattva to the freedom beyond all three. One cannot leap from darkness to liberation; one must first kindle the light, then learn to release even that.
💡 Key Takeaway
Notice which way you are being pulled — toward ease, toward restless doing, or toward foggy drift — for naming it is the start of freedom.
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.
रजो रागात्मकं विद्धि तृष्णासङ्गसमुद्भवम् | तन्निबध्नाति कौन्तेय कर्मसङ्गेन देहिनम् ||१४-७||
rajo rāgātmakaṃ viddhi tṛṣṇāsaṅgasamudbhavam . tannibadhnāti kaunteya karmasaṅgena dehinam ||14-7||
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.