Desire and ego make action restless.
Krishna speaks to Arjuna
यत्तु कामेप्सुना कर्म साहंकारेण वा पुनः |क्रियते बहुलायासं तद्राजसमुदाहृतम् ||१८-२४||
yattu kāmepsunā karma sāhaṃkāreṇa vā punaḥ . kriyate bahulāyāsaṃ tadrājasamudāhṛtam ||18-24||
Use this verse when effort feels obsessive.
Meaning
Action performed with desire, ego, and great strain is declared rajasic.
Translation: Gita Guidance (original English rendering).
In plain words
Rajasic action is desire-driven, ego-driven, and exhausting.
Word-by-word meaning
Tap a word to see its meaning.
Explanation
Krishna identifies action powered by craving and ego. It may look productive, but it often creates strain, overwork, comparison, and burnout.
Read the traditional commentary
Rajasic action is driven by kama, the hunger for personal gain, and by ahankara, the swollen sense of self that wants to be seen as the doer. It is performed bahula-ayasam, with great strain and feverish exertion, because the ego is always pushing, grasping, and proving itself.
This describes much of ordinary worldly ambition. The work may even succeed, but it exhausts because it is fueled by craving and self-assertion rather than calm duty. The constant 'I want, I achieve, look what I did' makes such action restless and binding. The exertion here is not the steady effort of duty but the breathless striving of desire.
In daily life
Notice when effort becomes egoic strain.
A founder may work obsessively to prove worth rather than serve users or dharma.
Try this today
Pause one intense task and name the desire behind it.
I choose purposeful effort over egoic strain.Reflect
Is this action powered by service or egoic desire?
Private — only you can see this
Quick check
What does ‘तत् राजसम् उदाहृतम्’ mean in this verse?
Krishna on rajas, in other chapters
- Verse 14.7Restless craving disguises itself as productivity — it is attachment to doing, not action itself, that binds you.
- Verse 3.37The real enemy within is insatiable desire, which sours into anger — name it clearly, for an enemy understood can be conquered.
- Verse 17.12Doing the right things for reward or applause hollows them out — examine whether your good acts seek gain and image rather than truth.
- Verse 4.12Desire-driven effort brings quick but limited results; lasting fulfillment asks for a deeper, less grasping kind of action.
Swipe left for 18.25 · Deluded action ignores consequences.
Questions about Bhagavad Gita 18.24
Who says Bhagavad Gita 18.24, and to whom?
Krishna speaks to Arjuna in verse 18.24, in Chapter 18, Moksha Sannyas Yoga (Moksha Sannyas Yoga).
What does Bhagavad Gita 18.24 mean?
Action performed with desire, ego, and great strain is declared rajasic. (Translation: Gita Guidance (original English rendering).)
What is the lesson of Bhagavad Gita 18.24 for daily life?
Notice when effort becomes egoic strain. A founder may work obsessively to prove worth rather than serve users or dharma.
What do the Sanskrit words in Bhagavad Gita 18.24 mean?
यत् तु — but that which; कामेप्सुना — by one longing for desire-fulfilment; कर्म — action; साहंकारेण वा — or with egoism; पुनः — again / moreover.
Where does verse 18.24 come in the Bhagavad Gita?
It is verse 24 of 78 in Chapter 18, Moksha Sannyas Yoga. The next verse is 18.25.